Story, Imagery & the Art of 21st Century Presentation: Garr Reynolds at TEDxKyoto 2012. Structure Your Presentation Like a Story - Nancy Duarte. By Nancy Duarte | 8:00 AM October 31, 2012 After studying hundreds of speeches, I’ve found that the most effective presenters use the same techniques as great storytellers: By reminding people of the status quo and then revealing the path to a better way, they set up a conflict that needs to be resolved.
That tension helps them persuade the audience to adopt a new mindset or behave differently — to move from what is to what could be. And by following Aristotle’s three-part story structure (beginning, middle, end), they create a message that’s easy to digest, remember, and retell. Here’s how it looks when you chart it out: For Presentations, Half As Long Is Twice As Good. Here’s a New Year’s resolution that’s a lot easier than losing 10 pounds--and with the tough marketplace we face in 2013, it will make your business more competitive.
Are you a team manager or a sales director responsible for delivering weekly presentations to your teams? Do you lead conference calls with hundreds of employees listening in? Are you the CEO? If so, resolve to limit your presentations to no longer than 15 minutes--including Q&A. It’s not hard.