Have you ever heard a presentation and an hour later struggled to describe what was said?

The problem is usually that presenters try to say too much. They’re unsure what really matters.

I’m reminded of this because I’m working with an executive team in the UK who need to deliver a 20-minute presentation to their bosses. They have to share what they’ve learned from a success and how they’ll deliver on their strategy, given the challenges. The last two minutes should be an elevator pitch explaining why their bosses should invest.

The team’s first instinct is to tell the audience everything. Of course. It makes sense. They know a lot about their business, and there’s plenty they could share. But the more they share, the more they dilute their message. It’s like watering down cordial to the point of no flavour.

So what do you do instead?

Start with a success story, but tell it from the perspective of what was learned. Don’t go for the less-than-humble brag. Include the stumbles and how you adapted and got back on track.

Then pick three big ideas to share.

For each one, start with a killer line like, “In 2024, our energy bill exceeded our salary cost for the first time ever. We knew our business had shifted.”

That line is a mini story with a concrete fact. It’s surprising. You can imagine the audience thinking, “Holey moley!”

Then tell a story that follows. It might start with the energy challenge but move to how the business shifted to renewables. Make it specific and visual, and again, show the stumbles.

Use analogies. I heard a good one this morning. Rory Stewart, on the podcast The Rest is Politics, said, “Saying you wrote an essay yourself using AI is like saying you can benchpress 2 tonnes using a forklift.” It’s visual. It’s memorable. It made me smile.

Translate numbers. When you use a big number, do your audience a favour and convert it to something on a human scale. For example, if a project costs $150 million, say “about the cost of building three big city hospitals” or “roughly $6 for every Australian”.

End each section with a one-sentence commitment about what the business will do. Problem-solving is the essence of good strategy.

The final part of the presentation is the elevator pitch. You’ve got 3 minutes to inspire support.

A list of platitudes is boring and leaves people with the wrong emotion.

So imagine this. The speaker says, “Our future is already happening. Two months ago, Sarah, Paul, and the team at our Bromley plant flipped the switch on our first fully electric production line. Since then, energy use is down 40%, and uptime is the best it’s ever been.”

Then the speaker shares two more vignettes and finishes with something like, “And that’s just three examples of where our strategy is already in motion. Now imagine doing that 100 times, 1,000 times. That’s what we’re doing, and with your support we will transform our business.”

It’s not about saying more. It’s about saying what matters, in a way that sticks.