So you’ve held forth for some fifteen minutes about a problem that the audience has, and you’re ready to move on. It’s time for your solution.

This is the fun part for most people – it’s where you get to jump into your expertise. The audience will be thrilled to hear about it, because they’ve been prepped sufficiently by wallowing in the problem long enough. They want a solution. And because you’ve tailored the problem to the audience and to your expertise, you’re the exact right person to give the audience what it wants.

You get roughly as long as you spent on the problem to present your solution – in this case, fifteen minutes. It’s important to understand that just as you can’t skimp on the problem (or else the audience won’t be emotionally ready to hear a solution), once they’re ready, you can’t skimp on the solution either.

We want details. You get to show your knowledge. You will be confirming your credibility here, and you might as well enjoy it.

Problem – solution. It’s an ancient formula for persuading somebody of something. Unless you don’t want to be persuasive, it’s the best structure for a speech. The Greeks invented it, more than 2,000 years ago, and it worked well for them. It will work well for you today.

Next time, in Part 5, I’ll talk about what to do next. The solution is not the end of the speech; there are 2 essential steps left.