Duarte Blog

A Presentation Isn’t Always the Right Way to
Communicate
By Nancy Duarte | 2 min read
We rarely think about whether presentations are the right way to communicate; we just blindly
create and deliver them. By some estimates, 350 presentations, on average, are delivered every
second of every day.
Unfortunately, presentations can’t be the Swiss Army knife of communication. Though they’re
one of the most powerful tools we have for moving an audience, even the most carefully crafted
talks won’t be effective if they’re not delivered in the right context. Sometimes, a conversation is
much more appropriate and effective.
How do you know when that’s the case? Ask yourself what you want to get out of the time you
have with the group. Do you need to simultaneously inform, entertain, and persuade your
audience to adopt a line of thinking or to take action? Or do you need to gather more
information, have a discussion, or drive the group toward consensus to get to your desired next
step? Generally, if your idea would be best served by more interaction with your audience, you
should probably have a conversation instead of delivering a presentation.
The best conversations will happen when you’ve briefed everyone ahead of time on the
information you’re going to discuss. (Otherwise, you waste valuable meeting time playing catch-
up instead of working toward your goal.) To get everyone up to speed, create a visual document
in presentation software — what I call a Slidedoc – and circulate it before the meeting.
Of course, it’s common practice to circulate decks of slides before meetings, but often they’re
too opaque to be understood without guidance from a presenter — or they’re so packed with
“teleprompter” text that people have a hard time digesting them. Asking everyone to decode your
cryptic bullets or plow through a lot of verbiage before you meet is setting yourself up for
disappointment. Nobody has the time, and your ideas could get lost in translation. So give people
a document that’s meant to be read, not presented. One they’ll grasp quickly and easily on their
own.
You can create a Slidedoc by re-chunking your message into key points and illustrating them
with pictures or diagrams, along these lines:
Studies show that this combination — concise text paired with visuals — helps people
understand and retain concepts more easily. As clinical psychologist and author Haig
Kouyoumdjian points out, “Our brain is mainly an image processor (much of our sensory cortex
is devoted to vision), not a word processor. In fact, the part of the brain used to process words is
quite small in comparison to the part that processes visual images.” So, pare down the wording,
but leave enough context to allow your deck to live on its own without your voiceover.
Slidedocs can serve not only as prereading for conversations but also as emissaries and follow-up
material. For example, when people in positions of influence say, “Send me your slides,” before
they’ll book a meeting with you, you can e-mail them a Slidedoc with all the relevant
information. Slidedocs can also outline what people can do to give your idea traction after
you’ve sold them on its value in a presentation.
But why use presentation software for these types of communication? Because it allows you to
create modular content that’s easy to share, and it’s much easier for the layperson to use when
combining visuals and prose than, say, professional design software. For both reasons, it will
extend the reach of your ideas — which is, after all, the point.
A version of this article originally appeared in HBR.
Illustrated by Sofia Gonzalez

Power of the Pre-Read: Make Mighty
Recommendations Through Story
By Mike Pacchione | 4 min read
Recently, a participant in one of our workshops asked me how to handle a situation where she
sends a pre-read deck—we call these Slidedocs, then has to present it to people who have
(presumably) already seen her deck. I was in a rush and gave an okay, but not fantastic answer. It
has been haunting me ever since.
I’d like to remedy that. So, Lannon in Malvern, PA, this answer is for you.
It’s easy to ask “what do I do when people have already seen the deck?” and wonder “why am I
presenting at all? They’ve read it already.” Those are fair questions. It does seem like the
presentation itself would be repetitive, that you’ve already given out all the answers. It does
seem that way.
There is, however, a major difference between seeing the Slidedoc pre-read deck and
understanding the Slidedoc pre-read deck.
Put another way: There’s a major difference between “they’ve clicked ‘open’ on the deck and
scanned through it” versus “they’ve opened the deck, printed it, taken notes on it, obsessed over
it.” Hint: it’s unlikely your audience is in that second category.
If your audience is in that first category (and they probably are), you should, at minimum,
provide a refresher on the Slidedoc. We’d generally recommend a two minute summary of the
whole thing, then open up for questions.
So, at the very least you should be summarizing what is in the Slidedoc pre-read deck and asking
for questions.
But what if they have done the reading already? That’s great news! Now you get to make your
presentation come alive. If they’ve already seen all your stats, your charts and your cost/benefit
analysis, you can now spend your energy weaving together a compelling story.
When people hear “story,” some are intimidated, and others think stories sound fluffy (i’m
talking to you, analysts). Let’s set the record straight:
1. Telling a story doesn’t mean you start with “Once upon a time.” It doesn’t mean you’ve
consulted a screenwriting book. It means you’re communicating something that
happened—in reality or fantasy—focusing on a person or group of people as they
journey from where they are now to where they want to be. It means you convey your
information within the familiar structure of beginning, middle, and end.
