Persuasive Presentations
By: Richard E. Scott, ASLA

Step Three: Want them to care?  Remember this...

The Lesson:
In design presentations, designers often describe the features of their design (trees, benches, fancy paving, etc.).  This is not enough.

To deliver a persuasive presentation, you must help your audience see the benefit that the feature will add to the quality of their lives.  So what's the difference between a feature and a benefit?

Feature
What it is / the "thing" itself

Benefit
What it does for me / why I should care
(Why the client or audience should care, not you, the presenter)

To clarify this point, below is a list of typical features and their corresponding benefits...

Deciduous Tree

• Offers shade in the hot summer and sunshine in the cold winter / sheds beautiful fall color / gives change to the garden through the seasons / etc.

Hedge

• Adds privacy to outdoor spaces / helps to buffer strong winds / adds a beautiful green backdrop to the garden / etc.

Brick Paving

• Attractive / absorbs more light than concrete for less glare on the eye / a more natural and garden "feel" than concrete / in expansive soils, can settle with the earth without cracking (if dry set) / etc.

Wrought Iron Fence

• Gives a space security without blocking attractive views / can be detailed to add beauty to the garden / etc.

Fountain

• Adds the soothing sound of water to a space / makes a space feel cooler in the summer heat / etc.

Seatwall

• Provides more seating opportunities to enjoy the garden / can enlarge a usable area by retaining a hillside behind it / etc.
  

When you describe benefits, you are giving your audience reasons to support your design.

Refer to your analysis (as well as your notes from Step One).  Use your analysis as the springboard for your "benefits".  Example: "Planting a grouping of evergreen trees will help buffer the high winds (that you discovered in your analysis) and help calm the air movement through the space making it more inviting and usable."

Richard E. Scott
American Society of Landscape Architects
www.graphicsteacher.com

*Additional steps to follow