Don’t Make Your Listeners Play “Where’s Waldo?”

Many speakers insist on making their listeners play “Where’s Waldo?”

If you don’t remember, “Where’s Waldo?” is the addictive series of drawings by British Illustrator Martin Hanford. The drawings include busy crowd scenes. Your job is to identify Waldo in the crowd. 

Many speakers make their listeners play a corporate version of “Where’s Waldo.”  They throw out a mass of confusing information and expect their listeners to find the point.

It’s easy to avoid a game of “Where’s Waldo” with your listeners.  All you have to do is say things like “My single point here is . . . . ”  Or “The three key things I want to you remember are  . . . .”

“Where’s Waldo” is great fun with a two-year-old.  It’s a lot less fun in a business meeting.