How to create fantastic content

Fantastic content is easier to create than you might think. The whole secret is to gain a clear perspective on what you actually want to say before you touch a single slide. So before you dive into PowerPoint, grab a big whiteboard, or, honestly, an ordinary sheet of A4 paper will do the job beautifully.

Here is how to work through it.

1. In the middle of the page, write your topic. In my own example I wrote "New email system".
2. Around it, draw three bubbles: Ethos, Logos and Pathos.
3. The Ethos bubble. Ask yourself: how can I build trust in the rollout of this new email system? For example, you might point to studies, references, customers, the owners' opinions, or the weight of hierarchy.
4. The Logos bubble. Ask yourself: how do I make what I am saying make sense, and what logic do I want to present? Think about which processes you want to show, which logical chains you want to argue, and which facts you want to display. Keep yourself calm here so it does not swell into too much. The magic number is three things, or three arguments.
5. The Pathos bubble. Ask yourself: which feeling do I want to create to drive the logic? Because emotions drive logic. Which feeling drives this particular logic best? Fear, guilt, motivation, security, ease, simplicity?

Once your bubbles are drawn, add one more level to each of them, filling in exactly what you are going to write or say. Do that, and you will end up with a wonderfully well-developed mind map, and a piece of content with a clear spine running right through it.