INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 73
carries him higher for about ten seconds. As he’s tracking the
graph upward, he turns to the audience and says, “You’ve heard
of ‘off the charts’? Well, here’s where we’re going to be in less
than fifty years.”^10 It’s funny, memorable, and powerful at the
same time. Gore takes facts, figures, and statistics and brings
them to life.
Gore uses many of the same presentation and rhetorical tech-
niques that we see in a Steve Jobs presentation. Among them
are the introduction of the enemy, or the antagonist. Both men
introduce an antagonist early, rallying the audience around a
common purpose. In a Jobs presentation, once the villain is
clearly established, it’s time to open the curtain to reveal the
character who will save the day... the conquering hero.
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Introduce the antagonist early in your presentation.
Always establish the problem before revealing your
solution. You can do so by painting a vivid picture of
your customers’ pain point. Set up the problem by ask-
ing, “Why do we need this?” Spend some time describing the problem in detail. Make
it tangible. Build the pain. Create an elevator pitch for your product using the four-
step method described in this chapter. Pay particular
attention to question number 2, “What problem do you
solve?” Remember, nobody cares about your product.
People care about solving their problems.