CAPTURING YOUR

AUDIENCE
Musa S Rabba
 Outline
• 5 Cardinal Sins
• Persuasion
• Methods of Persuasion
• Brainstorming
• Opening Gambits
• Flow Structures
• Linkages
• Persuasive Speech Tips
What is a presentation?
A presentation is the act of working to
change the content of another person's
mind in a particular time and place.

Bingham, T. & Jeary, T. (2007). Presenting Learning. ASTD Press.

 5 Cardinal Sins
• No clear point The inevitable reaction of
audiences to a Data Dump is not
• No audience benefit persuasion, but rather the horrific
• No clear flow effect known as MEGO: Mine Eyes
Glaze Over.
• Too detailed
• Too long

Weissman, J. (2004). Creating Winning Presentations for You and Your Audience
 Persuasion
Persuasion is the art of moving your
audience from Point A, a place of
ignorance, indifference, or even hostility
toward your goal… navigating them thru a
series of Aha!s … to Point B, a place
where they will act as your investors,
customers, partners, or advocates, ready
to march your drum.

Weissman, J. (2004). Creating Winning Presentations for You and Your Audience
 Persuasion
• Getting from point A to point B
• Starting with the objective in sight
• Audience Advocacy
• Shift focus from features to benefits
• Understand the needs of your audience
• Getting Aha’s You never get another
chance to make a first
impression.
Weissman, J. (2004). Creating Winning Presentations for You and Your Audience
 The power of WIIFY
• State the WIIFY to seize the opportunity
• WIIFY Triggers
– This is important to you because…
– What does this mean to you?
– Why am I telling you this?
– You should care because….
– Here is what…
– And … (here is the WIIFY)

Weissman, J. (2004). Creating Winning Presentations for You and Your Audience
 Methods of Persuasion
Aristotle's 3 ways to influence people:
1. Credibility -- "ethos".  Sometimes we
believe something
2. Emotional appeal -- "pathos".
simply because we
3. Rational appeal -- "logos".
Sometimes
trust we
thedo things
person
because of a "gut feeling"
telling us.
or an appeal to our
Providing
emotions,evidence
whetherand
those
reasoning are a strong
of compassion or fear.
part of the persuasive
process.

Steve Iman, College of Business, Cal Poly Pomona S. (Undated). Persuasive Speech Tips.. Retrieved
March 12, 2008. Available at
athttp://www.csupomona.edu/~sciman/classes/324/organizer/persuaSpeech.html
Principles of Persuasion
Consistency
Liking
Authority
Special Proof
Scarcity
Reciprocity

Cialdini, R. (2000). Influence: Science and Practice. Allyn & Bacon.

Consistency

The principle of consistency makes it

possible for people to side with you if
your proposal is in line with their
previously stated position.
Liking

People are easily influenced by people

whom they like or whom they perceive
they are like them.

Do you agree with John that this is a

good decision?
Authority

People are more likely to be influenced

by those who are perceived to be
legitimate authorities.
Special Proof

When deciding how to act in a given

situation, people look around to see
how other people in the same situation
are doing.
Scarcity

The less accessible a ting is, the more

desirable and often the more valuable
the thing becomes.
Reciprocity

Do unto others as they would like have

done unto them.

Presentation Masters use this to their

advantage by seeding goodwill
whenever they can.
 Getting Creative: The Art of
Brainstorming
• The Data Dump
It should
MEGO be part
strikes whenof your preparation,
a presentation
• Left brain vs Right flows
brain
not the presentation
with so many facts, all poured
without purpose, structure or logic.
• brainstorming
– Doing the data dump productively
– Roman Columns: The technique of clustering
– Splat and polish

Weissman, J. (2006). Presenting to win: The Art of Telling your Story.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 Brainstorming Whiteboard

