To the right is a list of contrasting elements to serve as a springboard. Most of your ideas possibly fall in one column or another. Look at all the elements in the list and generate new ideas you might not have considered. Create opposing ideas for each point that you can think of. Do this exercise for the items in each column and then repeat the

People are naturally attracted to opposites, so presentations should draw from this attraction to create interest. Communicating an idea juxtaposed with its polar opposite creates energy. Moving back and forth between the contradictory poles encourages full engagement from the audience.

So if a report primarily conveys information, then stories produce an experience. Blending the two creates a perfect world for your presentation where facts and stories can be layered like a cake. Navigating between fact, then story, then fact, then story creates interest and a pulse. Mixing report material with story material makes information mor

Contrasting the commonplace with the lofty transforms audiences toward what could be. These thematic ideas are what creates the shapeliness of the up-and-down

Stories are the most powerful delivery tool for information, more powerful and enduring than any other art form.

Your job as a communicator is to create and resolve tension through contrast. Building highly contrasting elements into a presentation holds the audience’s attention. Audiences enjoy experiencing a dilemma and its resolution—even if that dilemma is caused by a viewpoint that’s opposed to their own. It keeps them interested.

Let’s remember that there is one indisputable attribute of a good story: there must be some kind of conflict or imbalance perceived by the audience that your presentation resolves.

Skilled presenting requires you to understand their hearts and minds and create a message to resonate with what’s already there. Your audience will be significantly moved if you send a message that is tuned to their needs and desires.

Transform Ideas Into Meaning So far, you’ve generated and collected ideas. Now you’ll give those ideas meaning. The structure and significance of stories transforms information from static and flat to dynamic and alive. Stories reshape information into meaning.