A Good Guide to Creating Exciting Presentations

You can learn how to give exciting presentations in “Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences”.

While the author teaches the design of clear and good-looking slides in her first book “slide:ology,” in this book she explains how to give exciting presentations.

Here, the author draws on tricks from Hollywood screenwriter Christopher Vogler (“The Writer’s Journey”) and the underlying theory of Joseph Campbell (“The Hero with a Thousand Faces”).

The audience is given the role of the hero of the story; you become their mentor and help them overcome the dangers. The author explains how to take the audience on this journey and make it exciting through good structuring and (emotional) contrasts.

I really liked how the author analyzes the structure of “real” presentations, such as those by Steve Jobs, using “sparklines.”

The whole thing is very readable and well-designed. A very nice example of the author’s ability to represent complex issues graphically with clarity (the theme of “slide:ology”) can be admired on pages 142-143 (search for “Process Recap” under “Look Inside”).

There are, however, a few small disadvantages, such as pages that look very empty (p. 67, 69). And there are also a few naive statements, like on p. 103: “in fact your next investor might make financial decisions by following his heart.” Investors without mathematical risk analyses are not investors for long. Unless the state steps in during insolvency, but that’s another story…

Of course, you cannot fully apply these techniques to every presentation; there are simply subject areas that resist being presented in story form, such as a presentation on “The advantages of the new programming language XYZ compared to ZYX.” However, after reading this book, you know how excitement is created in an audience. And that can’t hurt.

So overall, it is worthwhile to read through this book.

Nancy Duarte
Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences
John Wiley & Sons
2010