It doesn’t matter if you’re at entry level, mid-level, or in the C-suite. Sooner or later, you’ll be required to speak, and that dread happens to us all.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve learnt different frameworks for public speaking, storytelling and presentations, including the PREP structure, the STAR system, the hero’s journey, and the origin story. However, what I’ve realised, having interacted with more than 1,000 executives over a decade at the FT-ranked Lagos Business School, and in my coaching, training and facilitation work, is simple:
Overwhelm causes inaction. The problem isn’t a lack of frameworks for effective speaking and presenting; it’s the over-abundance of tools, techniques, and models. Too many options lead to decision paralysis or inconsistent application of speaking principles.
Overwhelm causes inaction.
~ Lucille OssaI
So, when writing my business communication book, Influence and Thrive, I distilled the insights I’d been teaching and blogging on for years into one of the simplest frameworks for speaking:
The ABF Formula™
A — Audience
B — Beacons (simplicity, brevity, and clarity with a call to action)
F — Feedback (timely and factual)
The ABF Formula™ is a three-component framework for professional speaking and presenting. A represents ‘Audience’, ensuring you tailor your communication to specific stakeholders. B represents ‘Beacons’, providing the principles of simplicity, brevity, and clarity that make your message memorable and actionable. F represents ‘Feedback’, incorporating timely, factual inputs that close the gap between how effectively you think you communicate and how you’re actually received. The Formula helps professionals at every level cut through overwhelm, structure their communication, and drive the outcomes that matter.
The individual components of this framework may seem too simple to be taken seriously. But when combined and considered as an integrated system, its usefulness becomes clear.
That is also why the ABF Formula™ is embedded within the Global 4-Domain Communication Skills Rating Tool™, alongside the Three Rules of Business Writing™ and the Flexible Communications Strategy™. The Tool is the first culturally intelligent four-domain communication assessment of its kind, structured across 55 assessment items and aligned with communication behaviours of more than 30 countries. It does what many frameworks cannot: diagnosing the specific communication blind spots that quietly limit your credibility and influence before you even take the stage. Where the ABF Formula gives you the structure to speak with impact, the Tool shows you precisely where you need it most. Together, they form a coherent developmental system — one that has been field-tested with executives across four continents and built for the world you actually work in.
Once you begin using the ABF Formula™, you’ll notice how quickly your communication lands, whether you’re briefing, presenting, or persuading.
Below are three reasons the ABF Formula strengthens your speaking, especially in high-stakes contexts:
1) A — Audience
Ensuring your speaking is audience-centric to gain traction
The audience is the most important factor when planning your speech or presentation. They determine the context, content, style and even the vocabulary you choose.
Considering the audience is rightly the first rule of effective communication, because unless you tailor your messaging to address their needs, fears, and concerns, your material and delivery won’t resonate.
In practical terms, below is how the audience analysis helps when giving a presentation on a proposed partnership to an external audience.
A) Tailor your message for the stakeholders who will be present
For example, finance leaders will focus on quarterly cost implications. Project leaders will need clear implementation plans and deployment milestones. Operations stakeholders will prioritise integration timelines, compliance, and continuity.
Therefore, your explanation must address the priorities of the different stakeholders:
For Stage 1 of Project Coral, we’re recommending a phased investment model across Q3 and Q4 to reduce the budget impact on a single quarter. (Finance)
Our proposal includes a mobilisation payment to support deployment and systems onboarding ahead of the planned rollout on 15 June 2026. (Project management)
To ensure we address operational realities, we’ve also outlined an implementation plan to minimise disruption during integration. Both teams will validate performance and confirm compliance readiness before the full deployment. (Operations)
Why this approach works:
The sentences address the concerns of a mixed audience, thereby increasing the relevance of your material — without increasing its complexity.
B) Ask yourself the foundational question to zero in on the critical factors
The foundational question compels you to consider the audience’s perspectives, ensuring your content is relevant to their needs. With AI tools available, you can drill the audience evaluation down to what matters most to them.
So, strip away the complex analysis and focus on the foundational question:
If I were a member of the audience, what critical information would I need to make a (measured) decision?
The operative word is ‘critical’, not ‘good-to-know’ information.
~ Lucille Ossai
The operative word is ‘critical’, not ‘good-to-know’ information. The distinction matters. Overloading your presentation with ‘interesting’ content that does little to tackle what’s important for the audience causes them to disengage, thereby losing you the room. In high-stakes situations, a lost audience is difficult to win back.
Over the years, I’ve taught this foundational question principle and written about it. Then, in 2024, I finally delivered the five-minute DisruptHR talk below on its premise.
If you only have time for one critical analysis of your audience, use the foundational question in the preparation stage to structure your speech or presentation, before honing your delivery.
Win the audience early in your speech with the hyper-relevant insight that the foundational question reveals. When people feel their priorities are understood, you connect with them better and get quicker buy-in.
Effective communication is always audience-centred.
2) B — Beacons
Lighting the way for your communication to have a greater impact
The three beacons: simplicity, brevity, and clarity, help your audience make sense of your speech/presentation and process the information. As a result, they can act on your big idea.
Here’s why these beacons matter:
I always make a declaration in executive MBA classes, or in executive education programmes I facilitate, that challenge leaders to think differently:
A) Simplicity
Simple does not mean simplistic.
Simple does not mean simplistic.
~ Lucille Ossai
To become an effective speaker, resist the urge to stress how complicated an issue is. Contrary to misguided views, complexity doesn’t make you sound smarter or more influential. Since communication is only effective when it’s decoded accurately (i.e., your intended message matches what your audience understands), a confused audience quickly disengages, leaving you with a wasted opportunity to drive action.
