We are so grateful to have had our friend and author of Presentation Zen, Presentation Zen Design, (and coming soon The Naked Presenter!) Garr Reynolds visit us last week. Garr gave us a sneak peek at some of what he’ll cover in his new book, and shared nine lessons from the Japanese bath. (Yes, nine!) Take a note from the onsen and be more comfortable naked with your next presentation!

Thanks to everyone who attended. We hope you enjoyed yourselves; we enjoyed having you!

Don’t forget to pre-order Garr’s new book, and save the date (Thursday, October 7) to attend Duarte’s next event, the Resonate Book Launch!

If you weren’t able to attend last week’s event, here’s what you missed.

Garr Reynolds at Duarte Aug ‘10 from Duarte Design on Vimeo.

The Live Stream has ended.

So happy you could join us!
Don’t forget to check out Garr’s new book The Naked Presenter.

If you can’t be with us tonight, we’ll miss you! But that doesn’t mean you have to miss us!
Check back here at 6 p.m. to watch a live stream of Garr Reynolds presentation.

Just in case something goes awry (gotta love technology!) you can access our Ustream channel here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/special-guest-garr-reynolds

Two years ago, I set out to uncover how story applies to presentations. There seemed to be a story-like magic to the presentations that caused change and spread broadly. Since I already had the context of thousands of presentations my firm had created for smart companies and causes, I studied what I didn’t know: screenwriting, literature, mythology, and philosophy—allowing myself to be led on a fascinating journey.

Early in my research, I stumbled on this graphic made in 1863 by German dramatist Gustav Freytag that he used to visualize the five-act structure popular in Greek and Shakespearean dramas. It shows the “shape” of a dramatic story. The drama builds toward a climax and then resolves.

When I saw Freytag’s pyramid, I knew that powerful presentations must also have a contour. I just didn’t quite know what the shape looked like yet. I also knew that presentations are different from dramatic stories because in a presentation, it’s rare to have a lone protagonist whose story builds toward a single climactic moment. Presentations have more layers and have disparate pieces of information to convey. Dramatic stories have a single climax as the crowning event whereas great presentations move along with multiple peaks that propel them forward.

I’ll never forget the Saturday morning when I finally sketched out a shape. I knew that if it was accurate, I should be able to overlay it onto two very different yet game-changing presentations. So I painstakingly analyzed Steve Jobs’s 2007 iPhone launch and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. Both mapped to the form I had sketched. I cried. Literally. It felt like such a mystery had been revealed.

There’s something sacred about stories. They have an almost supernatural power that should be wielded wisely. Religious scholars, psychologists, and mythologists have studied stories for decades, trying to determine the secret to their power.

It’s still the dawn of the information age, and we are all overwhelmed with too many messages bombarding us and trying to lure us to acquire and consume information (then repeat the process over and over). We live in a more selfish and cynical era, which makes it tempting to be detached. Technology has given us many ways to communicate, but only one is truly human: in-person presentations. Genuine connections create change.

Garr Reynolds will be in town next week, and we’re celebrating! Besides absolutely loving Garr, (and finding any excuse we can to have a party) Garr has a new book coming out, which is cause for celebration! The Naked Presenter will hit stores this fall, but is available now for pre-order on Amazon.

Join us for a drink, a bite to eat, and lots of  good conversation. After a healthy dose of socializing, Garr will share excerpts from his new book, and be available for Q&A.

Event Details:

Date: Thursday, August 26
Time: 5-7pm
Location: Duarte Design | 161 E. Evelyn Ave Mountain View, CA 94041
RSVP: Please visit http://garrnancy.eventbrite.com to let us know you’re coming!

(There’s a cap on attendance, so please RSVP as soon as possible.)

Ooh, and while I have your attention, please save the date for Nancy Duarte’s Resonate Book Launch Party on Thursday, October 7!

In our workshops we often show what great stories might look like had they been presented as PowerPoint presentations—usually to demonstrate how the typical business presentation can suck the life out of a powerful story.

We wondered what the PowerPoint version of the recent Double Rainbow web video would look like.  Here is what we thought it might be like, if it were taken and presented in the standard, bullet-style presentation:

Compare that to the original story.

Can you see that there is just something missing from the PowerPoint version?  Where is the passion?  Where is the memorable moment?  Where is the “whoa?”

So, the lesson is to be careful when following the default layouts in PowerPoint.  Ask yourself, “What would be the best way to convey this information?”  Perhaps a bulleted list isn’t the answer.  Maybe just telling a story from the heart will give your amazing story the impact it deserves.

Whoa…

If you have an important idea to spread, you’ll probably want it to spread beyond only the folks sitting in the room. Using social media tools can help give you and your idea further reach. Since it takes hours to prepare for a big presentation, it makes sense to get as much visibility for it as possible.

I got a sneak peek at a very interesting research study from Dan Zarrella (check out his book) over at HubSpot. He’ll be hosting a webinar about the findings from his paper The Science of Presentations. He analyzed extensive surveys and Twitter feeds to determine how social media tools can make an idea–in this case a presentation–contagious.

