Many presenters look at the presentations and wonder what else they can add.
Instead, they should look for what they can remove to leave more space.
I filmed this a couple of weeks ago while on vacation in Vienna.
No notes, no slides, just a big open square. Which was the point.
We talk a lot about what to say in a presentation. We talk less about what to leave out.
The best speakers I’ve worked with understand three kinds of space:
- Space in what they choose to say. They cut ruthlessly, so what remains has weight.
- Space between what they say. Silence isn’t a gap to fill. It’s the moment where the audience catches up with you.
- Space on the slide. The more room you leave, the more power the one thing you left on the slide will have.
We instinctively tend to fill up our presentations with as much information as possible.
More words, more slides, more noise. Because silence and empty space feel like a risk.
But they aren’t. They’re exactly what you need in order for your message to land.
For my newsletter readers, here is the link for the video just in case it does not play in the newsletter: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YK8b39R7kes
