Using stories to support data is a well-known technique in all aspects of public speaking, from motivational talks to in-company sales pitches. In this guide, we will look at ways to structure your presentations using storytelling techniques to keep your audience engaged until the very end.

Presentation Structure

The first step to a successful presentation structure is to brainstorm your ideas and combine them into a rough draft. But first, consider the message you want to relay to your audience.

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The Message

A good starting point is to decide if it will be informative, entertaining, inspiring or persuasive.

The main message should be easy to grasp from the title on your first slide. Think of an appropriate way to word what you want to give your audience in one or two sentences. This can of course be changed later, but having a preliminary title will help get your ideas in order for what comes next.

Once you know which direction your presentation will take, it’s time to jot all your ideas down on paper to create an outline and rough draft of all the points you will cover.

A good presentation always has a story to tell and, like any narration, it consists of three basic parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. Let’s look at each part in greater detail with some examples.

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Introduction

The introduction sets the tone for the entire presentation and explains what the audience will come away with after viewing it. Here are the slides you may need to add in the intro:

• The title.

Introduce the topic of your presentation and provide a brief description.

• A table of contents / main menu.

You can make it interactive by using hyperlinks. Viewers can choose a chapter to navigate there.

• Objectives.

State your presentation’s objectives to let your audience know what new knowledge they will acquire.

• Definitions (optional).

You will need this slide if you want to introduce some new terms and concepts and provide their definitions.

The body

This is the main part of your presentation, which should keep the promises you made in the introduction. This is where you explain your topic and present all your information. Depending on the nature of your presentation, divide it into segments/points. Arrange your points in a logical order and then provide information to support each of them. There are many different ways to organize your key points, for example:

• Number your points according to their priority (1, 2, 3, …)

• Place the points in a time frame (past, present, future)

• Use narration (tell a story from beginning to end)

• Present the points with a problem-solution dynamic (state a problem, describe its impact, offer ways to solve the issue)

Conclusion

A good conclusion summarizes the key points you made or highlights what the audience should have learned. It clarifies the general purpose of your presentation and reinforces the reason for viewing it. Here are the slides you may want to include:

• Summary

List what goals your audience have achieved, what knowledge they got, and how this information can help them in the future

• Conclusion

Here you can thank your audience for viewing the presentation

We hope this article will help you develop an ideal structure for your PowerPoint presentation and do this quickly and easily.