When building a presentation, determining information order can be difficult. Should you lead with the system outage to make the fix seem more impactful, or should you open with the fix as a segue to how we need to improve system architecture? Do you present the good news first at the risk of the bad seeming worse, or do you lead with the bad to make the good seem better? Would it be better to pitch the benefits of the new project before the challenges to execution? The challenge stems from perception that every variable affecting the decision has equal weight, but that’s actually not true, and there’s a powerful tool that can help you determine which ones matter most.

Behold the power of 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 and 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚, beware the weakness of 𝙖𝙣𝙙. What do I mean by that?

Consider the following statements:
The man was angry, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 he bought a drink.
The man was angry, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 he bought a drink.
The man was angry 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 he bought a drink.

In the first sentence, there is no apparent connection between the man and the drink. They may or may not be related, and the audience feels no compulsion to listen any longer. In the other two sentences, however, there is strong connection. In the second statement, it seems that the man turns drink to when experiencing anger, and in the third statement, something about the drink seems to have made him angry. Assuming it’s alcohol, maybe he’s trying to quit, and he’s mad at his lack of self control. Supposing it’s not alcohol, perhaps the purchase made him late for work, or maybe it was for someone he was trying to make amends with, and he was rebuffed.

We don’t know, given only these statements, what the actual connection is – but that’s not they point. Therefore and because do something far more powerful: they invite the audience to 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚.

In the “and” statement, the speech becomes very take it or leave it. The audience won’t miss any subsequent information because they won’t really be listening for it. In the therefore and because statements, however, we can leverage human curiosity as audience members are compelled to ask, “Well, why did he turn to drinking?” or “But why did the drink make him so angry?” Humans naturally hate the feeling of missing out or not knowing. Incomplete information is a primary driver for many decisions we make in life – even if the information has no impact on our life, direct or otherwise. The entire tabloid industry thrives on our desire to know.

We can leverage this fear of missing out by introducing those two key words, triggering a nearly insatiable idea to tune in and pay attention. Both words work because they rely on our desire for orderly, seamless cause and effect. If the sequence makes sense, the audience is far more likely to agree, bringing them in sync with your message. On the other hand, if the cause and effect seems incongruous, illogical, or inaccurate, they will likely engage more because now they’re trying to reason out why one doesn’t follow the other. Either way, the audience is paying attention.

Use the power of therefore and because to drive audience engagement and get your point across.