Craft the Beginning

Begin by describing life as the audience knows it. People should be nodding their heads in recognition because you’re articulating what they already understand. This creates a bond between you and them and opens them up to hear your ideas for change.

After you set that baseline of what is, introduce your ideas of what could be. The gap between the two will throw the audience a bit off balance, and that’s a good thing—because it creates tension that needs to be resolved (figure 3-2).

If you proposed what could be without first establishing what is, you’d fail to connect with the audience before swooping in with your ideas, and your message would lose momentum.

The gap shouldn’t feel contrived—you wouldn’t say “Okay, I’ve described what is. Now let’s move to what could be.” Present it naturally so people will feel moved, not manipulated. For instance:

What is: We’re fell short of our Q3 financial goals partly because we’re understaffed and everyone’s spread too thin.

What could be: But what if we could solve the worst of our problems by bringing in a couple of powerhouse clients? Well, we can.

Here’s another example:

What is: Analysts have been placing our products at the top of three out of five categories. One competitor just shook up the industry with the launch of its T3xR—heralded as the most innovative product in our space. Analysts predict that firms like ours will have no future unless we license this technology from our rival.

What could be: But we will not concede! In fact, we will retain our lead. I’m pleased to tell you that five years ago we had the same product idea, but after rapid prototyping we discovered a way to leapfrog that generation of technology. So today, we’re launching a product so revolutionary that we’ll gain a ten-year lead in our industry.

Once you establish the gap between what is and what could be, use the remainder of the presentation to bridge it.