When choosing how to make a point or explain an idea or create a reaction, you should pull from your toolbox the metaphor. And make sure it’s something that is easily visualised – an object or a simple action.
A consistent and regularly replicated finding in the psychology literature is that words provoking spontaneous visual images in a person's mind (such as a rocket or a lion) are recalled better than abstract words (such as rapid change or danger).
We know from research that visual images enhance presentation but this advice goes further: help your stakeholders visualise your idea.
Former CEO of British Airways frequently warned his colleagues about complacency with the metaphor of sleeping sled drivers being pursued by wolves. It was Churchill’s reference to an iron curtain that sticks in the mind, making visual the idea of the obstacle of post War Communism.
How do you make your argument memorable and powerful? How do you hammer home your idea?