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In Chapter 1 we encouraged you to tell a story. That's a good beginning, but you must organize your story for maximum impact. As you tell a story, be sure you discuss all the problems together and then the possible solutions together. For example, The Nature Conservancy tells stories about the need to conserve the lands and waters that plants, animals, and natural communities need to survive. First, The Conservancy tells the negative side, and then it tells how "something happens" to produce a positive outcome.
These need to be two distinct sections of a talk so that the audience can feel upset when, for example, hearing about the threats to the Earth's precious places and then relieved to hear that The Nature Conservancy is preserving such places forever.
Organizations as well as movies have tag lines. Plot points can come from the tag lines of organizations. A single line can be repeated in a variety of ways. If you have some type of theme throughout your speech, at each of your plot-point changes you can do a visual or sound "tag line." Show a slightly different visual image each time, or use words in some creative manner. This is a good time to use a slide that has a different background. The tag line may be the theme that you write in the Presentation Overview Checklist shown at the beginning of this chapter.
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For example, the tag line for the Union of Concerned Scientists is "Citizens and Scientists for Environmental Solutions." All their plot points in a presentation should focus on this theme, and this tag line should be considered in the stories told and slides shown. When this type of consistency is used, then the presentation gives a consistent underlying message to every audience.
Consider these five points as you design your presentation's flow.
1. Establish rapport with your audience. Motivate your audience to take action at the end.
2. Set one objective and one story line.
3. Use a format to organize the speech. This saves you time and makes it easier for your audience to follow your speech.
4. Apply the plot point theory from the movies. Create the presentation in such a way that after a certain amount of time it varies and changes by look, shape, sound, feel, etc. This keeps the audience engaged.
5. Design your speech as a dialogue learning event, rather than a monologue.
As you consider the plot points you will include in your talk as well as the interaction you want to occur during your talk, find ways to enable your listeners to learn as they go. Create a learning environment during your talk. Use your laptop not just to show slides. Take notes on it. Blank out the screen and let your audience talk.
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