Resonate E-Book

Nancy Duarte

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 272

Beschreibung

Reveals the underlying story form of all great presentations that will not only create impact, but will move people to action Presentations are meant to inform, inspire, and persuade audiences. So why then do so many audiences leave feeling like they've wasted their time? All too often, presentations don't Resonate with the audience and move them to transformative action. Just as the author's first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action. The author's approach is simple: building a presentation today is a bit like writing a documentary. Using this approach, you'll convey your content with passion, persuasion, and impact. * Author has a proven track record, including having created the slides in Al Gore's Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth * Focuses on content development methodologies that are not only fundamental but will move people to action * Upends the usual paradigm by making the audience the hero and the presenter the mentor * Shows how to use story techniques of conflict and resolution Presentations don't have to be boring ordeals. You can make them fun, exciting, and full of meaning. Leave your audiences energized and ready to take action with Resonate.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Praise for Resonate

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1: Why Resonate?

Persuasion Is Powerful

Resonance Causes Change

Change Is Healthy

Presentations Are Boring

The Bland Leading the Bland

People Are Interesting

Facts Alone Fall Short

Stories Convey Meaning

You Are Not the Hero

The Audience Is the Hero

RULE #1: Resonance causes change

Chapter 2: Lessons from Myths and Movies

Incorporate Story

Drama Is Everything

Story Templates Create Structure

The Hero’s Journey Structure

Crossing the Threshold

The Contour of Communication

The Beginning and Call to Adventure

The Middle: Contrast

Call to Action

The End

What Is a Sparkline?

Case Study: Benjamin Zander

Zander’s Sparkline

RULE #2: Incorporating story into presentations has an exponential effect on outcomes

Chapter 3: Get to Know the Hero

How Do You Resonate with These Folks?

Segment the Audience

Case Study: Ronald Reagan

Meet the Hero

Meet the Mentor

Create Common Ground

Communicate from the Overlap

RULE #3: If a presenter knows the audience’s resonant frequency and tunes to that, the audience will move

Chapter 4: Define the Journey

Preparing for the Audience’s Journey

The Big Idea

Plan the Audience’s Journey

Tools for Mapping a Journey

Acknowledge the Risk

Address Resistance

Make the Reward Worth It

Case Study: General Electric

RULE #4: Every audience will persist in a state of rest unless compelled to change

Chapter 5: Create Meaningful Content

Everything and the Kitchen Sink

More Than Just Facts

Don’t Be So Cerebral

Contrast Creates Contour

Transform Ideas Into Meaning

Recall Stories

Turn Information Into Stories

Case Study: Cisco Systems

Move from Data to Meaning

Murder Your Darlings

From Ideas to Messages

RULE #5: Use the big idea to filter out all frequencies other than the resonant frequency

Chapter 6: Structure Reveals Insights

Establish Structure

Make Sense

Case Study: Richard Feynman

Feynman’s Sparkline

Order Messages for Impact

Create Emotional Contrast

Contrast the Delivery

Putting Your Story on the Silver Screen

Process Recap

RULE #6: Structure is greater than the sum of its parts

Chapter 7: Deliver Something They’ll Always Remember

Create a S.T.A.R. Moment

Case Study: Michael Pollan

Repeatable Sound Bites

Evocative Visuals

Case Study: Pastor John Ortberg

Ortberg’s Sparkline

Case Study: Rauch Foundation

Case Study: Steve Jobs

Jobs’s Sparkline

RULE #7: Memorable moments are repeated and retransmitted so they cover longer distances

Chapter 8: There’s Always Room to Improve

Amplify the Signal, Minimize the Noise

Give a Positive First Impression

Hop Down from Your Tower

Value Brevity

Wean Yourself from the Slides

Balance Emotion

Host a Screening with Honest Critics

Case Study: Markus Covert, PhD

Case Study: Leonard Bernstein

RULE #8: Audience interest is directly proportionate to the presenter’s preparation

Chapter 9: Change Your World

Changing the World Is Hard

Use Presentations to Help Change the World

Don’t Use Presentations for Evil

Enron’s Presentations During Implosion

Gain Competitive Advantage

Case Study: Martin Luther King Jr.

