CHAPTER 7
Structure the Content

NOW IT’S TIME TO ACTUALLY ORGANIZE the content you’re going to present to the audience.

We turn to the ancient Greeks once again for some basic wisdom here. The Greeks realized that you couldn’t just deliver information; you had to present it in terms that your audience was interested in. They understood very well the need for an audience-centered presentation.

A classic example of this is the speeches in the Iliad that a group of envoys delivers to the inert Achilles, who has been sulking in his tent because the war has not been going to his liking. The problem the rest of the Greeks have is that without Achilles, they are being beaten easily by the Trojans. But they don’t simply say to Achilles, “We’re getting ...

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