2. A story does not need to be long. In many cases, it would do a world of good to tell a
two-minute story preceding a deep dive into the Slidedoc pre-read deck.
3. The easiest way to tell an effective story is to make it about a human being (or human
beings) in the data population you’ve studied. If your data samples show habits of
frequent flyers, describe a day in the life of a frequent flyer. If it’s about the capacity of
your website, tell a story of what happens to a user when the server is overloaded. If the
data is about switching HR software, walk us through a user’s pain point with the
current software.
Take this example: Let’s say you’re a new operations hire at a major company and you’re in
charge of increasing productivity and efficiency. Through your research, you found out that your
average employee spends 15 minutes every year updating their HR benefits. Good stat.
Understandable stat. Probably not one that moves the needle when there are more pressing
issues. What does 15 minutes a year matter?
You know how much it matters, but how do you convey that to your manager? Well, if you
connect to a human element and work the statistic into a story, you might have something like
this:
This is Todd. Todd works in marketing. Every November he gets an email about updating his
benefits. His life hasn’t changed substantially in the past year – no marriage, no kids, no need to
change his medical, his dental, his 401k. All Todd wants to do is say “hey, give me the same as
last year.”
But there’s a problem. In order to say “give me the same as last year,” Todd has to find his
password (he doesn’t remember), write down how he answered all 42 of last year’s questions,
then click the appropriate boxes. Doesn’t sound like much, but it takes most employees 15
minutes for that whole process.
Well I checked with benefits. 70% of our employees make zero changes year to year. Let’s do the
math. We have 500 people at this company. That’s 350 Todds spending 15 unnecessary minutes
each. We are losing 87 1/2 hours of manpower every year simply for people checking the exact
same boxes they checked 12 months earlier.
We need to change this.

Thankfully, I learned about Awesome Benefits Software X, which automates our answers from
the previous year. I’ve previewed what I like about it in the Slidedoc pre-read deck I sent out.
Let’s look through it together and I’ll try to answer any questions you have.
Now you have their attention.
Telling a story might feel weird, unnatural or even risky. It does take more effort, and thus, more
time. The voice in the back of your head might be saying “that sounds hard” or “that’s going to
take too much time.” You need to ask that voice in the back of your head a question: how much
time will it save in the long-run to have people appreciate what you’re talking about?
Here’s the best part: not many people actually do this, so you’re guaranteed to stand out.
Because most people find it so odd to present on a Slidedoc pre-read deck they’ve already sent,
they don’t put much effort into the presentation. They literally present the same words they’ve
written on paper. Instead of doing this, prime your audience with the Slidedoc pre-read, tell the
story in the presentation, and ultimately drive the point home. When you do, your presentation
will resonate that much deeper.
And that, Lannon in Malvern, PA is what you should do when you’re asked to present on your
pre-read.
Illustrated by Jenna Wilke

Use Contrast in the Middle of a Presentation
to Transform
Doing a quick internet search for “Tips for the beginning of a presentation” and “Tips for
presentation endings,” will serve up thousands of relevant results. But just try looking for tips on
how to write the bulk of your presentation—the middle, and you won’t find much. That’s
because most people don’t understand the significance of the middle of a presentation, and in
turn, tend to overlook it—even though it has the power to be the most persuasive part.
The middle is the longest section of the presentation and the place where you can persuade an
audience to your position on how to solve a problem. The middle is also where you can give
your talk a narrative structure, based in story frameworks, that creates suspense to hook your
listeners, which can make your talk riveting.
How Do I Write an Effective Middle of a Presentation?

Use Story Archetypes and Make Your Audience the Hero
Write your talk as if the audience is the hero of your idea who will help you make it a reality.
To effectively shape the middle of a presentation around your listeners, get to know them well
enough to craft content that feels relevant. Create an Audience Needs Map so you can better
understand who they are and what will speak to them.
Once you’ve investigated things like audience fears, goals, hopes, interests, daily roles,
responsibilities, and more, try to anticipate their resistance to the ideas you are presenting. Or,
predict the obstacles they might encounter while trying to adopt them.
Write the middle of a presentation as a story about overcoming that resistance or surpassing
those obstacles. Stories are inherently about overcoming hardships to get to a desired goal. A
presentation utilizing this structure will feel familiar to them and help them digest the
information you have to offer.
A great example of a talk that portrays the audience as hero is Bill Gates’ 2009 TED Talk “On
Mosquitoes, Malaria, and Education.” Gates describes several global issues his foundation is
trying but struggling to tackle (i.e. rampant malaria and poor education). He then defers to
audience members as the brilliant minds who can help him fix the problems.
By outlining potential solutions and predicting possible hurdles, Gates paints a clear picture of
what would be needed from listeners to help reach his goals and inspires them to take action.
