To persuade an audience to support your point of view, a common technique is to present your conclusion, then support it with logical points. But if you suspect your audience is inherently not on your side, the topic is controversial, or your recommendation may come as a surprise, your listeners may not be receptive to your arguments if you start out with your conclusion.
A different technique to persuade your listeners in such a situation is to start with a small point on which they agree with you. Then move to the next step, then the next, until you have taken them down the path of the logic that you used to arrive at your conclusion.
If you are using slides for your presentation, and you want to walk your audience through your thought process, or you are just aiming for a dramatic finish, you certainly do not want anyone reading ahead. Just like a mystery writer, you want to take your audience on a journey, and not have them start by reading the last chapter first.
There are several techniques for building a slide show to support your presentation without revealing your conclusion prematurely.
Animate
While you should not animate for the sake of animation, it can be a helpful tool if you are building up to a surprising point. If you are using one slide, which includes the conclusion, animate your points. For example, if you are using bullet points, have each bullet point appear as you begin to speak about it, so that the subsequent steps and the conclusion are not shown until you are ready to present it. Alternately, if only the last bullet or image is a surprise, animate only that last item; another option is to cover up that last point with a graphic, and use animation to remove the image as you reach your conclusion.
Separate
Instead of consolidating all of your information on one slide, break up the information. One aspect of good slide design is to keep the amount of information – especially words – on a single slide to a minimum. If you have more than 2-3 points, or the information for each point is detailed, break up your slides. One option is to place all of your leading points on one slide, with the conclusion on a second slide. Alternately, use one slide for each point, where the last slide contains the conclusion.
Eliminate
There is no law that states that all of your points need to be documented, word for word, on your slides. Good presenters know that the opposite is true. The purpose of using slides is to support your presentation, not replace you as a presenter. Instead of documenting your conclusion in a slide, use a striking graphic to indicate that you are about to make a dramatic announcement. You can have fun with the images, such as a barely raised stage curtain that looks like it is about to open; a lock for which you are about to reveal the combination; even a simple exclamation point that indicates the importance of the words you are about to speak.
A Word on Handouts
It is often customary to provide a handout of your slides to your audience. Keep in mind that if these are distributed to the audience as they walk into the room, they will be able to read ahead, which lowers the impact of your message.
Consider eliminating the conclusions for these handouts. How you do this will depend on the option you chose in constructing your slides.
- If you animated your slides, consider creating a different version of your slides for printing, in which you eliminate the recommendation.
- If you animated your slides by covering up your conclusion, you can print as-is, as long as you print without the option of printing a unique slide for each animation.
- If you separated your message, you can hide the slides that give away your recommendation for printing.
- If you eliminated your message from your slides, you can print them as-is.
Instead of juggling more than one version of your slides, you may consider waiting to hand them out until after the conclusion of your presentation. The audience will appreciate the take-away, and you did not give your message away too early.
For the maximum impact of your presentation, choose your technique for constructing your slides based on your needs as a speaker, not based on your printouts.
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