How to Organize a Persuasive Speech or Presentation — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hello again, friends. I'm Alex Lion and
2. 0:02this is Communication Coach. In an
3. 0:04earlier video, we talked about how to
4. 0:06organize a presentation, intro, body,
5. 0:09conclusion. And in the body, we talked
6. 0:11about ways to structure your main
7. 0:14points. Some of the ways were more
8. 0:15informative, like the chronological
9. 0:17order or the topical order. I mentioned
10. 0:20in that video the persuasive style of
11. 0:23organizing your main points, problem,
12. 0:24solution, benefit. And it deserves a
13. 0:27little bit of unpacking. So, let's go to
14. 0:30the computer and look at some examples
15. 0:32to get a better handle on this.
16. 0:38I'd like to start by comparing
17. 0:40persuasive presentations to informative
18. 0:42presentations, which are meant to share
19. 0:44information or teach the listeners
20. 0:47something. If you've ever sat in on a
21. 0:49how-to speech or watched a how-to video,
22. 0:51well, that's informative. In contrast,
23. 0:53persuasive presentations are meant to
24. 0:55convince listeners. You're literally
25. 0:57trying to move their opinion or even
26. 1:00their behavior from point A to point B.
27. 1:03So, at the end of your presentation, you
28. 1:04want your listeners to do something or
29. 1:06think something differently than what
30. 1:08they did at the beginning.
31. 1:10They're organized much the same way as
32. 1:11informative presentations. They have an
33. 1:13introduction, a body, and conclusion,
34. 1:16but there are some changes in each of
35. 1:17these sections. In the introduction,
36. 1:19you're going to have your four essential
37. 1:20main points that I've talked about in
38. 1:22other videos.
39. 1:23Just like an informative presentation,
40. 1:25you have an attention grabber, where you
41. 1:26start off with that nice story or a few
42. 1:28statistics or some rhetorical questions
43. 1:30to get the ball rolling.
44. 1:32Number two, you tell your audience
45. 1:34directly what's in it for them. Tell
46. 1:35them why they should listen to your
47. 1:37message, what they're going to gain by
48. 1:39listening to it by the end. The third
49. 1:41and the fourth point are different than
50. 1:42they are in an informative presentation.
51. 1:44The main point of the thesis in an
52. 1:46informative presentation is going to be
53. 1:48pretty straightforward about what you're
54. 1:49saying. In a persuasive presentation,
55. 1:51you're going to be straightforward, but
56. 1:52you're going to give an argument. You're
57. 1:54not just going to tell them something or
58. 1:55teach them something. You want to show
59. 1:58them that they have a need, that there
60. 2:00is a problem that they may or may not be
61. 2:02aware of that you are going to clarify
62. 2:05so that later in the presentation when
63. 2:06you get to your solution, they're much
64. 2:08more willing to be persuaded by it. So,
65. 2:11the main point or the thesis, you don't
66. 2:13really tell them much about the
67. 2:14solution. For example, you can if you're
68. 2:15talking about retirement planning,
69. 2:17this thesis would sound something like
70. 2:19this. By the time most people get to
71. 2:21retirement age, they do not have the
72. 2:23money to support themselves.
73. 2:26Now, there there's there's an argument
74. 2:28that you're going to then carve out and
75. 2:30explain in detail in the body of the
76. 2:32presentation.
77. 2:33Similarly, the previous statement is
78. 2:35going to emphasize the problem but just
79. 2:38imply a solution. So, the previous
80. 2:40statement might sound like this. We're
81. 2:41going to talk about some of the key
82. 2:43problems around retirement planning and
83. 2:46then we'll talk about something you can
84. 2:48do about it.
85. 2:49So, there are something you can do about
86. 2:51it of the preview but you're only
87. 2:52implying the solution. So, again in the
88. 2:54preview, you emphasize the problem half
89. 2:56of the equation. In the body points,
90. 2:59just like an informative presentation,
91. 3:00you're going to have three main body
92. 3:02points with the relevant details below
93. 3:04each of those. Instead of just having a
94. 3:06first, second, third, however, in a
95. 3:08persuasive presentation, you have to
96. 3:10organize it this way.
97. 3:12Problem, solution, benefit. I cannot
98. 3:16emphasize this enough. If you've ever
99. 3:18been convinced by any commercial or
100. 3:20marketing or presentation, it is very
101. 3:23likely that it had these three main
102. 3:25elements and very likely in this order.
103. 3:27For example, if you're watching a
104. 3:29commercial on television about
105. 3:31mattresses, I almost guarantee they're
106. 3:33going to talk about the problem first.
107. 3:35They're going to show someone that can't
108. 3:36sleep on their lousy old mattress.
109. 3:39They're exhausted at work and they're
110. 3:41really be clear on the problem. Then
111. 3:43they'll tell you about their mattress,
112. 3:45their solution, and then by the end,
113. 3:47they'll show somebody sleeping easy on
114. 3:49that brand new mattress. Problem,
115. 3:51solution, benefits. This is the classic
116. 3:54foundation, the persuasive arc that
117. 3:56you're going to see in almost all
118. 3:58persuasive presentations.
