193. Get to the Point
GET TO THE POINT - BRISBANE EVENT - April 16, 2024.
In a world crowded with noise, the power lies not just in what you say, but how you say it. Even the most groundbreaking ideas can be lost without effective delivery.
Whether you’re pitching a concept, leading a team, or inspiring change, precision matters.
In this episode I chat to the wonderful Leanne Hughes to give you a taste of an event we're running together on April 16.
Our Get to the Point workshop is full of actionable strategies to ensure your message lands as intended in any context, every time.
🎤 Stay On Track: Dive into our proven framework to keep your communication sharp and free of unnecessary diversions or over-explanation.
🎤 Master Breveloquence: Being long-winded can dilute the potency of your message. This skill will enable you to convey your thoughts and ideas effectively without losing your stakeholders attention or diminishing the core of your message.
🎤 Economy of Words: We'll introduce techniques that help you cut out the fluff, enabling your speech and presentations to be impactful in a shorter timeframe.
CLICK HERE to register for GET TO THE POINT - Brisbane - April 16, 2024.
Transcript
Hello. We are getting right to the point this episode, my friend and amazing trainer and facilitator and bestselling author of The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint, brilliant book, and a woman I'm very excited to be teaming up with to run a special one-Off Workshop in Brisbane on April 16. I'm talking about the fabulous Leanne Hughes. If you want to learn the art of Breveloquence, stay on track and really land your communication in a succinct way. Come along to our Get to the Point Workshop. The details are in the show notes and in this episode you get a taste of the event, which is called Get to the Point.
Sally:
Leanne Hughes, welcome back to the podcast! So great to have you here.
Leanne:
Sally Prosser, it's always a delight. I love our podcast conversations. I love our walk and talks as well.
Sally:
Yes. And it was on one of our walk and talks when we said, hang on, why don't we get together and do an event? Because people are really struggling to get to the point.
Leanne:
This has come up so many times and I think often we talk about scratching our own itch. I think it came up when I was working with Alan Weiss and I was asking a question and he is like, Leanne, Leanne. He's like, get to the point, ask your question! And I was like, Oh, I didn't realize that I was that person. That sort of provided lots of context and lots of details. So that's where it came up for me. Have you been sort of hearing similar things with the clients that you work with?
Sally:
Oh, absolutely. It's one of the key things that people ask is saying, I wanna be able to get what's in my brain out of my mouth in a coherent fashion. People's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter and we are really wanting that economy of words, people getting to what the value is straight away. I think we are less patient to listen to the long-winded version of it. I know even when I'm out for lunch or you know, catching up with my, my family, I'm like, come on, come on, get to the point.
Leanne:
I'm constantly saying it as well, like not not saying it to someone, but in my mind I'm like, what is the point here? Like where, where are you going with this? And I think, you know, I am a person where as I'm talking that's when I'm getting my ideas, like my ideas come out through conversations. Sometimes
Sally:
They say women especially have that trait.
Leanne:
Yeah, yeah. So it's just taking that pause and thinking like what's the actual point here? And another great line is often we tend to walk around the block to get next door. And I think with the workshop that we are running is how do we just get next door? Like how do we just jump the fence? Right? As opposed to going the long way.
Sally:
Absolutely. So with my experience in voice and speaking and your insane experience in facilitating so many groups in so many different places, how are we gonna help people get to the point? Because I'm sure people are listening, going, yeah, like, I wanna get to the point, but I have no idea how to just get next door.
Leanne:
Yeah. Had to just dump that fence. I think it's giving commission to do it. I, I've certainly been in businesses where we always talk about, you know, the why everyone's like, you need to talk about the purpose and the why it's been drilled into us. So before every decision, before anytime we say anything, it's like stating that upfront. But maybe it's kind of getting rid of some of the assumptions and when, when to provide the context when you don't need to do that. I also think it's kind of deeper than it is just about the technique of, of getting to the point. One of my favorite quotes from Jim Rohn, he says, we tend to make up in words what we lack in confidence. Ooh. And so we over justify, we over explain. It's sitting in that comfort of it's okay. Brevity, Breveloquence, which is a cool word we can riff on as you're navigating leadership in 2024 and beyond. It's really that, you know, how do you create that tweet for what you are about to say?
