The Importance of Defining Presentation Goals
Rob D. Willis
Helping B2B Teams Close High-Value Deals and Leaders Get Buy-In With Impact-Focused Stories ?? Storytelling Consultant & Workshop Facilitator ?? Delivered 3k+ Presentations to 100k+ People
Different types of speeches have different objectives. Understand these, and clearly define your presentation goals so you know exactly what to include to make your speech convincing.
The good news is that these have already been categorised, 2000 years ago, by Aristotle. He identified three genres: deliberate, judicial and epideictic. These genres with their corresponding objectives, topics and timing remain the same today. Use them to help you orientate yourself through building your next speech.
Below is a simple breakdown:
Deliberate
- Goal: Advises/ warns the audience for/ against something
- Time: Future
- Topics: Good/ Bad/ Advantageous/ Disadvantageous
Judicial/ Forensic
- Goal: Accuses/defends someone/ something
- Time: Past
- Topics: Justice/ Injustice
Epideictic
- Goal: Praises/ Blames Someone
- Time: Past and Future
- Topics: Praise/ Blame and Virtue/ Vice
Read on to see how this 2000-year-old principle can help you identify your speech’s objectives and help you build an argument that will move your audience.
Deliberate
Suitable for: Politicians, Activists, Inventors, Scientists, Pitching Ideas, Advertising, Disputing a course of action.
Deliberate speeches originate in the democracy of ancient Athens (I say “democracy”, but you couldn’t vote if you were a woman, a slave, or a foreigner). Athens was a direct democracy, and in order to have a law passed, you had to pitch it to hundreds of people in an auditorium.
Thus, you should make people see the benefits of doing as you say, and recognise the dangers of ignoring you. You might refer to the past as evidence, or as a statement about the status quo, but your objective is to make your audience look into the future through your eyes.
“The duty and office of rhetoric is to apply reason to imagination for the better moving of the will." (Francis Bacon)
Example: Martin Luther King Jr., "I have a dream."
Martin Luther’s speech is rooted in American history and culture. He looks back on the emancipation of slaves, and assesses the current state of African-Americans, but the objective of his speech was to make us look forward: to the day when “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners can sit together at the table of brotherhood.”
The heart of your presentation goals in a deliberate speech is to give your audience an image of the future that is better than the present. Or offer them a negative vision of the future if they don’t adopt your point of view. You can and should use evidence and use rich imagery to describe this possible future. Consider referring to the past or tradition – either as something to move away from or an example to follow.
Judicial/ Forensic
Suitable for: Lawyers (obviously!), Shareholder Meeting, Explaining Unexpected Events/ Performance, Defending yourself to the press.
Judicial speeches relate to the courts. In ancient Athens, you would have to state your case to around 500 jurymen (once there were even 2000!). Your objective was to convince them of what had happened (or not happened) in the past and whether someone was just or unfair.
Example: Magic Bullet Scene from JFK
In the famous “Magic Bullet Scene” from JFK, Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) uses a demonstration to show that a bullet cannot change direction; therefore the previous assumption that Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy is impossible.
That’s not all. You don’t just have to talk about what happened/ didn’t happen. In the Greco-Roman tradition you could subdivide forensic rhetoric into 4 further considerations:
- Conjectural stasis: did he do it?
- Definitional stasis: what kind of thing did he do?
- Qualitative stasis: was it legal or just?
- Translative stasis: is this the right court in which to be trying the question?
A great example of the translative stasis we can see in the next scene…
Example: Courtroom scene from A Few Good Men
Colonel Nathan R. Jessep questions whether the court should be able to prosecute him. His actions, though illegal, “save lives.” Jessep believes that he has a higher cause that transcends the law of the court, and meant that the “code red” he ordered was actually just.
With this in mind, when defining your presentation goals, look back at the events and consider from what angle you will defend/ attack. Do others recognise the truth of what happened? Though your actions may have gone against protocol, were they just? Do you even have to respond to accusations? (This is particularly relevant in “trial by the media”).
Epideictic
Suitable for: Wedding toasts, eulogie, showcasing a product, Icebreaker speech at Toastmasters, Introducing a speaker as Master of Ceremonies.
Epideictic speeches in ancient Athens were used at festivals, the Olympics, state visits, formal events, etc. It’s about attesting praise/ blame and virtue/ vice, but also entertaining your audience.
Example: John Ive Remembering Steve Jobs
Although Steve Jobs was already famous and revered throughout the world, John Ive can give us a look at the man behind closed doors. “Hey John, here’s a dopey idea.” Informal, conversational quotes that most of us never heard and stories about products that no one would ever see.
One should consider the attitude of the audience, how easily they will be moved and what they know already. John Ive did not need to convince the world of Steve Jobs’ brilliance; particularly at an event organised by Apple.
"[F]or as Socrates used to say, it is not difficult to praise Athenians in Athens" (Aristotle)
Most of us will have to give an epideictic speech at some point in our lives: as a wedding toast, anniversary speech, or a eulogy. Your presentation goals have to consider who you are talking to and what they know already. Try and offer a personal story gives your audience a new insight into the person or couple, and helps them understand them better.
Conclusion
Before you write a word, you need to start with your presentation goals. A speech should be like a journey in which you begin by showing people why they should come along; then you guide them through the main twists and turns of your argument before eventually reaching the objective of changing their view to match your own. Without the final goal in sight, it can be easy to go off course, so use Aristotle’s categories to focus your thoughts.