Harvard Business Review Guides Ultimate Boxed Set (16 Books)

Create a Solid Structure

All good presentations—like all good stories—convey and resolve some kind of conflict or imbalance. The sense of discord is what makes audiences care enough to get on board.

After gleaning story insights from films and books, studying hundreds of speeches, and spending 22 years creating customized presentations for companies and thought leaders, I’ve found that the most persuasive communicators create conflict by juxtaposing what is with what could be. That is, they alternately build tension and provide release by toggling back and forth between the status quo and a better way—finally arriving at the “new bliss” people will discover by adopting the proposed beliefs and behaviors. That conflict resolution plays out within ...