Speeches and presentations are a proven way of winning others over to your way of thinking. The best ones tell a story, bring content into focus and help you deliver your messaging in a consistent way. Whether they’re intended to promote new products, explain ideas or advocate for a cause, here’s what we’ve learned from our experience writing and editing them:

1. Start with an outline. Having clarity of purpose from the very start about what you want to say (and how you’ll say it) is key to ensuring your audience stays engaged and can follow along with your content. When it comes to structure, remember to tell a story: having a beginning, middle and end will help your speech or presentation stick in people’s minds. For PowerPoint decks, remember to tell a story with your titles and headings instead of using simple wayfinding labels.

2. Keep it lean. Too much information can obscure your key takeaways. Respect the time of your audience by skipping the fluff and making every minute count. The most effective and engaging presentation slides are highly scannable: direct and to the point, with just a few short sentences and bullets. Cluttered, text-heavy slides are an easy way to lose your audience’s attention.

3. Be yourself: Your speech or speaking notes should sound like you're talking to a colleague, not reading from a textbook. Adding your own personal touch will make your message more authentic and easier to deliver.

4. Make it complete. By keeping each slide tight and concise, a lot of the extra details will likely end up in the speaking notes field. But don’t rely on the speaker to do all the work: a good presentation should stand on its own, without needing a live person to deliver it, so it can be used in more places and for more purposes.

5. Be persuasive: If you want to drive your point home, keep your message clear and back it up with solid logic, examples or stats.