Customer Reviews

Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences

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I loved Nancy Duarte's 2008 book, Slide:ology. She has now written her first book, Resonate. Yes, you read right. Her second book came out two years ago. (Sort of like how the first Star Wars movies came out a couple of decades after the later films.)

Duarte describes Resonate as the prequel to Slide:ology. And she's right.

Resonate is the book to read first, because it is about the reason for giving a presentation: to change people's minds, to persuade, to take action. In contrast, Slide:ology is more about design of visuals: the things that you work on once you've know what you want to talk about.

At the core of Resonate is her thesis that all good presentations have a common structure. Great presentations start with "the way it is." Then, they make repeated contrasts between "the way it is" and "the way it could be." Finally, great presentations end with a call to action, and a promise that new, greater things are possible.

It's simple, but don't dare think for a second that it's stupid. Scientists will probably appreciate the repeated analysis that Duarte has done to show that this structure is variable and rich. It's similar to how stories can follow the same basic plot structure, but differ profoundly in almost every other way.

Another unexpected inversion is in how Duarte conceives of the importance of story. She has something more in mind than anecdotes or telling a narrative with a clear beginning, middle, and end. The presenter's role is not to be someone like Sherlock Holmes, who explains and unravels the plot.

The presenter's part is to be Ben Kenobi.

It takes a little while to get used to this view. At first, it's somewhat paradoxical to think of the person given a presentation as a supporting character. After all, this sort of character is not usually the most popular one in the movie. Everyone wants to be the central character. You are not.

These short summaries do not to the justice to the richness of these concepts, and there are many more besides. She talks at length about her work process for developing presentations, and how to persuade people, for instance.

Duarte has again written a deep book. Wonderful.

I love this book! The core concept of translating presentation from the boring to something of interest is not a new idea. However, this book book draws on many of the gems where I have found brilliant thought such as Joseph Campbell and Richard Feynman.

It's not just another business book. It runs deep and helps with a thought process. It brilliantly and visually presents concepts. I'm struggling for words because, oddly, I don't want to give away any of it! Can you give away the plot of a 'business' book? Well, if the book tells a story you could. So I won't.

I want to say this too. I read a lot of business related books and lately have been just burned out by all the shallow stuff and rehashes of old ideas. I mean really burned out from hearing the same old stuff. That said, I was thrilled from the first page of this book to find good, solid thinking presented in a fresh and exciting way. Also, my biggest fault with business type books is that they are long on what we should not do, short on what to do and completely lacking on HOW TO. Not this book. You get plenty of "how to."

My best clients will get this book as gift.

Chris Reich

I bought Slide-ology and wrote a review of it for peers at work. (I love sharing.) I stumbled across Nancy's new book, "Resonate" quite by accident and immediately ordered it here on Amazon. I have read a little over half(on pg. 126 of 232 currently--back matter constitutes another 15 pages or so).

Although I have truly found some material mentally invigorating, I do have two big criticisms:

1) Nancy (the author) uses the terms "resonate" and "frequency" in such vague ways that the reader never really quite figures out what she means. I really wonder if she herself knows what she means. I counted at least 4 contextual meanings, none of which are consistent. Its not that I need just one all-encompassing definition, its just I couldn't get a handle on just how to understand those terms.

2) The book is unnecessarily too long. I reviewed the TOC multiple times. Although it appears structurally logical, when I read the actual content, it seems to bounce around a great deal. I am not the sort of person to casually read a book of this sort. I have a pen with me and make copious marginal notes as well as added sticky-notes. Finally, I transcribe all my notes into a word document to create a summary that I can use as a reference. I found myself flipping back and forth, making cross-reference notes because a concept that was touched on (for example, "The Big Idea on pg. 78) is then expanded on page 120, "From Ideas to Messages." Now,

I appreciate the bk seems to intend to start with a "wide-angle" lens and then further in book, "zoom in" to details, but it would have been much more succinct (in my opinion) if all that were presented together at the outset. I would have organized the material in this book much differently. From my perspective, she fails her own advise on page 126 regarding establishing structure by repeatedly returning to the same matters over and over. My recommendation: Read the first 78 pages of the book, and you have the crux of the whole 232 pages.

So am I am saying "don't read this"? Not at all. Just know that if you truly want to reap the benefits of Nancy's insight, it will take more than just a casual read. You will need to take notes to glean and make any sense of this book. For example, even though she clearly defines "The Big Idea" on page 78 in the very first sentence, and she further explains WHAT it is in concise example on pg. 79, the chapter misses the mark explaining, how, when, where. The examples given are too terse to make sense of it. I'm sure some will take me to task on this write-up. Just remember, it is only my opinion.