The audience surveyed was primarily social media folks so the first statistic was a bit of a surprise for me. Even though people spend a vast amount of time in presentations, thirty-five percent of respondents said they tweet about presentations never or less than once a year. Then, later the research showed that most presentations are tweeted for the audience to share information or novelty insights. In other words, people like to share things they’ve never heard before. So if you tie those two statistics together, it sounds like most presentations aren’t very informative or novel enough to tweet about. Let’s fix that!

There are tons of interesting insights from the study. And if you attend his webinar on Thursday August 19 at 1pm EDT and you’ll get a copy of his new e-book.

Here’s what I particularly enjoyed from the study:

1. 52% surveyed said they’ve joined a presentation because of a tweet. I’ve personally seen that happen. While delivering a presentation at Web2.0 in NYC about 20 minutes in, there was a nice surge of new attendees. I found out afterward that a Twitterer with a hefty following said my presentation was good so folks bolted from the boring sessions. Make sure your presentation is the one people are flocking toward, not from!
2. Notify the audience at the beginning of your presentations that you have an automatic PowerPoint-to-Twitter application running like SAP PowerPoint Twitter Tools. Using a tool like this auto-tweets important points as you’re presenting. This allows the audience to focus on your presentation and simply retweet your key points.
3. People are more likely to Tweet or blog about a presentation if they like the person giving it. The study also pointed out that the excitement and passion of the speaker impacted whether they would share via Twitter.

Caring about Twitter is important. Reviewing your Twitter feed after a presentation is like being a fly on the wall near the water cooler after your talk. People share what they thought was insightful and repugnant. It’s a great feedback mechanism for you as a communicator and also for the quality (or novelty) of your idea.

The end of the e-book has some great points about simplicity that you should print out and post on your wall. Also, Austin Carr over at Fast Company interviewed Dan on insights from Dan’s study and feedback on how simplicity works for Steve Jobs. It’s a nice read.

In the early 1400s, Florence, Italy was a hotbed of artistic competition. There were cathedrals to be built, giant baptistery doors to be sculpted, and lots of artists wanting to get in on the action.  Up-and-coming sculptor and architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, was one of those artists.  He had spent much of his life studying ancient Roman architecture and had entered his share of design competitions only to come in second to his more showy, but less qualified, peers. 

As a resident of Florence, Filippo lived in the shadow of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, the largest cathedral in the world at that time.  Construction on the cathedral had begun in 1296, but after its original architect was unable to come up with a way to construct a dome over the cathedral’s massive nave, the building had remained unfinished for nearly a century.

In 1409, the group in charge of the construction of the cathedral asked Filppo’s opinion about how the dome (cupola) should be built.  He offered several ideas based on his studies of ancient Roman domes, but to his frustration, none of them were implemented.

Nine years later in 1418, the group announced that they were accepting new ideas for how to design the dome.  While at first the competition was only open to local artists, the group eventually opened it up artists all across Europe.  Filippo submitted his name to be included and was eventually invited to participate.  He traveled to Rome to study ancient structures and worked out his design for the dome.

The day of the presentation arrived.  Master builders from all over Europe assembled in the unfinished cathedral.  Each architect presented his solution in turn.  Many ideas were presented.  One thought the dome should be made of “spongestone” to keep the weight down.  Another suggested that they put a giant pillar in the middle.  Yet a third proposed that the dome be filled with earth mixed with money during the construction, and then once it was finished, that citizens be allowed to dig for the money, removing all of the dirt in the process.

Filippo was last to present.  He was confident that he alone, based on his knowledge of ancient methods of dome creation and study of the Gothic techniques, had the answer.   He verbally described his solution: a dome within a dome, octagonal in shape, capped by a lantern to let in light, all of which would be constructed without scaffolding.  They were astonished by his claim and demanded to see his model.  Fearing that the other architects would steal his design, or that (even worse) his design might be given to someone else to build, Filippo flatly refused.

Filippo then issued a challenge, saying that the commission to build the dome should be given to the man who could make an egg stand on end, as that man would have the skills required for the job.  After the various architects tried in vain to accomplish it, Filippo took an egg, whacked it on its end and then placed it on the table where it stood upright and did not fall over.

The other architects protested that they could have done that, too, to which Filippo replied that they could have built the dome, too, had they seen his model.  Impressed, the judges awarded Filippo the commission to construct the dome.

The dome was completed in 16 years and is the largest dome ever created with bricks and masonry.  It has been credited as an inspiration for St. Peter’s dome, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and even the Capitol Dome in Washington, D.C., and is a must-see destination for all those who visit Florence.

Do you operate in a competitive environment?  Have your great ideas not gotten the chance they deserve?  Do you need to stand out from the crowd in order to be heard?  Sometimes it takes a little extra effort to push a great idea through the cloud of politics and jealousy into the light for everyone to see.

You can do that with your presentation.  Take a cue from a 15^th Century architect and be bold!  Consider using a S.T.A.R. Moment™.  Make yourself memorable.  Take a risk.  Your idea (and possibly the world) will thank you for it.

Listen in as Nancy chats with Alex Osterwalder about his latest book, Business Model Generation. Alex offers insight on how to create and manage successful business models, and explains how his visual approach allows him to illustrate complex concepts clearly and beautifully.