Capture and Keep Attention by Weaving in Contrast
Contrast is key when it comes to creating a compelling middle of a presentation. Infuse contrast
into the middle so it grips and holds people’s attention. You can:
• Juxtapose “What Is” vs. “What Could Be”: Describe your hero’s current state with the
one they could reach if they support your idea or do what you’re urging. Create contrast
by describing a not-so-great present that will make them see the need for change. Then,
talk about a potential much-better future if they take action on your ideas. Contrasting
the present and the possible future is a powerful technique for creating suspense and
propelling listener’s mindsets forward.
• Incorporate Emotional and Analytical Content: Stories trigger emotional appeal. Facts
can work to convince through logical appeal.Throughout the middle, alternate
emotional narrative elements with illustrative facts and stats. Contrasting the type of
content you deliver keeps an audience from feeling your content is mundane. It also
helps you appeal to a variety of listeners: those who prefer creative, story-like content,
and then those who are more analytical-brained and need cold, hard data to be
persuaded.
Step in and Be the Mentor They Can Trust
When listeners feel you relate to them, you can more easily demonstrate empathy, and studies
show that empathy directly generates feelings of trust.
When the audience trusts you, you can influence the audience at critical junctures. Just like the
mentor in stories, you appear in the journey to help them move past blockades of doubt and fear.
Explain how the ideas and beliefs you are presenting help them get unstuck. Be authoritative and
knowledgeable about how and why. As a trusted guide, you can convince listeners that your
ideas are worth adopting, and then inspire them to heed your call for forward movement.
A successful talk has three parts—each of which has a job. Your beginning may start you off on
the right foot and your closing can hammer home your message. But the middle of a presentation
is where the action really happens.
Write the bulk of your presentation as if it is a story about a heroic audience member who
struggles—but succeeds—at their mission. You’ll have them lured into a story about how they
can improve their present situation and inspire them to adopt new behaviors that help them (and
you) reach their goals.
3 Speaking Skills That Will Help You
Communicate Data
By Doug Neff | 4 min read
Have you ever had lunch with a genius? And I don’t mean just someone really smart, but
someone who lives and breathes their profession and can explain its mysteries with both passion
and skill to anyone, regardless of education. I’ve met many geniuses like this in my life, and
those conversations are some of my favorites.
When we sit down and start talking, they come to life, relishing in my questions (even the dumb
ones!) and bringing to life a complex subject so far outside my experience that sometimes I
didn’t even know it existed. (I’m looking at you, quantum mechanics.) They tell me about
DATA as though it is something alive and vital. They explain complex concepts as easily as I
would explain basic math to a child.
I’m often amazed to find that these same people are capable of delivering a boring presentation.
And yet they are; I’ve seen it! Something happens to them—whether it’s the shift from one
audience member to many or the addition of a wireless lavalier microphone to their collar or the
presence of slides or something else happening in the non-visible spectrum—they get boring.
Delivering complex data to an audience isn’t always easy. In fact, for many people, especially
analytical types, it’s downright hard. In the public speaking workshops we offer at Duarte, we
typically focus on increasing a speaker’s comfort, dynamism, and empathy in order to elevate
their overall speaking skills. However, when it comes to the introverts and analytical types
among us I’ve found that focusing on becoming more dynamic can be a very effective place to
start.
To begin with, dynamism is an expansive quality that brings energy and power to the room. But
being a more dynamic speaker can also help you capture an audience’s attention and reinforce
your message. It’ll help you get through to your audience so that they don’t just leave with a
head full of numbers, but rather with a heart bought into the story your numbers told.
The good news is that you likely already know the secret of dynamism. The secret of dynamic
presentation is intentionality, the simple act of making a plan before you take the stage. Think
about it, you’re methodical about your research, intentional about your slides… why shouldn’t
the same principle apply to your stage presence? As you’re practicing your delivery, the question
floating in the back of your mind should always be, “how can I be more purposeful with my
movements and voice?” That intention should determine how you move on stage, what you do
with your hands, and how you use your voice.
As we dive deeper into each of these techniques be sure to remember that there are no hard and
fast rules about how to implement them… it all depends on who you are. Recognize your
strengths and your natural speaking style and build upon it! A speaker coach or personalized
workshop can be helpful to hone in on leveraging your strengths but to take the first steps, read
on.
1. Make your Movements Matter:
When you step out onto a stage, your movements can either be a distraction or an asset. As
opposed to wandering or standing stoically behind the podium, move purposefully. If you’re
utilizing a timeline, walk across the stage and pause as the slides change, using your physical
presence to mirror the markings on the screens.
A dynamic presenter recognizes that their movements also communicate a story—and that those
movements should add, not subtract, from the main message.
Pro Tip: Take a video yourself giving your presentation then watch it on double speed or on
mute. Are your movements taking away from, or adding to your performance?
2. Speak With Your Hands
Speech consultant Vanessa Van Edwards recently studied famous TED Talks. Contrary to what
many of us may have learned in Toastmasters, hand motions might not be distractions after all.