Update 2010-1103: I have finished the book, gone back & completed an organized outline (from the disorganized mess this book was in) and even created a graphic that succinctly illustrates the overall "journey." Although I still hold to my stand that the 1st 78 pages IS the book, there are a couple other helpful items beyond that:

Developmental Organization of content: pages 142 to 143
Examples of use of tugging on heart-strings to teach a lesson: pages 156-161

I did make several marginal notes throughout the book, but after going through it, if I found what i needed was a checkoff list. So i created my own containing all the questions I need to answer in the development phase. Unfortunately, it would mean nothing to those who haven't read the book, so read it and develop your own checklist.

This is a nice glossy book with great illustrations and color coded text to enhance reading. If you don't have any books on storytelling or using a storytelling style in your presentations, this will be a great place to start. Duarte does not present any new ideas but effectively covers the theories and approaches of others. If you watch speeches at Ted.com, read about Joseph Campbell's epic myth, and view some information on the 3-act play format for screenwriting, you will cover the content presented in this book.

If you truly want to understand and appreciate the intricacies of the presentation process, Resonate is a must read. As a presentation skills instructor in a public high school, never have I seen a book that so describes the presentation process in depth and detail as this. I can hardly wait to "dissect" all the information and nuances to teach to my students. Definitely one of the four books on presentations that contribute to create the "Gospels of Presentations". Enlightening, Profound and Outstanding!!!

This book is about how to develop and deliver rousing, rethorical speeches in the Martin Luther King and Barack Obama style. If that is what you are after, you should definitely read it. If your speeches are more of the practical or presentation kind, like mine, other books fit better. In any case, the book is a pleasure to look through.

Nancy Duarte has done it again.

Her new book, resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences, is a prequel to the best-selling slide:ology, which set a new standard for excellence in PowerPoint design. Resonate is the book to read before you read slide:ology, because it explains how to understand audiences, create persuasive content and structure a talk before firing up PowerPoint.

The book equals slide:ology's beauty, sharing the same high production standards and stunning graphics. But don't be seduced by its design or the misled by the subtitle. My one complaint with resonate is that the subtitle is too limiting. It's far more than a book on how to "present visual stories"; rather, it's an extensive listing of the secrets and essential truths of the best storytellers and public speakers, whether they use visuals or not.

Whereas Duarte's first book explored the intricacies of design and the contrasts of the color wheel, resonate explores the intricacies of storytelling and effective ways to build emotional contrasts into the core of the speakers' message.

The book not only opposes the cultural norm that presentations are nothing more than written reports, filled with mind-numbing detail; it also stands firmly on the side of the speaker who tells a story, crafted to produce an emotional response and deliver a memorable experience. Stories, Duarte explains, have conveyed meaning to audiences through the ages. They've been a tool of persuasion since the earliest myths were told around campfires.
Hearts and minds

The fundamental secret of changing the audience's minds, Duarte tells us, is to tell a story that resonates with them:

"The audience does not need to tune themselves to you--you need to tune your message to them. Skilled presenting requires you understand their hearts and minds and create a message to resonate with what's already there."

The strength of the book is the clarity with which Duarte explains, step by step, how to change the minds of an audience. From the screenwriter who opens a movie with an inciting incident to an understanding of the stages of the hero's journey in a novel, Duarte explains how to deliver presentations where something magical happens. Of course, that means her suggestions can be used for good or evil; for example, she explains how Enron executives used presentations as a propaganda device to spread lies and defraud thousands. Fortunately, her other case studies describe presentations which change the world for the better, with inspirational messages that convey feeling, emotion and meaning.

`Sparklines'

Duarte has invented a powerful analytical tool she calls a "sparkline" to map the structure of any speech. A sparkline is a graphical representation of a presentation that shows the points at which it moves between describing "what is" to describing "what could be." Color-coding and text-positioning on the sparkline reveal the "shape" of a particular presentation and map the audience response by noting laughter and applause. No two sparklines are alike, because no two presentations are alike.

Sparklines offer communications professionals a way to make an impact in the C-Suite. Anyone with the time (and courage) to create a sparkline analyzing executive speeches in your own organization will now be able to deliver a report on the strengths and weaknesses of the presentation that can be grasped at a glance.
Turning information into stories

If you are responsible for executive communications in the corporate world, you'll appreciate the practical steps Duarte shares that turn abstract information into emotionally appealing stories. Her case study on how her company--Duarte Design--transformed a single high-tech product slide into a story with a "hero" who faces conflicts and challenges that the product then solves, shows what can be achieved with a little creative effort.

