There are many ways to make a point with a coachee, a reader, or an audience. We all have our
favorite methods, but why not expand your repertoire by using this reference list? It will come in
handy the next time you are crafting a speech, class, or program.

Select at least two items from each of the 10 sections and use them to help you craft a more power-
ful presentation.

1. Relevant

Make your point personal

2. Compelling

Make your point irresistible

Ask open-ended questions

Point out consequences

Orient around listener’s culture

Offer a conundrum

Point to recent events

Show cause and effect

Offer a real-life example

Tap into a source of fear

Link to a current trend

Make a bold, evocative statement

Share personal experience

Provide a needed solution

Emotionalize the point

Ask a premise-shaking question

Mention someone the audience knows

Describe before and after states

Introduce a better paradigm

Offer a new thought or idea

Make Your Point: 100
Creative and Powerful
Ways to Make Your Point

Copyright © 2005 by Coach U. Inc. www.coachu.com.

3. Beneficial

Show how the listener or reader can do
the following

4. Comprehensible

Make your point easy to understand

Make more money

Draw a distinction

Have more time

Share an anecdote

Experience more happiness

Use a symbol

Feel younger

Use a quotation

Gain a competitive advantage

Craft a metaphor

Reduce a financial cost

Use a simile

Have more love

Create a vivid image

Reduce emotional stress

Use a formula

Have more or better sex

Foster a spirited discussion

Get more leverage

Provide a demonstration

5. Credible

Prove the point; make it believable

6. Entertaining

Help people want to learn the point

Identify examples in nature

Take the unconventional approach

Quote a fact or statistic

Identify the meta-message

Identify a universal truth

Use multimedia (video, music, etc.)

Describe a related historical event

Share a dramatic yet true story

Show how it’s part of a bigger system

Give permission or foster acceptance

Relate to a well-known person

Share your vision in the area

Outline point’s source or provenance

Use humor; be funny, witty, quick

Link to a physical or natural law

Point out an absurdity of life

Mention related current research

Use a prop to make your point

Help people want to learn the point

Share a success story

Copyright © 2005 by Coach U. Inc. www.coachu.com.

7. Assimilative

Help people to integrate the point

8. Useful and Practical

Show people how to use your point

Role-play with the audience

Provide action steps

Custom fit your information

Identify unspoken objections

Give readers an exercise to do

Point out easily missed fallacies

Get people to share their views

Explain implementation strategy

Debrief or summarize what was said

Identify or remove blocks to use

Ask audience to further develop the

point

Correct false assumptions

Ask audience to apply or use the point

Show how to use point with others

Describe the shift that is possible

Inform possible reactions to using the

point

Suggest what to stop doing

Package points into Top 10 list

Share information about physical reac-

tions

Give fieldwork or homework

9. Motivating

Get people excited about your point

10. Memorable

Make it easy to remember the point

Package point into a message

Phrase point as a maxim

Ask a closed-ended (i.e., yes or no)

question

Create an acronym

Make a direct request

Share your opinion

Plant seeds and water them

Package point as a life lesson

Point out what’s possible

Repeat your point in different ways

Suggest a life reorientation

Provide a model or example of use

Create urgency

Illustrate with a Venn Diagram

Have a passion for your point

Describe smell, color, or texture

Identify a related toleration

Create or relate to a slogan or jingle

Validate person’s experience/views

Evolve the point while sharing it

Copyright © 2005 by Coach U. Inc. www.coachu.com.