How to Design a Persuasive Presentation in 3 Easy Steps

This week, I'm going to cover a simple three-step process to help you design a persuasive presentation. Most persuasive speech techniques -- especially the ones that are taught in high school and often at the university level, actually make people want to play devil's advocate and even argue with the presenter. 

So in the session, I'm going to give you a time-tested technique that is much more effective. Whether you are selling a product or service to a customer or selling an idea to your boss, this technique will likely come in handy.

One of the highest needs of human beings is to be heard and to be understood. So, when you are writing a persuasive presentation, it is important to remember that your audience wants you to understand them as much as you want to be understood.

Most people think that a single fact is good, additional facts are better, and too many facts are just right. So, the more facts you can use to prove your point, the better chance you have of convincing the other person that you are right. The HUGE error in this logic, though, is that if you prove that you are right, you are also proving that the other person is wrong. People don’t like it when someone proves that they are wrong. So, we prove our point, the other person is likely to feel resentment. When resentment builds, it leads to anger. Once anger enters the equation, logic goes right out the window.

In addition, when people use a “fact” or “Statistic” to prove a point, the audience has a natural reaction to take a contrary side of the argument. For instance, if I started a statement with, “I can prove to you beyond a doubt that…” before I even finish the statement, there is a good chance that you are already trying to think of a single instance where the statement is NOT true. This is a natural response. As a result, the thing that we need to realize about being persuasive is that the best way to persuade another person is to make the person want to agree with us. We do this by showing the audience how they can get what they want if they do what we want.

Show Notes: How to Design a Persuasive Presentation in 3 Easy Steps (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/persuasive-speech-how-to-write-a-persuasive-speech/)