2000 year old storytelling tips

When creating a persuasive presentation, we need to tell a story - to work out our story arc ahead of time. PowerPoint or similar apps can help us build an outline, if we are disorganised in thinking about what we want to convey. We also need to remember that the apps are 'presenter-oriented', making it all about us, not about our audience. We need to keep thinking about what we are telling the audience, and what impression we want to leave with them.

From what I understand, 2000 years ago, Aristotle's Rhetoric outlined three essential elements of storytelling to aid our audiences in understanding our message: ethos (who we are); pathos (why it matters); and logos (evidence) (Sophie, 2025; Stuckler, 2022). We explain to our audience why we are a reliable and honest witness, share with them the objective, verifiable and clear evidence, and hook them viscerally to the outcomes of our story (Sophie, 2025; Stuckler, 2022). We answer questions in an honest way, and don't over claim when we don't know the answer.

Apparently, 40 words is the median number of words found on typical text-only PowerPoint slides (Tufte, 2003) calls this "impoverished" content, sometimes calling it the "Haiku Rule" - or six lines of text with only six words per line (Tufte, 2003), which he suggests fragments presentations. However, I think that view is taking our attention from the time restricted nature of presentations: we are delivering an overview in a limited window, and need to get the bones of it across in the clearest and briefest way we can (Ishikawa, 1968). And not to mention that WE are the presentation, not our slide deck.

We want to be sure we rely on facts, hard data, statistics, and empirical evidence using a clear, sequential flow in an 'if-then way to close our story arc and give our audience that emotional closure and satisfaction. Too much data: boring. Presenters who create vivid imagery, who take us into their sensory world will make a presentation memorable. A judicious amount of pathos is the hook we hang our presentation on (Sophie, 2025; Stuckler, 2022).

So when it comes to how we present in the more modern day, an effective slide deck uses good contrast so our audience can identify the main points quickly. The presentation follows that narrative arc and guides the audience's eye through the visuals; uses hierarchy to show relationships, and clusters similar elements together. A presentation also uses whitespace to allow the audience time to digest and breathe (Duarte, 2016). We use authentic images and avoid stock shots where possible so what we deliver is credible. We keep reorganising raw data so it more clearly communicates meaning. And we remember that a photo may tell a much better story than a chart (Duarte, 2016; Reynolds, 2020).

And if we are going to give each slide a heading, we need to ensure that each one is framed with a simple but descriptive title that clearly identifies the core concept we are talking about. We bring the audience with us, a step at a time.

Sam

References:

Duarte, N. (2016). slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. O'Reilly Media.

Ishikawa, K. (1968). Guide to Quality Control. Asian Productivity Organization..

Reynolds, G. (2020). Presentation Zen 3: Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery (3rd ed.). New Riders.

Sophie, M. (2025, March 30). Mastering Persuasive Communication: Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in Presentations. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mastering-persuasive-communication-ethos-logos-pathos-matiko-sophie-phtcf/

Stuckler, D. (2022, February 9). How To Give The Perfect Presentation (Academic Conferences & Keynotes) [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/n0VSqz69k3Q

Tufte, E. R. (2003). The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within. Graphics Press LLC.

* NotebookLM was used to inspire the image accompanying this post