Make the case
Sparkline
Also called What is and what could be
A talk that moves back and forth between how things are and how they could be, then ends on the better future.
- Time30 to 45 minutes
- People1 to 6 people
- Steps4
What it's for
Great persuasive talks keep contrasting the present with a better future. Each swing makes the gap feel bigger and the future more desirable. The talk begins in the present, turns with a call to adventure, and ends with a call to action and a picture of the reward.
Use it for a vision talk, a strategy launch or any presentation asking people to change.
How to run it
Describe what is5 min
The present, as the audience knows it.
Alternate15 min
Swing between what could be and what is, a few times.
Call to action5 min
What you're asking people to do.
End on the reward5 min
The better future, made vivid.
Tips
- Make the present real with something the audience recognises.
- The gap between the two should feel bigger each time you cross it.
Where it comes from
Identified by Nancy Duarte from studying great speeches, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" and Steve Jobs's 2007 iPhone launch, and set out in her book Resonate (2010).
Pairs well with
Monroe's motivated sequence
Five steps for a speech that moves people to act: attention, need, satisfaction, visualisation and action.
Situation, complication, question, answer
Open a report or a pitch with what's true, what changed, the question that raises, and your answer to it.
Rule of three
Group your points, examples or reasons in threes, which audiences find easier to follow and remember than two or four.