someone who gets in trouble

“Get your protagonist up a tree. Throw rocks at him. Then get him down.” — Syd Field

When creating a presentation, you need to understand that the audience expects more than a list of topics with a rhetorical narrative. They expect you to surprise them. They expect you to tell a story. All stories are about someone who gets in trouble. So go deep into the conflicts the audience may confront. Then a resolution or a conclusion can come naturally.

Joni Galvão

"10 Golden Principles for an Effective Presentation" MARTECHseries. December 2, 2019

moved by a desire to touch the audience

When talented people write badly it’s generally for one of two reasons: Either they’re blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove or they’re driven by an emotion they must express. When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason: They’re moved by a desire to touch the audience.

That means your audience doesn’t want to know about qualities you may think are important. They want to improve their own qualities and to know how you are going to be an ally in transforming their lives and making them stronger protagonists.

Robert McKee

Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. Methuen. 1999. As quoted by Joni Galvão in "10 Golden Principles for an Effective Presentation" MARTECHseries. December 2, 2019

the “prior” thing

The word “priority” entered the English language, via Old French, sometime in the 14th Century. Deriving from the mediaeval Latin word prioritas (“fact or condition of being prior”), the word meant “the most important thing”—the “prior” thing or the thing with precedence.  When it was first coined, the word “priority” had no plural.  You could only have one priority. 

Sometime in the middle of the 20th Century, almost certainly related to the rise of corporate and office culture, the word “priorities” began to appear. Now people began to claim that they had more than one “most important thing.”  They could have three or five or 14 priorities.  A client once shared with me a deck laying out his business’s “Top 30 Strategic Priorities.”  Sadly, if you have 30 priorities, you really have no priorities: no organization can even remember 30 things, never mind focus on them all.

Mark Nevins

"What Are Your Big Rocks?" Forbes. January 21, 2020

the transformation story

Make sure that you provide sufficient information in your presentation to produce a meaningful change in your audience. This can come by providing a new insight on a known topic, by introducing a completely new concept, or even by making them doubt about something they have always taken for granted.

If your presentation will not produce some kind of change in your audience, then it’s a presentation not worth giving.

If you are not eliciting a change, then you are not providing enough content. And if you are not providing enough content, your material is not worth presenting. So: no change, no presentation!

Matteo Cassese

"The 10 principles of effective presentations. Hint: it’s all in the structure!" La Fabbrica della Realtà. Retrieved 4/27/2021

communicate the benefits of change

Executive sponsors must communicate effectively with employees throughout the project. The sponsor plays a critical role in communicating those messages that employees want to hear from the person in charge:

• A vision of where the organization is going
• A road-map that outlines how the vision will be achieved
• Clear alignment of the current change with this vision
• Specific goals or objectives that define success
• His or her personal commitment and passion for the change

...In addition to sharing their personal commitment to change, executive sponsors should directly communicate the benefits of the change to employees. They should make clear connections between the objectives of the change and the overall direction of the business. Executive sponsors may want to share success stories or struggles from other departments or from early trials with the change. Employees want to hear about the challenges endured during the transition and how they were handled. They want to hear the good and the bad, the suffering and the rewards. They want to hear that success is possible and they want to learn from the mistakes of others. Most importantly, they want to hear the primary sponsor speak about the opportunities and benefits for the business as a whole. 

Jeffrey M. Hiatt

ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and our Community. 2006. Prosci Research. p.84,85