Last week (part 1) we took a brief look at the importance of finding the one main point of your presentation. Today we are going to go a little bit deeper and look at some different things to think about when creating your presentation or writing your speech that relate to your point.
First there is something known as the general point. This is an overarching point, like a classification of your speech. It is about what purpose your speech has. It can be:
- To Inform
- To Entertain
- To Persuade
- To Inspire
It is obviously possible to combine some of these so that you can have an entertaining and informative speech or you can have an inspiring and persuasive speech or presentation. The important thing is to be clear about what you want the purpose of your speech to be. This will allow you to choose the right words, stories, rhetorical devices etc. to achieve that goal or reach that purpose.
The other part of getting to the point is what we talked about last week, a specific point. The main takeaway from your speech, the one thing you want your audience to remember. It could also be a call to action so the one thing you want your audience to do after your speech, be it donate money, invest money, volunteer, buy your product etc.
So always decide what your general and specific purpose, goal or point is when creating your presentation or writing your speech.