4. Evidence

List all the information that you may need to include in your presentation

Include everything — all the support, reasons, evidence — that is relevant to your message. Think of this as a brain-dump of everything that might go into your presentation.

Include all the information you can think of that supports your recommendations, and also evidence  against  your recommendations—because you are going to have to deal with this information somehow, so you cannot just ignore it. Try to collect information broadly, from several different sources, not just the project you are working on.

Don’t worry about the order of your list of information, or whether it is quantitative/factual or merely anecdotal, at this point. Just list everything that you can think of – all the information that is relevant to your solution.

When you are satisfied with your list, go to step 5: anecdotes.

Resources

Avoid deadly mistake #4: only including evidence that supports your recommendations.

Don’t just use summary statistical information as your evidence – be sure to include lots of specific examples.

From Advanced Presentations by Design:

  • What kinds of evidence to include to strengthen the persuasiveness of your presentation (p. 58)
  • What kinds of evidence are likely to weaken your presentation and therefore should be avoided (p. 61)
  • Where to look for evidence (p. 62)