In her interview with The Washington Post, Van Edwards explains the talks, “that went viral and
became wildly popular featured speakers who used their hands the most.” When the brain sees
hand gestures in tandem with hearing a voice, she continues, “it’s getting two explanations in
one.”
Imagine giving a physics presentation where you must explain the various parts of an atom.
Instead of using words alone, your hands can add an entirely new dimension to the presentation.
Your hands are a part of the story and everything the audience is experiencing. In addition to
using them to illustrate ideas, you can also move them carefully to underline key points,
exaggerating movement before returning them to a neutral position.
A dynamic presenter uses their hands purposefully, adding another layer to their verbal
communication.
Pro Tip: Plan at least five intentional hand movements you can add to your next presentation.
3. Vocalize Deliberately
Think about your favorite audiobook and the passages that kept you on the edge of your seat, the
memorable quotes engraved on your mind, the dialogue that brought tears to your eyes. Like the
narrator of that story, you have a similar obligation to your audience. Leverage the power of your
voice to keep your guests entertained.
If your voice stays the same throughout your presentation, it’s challenging for your audience to
know what’s important and what isn’t… and also to stay awake. Direct your audience’s attention
to your main points with strategic pauses, variance in pitch, and speed of speech.
A dynamic presenter emphasizes critical points with their voice, “underlining” relevant
information with their speech.
Public speaking is hard for anyone, but it can feel especially challenging for the analysts,
researchers, and scientists tasked with communicating complex data and information to an
audience. However, as it happens, those same people often make the best lunch companions—
and they’re the people best suited to be dynamic presenters, they just don’t know it yet.
Remember, the secret of dynamic presentation is intentionality. Instead of being afraid, approach
your stage presence with the meticulousness you apply to your research.
Before you take the stage, take time to plan your movements and think about where you’re going
to stand. Remember that your hands are part of the story, what are you going to make them
say? Carefully review your slides and mentally note (or better yet, actually note) where to
vocalize deliberately. Finally, remember it’s okay to get passionate! Part of being dynamic is
letting your personality shine through.
Pro Tip: Before taking the stage, write out what inspires you about the content and taps into
your passions.
Tell your story right—with all the same passion you bring to the work itself—and the audience
will walk away with greater understanding.
How to Write a Great Talk: Murder Your
Darlings
Writing teachers commonly use the phrase “kill your darlings” to describe the editing process.
But, most don’t even realize it comes from prolific British author Arthur Quiller-Couch, who
offered an even more extensive guideline for editing in his 1914 lecture on style: “Whenever you
feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—wholeheartedly—and
delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.”
The same advice applies to your presentations. It’s easy to forget that crafting a presentation is a
writing assignment and the first draft of anything is only “okay.” It can always be improved.
Because it’s hard to come up with great ideas, it’s brutal to kill one. But if you want your most
important ideas to shine, you’ll want to learn to make those severe cuts and let go of seemingly
brilliant or well-written ideas.
Audiences need clarity to really understand your ideas. A study from MIT shows that humans
can only process one bit of information at a time. So, whittling a presentation down to its most
essential concepts helps ensure you won’t overwhelm listeners with ideas they can’t digest.
Audience members don’t want it to feel like work to figure out what’s important in your content
and what’s not. Keep in mind the length of your presentation matters, since multiple studies have
shown that listener attention declines significantly starting at the 10-minute mark. Edit your talk
to make sure it’s a length people will be engaged with and can stay tuned into.
Editing your presentation is essential, but doing it right is also tough. How do you determine
what to cut out and what to leave in—especially when you feel attached to your work? Here’s
how you can find your darlings, then kill the ones you don’t need in a particular talk.
Brainstorm Ideas, Then Get Rid of the Most Obvious
To hone in on the best information to include your presentation, hold a brainstorming session.
Focus in on one of your main concepts, then make a long list of facts, stories, and data you can
use to elucidate it. Once you’ve compiled a long list of potential content ideas, take a hard look
at first ideas on the list because they may be the most obvious or cliché ones. Repeat this for all
of your presentation’s main concepts. Getting rid of the simplest and most straightforward ideas
allows you to avoid the same go-to ideas your competitors might try and it gives you the ability
to approach your message from a unique angle.
State Your Big Idea, Then Cut What Doesn’t Support It
The Big Idea of your presentation is its major takeaway. It is the key message you want people to
leave your talk understanding. Every single data point, story, or image included in your
presentation should serve to support your Big Idea. So, to make sure you’re not including
anything superfluous, start by getting very clear about what your Big Idea is.
First, determine your unique point of view. What about this topic are you specifically qualified to
talk about? Then, figure out what’s at stake for your audience. What could they gain if they
adopt your idea or lose if they don’t adopt it? This ensures you cover what matters to listeners,
and why they should trust you when to advise them about it.