Sally:
Yeah. And it begins. I love that you said that with that inner confidence that I don't need to keep talking to justify myself. Have that Breveloquence. Now that you've raised it, I think we should talk about it. Where did this word come from?
Leanne:
Again, I keep talking about Alan Weiss, but he's been a big impact on my life. So for those that listeners that don't know him, he wrote a book, well he is written 60 books, one was called Million Dollar Consulting. I had him on my podcast and he said a few things using Breveloquence. Sally, so the interview stood out because he basically, I'd ask a question, he'd answer it beautifully succinctly in a couple of sentences. He was punching the messaging through the economy of words and he created the, the word brave, eloquent, which is a portmanteau. Which, which is like when you combine two different words, combine Breveloquence. So the ability sorry, brevity, the ability to be brief with eloquence, to land your message in a really beautiful way. I've really listened to that interview. I've heard him many times. He uses different mediums like metaphors, analogies to really nail it as opposed to having to over explain something as it is. And I think that really adds to the weight of it. But that's where I first heard Breveloquence and I shared it with you and I remember your eyes lighting up as I said that.
Sally:
Oh, I love it. Because isn't that one of the most beautiful compliments we can get to say aren't they an eloquent speaker?
Leanne:
I had a friend of mine actually, he's doing a speech in Japan, so he's bilingual, speaks Japanese and English. Steve, his strength is writing and he sent me the opening of a speech and I was like, this is brilliant. And it's because the way that he is able to write so eloquently, if you can write that beautifully and explain things with words, it, it absolutely transfers over to the speaking experience. And I thinks where I'm going with this, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it. A lot of people are now using tools like Chat GPT and AI to improve the copy. But I really think my skill this year that superpower I really wanna build is the ability to write eloquently. Because that requires real deep, you know, critical thinking thoughts on the vocabulary and the words. And I think that is a superpower as well when it comes to what we're about to share and get to the point how do you craft that message in your, in your own mind and and deliver that and write it in a way that is succinct.
Sally:
And use information that Chat GPT doesn't have. So something I hear from a lot of people is, well, 'cause I'm a big proponent of storytelling and we'll speak about this in the workshop, the power of storytelling. And I have some people that say, well Sal, no I don't wanna faff around with a story. I just wanna be facts and data. Just get to the point. Whereas actually, telling a story will help you get to the point faster than just listing the facts and the data. And the story that we hold and is the most powerful is our own personal one, which AI and a lot of those other tools don't have. So if you think about our voice being like a beautiful channel, kind of like a garden hose in a way, and we just add all of these kinks in and sometimes the kinks are physical, like it's a physical tension.
Sally:
Other times the kinks are, oh, I dunno if I should say that, or is anyone listening? It's all those doubts or that lack of confidence. And then when the words do come out, I feel like the opposite of Breveloquence is verbal diarrhea, right? So we get that verbal diarrhea, like that explosion when you think about when a pipe first gets cleared, it just comes gushing out at the tap with the dirty water. So if we can remove some of those kinks, which is what we'll be doing in the workshop, then you'll be able to let your true magic flow through you in a better way than anything that Chat GPT can create.
Leanne:
I love that analogy of the garden hose. It's, yeah, that's a beautiful one Sal. And I think that when you mentioned storytelling and the resistance to that by technical people or by really anyone is because of our assumption of what a story is. Like we think a story is you're sitting in a pub and someone let's loose with this 20 minute story and it's really funny and it's like stories can be as you know, one or two sentences. They don't have to be this epic sort of v and you don't have to be a standup comedian either. So kind of challenging the assumption of what a story is.
Sally:
Absolutely. There's a poetry type called a haiku, which is just extremely short and that's a great way also a limerick. They're really great examples of how you can tell a story in very few words.
