In short: Write your key message as one sentence the audience could repeat. Go through each part of the talk and ask whether it supports that sentence. Take out anything that does not, then read the talk without it. If it still makes sense, the cut was right. Like a stick of seaside rock, the same message should show wherever you break the talk.
Every part of a talk should be working for one message. The stick of rock test is a quick way to check whether yours is. Take out any part and see whether the talk still makes sense. If it does, that part was not holding the message up.
The stick of rock
Think of a stick of seaside rock with a name running through it. Break it anywhere and the name is there. A presentation should work in the same way. Break it at the opening, at a story or at a slide, and the same message should show. If a piece breaks off and says something different, it does not belong in that talk.
How to run the test
- Write your key message in one sentence that a listener could repeat to a colleague afterwards.
- Go through each part in order: the opening, each story, each slide and the close. For each one, ask whether it supports the sentence.
- Mark anything that does not. Cut it, or move it to a handout or a follow-up email.
- Read the talk through without the marked parts. Does it still make sense? If a gap appears, the marked part was doing a job after all, so put a short version back.
- Check the close. The call to action should follow from the message, not from the slide that happens to be last.
A worked example
A ten-minute talk on hiring for small firms has the message: "Write the job spec around what the person must do in their first three months, not around the job title." The parts are a joke about the job market, a story about a hire that went wrong, a slide of general industry news and a close.
The joke goes, because it does not support the message. The story stays, because the bad hire happened when the spec was written around the title. The industry news slide goes, because it is about the market, not the spec. The close becomes "Try rewriting one job spec this week around its first three months." The talk is shorter, and every part now points at the same thing.
Common mistakes
- Writing a key message that is really three messages joined together. Split them and pick the one that matters most.
- Keeping a story because it is a good story. A good story that does not support the message dilutes it.
- Running the test on the slides only. Test the spoken parts as well.
- Ending with a call to action that does not match the message. Calls to action people act on covers the close.
Where to go next
The test is easiest to apply once the talk is structured, and get your voice heard: prepare, WIIFM, structure, body language sets out one way to build it. The preparation iceberg shows why the work happens before the day.
Practising on camera shows whether a message survives a second take. Granary offers media training if you want to test yours that way.
Related guides
- Get your voice heard: prepare, WIIFM, structure, body language, voice
- The preparation iceberg: why most of a good talk is unseen
- Calls to action people act on: what should they do, think or feel?
- All guides and tools
The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.
Questions we get asked
What is the stick of rock test for a presentation?
It is a check that your key message runs through every part of the talk. Imagine breaking a stick of seaside rock anywhere: the same message should show. Any part that does not carry the message is a candidate for cutting.
How do I know if a slide or story should be cut?
Ask whether it supports your key message. If you take it out and the talk still makes sense, it was not doing a job. A good story that does not support the message is still a cut.
How many messages should a talk have?
One key message, stated plainly. Other points should support it, not compete with it.
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