Once you’ve written down your Big Idea, go through your presentation draft or outline and make
sure that every single item you’ve included supports it. If something is disconnected or unrelated,
cut it—no matter how interesting or entertaining. Concentrating your editing efforts to support
your one Big Idea strengthens your presentation by eliminating anything that could serve as a
potential distraction.
Make Sure You’ve Used Enough Contrast
Cut thoroughly and aggressively while you edit your presentation. However, make sure that you
keep some fundamental structural elements for the finished product—particularly contrast. Using
contrast as a structural device is powerful because it allows you to contrast a future that’s
different from the present. This helps an audience understand your point. When you contrast the
current realities with how amazing the future is with your idea adopted, they more readily
understand your point of view.
Contrast also keeps a presentation engaging because it creates suspense. Listeners hear your
description of their problem, then wait eagerly to hear how you will resolve it. Studies show this
suspense stimulates the human brain, which helps people better focus on your talk and grasp
your message.
Once you are happy with your editing process, go through your final draft and confirm there are
enough contrasting elements to keep your talk interesting. If your talk lacks contrast, try adding
it into your delivery, content, or design.
Ultimately murdering your darlings can feel painful. After all, who doesn’t want to share their
pet content with an audience? However, a rigorous editing process results in a presentation that
works. Spend time in the cutting room every time you craft a talk, and you’ll end up giving
presentations that engage and change minds.
19 Powerful Presentation Stats to Transform
Talks in 2019
By Alexa Harrison | 5 min read
Here is a list of some of the most important presentation stats we could find: what is working,
what is trending, and what people struggle with when it comes to giving successful talks.
Some of these numbers come from brand new research, and others are tried and true classics. But
one thing is certain: all are important to keep in mind when preparing presentations in the year to
come.
A Good Story Will Capture & Hold Attention
90% of people believe that a strong narrative in a presentation is critical for engagement.
Compelling data and facts can help you illustrate your points. But if you want to make people
feel engaged when you present, you need to incorporate a story. Stories draw people in to a talk
and keep them rapt, so you can ensure no one tunes you out while you deliver your important
ideas.
55% of people say a great story is primarily what holds their focus during a presentation.
Appeal to what the majority of people need in order to focus on a talk, and incorporate a
narrative. A great story is key for keeping people rapt during a presentation and moving them
through it start to finish. To craft a story that works for your presentation, rely on a tried-and-true
hero story structure. Place your audience as the hero at the center of the story, then show how
your ideas can guide them from a less-than-optimal present to an improved future. A hero story
works for holding attention because it builds suspense and offers a satisfying resolution.
46% of presenters feel that the hardest part of creating a successful presentation is crafting
a compelling story.
Storytelling is important in presentations—but it’s also difficult. Many presenters find it hard to
come up with a narrative that works both for their data and for their audience. To find the right
story for your presentation, try finding common ground with your audience. You can do this by
using our Audience Needs Map. Once you really get who your listeners are, you can write a
narrative that really appeals to what your listeners want, feel afraid of, dream about, and more.
You can also write a compelling story by contrasting “what is” (the present) vs. “what could be”
(the future if listeners choose to adopt your ideas).
35% of millennials say they will only engage with content they feel has a great story or
theme.
More and more millennials are taking over the workforce. Make sure you appeal to this ever-
expanding powerful demographic by focusing on narrative as you craft your talk. As Gen Xers
retire and millennials take over, it’s important to craft your persuasive content to appeal to their
values.
Interactive Content Stands out from the Masses & Truly Engages
Experts estimate that 30 million PowerPoint presentations are created every day.
There are A LOT of PowerPoint presentations written and delivered in the workplace every
single day. And, experts believe that the number will continue to grow. So, if you want to make
your presentation stand out from the rest, you have to focus on creating a well-designed,
visually-pleasing presentation filled with convincing data and a narrative structure that resonates.
Overlooking any one of these critical components can mean that your talk will get lost in the sea
of all of the other mediocre presentations being given.
4 out of 5 professionals said they shifted their focus away from the presenter during the last
presentation they attended.
Keeping people’s attention for the duration of a presentation is tough. Consider using specific
presentation techniques to boost engagement. Some of the most reliable include: finding
common ground with listeners, interacting directly with your audience, using stunning, eye-
catching visual aids, and making sure that you work on your delivery skills.
70% of marketers believe that presenting interactive content is key for engaging your
audience.
If you want to be better at engaging your audience and making sure they do not disengage as you
talk, interact with them directly. During your presentation, encourage direct interaction by doing
things like answering audience questions, polling listeners about various topics, asking for
feedback, and encouraging social media posts (etc., etc.).
64% of people believe that a flexible presentation with two-way interaction is more
engaging than a linear presentation.
Rather than simply delivering a linear presentation, interact with your audience. They will feel
more involved in what’s happening and be less likely to tune you out.