Case Study: Martha Graham

Be Transparent So People See Your Idea

You Can Transform Your World

CODA: Inspiration Is Everywhere

Case Study: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Sonata Sparkline

Case Study: Alfred Hitchcock

Case Study: E. E. Cummings

RULE #9: Your imagination can create a reality

References

Picture Credits

Index

Special Thanks

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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e1

Praise for Resonate

“Nancy Duarte boils down great presentations to the essence of what connects people—great stories. As a leader, you need to connect, convince, and change people with your words—so don’t you dare start your next presentation without consulting this book first!”

Charlene LiAuthor, Open LeadershipFounder, Altimeter Group

“Storytelling, empathy, and creativity are fundamental to the way we communicate, learn, and grow. Resonate teaches us how to access and master these gifts in meaningful and productive ways.”

Biz StoneTwitter Co-Founder

“Resonate takes you on a beautiful journey illustrating how to construct and deliver the kind of presentations that are truly remarkable, memorable . . . and may even change the world. Anyone with ambition to make a difference in this world needs to get this important book. Nancy has made another remarkable contribution!”

Garr ReynoldsAuthor of Presentation Zen and The Naked Presenter

“TED knows first-hand how ideas that spread change the world. If you read Resonate, you’ll learn how to present ideas that stand out, are repeated, and create change.”

Tom RiellyCommunity Director, TED Conferences

“Nancy knows a secret, and she’s not shy about sharing it: If you are intentional about your presentations, if you tell a story on purpose, if you set out to cause the change you say you want, you’ll succeed. This book goes a long way in selling you on making that choice.”

Seth GodinSpeaker, Blogger, and Author

“There is a stark difference between facts and a story, between an image and a design, between conveying information and moving people. These differences distinguish people who yell but aren’t heard from those whose whispers resonate loudly and clearly. This is a gorgeous book. Powerful ideas, visually delectable, and with life-changing insight.”

Jennifer AakerGeneral Atlantic Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Co-Author of The Dragonfly Effect

“At the heart of leadership and learning is great storytelling. Resonate will both inspire and give you the tools to teach, motivate, and encourage audiences not just to listen but to change and to act . . . and the world needs a lot more of that! This book is a keeper, one to be read and reread by anyone in the business of persuasion.”

Jacqueline NovogratzCEO of Acumen Fund and Author of The Blue Sweater

“She’s done it again! Far more than an ‘encore performance,’ Resonate has everything—‘the beginning, middle, and end’—to make your pitch sing. Bravo, Nancy!”

Raymond NasrAdvisor, Twitter, Inc.

“As Nancy Duarte knows better than anyone, it’s not about the slides. This smart, insightful book will teach you how to use the power of story to recast your thinking and reinvigorate your presentations. Resonate is a must-read for anyone who has to stand before an audience and persuade.”

Daniel H. PinkAuthor of DRIVE and A Whole New Mind

“Duarte’s approach takes the reader ‘through’ something—transformation is the key—being purposeful about how and where you take your audience is something that most presenters fail to even consider, let alone construct.”

Dan’l LewinCorporate Vice President, Microsoft Corporation

“Nancy is one of the great storytellers of our time. Thanks for letting us take a look behind the curtain and learn from your giftedness!”

Mark MillerVice President, Training and Development, Chick-fil-A

“The next time you need to tell a story, be sure to have a copy of Nancy’s book as your trusty guide. Through the ups and downs, the tears and the applause, Nancy will help you find your way through the often mysterious, fascinating, and powerful world of storytelling.”

Cliff AtkinsonAuthor of Beyond Bullet Points and The Backchannel

“The problem with most presentations is that speakers don’t have a compelling story to tell before they open PowerPoint. Resonate solves the problem. It’s another magnificent book by the world’s top presentation designer, Nancy Duarte. It will hold a permanent place next to Duarte’s Slide:ology on my bookshelf!”

