Great presenters understand the power of metaphors to persuade their audience to take action and make decisions. They also help listeners understand complex subject matter with ease. Yet many people forget to use metaphors in their day-to-day presentations and slide decks.
Metaphors energize presentations, especially when the subject matter is complex.
You might think of a metaphor as a FastPass to understanding and emotion. The brain is always looking for efficiency, and metaphors are like shortcuts that allow your audience to better understand the concepts it is being given without being overwhelmed. Metaphors can also communicate a vision of action that can lead to your prospects making faster decisions.
A recent study from the University of Arizona confirmed that metaphors that contain action words actually activate the sensory-motor region of the brain almost immediately — within 200 milliseconds. Take this example of a very literal sentence: "Metaphors can help your prospects understand your ideas." Compared with this sentence with metaphorical language: "Metaphors can help make your ideas stick with your prospects."
This latter sentence generates an image of action within someone's mind. "Make something stick" is a phrase that activates the sensory-motor region of the brain — almost immediately — suggesting that metaphors can actually coax someone into a state of action.
