3 Surprising Reasons Leaders Ramble When Presenting —And How To Speak With Clarity And Impact
Reading Time: 3 mins
Ever struggled to keep your audience engaged when delivering an important presentation? You might be experiencing the PAR effect.
A few years ago, I coached an executive and founder who was brilliant, charismatic, and confident —but had one major challenge.
Whenever he delivered presentations, people appreciated his insights but were overloaded because his message got lost in long-winded explanations. He had a lot to say and felt he didn't have enough time to say it all. He was aware that he was not only losing his audience, but also losing sight of his end goal.
He was missing opportunities to inspire, influence, and persuade his audience to act on his message.
Sound familiar? You are not alone.
💡Pro tip: Executive presence isn’t about saying more—it’s about saying less with more impact.
I coined the PAR effect to shed light on what might get in your way of communicating with impact and offer coaching questions to structure your message with clarity.
As a leader or executive, being self-aware of the PAR effect is the first step to amplifying a message that matters.
💡1) P - Preamble Overload: You think you have to give the back story or over explain the context. If you take too long to get to the point, your audience checks out.
Coaching tip: What three words or phrases do you want your audience to remember? What do you want your audience to do differently as a result of your presentation?
Start there.
Here's a Pro tip:
PRO TIP
“Speak less to make your message more memorable.”
- Precious Ile
💡2) A - Ample Effect: Your message will expand to fill the time you give it. That's why TEDx challenges you to speak within a short time frame.
Dr. Robert Kraft, Professor emeritus of cognitive psychology suggests that the challenge may not be the amount of time spent talking. It could be saying too much about one thing. Finding the sweet spot takes skill and practice.
Coaching tip: Time yourself. Practice using AI to generate a transcript of your talk. You could use Otter.ai, Zoom, or other platforms.
Ask yourself, what repetitions do I notice? What's one thing I could reduce or eliminate to get 1% clearer?
💡3) R - Rumble Dialogue: You might wonder, "Did I say enough? Maybe I should add more…" This leads to over-explaining or losing yourself and your audience.
Coaching tip: How about reframing "Do I say enough" to "Do I have a clear call to action? What’s my key takeaway?
After our coaching session, the executive left empowered to say less with more impact.
Want to master structuring your message to deliver greater impact?
Take these three (3) steps:
1) Follow me on LinkedIn for coaching insights on communicating with confidence, influence, and impact as a leader, presenting with confidence and impact, or engaging stakeholders to gain buy in and clarity towards a shared vision.
2) Are you a mid-to-senior leader or executive seeking to drive meaningful impact in your organization or community?
Consider joining Impact Plus Consulting's Speak to Lead™ program starting May 22, 2025, where you can craft powerful openings, compelling narratives, and deliver impactful presentations that move your organization or community forward.
Impact Plus offers a Speak to Lead™ program scholarship that covers 50% of the investment for the Professional Package. Apply via our scholarship page if you are interested in joining the Speak to Lead program. Limited spots are available.
3) Share this blog post on social media or via email with a friend or colleague, if you found this valuable.
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