Carmine GalloCommunication Skills Coach and Author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

“Resonate shows you how to evolve information into a story that connects with your audiences and rallies them to action. This powerful and groundbreaking work is essential reading for executives, entrepreneurs, students, teachers, civil servants—everyone with ideas and the desire to move them forward.”

Karen TuckerCEO, Churchill Club

resonate

PRESENT VISUAL STORIES THAT TRANSFORM AUDIENCES

Nancy Duarte

author of slide:ology

Resonate

Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences

by Nancy Duarte

Copyright © 2010 by Nancy Duarte. All rights reserved.

Design and production by Duarte Design, Inc.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.

ISBN: 978-0-470-63201-7

I miss you Daddy.

“The mystery lies in the use of language to express human life.”

Eudora Welty

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Great presentations are like magic. They amaze their audiences. And great presenters are like magicians. In addition to practicing regularly, both are reluctant to reveal the methods behind their performances. Among magicians, it is acceptable to reveal secrets to those who are committed to learning the art and becoming serious magicians. In that same context, Nancy Duarte is offering a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity, available to those who take presentations seriously.

Resonatecracks the code on how to orchestrate the invisible attributes that shape transformative audience experiences.

It all starts with becoming a better storyteller. Possessing the power to influence the beliefs of others and create acceptance of new ideas is timeless. The value of storytelling transcends language and culture. As we move rapidly toward a future of improved connections between people, cross-pollinated creativity, and digital effects, stories still represent the most compelling platform we have for managing our imaginations—and our infinite data. More than any other form of communication, the art of telling stories is an integral part of the human experience. Those who master it are often afforded great influence and enduring legacy.

Nancy Duarte understands how to align ideas to create world-shaping responses. No one else has been so exclusively focused on mastering the presentation space as a discipline, and few have worked across a broader spectrum of client profiles and communication challenges. She is passionate about building systems that make creative results replicable and scalable.

Nancy Duarte has an insatiable curiosity about processes—with a relentless drive to codify practices that have defied specification by others.

Over two decades and dozens of economic cycles, she has attracted extraordinary talent to her organization, and with a singular vision has established it as the industry leader. In fact, Duarte Design now lays claim to working with half of the world’s top fifty brands, and many of its most innovative thinkers. The analysis and insights in this book are distinctly competent.

Knowing a magic secret doesn’t make you a magician. You have to do more than just read instructions. Without exception, great presenters are very deliberate about learning how to refine and reveal their ideas. They hone their words, sweat the structure, and practice their craft rigorously. They constantly seek and adapt to feedback.

If great presentations were easy to build and deliver, they wouldn’t be such an extraordinary form of communication. Resonate is intended for people with ambition, purpose, and an uncommon work ethic.

Applied with passion and purpose, the concepts in this book will accelerate your career trajectory or propel your social cause. At Duarte Design, we see it happen every day. Few pursuits in professional self-improvement have as much potential leverage. All you really need is an idea. Most of the influential presenters throughout history—including those profiled in this book—started with one really good idea. You may be incubating that class of idea, or you may be one slide deck away from it; either way, you need to get it out in the open so that we can all benefit from it.

Nancy Duarte wants you to become a thought leader. She hopes you can give the rest of us the structure and direction we need to navigate challenges and opportunities, and help us interpret our goals. She expects you to make sense of chaos. She dares you to be transparent and evocative, motivational and persuasive. Above all, she trusts you to inspire action for our greater good.

Dan Post

President and Principal, Duarte Design

Introduction

Language and power are inextricably linked. The spoken word pushes ideas out of someone’s head and into the open so humankind can contend with adopting or rejecting its validity. Moving an idea from its inception to adoption is hard, but it’s a battle that can be won simply by wielding a great presentation.

Presentations are a powerfully persuasive tool, and when packaged in a story framework, your ideas become downright unstoppable. Story structures have been employed for hundreds of generations to persuade and delight every known culture.

