You will rarely be asked every question you'd like to be asked or have time to say everything you want to say. Step back from your mountain of experience and knowledge and ask: What are the 3 or 4 points or ideas I most want listeners to take away? Once you've decided, develop clear, nontechnical language to help drive your top-level points home. Use wording that evokes -- or is consistent with -- the big ideas related to the issue you're describing for your listeners (see recommendation 1). Craft short versions that are complete enough to stand alone but can also help you make transitions into more complex territory. Practice delivering 10-second or shorter versions of your most important points. Don't wait for the perfect opportunity or question to deliver these messages -- it may never arrive. Use these points to stay focused on what you want to say.

Your key points should be framed in ways that help to get people interested and into the tent, encouraging them to keep listening, keep learning, and maybe get involved. For that reason, it would be a mistake, say, for a development assistance advocate to think that a top-level message for a broader public is something as specific as "we need to get the details right on the Millennium Challenge Account if USAID and UNDP are to effectively advance the Millennium Development Goals." A more appropriate top-level message might be something like, "We've learned what works to help people and countries lift themselves out of poverty. Let's join with our international partners to invest in cost-effective solutions -- like improving access to basic education and health care -- that pay for themselves many times over."

Help your audience remember your big ideas and 3 or 4 key messages by repeating them in different ways. Having them on the tip of your tongue will help you keep returning to your message and reinforcing it. You can avoid sounding scripted by using different words each time. Say you've already told listeners that a smart strategy on terrorism should be "comprehensive, not one-dimensional." You can repeat the idea with phrases that invoke the same notion (e.g., "We need to use every tool that's available, we can't afford to forgo any tool that's proven effective, be it diplomatic, economic or military. ..." "We can't rely too heavily on any one strategy ... a balanced approach is more likely to produce lasting results ...").