Have you ever sat through a lecture or a presentation in which the speaker seemed to give far too much information? Ironically, too many points can make a speech seem pointless, and an overabundance of facts and statistics can make it difficult to follow and impossible to retain. Research shows that receivers’ attention and interest levels drop significantly due to information overload. Simply put, too much information overwhelms the audience (Van Zandt, 2004; Wecker, 2012).

Your goal, then, is to keep your presentation as simple as possible so that audiences will find it easy to follow. As you review and rehearse your speech, critically evaluate each and every fact, point, and example—indeed, every word—to make certain that it makes a real contribution to your speech. Eliminate anything that is redundant or tangential. You want to strike a perfect balance by telling your listeners just what they need to know to understand your topic—nothing more, nothing less.