Designing The Main Body Of Our Talk

In the last episodes we looked at how to open the presentation. Now it’s time for the part that does the heavy lifting: the main body. Most people design talks the wrong way around. This process is counterintuitive but far more effective: start with the close, then build the main body, and only then design the opening. The close defines the key message, the opening breaks through the competition for attention, and the body provides the proof. 

What’s the best way to design the main body of a presentation?

Build the main body as chapters that prove your key message, using only your strongest supporting arguments. In a 30–40 minute talk, you can usually land three to five key points that support your main contention—so the body needs to be planned like a case, not a stream of thoughts. 

This is why the design order matters: the close defines what you’re trying to prove, and the body becomes the structured evidence trail that makes the close feel inevitable.

Do now: Write your close in one sentence, then choose 3–5 chapter headings that directly support it. 

Why should you start with the ending before building the body?

Because the close defines the key message you want to impart—and the body exists to earn that close. If you don’t lock the ending first, your “evidence” becomes random material you like rather than proof that persuades. 

Once the close is fixed, you can design the body as a sequence of chapters that make your conclusion feel logical, not forced.

Do now: Finalise the last 20 seconds first. Then your body becomes selection and sequencing—not guesswork. 

How much evidence should the main body include?

A lot—but only the strongest evidence. You’ll always have many possible supporting points, but time is limited, so choose the best content and give it “pride of place” so the listener gets it immediately. 

A useful warning from the field: when advising teams preparing business plans (like JMEC teams), you often see “diamonds” in the body that get trampled into the mud because the structure hides them. Your job is to surface the gems early, so the audience doesn’t have to work hard to understand you—especially now, with decreasing concentration levels. 

Do now: Rank your evidence. Put the best “gem” first in each chapter, not last. 

How do you make chapters flow so the audience can follow your reasoning?

Make chapters logically connect and use clear navigation—like a good novel. Your audience must be able to follow your line of reasoning without strain, and that means the transitions between chapters matter. 

The navigation is the invisible structure the audience feels: “we’re here, next we go there, and here’s why.” Without it, even good content feels messy.

Do now: Write one transition sentence between every chapter that explains why the next point follows. 

Why are stories essential in the main body (not just statistics)?

Because people won’t remember dry statistics—but they will remember a gripping story. Facts and numbers alone won’t stick. Stories create mental pictures and emotional hooks that make your evidence memorable. 

To make stories work, include concrete scene elements: people, places, seasons—ideally familiar to the audience—so they can “see” it in their minds. 

Do now: Convert one data point into a short story with a person, a place, and a consequence. 

How do you keep the main body from dragging (and stop people reaching for their phones)?

Use variation in pace plus “hooks” inside each chapter to keep curiosity alive. You can’t run at the same tempo the whole time—raise energy, lower tension, change rhythm—but keep movement. 

Then add hooks that make people want the next sentence. A power hook example from the script: “Losing ten million dollars was the best education I ever received in business.” Everyone immediately wants to know what happened, why, and what changed. That’s the point: hooks don’t happen by chance—you design them. 

Do now: Plant 3–5 hooks across the body (one every few minutes). If you remove the hooks, you’ll feel where attention dies. 

What’s the biggest main-body mistake professionals still make?

They dump information instead of engineering engagement. Even official speeches can be a warning sign: the script recalls reading an Australian Ambassador’s speech in Japanese that was packed with trade statistics and no stories—engaging content was sitting there, but couldn’t be reshaped because it had to be delivered word-perfect. The lesson: don’t waste good material by presenting it in a dead format. 

Do now: If your chapter is “all facts,” force yourself to add one story that makes the facts matter. 

Conclusion

The main body occupies most of your talk and does the heavy lifting to make your case—so craft it as chapters plus evidence, delivered through stories, with pace changes and hooks scattered throughout. You already earned attention with the opening—don’t blow it. Keep the hooks coming, keep the logic flowing, and carry the audience all the way to the close. 

Author Credentials

Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie “One Carnegie Award” (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). 

As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. 

He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業) and Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人).

Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan’s Top Business Interviews.