One of the most common types of presentations is the persuasive presentation. There is little doubt that you will need to give a persuasive presentation at some point in your life. The persuasive presentation is unique in that the goal is to get your listeners to take some kind of action, whether it is to join your cause, buy a product, or make a decision. If your presentation is going to be persuasive, it will need to hold some specific elements, such as these:
- Definition of the problem: Your product solves a problem, or your organization is working to alleviate a problem, or your listeners must make a decision regarding a certain aspect of a problem. Before you can persuade them to take action, you need to define exactly what that problem is.
- Explain how your product, organization, or decision path will solve the problem.
- Let listeners know what may happen if they make a choice or decision other than the one you are presenting. For example, if your product is a juice that contains a combination of nutrients not found in any other juice, explain how many other juices they’d have to drink in order to get all of the nutrients in one glass of your product.
- Always acknowledge competing points of view or products, and explain why yours may be better (similar to the point directly above).
- Appeal to your listeners’ emotions. Most decisions are emotion-based. You must be able to stir up your listeners’ emotions by presenting profound, interesting, or humorous stories or facts.
- Don’t forget to present your call to action. You might think it’s obvious, but for some listeners it may not be. Make it very clear what you want your audience members to do, and why.
- Keep your sentences short and to the point. It’s especially important in persuasive presentations to keep your listeners’ attention. By keeping your sentences short and your points clear, you’ll have less chance of losing them, as well as a better chance that they’ll remember what you’re saying.
You should also make sure your presentation is well-developed, well-written, and well-delivered. If it is, and you follow these tips, your persuasive presentation is more likely to be successful.