68% of people believe that interactive presentations are more memorable.

If you want your listeners to leave remembering the Big Idea or main message of your
presentation, make sure you engage directly with them. Personal interaction with the presenter
makes people more likely to remember the ideas you are trying to impart.
65% of people are more easily persuaded by presentations that incorporate two-way
interaction.
Not only will people remember your ideas if you interact with them, but they’ll also be more
likely to adopt them. Audience interaction can be key for talks that effectively work to persuade.
2 million events and meetings are expected to utilize live polling and Q&A apps by 2020.
More and more events, conferences, and meetings now incorporate technology that facilitate
active participation for attendees. During your talk, consider using apps for live polling or
question-and-answer sessions so that your audience members feel more engaged in the
experience.
Shorter, Highly-Visual Talks, With Clear Messages Change Lives
Presentations with visual aids are 43% more persuasive than the same presentations
without visuals.
When you give a presentation, it is important to accompany that presentation with a visual aid to
illustrate the important points in your talk. Using a visual aid helps appeal to visual learners and
improves people’s ability to recall the information you share. Visual aids can be projected, like
Powerpoint Presentations, or they can be printed and distributed beforehand, like Slidedocs.
84.3% of presenters said they crafted presentation slides that were highly-visually focused.
If you design a presentation that incorporates a slideshow, make sure that slideshow is more
focused on visuals than text. More presenters than ever are using visually-pleasing images to
complement the content they deliver and eschewing slides that are over-filled with data or
written words.
54.9% of people say that less than 25% of their presentations contain text.
Having too much text on your presentation slides makes it hard for your audience members to
digest what they see, and it distracts them from what you are saying. Stick to images and
illustrations in your slideshow to help highlight and elucidate your message without muddling it.
Audience members should be able to take in your slide and its meaning within 3 seconds.
Every slide in your presentation should pass the Glance Test—that is, audience members should
be able to look at a slide and understand what it means within 3 seconds.
Only include 1 idea per slide to make sure your presentation is comprehensible to audience
members.
Because all slides must pass the glance test, it is an essential rule of all presentations to only
include 1 idea per slide. By only including 1 idea per each individual slide, you keep all of your
information organized for listeners and deliver it to them in digestible-sized chunks they can take
in with a glance.
Even more specifically, include only 1 statistic per slide in order to make an impact with
your data.
You should only include 1 idea per slide in your presentation. But, you should also be sure to
only include one number or statistic per slide. When you only use one number per slide, that
number stands out, and you can use it make a powerful impact.
Shorter presentations are more effective than longer ones; poor performing investment
presentations were 12 pages longer than ones that performed well.
A recent study showed that presentations asking for investments were more successful if they
were short. The longer the presentation, the less likely it was to receive funds. Keep this in mind
as you design your presentation. Brief, succinct talks and slideshows help ensure that listeners
stay engaged, understand your information, and do not succumb to boredom as they sit through
your talk.
Impress in the First 30 Seconds of Your Talk
for Maximum Impact
By Nicole Lowenbraun | 4 min read
In 2010, researchers at The Catholic University in Washington D.C. conducted a study about the
attention span of lecture attendees. They found that most people stopped paying attention to a
speaker only 30 seconds into the speech. That means a lecturer has half a minute to grab the
audience’s attention—and try to hold it.
When preparing a presentation, you may be tempted to gloss over the beginning of your delivery
and instead focus on the meaty data and narrative that you think will motivate your listeners. In
reality, skimping on the start of your talk can mean failure in the long run. If you don’t draw
people in within 30 seconds, there’s a chance their attention may be immediately diverted and
they won’t hear your genius ideas.
If you want to pull people in right away and keep them engaged, craft a compelling first 30
seconds. By nailing the start of your presentation, you’ll set the tone for a talk that engages,
entertains, and ultimately convinces your audience to believe in your ideas.
Here are some concrete tips for landing the first 30 seconds of your talk.
Spend 5x Longer Familiarizing Yourself with the First 30 Seconds
There are two reasons why you should spend more time familiarizing yourself with the first 30
seconds of your speech. First, it shows you have worked hard and done your homework. To
make a good impression, speakers need to look the part and be prepared from the get-go. Second,
starting your presentation off strong helps you get over the beginning jitters you may experience
in front of a live audience.
Helpful Tip: Rather than simply memorizing the words of your speech, aim to know your
material inside and out. Your presentation will feel more like a conversation than a scripted talk.
To do that, deliver the beginning of your presentation to a seasoned presenter who can offer
honest feedback. Then use that feedback to improve your delivery. Next, become familiar with
your slides. Click through them as you deliver your content over and over to become more
deeply familiar with the narrative. Finally, rehearse multiple times in slideshow mode to
visualize the flow of your presentation. Practice on camera to assess not only your content, but
your stage presence, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and vocal tone.