Leanne:
I do an exercise sometimes at the end of workshops and it's like, write a haiku that pulls out your key reflection from what we just discussed as a group.
Sally:
Oh, we might do that in the workshop.
Leanne:
We should do that!
Sally:
Yeah, that's a great idea.
Leanne:
Yeah, I would add also questions like, so a lot of people give all this information without actually finding out from the people they're presenting to, like how much they understand already about the topic and that's where relevance is important. So going, hey, what do you know about this? Or from a one to 10 scale, how would you rate yourself in terms of this topic and your ability to understand what we're about to discuss? Sometimes we kind of assume our group don't know as much as they do. What I tend to do now and how I've sort of shifted over the last few years is saying the people that I'm working with are actually intelligent people and I wanna create an environment they feel safe. They'll ask a question if they don't feel like they understand, making sure the information that you are sharing or presenting is landing for them where it needs to go as opposed to where you might assume it might be.
Sally:
Absolutely. And it's about that relationship with the question. It's similar to the relationship with the pause, right? So the pause is, silence really is golden, but people think, oh gosh, if I take too long of a pause then they'll think that, I dunno what I'm talking about. The facts are the more you pause, the more you can hold attention in the same way people think. If I ask too many questions then they'll think I haven't done my research properly or that I don't know what I'm supposed to know. Whereas it's the opposite if you ask questions. I was a journalist for many years, my whole entire job was asking good questions.
Leanne:
I love that. And when I first started my podcast Sally, I did endless research on my guests and I listened to them on other shows, but then when I heard them tell a story and I might've heard it somewhere else, I did not lean into that natural curiosity, right. Because it wasn't a surprise to me. We talk about lazy facilitation sometimes in terms of like letting the group sort of pick up the work and I think, you know, lazy hosting, but even being a lazy speaker can help you get to the point by using those questions and just creating a space where it is safe for people to speak up when they require like more information as well.
Sally:
Yeah, 100% they say in job interviews and things like that the less speaking you do, the better.
Leanne:
Yeah. Well, have you ever been in a meeting? I've been in meetings or I've observed executives where, you know, maybe three or four people are at the table and there's a bit of banter and you know, it's sort of stacked to those people that are the extroverts and are talking. And then at the end of end of a meeting I remember seeing a CEO, he was quiet the entire time back to your point. And then he summarized what had emerged and what he thought in a couple of sentences and the room just was like in awe of that, the ability to be able to just sit back, see what's going on and then get to the point it was masterful.
Sally:
Yeah. So as you know, you might have heard, I do a lot of silent retreats. So I've done weekend silent retreats and I recently did one that was 10 days after 10 days of silence. What are those first words that you choose to say? So with the 10 day one, it really just was me breaking down in tears, all buildable days. But at one of the three day ones, we break the silence, break the noble silence sitting around in a group and it goes around to each person. Now normally in those situations I'm very comfortable, I'm like, yes, I teach this sort of thing. That was one of the most difficult speaking scenarios I had ever been in because having not spoken for two or three days, there was so much more writing on what those first words were that I was going to say, you start thinking if you actually had an economy of words like money, if you had two words to say per day, what would they be and to who would they be? If you had five, what would they be and to who would they be? And putting that value on words as though it was currency because our communication, our speaking really is currency. Then we start to go, wow, well where are we being wasteful?
Leanne:
This reminds me of what I'm currently doing on LinkedIn, trying to do on LinkedIn. And I think there's, there's the applicability of this workshop is not only for verbally speaking, it's for writing as well. You would know this Sally, that there's the framework ADA, when you write like any type of marketing collateral, attention, interest, desire, and action. And so the first one is attention. And so in the first sentence of any sort of social media post the hook, right? How, how do you grab that? That's what we want to really wanna land with those that come along to the workshop is how do you get that attention using the least number of words. Like that's the sort of guiding question around all of this.
