Speech outline7/15/2023 ![]() It’s a formula employed by thousands of writers - and you can draw from it to add some drama to your presentation. For example, to invest in your new product, or to sponsor your new app.įrom Odysseus to Chihiro, adventure stories typically feature a hero who goes on a journey fraught with peril and learns a vital lesson at the end of it. End on a high note that makes the listeners feel like they learned something and want to move to action because of it.Keep alternating facts with fiction throughout the body of your presentation. To continue with our example, it might be current stats on traditional vacuums losing suction. From here, work in facts that illustrate the way things currently are.For example, if you were pitching a vacuum cleaner, your initial sales pitch might be ‘what if you didn’t have to lose suction?’ In this structure, you weave the two together and move back and forth between the two. Facts add substance to the story the story adds interest to the facts. Mixing storytelling with facts works in a kind of mutually supportive cycle. Let’s look at how to build your notes and ideas into a compelling story using one of the formulas below. It doesn’t even require heaps of creativity because the truth is, stories are formulaic, and once you’ve got the formula down, the rest runs on autopilot. Anyone can master the art with a little practice. Storytelling isn’t something only a few select people are good at. But where do you begin, and how do you start? ![]() If you want to inspire your audience, you need to weave those stats into a story. But… they don’t because, well… they’re boring, and they make us switch off. We think these details will speak for themselves. Stats and numbers suck the life out of a presentation. But we don’t often see this happening in the boardroom, where graphs and quarterly results preside. Great stories persuade and inform the best stories inspire and stay with us. Stories have been, and will always be, a powerful tool for bringing people together. Meanwhile, the frontal and parietal cortices are fired up, which helps us emotionally engage with what’s being said. This helps you imagine the activities being described. Your brain’s auditory cortex (aka the bit that helps you listen) switches on. Interesting things happen when you start telling a story. The earliest cave paintings helped the painters and those who saw the paintings make sense of the world. ![]() We’ve been doing it since, well, forever. Create a story arc for your presentationĪs humans, we love a good story. You can change it later, but this is a good starting point. Summarize it into one or two sentences, then put that on your first slide. Note down your ideas and start creating a topline summary of your presentation purpose. What do I want people to do after my meeting?.How will what I talk about help others in the room?.What do I want people to take away from my presentation?.Here are some questions to help you find an answer to this question: Once you’ve worked this out, you’ll be one step closer to working out the purpose of your pitch. If you’re a business coach, your goals will likely be to inspire, motivate, and entertain. If you’re there to talk about quarterly results, then you’ll want to inform and motivate. In a business setting, it’ll usually be ‘to inform,’ along with one or two others. There are six possible purposes your presentation might have: A good starting point is to think about the overall purpose. This is the foundation on which you will build your whole presentation - so make sure you know the answer to this question. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at what a presentation outline is, how storytelling can help engage your audience, and how to create a flawless outline of your own. Its purpose is to help you shape your thinking, organize your thoughts, and make sure your material is presented logically. It should take the general direction of your pitch, plus summaries of your key points. Start with a presentation outline.Ī presentation outline is a bare-bones version of your talk. It may seem counterproductive to spend time sorting things out when you’re in a rush… After all, why spend time organizing when you could dive straight in? But the fact is, the opposite is true: Planning saves time, and the same goes for creating a business presentation. ![]() Whether you’re building a house, baking a cake, or writing an essay - having all the necessary pieces in place before you begin will make the task much easier.
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