100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People

How People Decide To Take Action

“The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and influence their actions.”

—John Hancock

When you give a speech or presentation, you are often hoping or planning that your presentation will encourage people in your audience to do something—to make a change, to do something new or different, or to decide and take action.

It’s easy to think that if you are good enough at presenting the merits of your idea or your argument, then your audience will see the light and take action.

But the way people decide to take an action is less straightforward than you might think. Recent research shows that people make decisions in a largely unconscious way. If you want to inspire people to act, you need to understand ...