You have their attention! Those first 15 seconds were compelling. Now's the time to outline the key points you are going to cover. Depending on the length of the presentation, this may be from one to three sentences long.

Why Outline the Key Points?

This is when you establish common ground with your audience - maintaining the connection - and then clearly delineate what key points you are going to teach in the body of the talk and/or blog post.

For example, in my speech about the power of youth, I had 2 key points, yes, only two, that I was going to develop in the following 22 minutes.

1. What youth mentors need to remember while fulfilling their roles

2. The core values that young people need to develop so that they naturally receive the respect and support of their elders.

Another compelling reason for outlining your key points is that it allows your audience to flow with your talk, asking themselves questions that naturally arise as they search for the answers you are going to present. This applies to the speech scenario and your writing skills.

Now let's wrap this training up -