For example, if you’re a teacher or public speaker, you can begin your presentation by saying, “Before we proceed, let me give you a quick overview of what we are about to cover”. Giving a brief and tight overview will let your listeners get an idea of what you’re about to give them. If you do a good job of painting a bigger picture in their minds from the start, they might just want to listen to every word you say.

Summaries are as important as overviews. When you finish giving a lesson, seminar, or even a simple talk, summarize before you close: “I’d like to summarize everything I said in one word – courage”. Or, you can say, “Everything I told you in the past thirty minutes boils down to the issue of self-improvement.” That’s influencing big picture.

Talk about general concepts and abstract ideas. If you’re a manager, the big picture would be to say “I always expect punctuality, professionalism, and efficiency. I know you can do it”. You don’t need to elaborate on the details because the human resources department handles that. Just focus on giving the big picture to your employees in order to motivate and influence them.