Everyday strategy presentations are not TEDTalks that makes the audience cry. The subject matter is usually a bit dryer, and the audience is not there to sit back and watch the show, instead, the objective is to get out of the room as soon as possible.
So, what can “move” a business audience? I thought back about decks I have seen, and here are some examples:
- A surprising fact, something that goes against the common believe of the audience. If you have one like this: put it incredibly bold on a slide (a simple comparison bar chart with 2 bars can be all that you need).
- A logic flow that involves 2nd and 3rd order effects: especially when discussing scenarios, game theory, options, uncertainty, possible outcomes. Thinking beyond tomorrow and see the inevitability where things are going on the current path, can wake/shake up the audience
- A brave quantification of something that people think cannot be quantified. Yes, you know you are wrong, but with ranges and focusing on what matters and what not, you can put things in perspective.
- Being complete, putting up all the available options for discussion, options that include “this is not how the industry does things”. This can sometimes be mathematical process of generating all possible combination of actions
- A case example, customer story, that could be extrapolated to the entire company and could have huge implications
This is not a complete list, but something to get you started.
Cover image by Tanner Larson on Unsplash