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With technical, complicated messages—as well as policy statements and points in a speech where you particularly want to focus your audience’s attention—consider using hypothetical examples. A hypothetical example is an imagined example or scenario you invite your audience to consider to help them follow a complicated point presented immediately afterward.

For instance, a student named Blake wanted to inform his audience about the legal test for defamation of character. He introduced his presentation with the following hypothetical example:

Suppose a television news crew were shadowing a paramedic team to record their average day, and the paramedics were called out to a highway accident. Now suppose the camera crew taped the whole rescue, and the reporter talked to a badly injured victim who was sedated with painkillers. Under the influence of the painkillers, the victim said many foolish things, including some unkind words about her employer. Would the news station be justified in broadcasting the whole story—including everything the victim said to the reporter? What would the victim’s rights be here, if any? This scenario suggests the difficulty of determining whether defamation of character has taken place.