Two years ago, I set out to uncover how story applies to presentations. There seemed to be a storylike magic to the presentations that caused change and spread broadly. Since I already had the context of thousands of presentations my firm had created for smart companies and causes, I studied what I didn’t know: screenwriting, literature, mythology, and philosophy—allowing myself to be led on a fascinating journey.

Early in my research, I stumbled on this graphic made in 1863 by German dramatist Gustav Freytag that he used to visualize the five-act structure popular in Greek and Shakespearean dramas. It shows the “shape” of a dramatic story. The drama builds toward a climax and then resolves.

When I saw Freytag’s pyramid, I knew that powerful presentations must also have a contour. I just didn’t quite know what the shape looked like yet. I also knew that presentations are different from dramatic stories because in a presentation, it’s rare to have a lone protagonist whose story builds toward a single climactic moment. Presentations have more layers and have disparate pieces of information to convey. Dramatic stories have a single climax as the crowning event whereas great presentations move along with multiple peaks that propel them forward.

I’ll never forget the Saturday morning when I finally sketched out a shape. I knew that if it was accurate, I should be able to overlay it onto two very different yet game-changing presentations. So I painstakingly analyzed Steve Jobs’s 2007 iPhone launch and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Both mapped to the form I had sketched. I cried. Literally. It felt like such a mystery had been revealed.

There’s something sacred about stories. They have an almost supernatural power that should be wielded wisely. Religious scholars, psychologists, and mythologists have studied stories for decades to determine the secret to their power.

It’s still the dawn of the information age, and we are all overwhelmed with too many messages bombarding us and trying to lure us to acquire and consume information (then repeat the process over and over). We are in a more selfish and cynical age, which makes it tempting to be detached. Technology has given us many ways to communicate, but only one is truly human: in-person presentations. Genuine connections create change.

You’ll notice that change is a theme throughout the book. Most presentations are delivered to persuade people to change. All presentations have a component of persuasion to them. This notion may ruffle some feathers. But isn’t there usually a desired outcome from what’s classified as an informative presentation? Yes. You’re moving your audience from being uninformed to being informed. From being uninterested in your subject to being interested. From being stuck in a process to being unstuck. Many times the audience needs to do something with the information you’re conveying, which makes your presentation persuasive.

So whether you’re an engineer, teacher, scientist, executive, manager, politician, or student, presentations will play a role in shaping your future. The future isn’t just a place you’ll go; it’s a place you will invent. Your ability to shape your future depends on how well you communicate where you want to be when you get there.

How to Use Resonate

Resonate is a prequel to my first book, Slide:ology. When I wrote Slide:ology, I thought the most pressing need in communications was for people to learn how to visually display their brilliant ideas so they were clearer and less overwhelming for the audience to process. Come to find out, there was a much deeper problem. Gussying up slides that have meaningless content is like putting lipstick on a pig.

Presentations are broken systemically, and the methodology in Resonate uses story frameworks to create presentations that will engage, transform, and activate audiences. After more than twenty years of developing presentations for the best brands and thought leaders in the world, we’ve codified our Visual Story™ methodology so you can change your world!

Below are design elements to be aware of:

The green

www

symbol signifies there’s additional material at

www.duarte.com

about the subject.

The Presentation Form™ is used as an analysis tool throughout the book and is visually expressed as a

sparkline

(a term developed by Edward Tufte).

The

bold text

is for the reader who wants to just skim and get a nugget from each spread.

The

blue body text

signifies my personal stories or excerpts from speeches.

There are citations from several sources in the body copy, but some deserved extra emphasis and are pulled out in

orange text.

This book is simultaneously an explanation, a how-to guide, and a business justification for story-based messaging. It will take you on a journey to a level of presentation literacy that very few have mastered. Using techniques from story and cinema, you will understand key steps for connecting to the audience, deferring to them as the hero, and creating a presentation that resonates.

