If there were ever an author who best embodies the principles of effective presentations in his prose, it would be Ernest Hemingway. He is an icon in American literature who is remembered almost as much for his extraordinary literature as for his unforgettable public image. He wrote several works of fiction that are classics of American literature. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, and his understated writing style influenced much 20th century fiction. Here are some tips on storytelling from the esteemed author.
“For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
We discussed this six-word masterpiece in a previous blog post, and it’s for this type of terse writing that Hemingway is remembered. His fiction is known for its concision, brevity and clarity. Every single word he writes has a purpose. His writing is economical– it’s as though he has to pay for every word he uses, so he uses as few as possible to keep the cost down. There is no extraneous description in Hemingway’s prose. There are no flowery adjectives; there is no romantic, lingering, twee wordage.
Hemingway’s fastidious prose is tedious and dull to some (your correspondent included) but it’s an excellent model for how we should tell stories in our presentations. Brevity is essential. Simplicity is key. Anything extra, extraneous or unessential must be left out. Say what you want to say in the most efficient way possible. Short sentences, terse vocab and clear delivery are crucial.
“That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best– make it all up– but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way.”
Hemingway wrote this gem of advice to his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald in May 1934, a month after Fitzgerald’s publication of Tender is the Night. Fitzgerald had wanted his friend’s honest opinion about the novel, and Hemingway obliged by writing a typically cantankerous letter in response. Hemingway was a champion of the real. He wrote in realities, and desired the same in other literature. Of course, a story must be invented, but it should mirror reality; it should be made up “so truly that later it will happen that way.”
This principle applies to stories in your presentations. They should be grounded in reality, in things that are possible, in situations that are likely to occur. Present your audience with stories that are possibilities, stories that are applicable to their particular problems and concerns. Use your stories to show what can happen later if they decide to do this or that, if they decide to take you up on what you are offering them. Ground all stories in your presentation in reality. Your audience will engage with them, and connect with them to a much greater extent because they represent a possibility or they mirror their current reality back to them.
“You could omit anything if you knew that you omitted and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make people feel something more than they understood.”
Though this convoluted, run-on sentence doesn’t sound like a typical Hemingway construction, its message is important, and true to Hemingway’s principle of pithiness. Omit something if it will strengthen the story, and likewise omit something if it doesn’t contribute anything to the reader’s understanding. This harkens back to the principle present in all of Hemingway’s prose: nothing superfluous; everything present for a particular purpose.
Sometimes omitting bits and pieces of a presentation is one of the hardest parts of the process. After carefully crafting the words, putting them in the right places and learning to love them, sometimes you realize they’re actually not essential and you have to cut them out. It’s difficult, we know, but cut them out. Your presentation will be better off. If you don’t trust us, take Hemingway’s word for it. Clearly, he was a genius at editing out ineffectual material, and look where it got him–– a Pulitzer, a Nobel Prize and all that jazz.
