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Build your talk on messages, not topics – Secret #15 of star presenters [Video]

Writer: goldenstateservicesj
goldenstateservicesj
Sep 1, 2021
3 min read
Scrabble letter tiles saying “Wordy slides KILL your message!”

Have you heard of the “assertion-evidence approach” for making slides? It’s a simple, powerful, evidence-based approach to presenting your talk.

It was devised as a more effective way to share scientific findings. But you can also use its direct­ness and clarity in business – to great effect.

And that’s especially so when you present insights from analysing data. You know, like:

  • customer touchpoints

  • company financials

  • employee survey results.


What’s in this post?








3 steps to use the assertion-evidence approach

For each slide in the body of your talk, the assertion-evidence approach suggests you take 3 steps:




Here’s how those steps work:

  • Write an assertion (a complete message) as your slide title


Your slide title makes a

claim

  • An assertion’s a statement of fact. So your slide title makes a claim – which your audience can choose whether to accept.

  • For instance, instead of a typical slide title that’s just a topic phrase (or label) like “Customer loyalty”, your slide title might say:

39%

of our customers have also used our

biggest rival

this year

  • That’s much more helpful to your audience than the titles most presenters use. Prof. Michael Alley (of Pennsylvania State University) explains the benefit this way:

“If an audience member becomes distracted or tired,

that sentence headline is a safety rope

that helps the audience member stay with the speaker”


  • Support your assertion withvisual evidence

Audiences process visuals

1000

s

of times faster

  • Crucially, visual evidence uses very few words (if any), because audiences process visuals thousands of times faster than words.

  • What’s more, visuals complement what you say, rather than over­loading your listeners with yet more words!

  • Most often, your visual evidence can be a simple chart, diagram, or photo. So, for the slide about “39% of our customers…”, you could use a chart:

Doughnut chart showing 39% highlighted in bright yellow

  • Use your slide’s visual to prompt what you say

  • Using the visual to prompt you means you don’t need many words on your slide (and certainly not bullet points, or even paragraphs of text). As a result, your presentation’s far more engaging for your audience.

You come across as a confident expert

  • Plus, you come across as a confident expert in your subject. That’s because you’re adding value by explaining the visual, rather than just reading out (or paraphrasing) what’s written on your slide.

  • It also makes sense to add helpful animation to many of your slides. By that I mean make your visual appear bit-by-bit, to keep people closely in step with what you’re saying.


Video – explanation and examples (5 mins)

For more examples, check out this great video about the assertion-evidence approach. It’s from Professor Michael Alley, and it’s just 5 minutes long.

His key message (and opening line) is:

“The 1st principle of the assertion-evidence approach is to build your talks on messages, not topics”



“Hacking” the assertion-evidence approach

If you’re comfortable using the assertion-evidence approach, you could even “hack” it. For instance, when your slide title contains a shocking statistic, you could show that number in an extremely large font.

Give your audience welcome variety

That makes for a visually striking slide, without needing a chart. And if your slide deck’s already full of charts, that helps give your audience welcome variety.

You end up with something like this:

Slide with the number “39%” in a very large font

Over to you

In summary, here’s the assertion-evidence approach in a nutshell:




Being a 3-step process, it’s quite easy to remember – and not hard to apply. Yet it can have a profound effect on your presentations.

For more great, bite-sized videos about this approach, plus other resources (like free PowerPoint templates), go to assertion-evidence.com.

For an in-depth explanation of this approach, I also recommend the 3-part video series by iBiology, again presented by Michael Alley. (Each part is just under 30 minutes.)

I hope you find that the assertion-evidence approach helps you rock your talk, and I wish you every success with it!


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