Invest Your Time

Be forewarned: A high-quality in-person presentation takes time and planning, yet pressure on our time prevents us from preparing high-quality communications. It takes discipline to be a great communicator—it’s a skill that will bring a big payoff to you personally and to your organization.

But a recent survey conducted by Distinction had some startling findings. Of the executives surveyed, over 86 percent said that communicating clearly impacts their careers and incomes yet only 25 percent put more than two hours into preparing for very high-stakes presentations. That’s a big gap.

The result of investing in an important presentation is unparalleled in any other medium. When an idea is communicated effectively, people follow and change. Words that are carefully framed and spoken are the most powerful means of communication there is. The lifework of the communicators featured in this book are proof.

DISTINCTION COMMUNICATION EXECUTIVE SURVEY RESULTS

1

2

3

How would you rank the importance of personal presentation skills in what you do?

What do you find the most challenging part of creating a presentation?

How much time do you spend practicing for a “high-stakes” presentation?

86.1%

Communicating with clarity directly impacts my career and income.

35.7%

Putting together a good message.

12.1%

I seldom have time to practice at all.

13.8%

I present from time to time but the stakes don’t seem all that high.

8.9%

Creating quality slides.

16.2%

5–30 minutes.

0%

I don’t do any formal presentations.

13.8%

Delivering the presentation with confident skills.

17.0%

30 minutes to one hour.

41.1%

All of the above!

29.2%

One to two hours.

25.2%

More than two hours!

©www.distinction-services.com

Hope you enjoy,

Chapter 1Why Resonate?

Persuasion Is Powerful

Movements are started, products are purchased, philosophies are adopted, subject matter is mastered—all with the help of presentations.

Great presenters transform audiences. Truly great communicators make it look easy as they lure audiences to adopt their ideas and take action. This isn’t something that just happens automatically; it comes at the price of long and thoughtful hours spent constructing messages that resonate deeply and elicit empathy.

Throughout the book, you’ll learn from some of the greatest communicators. Each is different and yields a unique insight, yet they share a common thread: They all create a groundswell of support for their ideas. These communicators don’t have to force or command their audiences to adopt their ideas. Instead, the audience responds willingly with a surge of support.

Great Communicators

MOTIVATORBenjamin Zander, Conductor, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra

MARKETERBeth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer, GE

POLITICIANRonald Reagan, Former President of the United States

CONDUCTORLeonard Bernstein, Conductor, New York Philharmonic Orchestra

LECTURERRichard Feynman, Professor, California Institute of Technology

PREACHERJohn Ortberg, Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

EXECUTIVESteve Jobs, Chief Executive Officer, Apple Inc.

ACTIVISTMartin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Activist

ARTISTMartha Graham, Contemporary Dancer

Resonance Causes Change

Presentations are most commonly delivered to persuade an audience to change their minds or behavior. Presenting ideas can either evoke puzzled stares or frenzied enthusiasm, which is determined by how well the message is delivered and how well it resonates with the audience. After a successful presentation, you might hear people say, “Wow, what she said really resonated with me.”

But what does it mean to truly resonate with someone?

Let’s look at a simple phenomenon in physics. If you know an object’s natural rate of vibration, you can make it vibrate without touching it. Resonance occurs when an object’s natural vibration frequency responds to an external stimulus of the same frequency. Following is a beautiful visualization of resonance. My son poured salt onto a metal plate that he then hooked up to an amplifier so that the sound waves traveled through the plate. As the frequency was raised, the sound waves tightened and the grains of salt jiggled, popped, and then moved to a new place, organizing themselves into beautiful patterns as though they knew where they “belonged.” wwwThere is more at www.duarte.com

How many times have you wished that students, employees, investors, or customers would snap, crackle, and pop to exactly where they need to be to create a new future?

It would be great if audiences were as compliant and unified in thought and purpose as these grains of salt. And they can be. If you adjust to the frequency of your audience so that the message resonates deeply, they, too, will display self-organizing behavior. Your listeners will see the place where they are to move to create something collectively beautiful. A groundswell.

