The final step is to add impact or content to the presentation outline. Most people will make the mistake of adding “sub-bullet” points here. For some reason, we think, well, the best way to prove that a bullet point is true is to use a bunch of other bullet points as evidence. That is a huge mistake. It is also the mistake that makes most presentations really boring and really, really hard to deliver.
Instead, use what we call a Presentation Impact Idea to better explain each bullet point. I like to think of each presentation as an argument that I’m making to a jury. The bullet points are the statements that I’m trying to prove, and the “Impact Ideas” are the pieces of evidence that prove that each statement is true. Below are some of my favorite items, but anything that answers the question, “How can I prove this bullet point to my audience” will do.
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- Stories or Example: If you can relay a quick story that occurred to actual people, that is solid proof that what you are saying is true because it happened before.
The funny thing about stories is that most presenters avoid stories like the plague, but professional speakers use almost nothing but great stories to make their points. (That is why most speakers are boring and most professional speakers are not.) For instance, if the new manager in the Midwest Region had her sales reps reach out to 10 past customers each week, and if on one of those calls, Bill happened to close a $20,000 sales, tell that story as evidence. The more detail that you put into the stories, the more interesting and memorable they are to the audience. Going back to the jury analogy, a story is like an eye-witness. - Quotes: A simple quote from an expert that you can remember will add a lot of credibility to your speech. By inserting a quote, you are borrowing credibility from another expert. To continue with the jury analogy, this is like bringing in an expert witness.
- Stories or Example: If you can relay a quick story that occurred to actual people, that is solid proof that what you are saying is true because it happened before.
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- Analogy: After you have used a quote from an expert or a story to verify that your bullet point s true, and analogy can add flavor to your presentation and make your points memorable. If you recall from your past literature class, an analogy is a comparison. You can use these to compare a point that you are trying to explain to something that the audience can better relate to. (Like comparing a presentation to a jury trial.) For more details, visit the post about how to insert analogies into presentations.