The creative process that Duarte Design uses with clients such as Cisco Systems, Google, Adobe and Microsoft is outlined for all of us to learn and apply as we grow in our careers. As Dan Post, the President of Duarte Design, says in the foreword:

"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 .... Few pursuits in professional self-improvement have as much professional leverage."

Changing the world

Duarte's real heroes are those people who give speeches that change the world, none more so than Dr. Martin Luther King. Her sparkline analysis of his I Have a Dream speech is worth the price of the book. She analyzes the "shape" of King's speech as it moves from what is to what could be, highlighting the use of repetition, dramatic pauses and metaphor to change the minds of his audience and ultimately change the world.

Nancy Duarte's elegant book highlights the importance of good storytelling in public speaking. Storytelling has been too often missing from (especially) the business world, and Nancy's system of presentation development will show business people how to add stories back in to otherwise dry speeches. This is as good a book as slide:ology, and that's saying a lot.

Ever since finding Nancy's first book, slide:ology, I have been a big fan of her work and thinking. I used her first book to create a visual presentation for my book Personality Not Included and also assigning it as required reading for a Masters level Global Communications class I teach at Georgetown University. While slide:ology was very focused on the principles of creating a great presentation, this book is described in her own words as a "prequel" because of its focus on how to create a compelling story instead of just offering best practices on how to share it. As a communicator who does both on stage presentations and works on creating compelling marketing strategy through storytelling for clients, I found Nancy's framework to be both simple and useful. While some of her observations like "the audience is the hero" and the need to "create common ground" may seem like obvious suggestions - the way she packages these truths with the teaching style of a storyteller in the book makes them actionable. Ultimately, as she also shares in the book - there is "always room to improve" and she manages to follow her own advice in this second book by thinking outside the slides. Even if all your presenting is done with Powerpoint, focusing on the story instead of the slides is the real secret to being a compelling presenter and communicator. Resonate is a brilliant guidebook to help you get there. (This review was originally posted on the Influential Marketing blog).

At first glance, Nancy Duarte's new book is a bit intimidating. Beautifully designed in an over-sized, glossy, full-color format, it doesn't fit in my bookshelf, much less my preconceived notions of a guide to public speaking. While it runs a thick 248 pages, the content itself, if surgically removed and re-purposed into a traditional book format, might run only 100. I say that not as a criticism, but as an encouragement to the reader - open this book, read the first two pages of chapter one, and you'll be hooked for the next few hours as you get sucked into Nancy Duarte's energetic, creatively clinical, and graphically stimulating compilation of public speaking wisdom.

resonate is as practical as it is artful. In a sense, it's the Gray's Anatomy* of speaking. Each aspect of speech writing and speech giving is given fair time, illustrated by examples ranging from creative diagrams of storytelling, to careful analysis of online speeches we're able to see for ourselves, to the most intensive graphic dissection of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech I've ever seen. Duarte's 'Sparkline' method of speech analysis provides a unique visual approach to speech structure, as in the illustration below:

Case studies are plentiful, and include such diverse presentations as President Reagan's address to the nation after the Challenger explosion, Interpretive Dancer Martha Graham, and Michael Pollan's dramatization from 2009's Pop!Tech. Each is carefully chosen to highlight specific points in Duarte's methods, proving their flexibility across a wide variety of speaking opportunities.

Techniques such as Making the Audience the Hero, explanations of Syd Field's Paradigm, illustrations of The Hero's Journey, are but three early examples of Duarte's analytical approach to speaking. Yet, far from being an advocate of cold and clinical speech creation, concepts later in the book include Create Emotional Contrast, More Than Just Facts, and Don't Be So Cerebral. Fusing fact with emotion and reality with possibility, are dominant themes throughout.

What stands out most to me in Duarte's latest book is that while there is very little, if any, new information in the book, it presents it's wisdom in such a way as to make even the most jaded student of speaking feel like they are discovering their speaking secrets for the very first time. This is the secret secret of the book, in my eyes. As speakers, we are rarely, if ever, covering ground our audience has not traversed in the past - but it is our job to bring them through familiar territory with a fresh perspective, a new outlook. By making us look at our speechcraft through innovative lenses, we can't help but consider renovating our current speeches, tearing them to shreds as a necessary sacrifice to rebuilding a higher form of presentation, transforming ourselves as we work to transform our audiences.

Whether you're a new or seasoned speaker, resonate offers a challenging look at the way we present today, and offers a myriad of systems, strategies, and solutions, whether your next speech is in front of your Toastmasters group, your stockholders, or 2000 presentation-weary conventioneers.

After reading it through, I'll be focusing on it chapter by chapter, looking for ways to directly apply Nancy Duarte's expertise to my own - I recommend you do the same. It can only help you as you endeavor to Speak....and Deliver.