Presentations are the most amazing persuasion tool available in organizations today Nancy Duarte More Quotes by Nancy Duarte More Quotes From Nancy Duarte President Reagan was a master communicator. In this particular speech he did a brilliant job moving between the stately role of U.S. President and a national eulogist. The pain of the event was etched on his face. In 4 short minutes, he addressed five different audiences. He spoke to the collective mourners, families of the fallen, NASA employees, school children, and even took a poke at Russia. He communicated comfort and patriotism within a very short timeframe. That's not easy to do. Nancy Duarte pain children moving Structure is what makes communication hang together. It's like the rails that a train runs on. Without them, things wouldn't move very far. If you only have time to do one thing in your presentation, make sure it has a clear and identifiable structure. Without this, you'll have no credibility. Once you've organized your ideas, if you step back and look at it, many times we've organized topics. We've strung together a structure with organized topics. At this point, change your topics into messages. Nancy Duarte communication running moving When someone says "that resonates with me" what they are saying is "I agree with you" or "I align with you." Once your ideas resonate with an audience, they will change. But, the only way to have true resonance is to understand the ones with whom you are trying to resonate. You need to spend time thinking about your audience. What unites them, what incites them? Think about your audience and what's on their mind before you begin building your presentation. It will help you identify beliefs and behavior in your audience that you can connect with. Resonate with. Nancy Duarte thinking-about-you mind trying In myths and movies, the mentor can play a few roles: they bring the hero a magical gift, teach them how to use a special tool, or help the hero get unstuck. In a presentation setting, the presenter is the mentor. Our role as a presenter is similar to a mentor. We should be brining something of important value to our audience, they should not leave empty handed. There should be something useful and somewhat life-altering that we give them. It's not very often that we sit through a presentation and feel like we've sat at the feet of a mentor, but we should. Nancy Duarte special hero giving My hope is that design thinking becomes an innovative discipline and not just the trend of the decade. As a nation and globally, we have some of the biggest problems to solve we have ever faced. We need innovative ways to solve our problems and communicating the solutions will be paramount. Original thinking, complex problem solving, and collaboration are all important skills for our future. Nancy Duarte design discipline thinking My best advice is to not start in PowerPoint. Presentation tools force you to think through information linearly, and you really need to start by thinking of the whole instead of the individual lines. Nancy Duarte best think you thinking Your ability to shape your future depends on how well you communicate where you want to be when you get there. When ideas are communicated effectively, people follow and change. Nancy Duarte you future change people The future isn't just a place you'll go. It's a place you will invent. Nancy Duarte will place you future Most presenters are consumed with preparing their content rapidly, which makes the material about their own narrow perspective. Nancy Duarte content about own perspective Some people rehearse to a point where they're robotic, and they sound like they have memorized their presentation and didn't take it to the next level. Going from sounding memorized and canned to sounding natural is a lot of work. Nancy Duarte some-people sound work people Phrases that have historical significance or become headlines don't just magically appear in the moment. They are mindfully planned. Nancy Duarte become just moment historical