Better Presentations Use Analogies, Examples, and Stories

In one of our monthly tips, we shared the success story of Bryan Stevenson.  After giving his 20 minute presentation, his TED audience was moved to donate one million dollars to his cause – and he made his presentation without one single slide!  Reflecting on his presentation approach, one of our suggestions was for you to think of your presentation as a conversation.  In this premium tip, we want to expand on that idea by reflecting on the key elements of a conversation.

Conversations naturally invite three communication strategies that also make business presentations more engaging:

Use Analogies

When you need to compare something more familiar to something less familiar use analogies like Stevenson does.

Developing products quickly is a lot like running a relay.  It doesn’t matter how fast you go if the hand offs aren’t smooth.

Use Examples

When you want to illustrate or dramatize a fact before the audience has the chance to wonder what you mean–give them an example.

Last month, a client of ours installed this software and saw a 30 percent improvement in productivity.

Use Stories

Capture your audience’s imagination through the use of plot, characters, and a climax. In short–use stories.

Nike tells a legendary story about Bill Bowerman who co-founded Nike with Phil Knight and coached the Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine.  The Story goes that Coach Bowerman decided his team needed better running shoes than he could find on the market.  After recognizing a main problem with the current shoes available, he went out to his workshop and poured rubber into the family waffle iron and began producing great shoes.  This story is shared with Nike employees to reinforce the spirit of innovation.

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