119. 4:00And each of these sections will be
120. 4:01developed with all the relevant
121. 4:03supporting details to round them out.
122. 4:06In terms of an example, let's talk about
123. 4:08retirement planning. Let's stick with
124. 4:09that one. The problem, according to this
125. 4:12presentation, you might say for example
126. 4:14that most people are retiring poor. By
127. 4:17the time they get to the retirement age
128. 4:19that they have hoped for, they are just
129. 4:21not financially prepared to support
130. 4:23themselves very well. And you would hit
131. 4:26this very hard. This is the key. Once
132. 4:29you've really convinced them that
133. 4:31there's a problem, they'll be
134. 4:33more ready to listen to your solution.
135. 4:35In this case, we're recommending that
136. 4:36they begin
137. 4:37an individual retirement account,
138. 4:39sometimes called an IRA, or if their
139. 4:41employer has one, you're recommending
140. 4:43that they start a 401k. And maybe the
141. 4:45employer even matches. And then in the
142. 4:46solution, you describe what it would
143. 4:48take to get that rolling. And then the
144. 4:51last step to really seal the deal, you
145. 4:53emphasize the benefits. So, financial
146. 4:55freedom and independence and
147. 4:57in all of these, you would give
148. 4:58statistics and stories and quotations in
149. 5:00whatever order made sense,
150. 5:02so they were all fully supported. And if
151. 5:05you can put these three points together,
152. 5:08it's very likely that your listeners
153. 5:10will care much more about your solution
154. 5:13and the benefits. If, however, you leave
155. 5:15off the problem and just say, "Hey, I
156. 5:17want to sell you a mattress." Or "Why
157. 5:19don't you sign up for our 401k program
158. 5:21here at work?"
159. 5:23The first thing they're going to ask
160. 5:24themselves is, "Why?" And so, if you
161. 5:26miss the problem, if you don't hit this
162. 5:28hard enough, they're probably not going
163. 5:29to be very motivated to move from point
164. 5:32A to point B in their beliefs and or
165. 5:35their behaviors.
166. 5:37In terms of proportion and
167. 5:40time and energy devoted to this, you
168. 5:42really want to emphasize that problem.
169. 5:44On an outline, you might see much more
170. 5:45support for the problem section of the
171. 5:48presentation and then you're going to of
172. 5:50course be thorough and detailed about
173. 5:52the solution and the benefit, but you
174. 5:53really have to hit that problem hard.
175. 5:55When you get to the conclusion, it's
176. 5:56very similar to an informative
177. 5:58presentation. You signal the end. You
178. 5:59say in conclusion or in summary or
179. 6:02whatever your favorite way of
180. 6:04of bringing it in for a landing is. Then
181. 6:06you have your key takeaway where you
182. 6:08circle back to the thesis, that main
183. 6:11message you've been driving through the
184. 6:12whole presentation. And the third step
185. 6:14is a little different than an
186. 6:15informative conclusion in that you have
187. 6:17to have a call to action. If this is a
188. 6:19persuasive presentation, then you have
189. 6:21to ask them to take that first key step
190. 6:25that in the solution that you've
191. 6:26outlined above. So let's say you're
192. 6:27going to ask them to sign up for the
193. 6:29company
194. 6:30401k. Well, now you pull out the forms
195. 6:32it takes to begin that process and you
196. 6:34say, "Look, you can I want you to start
197. 6:36it right now while we're here. Put your
198. 6:37name on there, put your address on
199. 6:38there, and let's start this paperwork."
200. 6:40Now, you don't want to be manipulative.
201. 6:42I'm a big believer in ethics and
202. 6:44communication. You don't want to
203. 6:45pressure people unnecessarily, but a lot
204. 6:47of times they they're like, "Yeah, let's
205. 6:48do this. I I'm ready to start. I'm
206. 6:50convinced. I want to start my own
207. 6:52retirement account. How do I do it?"
208. 6:54Well, this is where you give them the
209. 6:55opportunity to do it by putting in the
210. 6:57clear call to action, that first step.
211. 7:00And then the clincher is where you
212. 7:01finish with a nice story or a statistic
213. 7:03or something that echoes the attention
214. 7:06grabber you did in the opening of the
215. 7:08presentation. So, that's how you
216. 7:10organize a persuasive presentation. It
217. 7:13builds on the same basic foundation of
218. 7:15an informative presentation, but it adds
219. 7:16a lot of other steps, especially that
220. 7:19problem solution benefit arc in terms of
221. 7:21how you organize the main points. So, I
222. 7:23would love to hear your comments and
223. 7:24your questions below. What are your
224. 7:26thoughts on how to best put together a
225. 7:28persuasive presentation? What are some
226. 7:30other elements that I may have left out?
227. 7:31I'd love to hear what you've got to say
228. 7:33below. So, thanks. God bless and I'll
229. 7:35see you next time.