Page 13 - Leadership Basics 6

Giving It Shape

Good shape is vital to understanding. It will enable you to create the maximum impact in the shortest
possible time. It will also help your audience to follow your story line and to receive the intended
message more clearly. A good shape to the presentation also helps you because the ideas are
organized coherently.

1. Introduction

2. Main body

3. Conclusion

The Introduction

The first thing you should do is to make a few introductory comments. These may be in the form of a
welcome or an expression of thanks if members of your audience are there voluntarily. If you are new
to the audience, introduce yourself and if the presentation is a longer one, you may have to outline
something of your background in order to enhance credibility.

 Introduce yourself briefly.
 Avoid apologies and meaningless remarks about trivia.
 Use a planned ‘opener’ to a statement about purpose.

 Convince them that listening will be good for them.
 Outline what you are going to say and set it in a framework.

 Tell them whether they can ask questions.

The Main Body

The main body is where you present your key points, arranged logically and as simply as possible. The
audience’s attention is probably at its lowest during this phase. Make it easy therefore for your
listeners to remember what you have said. You can do this by using subheadings in order to
compartmentalize the audience’s thinking. You are doing essentially what you would do in a written
report.

If you want your audience to remember your key points, do not try to cover too much. Repetition is a
useful tool. It is sometimes wise to have just one or two points and to reinforce them by explaining
them in different ways.

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