The 2016 flu vaccine has a 59% effectiveness rate against current flu strains. The 2016 flu vaccine has a 41% failure rate.
Although both of the statements above communicate the same concept, the way the sentences are framed affect how an audience could perceive the issue. A 59% effective vaccine sounds better than one with a 41% failure rate. These statements are just two frames to communicate one statistic. Framing is like molding one piece of clay into various shapes, while other methods of persuasion are like creating more clay and adding it to the initial piece. According to Toward a Psychology of Framing Effects (2007), framing involves communicating information already contained in the audience’s long-term memory and manipulating it to reveal a new perspective. And it’s heritage can be traced back to Aristotle and Cicero.
At its very core, a presentation’s purpose is to provide information to affect the way individuals think about an issue, idea, product, or service. A presentation is a medium for impacting the decision-making process. And a major component of that process is framing – a cognitive tool all humans utilize when comprehending the constant influx of information bombarding us each and every day. From public policy to business processes, framing methods and the techniques that support them play a significant role in how individuals comprehend and interpret the world, and how we distribute the information we gather. Two different people could look at the Mona Lisa or listen to a Beethoven symphony and extract meaning from entirely different aspects of the pieces.
Source: Frames, Framing, and Reframing
Although there are several types of framing methods and techniques, the framing of a presentation message produces similar results for a variety of presenters. Here are 4 ways framing improves your message:
1. It shifts focus to the audience
Although framing, specifically in the context of news media and politics, has a negative connotation and reputation for being a self-serving tool of persuasion, it can be used to positively change perspectives and address legitimate concerns and problems. Before constructing your presentation message and overall narrative, research your audience – their needs and wants, their demographics, their favorite places to go and things to do. All of this information could be vital to determining what it is your audience expects to get out of your presentation. After jotting down the information you can reasonably assume audience members will want to walk out of your presentation knowing, compare and contrast that with your own goals for the presentation. What do you want your audience to remember and recall from your talk?
Presentation Tip:
Let’s say you are a member of a trail maintenance organization. You will be presenting at an environmental conference about the positive impact of trails on the human race. Everybody at the conference has likely gathered a large amount of information about trails and the effects hiking has on the environment. Framing utilizes the knowledge an audience already has to approach an issue in a different way. Since you are not presenting new information, I would suggest structuring your content based on values framing – lessening the cognitive load that could occur from the presentation of new information and leveraging the audience’s pre-existing beliefs.
2. It encourages structure
Our brains prefer frames for the structure they provide to an otherwise chaotic world. When done effectively, a frame short circuits the comprehension stage of language-processing – assigning order and meaning to the main points you will discuss throughout the presentation. Framing takes advantage of a psychological phenomenon known as the expectation effect. The frame you choose for your presentation content will not only generate expectations, but it will also assist the persuasion of the crowd.
Presentation Tip:
At the beginning of your presentation, tell the audience what you will be talking about at a high level. This lets them know what to expect from your presentation, while also allowing you to introduce the frame within which you would like the audience to consume your content. The act of framing could enhance the presentation structure, the content itself, and even Q&A sessions and other interspersed activities.
3. It enhances the narrative
Another technique for further enhancing framing effects within your presentation involves the use of storytelling and other literary elements. Whether you are framing your presentation message as loss vs. gain, negative or positive, or even values- or identity-based, an emphasis on defining the frame lends itself to a more intentional development of the narrative. Just as a frame provides structure of content, it also drives the story through the introduction of conflict or description of product/service/idea engagement.
Presentation Tip:
Construct your presentation in the form of a hero’s journey to complement a loss or gain frame. For example, tell the audience about how your product or service improved the life of a particular consumer. Show this through compelling and relevant visuals.
4. It necessitates activation
From sparking certain cognitions in audience members to conveying leadership and affecting the moral and ethical lens from which individuals view related issues, framing has a hand in many stages of presentation delivery. For example, if you start your presentation by setting expectations for the information it will contain, it only makes sense to close the presentation with a clear and direct statement that sets expectations for what you would like the audience to do with the information they have acquired. According to the exposure effect and familiarity principle, humans perceive something in a more positive way if they are familiar with the object or idea. As an important component of leadership, credibility, and providing solutions to problematic situations, framing stimulates action and resists pauses in process. According to Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, leaders alter their leadership style and frame issues with 6 varied methods including innovative, instructional, integrated, autonomous, pioneering, and assertive. The results of their research discovered that the most successful business leaders implement more than one method a day after assessing the specific needs. In addition, a 1998 study found that issue framing based on morals and ethics primes voters in elections to assign judgments to candidate characteristics and to assess associated issues in these frames.
Presentation Tip:
To effectively enact audience follow-through on your presentation message, consider repeating your main point or points throughout the presentation and connecting that concept(s) to the call-to-action. The more familiar the audience is with your point of view and main message, the more likely they will be motivated to do as you wish. Including a call-to-action that flows with the preceding presentation content will encourage extended interaction with the frame even after the audience leaves the event.
Conclusion
By consciously framing your presentation message, you can avoid constructing a narrative based solely on your point of view and force yourself to look at the issue through the eyes of the consumer or audience. It can also help the presenter narrow the range of topics proposed for a presentation, train him or her to apply context and structure to the message, enhance the narrative, and activate audiences. For more information about how to frame your presentation message and structure your content in a beneficial way, check out the following links:
Anatomy of a Sales Pitch: The Moment of Reflection
Make the Most of Your Message with Framing
The 5 Elements of Storytelling for Presentations
