Last week I was walking along the street and recognised a student that I had taught many years ago. They saw me, waved, and shouted ‘Fresh Fish Sold Here Today.’ I was delighted. I use this phrase when I teach presentation skills and was amazed that they had remembered it years later.
The phrase comes from a great magic trick invented by Arnold Furst. A magician starts off with a strip of paper with the words FRESH FISH SOLD HERE TODAY printed along it. In my version, I explain that it’s a sign from a fishmonger’s window and point out that the word TODAY is redundant (when else would you be selling the fish?). I tear TODAY off the strip. Next, I point out that it’s obvious where the fish is being sold, and so I tear off HERE too. Then I point out that you don’t need the word SOLD because it’s obviously a shop, and tear SOLD off. Finally, I note that the fishmonger is obviously selling fish and so that word is torn off too. I am just left with the one word that really matters – FRESH!
In the trick, the pieces are then magically restored, but I don’t bother with that bit. Instead, I point out that the same principle applies to the text on slides. It’s important to be as efficient as possible. Whenever there is text on a slide, audiences start to read it, and so switch their attention from the speaker to the slide. To prevent this, cut any words to the absolute minimum. If it helps, imagine that you are paying £1000 for each word. What can go? In an ideal world, there are no words at all!
For instance, look at this early slide from one of my talks into the psychology of suggestion and séances….
It’s fine but loads of those words can go. Apply the FRESH FISH SOLD HERE TODAY rule and now it reads….
Look at your slides. If you had to pay £1000 per word, what would go?
Shop image produced by AI.
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