The audience does not need to tune themselves to you—you need to tune your message to them. Skilled presenting requires you to understand their hearts and minds and create a message to resonate with what’s already there. Your audience will be significantly moved if you send a message that is tuned to their needs and desires. They might even quiver with enthusiasm and act in concert to create beautiful results.

Change Is Healthy

Presentations are about change. Businesses, and indeed all professions, have to change and adapt in order to stay alive.

Organizations go through a life cycle of starting up, growing, maturing, and eventually declining—that is, unless they reinvent themselves. A business is usually founded because someone came up with a clear vision of the world in the future as an improved place. But that improved world quickly becomes an ordinary world. Once an organization arrives at maturity, it can’t get too comfortable. To avoid potential decline, it must alter and adapt its strategy so it’s at the right place at the right time in the future. If an organization doesn’t take a new path, it will eventually wither. Communicating each move carefully to all stakeholders and clients becomes critical.

It takes gutsy intuitive skills to move toward an unknown future that involves unfamiliar risks and rewards, yet businesses must make these moves to survive. Companies that learn to thrive in the chronic flux and tension between what is and what could be are healthier than those that don’t. Many times the future cannot be quantified with statistics, facts, or proofs. Sometimes leaders have to let their gut lead them into uncharted territories where statistics haven’t yet been generated.

An organization should make continual shifts and improvements to stay healthy. That makes even simple presentations at staff meetings a platform for persuasion. You need to persuade your team to self-organize at a distinct place in the future or it could bring the demise of the organization.

Getting ahead of the next curve requires courage and communication: Courage to determine the next bold move, and communication to keep the troops committed to the value of moving forward.

Rallying stakeholders to move together in a common course of action is all part of the innovation and survival process. Leaders at every level in an organization need to be skillful at creating resonance if that organization is to control its own destiny.

Business Transformation

“Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

George Bernard Shaw

Presentations Are Boring

Presentations are the currency of business activity because they are the most effective tool to transform an audience, yet many presentations are boring. Most are a dreadful failure of communication, and the rest are simply not interesting. Could there be a way to resuscitate them to a point where they not only show signs of life but actually engage audiences with rapt attention?

If you’ve been trapped in a bad presentation, you recognize the feeling almost immediately. You can tell within minutes that it’s just not good; it doesn’t take long to recognize a corpse! To make matters worse, it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep an audience’s attention as global cultures become media-rich environments. Slick ad agencies and Hollywood producers spend enormous amounts of time and money to build a pulse and rhythm into their media. While entertainment has raised the bar for audience engagement, presentations have become less engaging than ever.

So why then, if presentations are so bad, are they scheduled? People inherently know that connecting in person can yield powerful outcomes. We crave human connection. Throughout history, presenter-to-audience exchanges have rallied revolutions, spread innovation, and spawned movements. Presentations create a catalyst for meaningful change by using human contact in a way that no other medium can. Many times it isn’t until you speak with people in person that you can establish a visceral connection that motivates them to adopt your idea. That connection is why average ideas sometimes get traction and brilliant ideas die—it all comes down to how the ideas are presented.

Presentations with a pulse have an ebb and flow to them. Those bursts of movement result from contrast—contrast in content, emotion, and delivery. In the same way that your toe taps to a good beat, your brain enjoys tapping into ideas when something new is continually developing and unwrapping. Interesting insights and contrasts keep the audience leaning forward, waiting to hear how each new development resolves.

It takes a lot of work to breathe life into an idea. Creating an interesting presentation requires a more thoughtful process than throwing together the blather that we’ve come to call a presentation today. Spending energy to understand the audience and carefully crafting a message that resonates with them means making a commitment of time and discipline to the process.

There is a simple way to determine whether it’s worth putting this level of commitment into a presentation . . .

Just ask yourself: How badly do I want my idea to live?

The Bland Leading the Bland

The presenter’s job is to make the audience clearly “see” ideas. If your ideas stand out, they’ll be noticed.

The enemy of persuasion is obscurity.