Course Aim

The Persuasive Presentations course develops the skills needed to design clear and concise presentations for busy audiences, such as senior managers and clients. Sophisticated audiences in organisations are best influenced by rational persuasion and evidence, so this course uses a combination of deductive reasoning and explanatory graphics to enhance an audience’s understanding. Day 1 of the course focuses on using argument mapping to plan content that is credible, clear, concise and aligned with the strategic priorities of the audience. It also applies information design principles to create explanatory graphics that are clear and effective. Day 2 focuses on delivering presentations in ways that engage an audience visually, cognitively and even emotionally. Storytelling principles are combined with the deductive reasoning methods from Day 1 to make our content more engaging, as well as persuasive. Participants learn practical techniques for public speaking and tips for managing the anxiety often associated with speaking in public. Two major exercises provide participants with opportunities to practice their delivery and to receive detailed, constructive feedback.

Course Outline

Day 1 – Developing Persuasive Content: Understanding your audience | Identifying the values and strategic priorities of an audience | Aligning your main message with the audience’s priorities | Rational persuasion via deductive reasoning | Using argument mapping to develop a message that is clear, concise and credible | Information design | Creating diagrams and graphics to enhance understanding | Major exercise 1: Design and deliver a video-recorded presentation for feedback.

Day 2 – Delivering Engaging Presentations: Storytelling principles for engaging an audience quickly | Beyond slides: Using a wider range of media to engage and persuade | Preparing your delivery – planning and rehearsing | Communicating with your voice and body – pace, projection, tone, emphasis & body language | Preparing for Q&A | Contingency plans - anticipating the unexpected | On the day - 20 practical tips from the experts | Major exercise 2: Design and deliver a video-recorded presentation incorporating the feedback from Exercise 1.

Course Material

The following resources will be provided to attendees of this course:

1. A PDF copy of the presenter’s booklet on Persuasive Presentations.

2. Ongoing member’s access to the regularly-updated resource bank on the presenter’s website.

3. Personalised feedback on two video-recorded practice presentations.