Weissman, J. (2006). Presenting to win: The Art of Telling your Story.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 Four Critical Questions
• What is your Point B
• Who is your audience & what is their
WIIFY
• What are your Roman columns?
• Why you have put the Roman Columns in
a particular order.
Weissman, J. (2004). Creating Winning Presentations for You and Your
Audience. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 Classic Opening Gambits
• Questions A striking statistics or
little known fact.
• Factoid
• Retrospective/Prospective
• Anecdote A familiar saying.
The whole is greater than the sum
• Quotation of its parts vs
The whole is equal to the sum of
• Aphorism its parts. (Euclid, the founder of
geometry)
• Analogy

Weissman, J. (2006). Presenting to win: The Art of Telling your Story.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 Flow Structures
• Modular
A sequence of similar
• Chronological parts, units, or
• Physical Organizes
componentsideainconceptually
which the
according
order of to
thea units
physical
is
• Spatial metaphor or analogy,
interchangeable.
• Problem/Solution providing a spatial
arrangement of your topic.
• Issues/Actions
• Opportunity/Leverage
• Form/Function

Weissman, J. (2006). Presenting to win: The Art of Telling your Story.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 Flow Structures…
• Features/Benefits
• Case Study
• Argument/Fallacy Uses a 2 by 2 or larger
• diagrams to organize a
Compare/Contrast Drills
set ofdown into ainto
concepts series
an
• Matrix of related ideas,
Enumerates
easy-to-digest with an
a series
and of
identical
loosely
remember set form.
of subsets
connected ideas,
• Parallel Tracks for each
facts idea
or arguments
• Rhetorical Questions
• Numerical
Weissman, J. (2006). Presenting to win: The Art of Telling your Story.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 Internal Linkages
1. Reference the flow
structure
2. Logical transition Establish an example or
data point early in your
3. Cross reference presentation, and never
4. Rhetorical question mention it again until the
end.
5. Recurring theme
6. Symmetry
Weissman, J. (2006). Presenting to win: The Art of Telling your Story.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 Internal Linkages…
7. Mantra Use a catch phrase or
slogan repeatedly.
8. Internal summery
"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what
your country can do forPresent
9. Enumeration you askrelated
what youconcepts
can do for your country.as My fellow
a suite citizens
count down
10. Doofthe
theMath
world: ask not what American
through each of will do
them.
for you, but what together we can do for the
11. Point B reinforcement
freedom of man.“  John F. Kennedy's Inaugural speech.
12. State your company, product, or service
name often.
Weissman, J. (2006). Presenting to win: The Art of Telling your Story.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 External Linkages
• Direct reference (audience)
• Mutual reference (outside)
• Ask questions
• Contemporize (most current events)
• Localize
• Data
• Customized Opening Graphic

Weissman, J. (2006). Presenting to win: The Art of Telling your Story.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 Conclusion
(Persuasive Speech Tips)
1. Gain attention and interest.
2. Try humour, depending on purpose
3. Establish your credibility early
4. Demonstrate audience analysis and
understanding.
5. Preview main points?
6. Create cognitive dissonance.
Your audience must feel involved in the problem
before they'll be moved to accept a solution.
Steve Iman, College of Business, Cal Poly Pomona S. (Undated). Persuasive Speech Tips.. Retrieved
March 12, 2008. Available at
athttp://www.csupomona.edu/~sciman/classes/324/organizer/persuaSpeech.html
 Conclusion…
7. Make effective
(Persuasivetransitions between ideas
Speech Tips)
8. Demonstrate enthusiasm and/or passion
9. Provoke thought through questions
10. Construct a logical case with evidence in
support of what you're trying to sell
11. Avoid verbal fillers/disfluency
12. Close with a memorable summary,
perhaps request a specific act or action from the audience .
Be declarative, maybe firm and demanding in your close.

Steve Iman, College of Business, Cal Poly Pomona S. (Undated). Persuasive Speech Tips.. Retrieved
March 12, 2008. Available at
athttp://www.csupomona.edu/~sciman/classes/324/organizer/persuaSpeech.html
Thank You