Sally:
And we'll be sharing lots of frameworks in the workshop. I'll let you in on another one that I really like. And it's this idea of taking the baton and passing the baton back. So often when we are in group communication settings, it becomes like these little monologues and everyone's just thinking about what they're going to say rather than tuning into the conversation and it becomes quite separate. So I say the first line should often be taking from that person, even if it's, you know, great point Leanne, or to build on what you were saying, you know, and straight away you've got the attention of that person, but as well everyone sitting around and the next thing you do is you set your own rules. And this is a really great way to not go off on tangents. The main reason we do is because we dunno where we're going.
Sally:
We just start talking and talking and talking. Whereas if we have a statement that sets the rules, including a number, so I work with clients on this technique, which we'll go through in the workshop as well around, well, there's two ways we could go with this, or there's three main points or there's one key story that comes to mind. So if you've said an actual number and one, two or three is good, if you're getting above three, it's a bit hard for yourself to remember. And then the next part of it is just obeying those rules that you've set for yourself. So if you have said it's one key story, then share the one key story. Don't be like, oh, and another thing and another thing, this is also good for podcasts, right? And then you hand the baton back. So it could be going back to the host, it could be going back to the group, it could be going back to the facilitator. And it's a really great way to take control of the whole process of you speaking in a meeting rather than someone interrupting or you digging yourself a grave that you dunno how to get out of.
Leanne:
Yeah, I love the container and sometimes I tend to have bias towards the number three. So even if I have two points in my mind, I'm just like, there's three points and I know that a third one will hopefully, hopefully emerge as I'm talking. What I love about accepting the baton, what you just said, Sally, is that just also gives you time to then think about what you're about to say next. It's like that, okay, I know this is my opening line that I can sit with that. Meanwhile I'm, I'll plan what's, what's to come on this workshop. We're talking about the content, but I'm also excited to facilitate with you. Like it's just to see how we work together.
Sally:
Oh Leanne, I'm so excited. So we've been friends for quite a while. Our businesses have grown in very different but similar ways. We both have a real passion for travel and I think that it's great to go to an event when there's co-presenters who are genuinely friends and that's what you'll get at this workshop. We did come to this idea on a walk by the river and it's gonna be great to hang out. I feel like I, every time I speak to you Leanne, I learn so much and I go back so much more inspired to do something in my business and do something different.
Leanne:
Me, too. I don't, it's like I never know where this is going to go or what we'll talk about. I call you like a friend too. And I think because we attack things from different angles, like you said, very similar businesses, but doing different things, different styles and ways of delivering that as well. And I think that's the value is that we're not the same, same, we'll bring in different perspectives, examples based on, you know, clients we've worked with and our I guess, philosophy around this as well.
Sally:
Absolutely. So is there anything else that people should get ready for with this session?
Leanne:
Get ready to have a blast, I would say. If we can create like a fun learning environment, the learning will be a lot easier. I think we both attract really amazing people and great communities. So I want you to know that the people that will be there are also going to be a big part of the attraction of this event. And of course everything we do is interactive. We'll make you do the work as well. You know, we definitely want you to get, get a little bit uncomfortable and practice. Yeah, it's just gonna be a total blast and can't wait to meet you all there.
Sally:
Yeah, amazing. Okay, so the workshop is called Get to the Point. It is going to be somewhere in Brisbane, also early bird will be closing very soon. So keep an eye on the show notes and also our socials on that. If you are feeling like, oh I dunno if this is for me because I don't do a lot of speaking or you know, I'm going okay. I would say most people that come into my world, and I think it's the same for you as well, are not like professional speakers. Their everyday people who need to communicate with Breveloquence in their every day lives and careers. I'm a big believer in walking the walk, which most people do. That's the baseline. Being good at what you do, you also need to talk the talk, which is being able to communicate that clearly.
Leanne:
I think that's a beautiful way to end it. That's a great sort of tagline as well. Sally, you really got to the point beautifully there. That's a great example of it.
Sally:
Amazing. Leanne, thank you so much for coming on That Voice Podcast and I look forward to April 16.
Leanne:
Can't wait. See you in Brisvegas! Thanks, Sal.