Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘Slideology’

Oct 18

Presentation fatigue

Over the weekend, Nancy Duarte wrote an article about presentation fatigue. This follows the news that an officer in Afghanistan had been fired from his post after voicing his frustration with military slide presentations. In the article, she follows her own communication rules, beginning with why this matters:

Why does this matter? Because presentations decide elections, military strategies and multibillion-dollar business deals; they educate our children and they spread the ideas that shape society’s most important goals and directives. … For professionals and citizens in every strata of society, true literacy now includes the ability to communicate effectively through presentations. 



I agree with her assessment. The ability to communicate clearly, tell a compelling story, use visuals that maintain audience attention, and ultimately lead people to a new understanding is essential. Don’t miss her great stories and examples. Then check out my review of Resonate.

Stay tuned, Friesen Group is getting ready to announce a presentation workshop that will take you beyond bullet points.

Sep 22

3 Comments

Stories that resonate

Nancy Duarte’s new book, resonate (sic), landed on my porch yesterday. A quick read-through showed that in the new book, she is building on her work in slide:ology (sic). The main point? Even a well designed PowerPoint or Keynote slide will not connect with the audience unless the speaker has a compelling story to communicate.

The book delivers a review of story design techniques. I appreciate the case studies and process descriptions that make the material practical. Even more importantly she asks each person to reflect on how and why they communication (p. 216):

Passion for your idea should drive you to invest in its communication.

I have experienced first hand the power of story to connect people and groups, to form networks, and to create something that didn’t exist in the past. This book is worth reading if you want to consider how you communicate – whether or not you stand in front of a group to do it.

Stories with Wings
Goldberg’s Rule
ru comunic8N?

%d bloggers like this: