Importance of 3 Act structure in business presentations

The 3-act structure is not only limited to plays, movies or stories. It can be leveraged strategically in the business presentations as well.
Three act structure helps to provide a clear flow in your presentation and at the same time establishes connection within the key messages of your presentation.

Act 1 – Introduction
Act 2 – Conflict
Act 3 – Resolution

You can explain your point with the help of:
Example – give a concise example
Story – Back it up with a story in context or a case study
Lesson – give a punchy lesson towards the end
Act structure helps to build up a flow, clarity and seamless connection within the key messages in your presentation.
The structural framework of our presentation at workplace:
Each presentation tells a story and every slide reveals a part of the act structure, like a well told story has a beginning middle, and end so move the message forward slide by slide by focusing on the continuity with each passing slide. The core structure of your presentation is similar to act structure of a story as below –

ACT 1 where you bring an outline – a simple agenda at the beginning
ACT 2 where you focus on the actual agenda and discuss all the critical points – middle of the presentation
ACT 3 where you focus on bringing the solution or summarize at the end.

The act structure enables the audience to clearly understand the logic and flow of the presentation and helps the listeners to remember the key points by the speaker. And for the speaker it makes the content easy to organize and deliver it in an easy-to-understand manner. And when you back it up with a real-world story, then it helps you to engage the audience as human mind is hard wired for stories! Surprise your audience with a novel and emotionally engaging story. Build a learning experience by telling them something they didn’t know about before.

Published by Monika Tandon