If you feel more comfortable memorizing the beginning of your presentation to avoid lack of
recall in the moment, use the following helpful memorization tips:
• Write out (don’t type out) your presentation. Research shows that writing helps you
retain information more than typing.
• Rehearse your presentation out loud, multiple times. Research shows that saying things
out loud helps boost retention.
• Practice before bed. Sleep helps consolidate memories and improves recall.
• Visualize yourself delivering the opening of your speech, or visualize the content of your
opening—like a movie. Visualization ensures retention.
Say Something Real and Relevant
One way to connect is to segment your audience into categories before you present, i.e. the
finance people, or the tech folks, or the East coast team. Frame your opening in a way that
resonates with the segment most likely to adopt your perspective and they will remain on your
side for the rest of the talk.
There are other ways to resonate with your audience in addition to segmenting. Sir Ken
Robinson created a genuine connection with his audience during his 2006 TED talk by opening
with praises for the speakers who presented before him at the conference. He strategically
identified three themes amongst the previous speeches, which helped set the platform for his
premise on the importance of creativity.
“There have been three themes running through the conference which are relevant to what I
want to talk about. One, is the extraordinary evidence of human creativity in all of the
presentations that we’ve had and in all the people here.”
By reflecting on a shared experience between himself and the audience in real time, Robinson’s
audience became more engaged in the conversation.
Form a Bond with Your Audience
To get your audience on board, interact with them right off the bat. Tell a joke and make them
laugh. Or ask a “raise your hand if…” question. Use a call-and-respond technique between you
and the audience. When you say “revenue,” they say “growth.” It’s important that in your first 30
seconds, you establish a connection—we’re all on the same team. We’re in this together. If you
get your audience involved from the beginning, you can move them by the end.
Sheryl Sandberg exemplifies this in her TED talk:
Sandberg launches her speech by toggling back and forth between two comparative situations.
She contrasts how lucky the women in the audience are for having the rights they do today, with
less fortunate women, who don’t have the same rights. She then brings it back to her audience’s
world. She exclaims that the battle for gender equality in the workforce is ongoing. This
establishes a team-oriented call to action, thus forming a connection with everyone in the room.
You may have the most interesting content in the world to deliver, but you won’t get a chance to
do that unless you capture your listeners’ attention within the first 30 seconds. Try one of the
above methods for engaging your audience at the start. Not only will they be ready to listen when
you offer those life-changing ideas, they’ll also find you likable, engaging, and trustworthy.
Illustrated by Ash Oat

Finding the Right Presentation Metaphors
for Your Audience
When trying to persuade people to think and act differently, we study their wants and needs,
what they care about, what keeps them up at night. Sometimes we reach them by making clear,
concise arguments that address those concerns. But often it takes a little something more to
engage an audience.
Presentation metaphors can help by tapping what learning theorists call prior knowledge to make
a connection between what people already understand through experience and what they have
yet to discover. We do this naturally in conversation — for instance, “The news hit her like a
freight train.” By comparing the situation to something people already know or can at least
imagine, we convey its intensity and urgency. But when explaining our ideas in presentations,
we’re sometimes reluctant to use verbal or visual metaphors to relate to audiences. I’ve heard
people say that metaphors are “off topic,” or worse, “cheap.” Though using a cheesy one can
elicit groans, more often than not, presentation metaphors offer a shortcut to understanding.
But how do you pick the right one? By digging into your own prior knowledge for connections
that make the big idea brighter in your mind. The brighter that idea shines for you, the more
likely it is to resonate with your audience.
To do that effectively, get back to basics. Many of us sit in front of a computer screen all day,
but studies have shown that writing by hand activates a different part of the brain and may
even improve idea composition and expression. So, while you’re searching for the perfect
presentation metaphors to access the full depth of someone’s prior knowledge, put your ideas
down on paper — the old-fashioned way.
Very few people, if any, can come up with brilliant presentation metaphors on the first try. When
we’re brainstorming in our shop, we write down the obvious choices right away just to get them
out of our brains. After pushing past those, we’ll start to come up with more creative ideas. If
we’re trying to illustrate partnership, we might begin with a cliché like a handshake in front of a
globe but then move on to a reef ecosystem, for instance, or a photo of Fred Astaire and Ginger
Rogers.
If you’re feeling stuck, start naming random objects and then try to make a connection between
those and your concept. This simple exercise might not lead to the metaphor, but it will jumpstart
your brain.
Once you’ve generated some really good options, you’ll be tempted to stop. Don’t. Keep pushing
past your creative blocks and into seemingly unrelated territory. The more unusual the
presentation metaphors, the better it will stand out in people’s minds. Our associate creative
director says that the first good idea comes an hour into the brainstorm. Though you might not
have to brainstorm for a full hour, the point is to reach beyond your first idea — or your seventh.