Moreover, one of the quickest ways to gauge how the audience receives your communication is to make it simple enough for them to understand in the first place.
Simplifying your speeches and presentations includes the following:
I) Using simple, familiar words:
Utilise → Use
Reside →Live
Commence → Start
II) Integrating comparisons, analogies or metaphors to show relationships:
Our strategy was acceptable – not brilliant.
The leader treats feedback like an arrow instead of a compass.
III) Choosing short words, instead of longer, bloated versions:
Due to the fact that… → Because…
In close proximity to → Near
When your content is simple, you know quickly whether your recommendations are actionable because your audience easily understands them. Even the audience’s resistance is good intel because it highlights gaps in your argument, helping you consider alternatives.
Remember: If your communication is simple, it’s believable.
B) Brevity
You’ve heard variations of ‘Get to the point’ and ‘Less is more’ for good reason. You lose people within the first 90 seconds if your purpose isn’t clear. You’re also competing with AI, social media, and amusing pet videos for the audience’s attention.
But more importantly, for executives and leaders with limited time, your meandering presentation or speech that veers off topic erodes your credibility. Wandering ideas signal unfinished thoughts or worse, incompetence.
Even accounting for cultural norms in high-context regions (e.g., Saudi Arabia) where elaborate language is preferred over conciseness, your main point shouldn’t be revealed by slide six. Similarly, your position on a critical matter shouldn’t be unveiled at the five-minute mark of your speech.
Remember: If your communication is brief, your points can be retained.
C) Clarity
This beacon mirrors simplicity since it’s difficult for your presentation to be clear (= unambiguous) without it being simple (if x, then y).
However, clarity in business communication also encompasses the call to action: what your audience needs to know, feel, or do. You should be intentional about stating your call to action at least twice (near the beginning and at the end). If you don’t, you might end with the Q&A, which robs you of the opportunity to reiterate your main point or to recover lost ground.
The call to action is essential because the goal of your speech or presentation in a business context is not to receive a standing ovation. It’s to shift perspectives, inspire change, and generate action.
Remember: If your communication is clear, it’s actionable.
~ Lucille Ossai
The goal of your speech or presentation in a business context is not to receive a standing ovation. It’s to shift perspectives, inspire change, and generate action.
Checklist for the Three Beacons
For your next speech or presentation, ensure you integrate simplicity, brevity, and clarity in your preparation by asking the questions below:
- Is my speech simple to understand? Can I explain it to a 12-year-old without dumbing it down? More importantly, can they easily explain it back to me?
- Is my client briefing, presentation to management, or my team update brief but complete? How do I ensure I don’t omit any important component?
- Is my speech clear, or does it have multiple interpretations? Do I state a specific call to action twice (aligned with what I want my audience to know, feel or do) within the first two minutes and at the end? Do I rephrase the call to action the second time to ensure it lands with impact?
3) F — Feedback
Refining capabilities for increased visibility
The last thing you relish after a less-than-stellar presentation is feedback that highlights all the things you did wrong (we’re our harshest critics). Feedback can be unpleasant, but it’s necessary. Without an objective assessment of your speaking skills, you won’t know your blind spots and where you should improve. So, the first step to becoming aware of gaps is to request feedback.
Step 1: Requesting feedback
But not all feedback is helpful. Useful feedback should have two components you should notice:
- It should be timely
Feedback later than 24 hours after your presentation leads to poor recall of important details.
- It should be factual
Feedback should not be based on emotions or inferences.
When requesting feedback, be specific:
On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest, how persuasive was my recommendation? And why?
Versus
How was my presentation?
Nevertheless, become selective about whom you approach for feedback so you maximise its benefits.
Step 2: Giving feedback
The next step to identifying your communication gaps, which might seem counterintuitive, is to give others feedback. It’s a classic example of understanding a topic by teaching it.
Embrace giving feedback when your colleague approaches you, or if appropriate, offer to share your insights after their speech/presentation. Not only will you help the other professional close their gaps, but more importantly, identifying effective practices sharpens your critical reasoning and speaking instincts. As a result, your speaking becomes more persuasive and accelerates support for your goals.
Share thoughtful feedback often, and you’ll begin to notice patterns of what works (so you apply them consistently) and avoid habits that diminish your influence. Then you can test your recommendations across different contexts to become a more persuasive speaker.
Conclusion
Whatever your professional level, don’t spread yourself thin by collecting many speaking tips and techniques you’d likely discontinue because you’re overwhelmed by the volume. Choose a few, but ensure the ABF Formula™ is one of them.
So, the final answer to your unspoken question is simple:
Overwhelm causes inaction. But one framework, applied intentionally, removes that obstacle.
Prioritise depth over breadth. When you consistently apply the ABF Formula, your speaking becomes more strategic, boosting your visibility and signalling your readiness for the next level.
Note:
The commercial launch of the Global 4-Domain Communication Skills Rating Tool™ is approaching. Join the waitlist to be notified when it launches in Q2 2026.
In the meantime, please email Lucille@LucilleOssai.com if you’d like me to speak at your event or deliver communication coaching and training programmes for your teams and leadership. My clients include World Commerce & Contracting, Nestle Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange Group, and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (Lagos).
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N.B: First image is courtesy of Congerdesign via Pixabay. The second image is courtesy of PsiQuEmusiCa via Pixabay. The last image is courtesy of Alexa via Pixabay.