Recently I moderated two panels at the Wharton Africa Business Forum, one on media and one on marketing. Both aimed at Africa, of course.
There were a number of talks by people such as Coca Cola’s head of Africa. My panels included a man who ran for president of Nigeria and the head of global franchising for Subway.
The day was packed from breakfast through a dinner and then a party that lasted well into the early hours…which I never lasted to attend.
There were so many interesting people passing along exceptional ideas and advice that it all began to run together in my head. I figure I was not alone in this.
A number of people approached me after my panels, thanked me for doing a good job moderating, and mentioned how much they appreciated my summing things up at the end and bringing clarity to the panels…each of which lasted about 75 minutes.
I realized that four people speaking in detail on big topics with a bit of oversight from the moderator was overwhelming to most people. For many, my minute of summing up the key point or two that resulted from all this talk was the only thing they would really remember…and be able to use.
It takes a lot of time and effort to be brief. But the power of brevity, well done, fixes the story in people’s minds in a way that hours of words can never do.
Now if you want to obfuscate…that’s a different story.