And don’t start filtering out options until you’ve got a critical mass to work with.
Are presentation metaphors really worth that much effort? I’d answer that question with another:
How important is it for your audience to understand and embrace your idea?

Tactics To Conquer Your Nerves Before A Big
Presentation
You know the feeling: You’re about to give a big presentation (maybe it’s not even that big), and
your nerves set in. You feel pressure in your chest. Your breathing gets shallow. Your blood
pressure increases. And suddenly it seems inevitable that you’re going to mess this up — and
everyone will see.
There’s an evolutionary reason why you feel this way. It used to be that the increased adrenaline
and cortisol pumping through your system in times of stress helped us flee or fight in the face of
predators. In business, the threats to our well-being are largely psychological instead of physical
— yet, our bodies fail to differentiate significantly between the two.
While there is some difference in how the brain processes physical and social pain, our
neurological response to getting pinched, for example, is strikingly similar our response to
rejection. And since public speaking offers us the opportunity to face rejection on a grand scale,
it’s no wonder that some people fear it worse than death.
Though these reactions are deeply ingrained, it is possible to overcome presentation anxiety.
The first (and most obvious) way to overcome presentation anxiety is to do everything you can to
ensure that things go smoothly, and that means you have to prepare. One of the most nerve-
wracking talks I ever prepared for was my presentation at TEDxEast. I knew that this
performance, in particular, could have a huge impact on the way the world viewed presentations
— and my business. So, I rehearsed for 35 hours. I even printed out pictures of my employees’
faces and posted them on the wall to simulate an actual audience.
It’s not exactly news that preparation helps you convince your audience that you know your
material. But you’ll also benefit by making your talk a more predictable event. Nerves are often
triggered by surprises (like the time I accidentally walked out on stage with my skirt tucked into
my underwear, or when I suddenly had six hot flashes in the middle of a talk). There will always
be surprises, but you can limit their number and impact by researching your topic thoroughly,
anticipating tough questions, and practicing your delivery.
Next, try a little visualization. Imagine yourself giving a great presentation. Since the brain
sometimes has trouble distinguishing between actual experiences and imagined ones, use that
fact to your advantage. Picture every minute of the presentation in great detail. Imagine having
the meeting turned over to you or being introduced on stage. What will that feel like? How will
you launch into your talk? What will the audience’s faces look like?
This technique is effective for a couple of reasons: If you thought you were already prepared,
this exercise will make you ultra-prepared. It’s likely that you’ll think of things you forgot to
address, things that might have tripped you up if they’d occurred to you in the moment. And after
you give your imagined presentation, you will feel as if you’ve done it before. Your actual
presentation will be an encore.
Once you’ve prepared to the hilt, start getting comfortable with uncertainty. One of the biggest
lies we tell ourselves is that we can have total control over a situation. You can’t. At a certain
point you have to trust that you’ve done all that you can to prepare, and leave it at that. That
might sound overly Zen of me, but the likelihood that your worst fears will come true really is
very slim.
Nerves often start to build when we think people can tell we’re nervous. In most cases, they
can’t. Only you know about the disaster scenarios running through your mind, so keep it that
way. If you stumble, act as though it didn’t happen. Even if you fall flat on your face, get up,
make a joke about it, and continue on your way. You can’t control the audience’s reaction, but
you can lead people in the direction you want by remaining calm and loose.
Speaking of audiences, get used to looking at blank faces — or faces that are distracted
altogether. When you’re talking to somebody one-on-one, you get the physical and verbal cues
that someone is listening — head nodding and sounds of agreement, like “Uh-huh.” Groups of
people don’t always do that. They’re not judging you. They’re probably trying to be polite and
listen. Or they might just be in a world of their own. I once had my assistant help me prepare for
a presentation by fidgeting and giving me different negative facial expressions while I rehearsed.
(It was surprisingly effective.) The key is not to let anyone’s body language faze you. Chances
are, your audience wants you to succeed.

A Guide to Mastering Overcoming Audience
Resistance
When you walk into a room as a presenter, it’s easy to feel as if you’re the central figure: You’re
up front, and people came to hear you. In reality, though, you’re not the star of the show. The
audience is. It’s in their power to embrace—or reject—your ideas. You’re presenting because
you need them to change their beliefs or behavior in some way, and people find it hard to
change. So it’s important to master overcoming audience resistance.
Overcoming audience resistance doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, if you prepare for it,
you’ll sharpen your presentation and stand a much better chance of winning your audience over.
By considering different points of view and addressing doubts and fears before they become
roadblocks, you’ll demonstrate an open mind—and invite your audience to respond in kind.
Here are the three most common types of resistance and some tips on getting ready for them.
#1 Logical Resistance
As you plan your presentation, try to come up with arguments against your perspective.
Familiarize yourself with alternate lines of reasoning by digging up articles, blog posts, and
reports that challenge your stance. This kind of research will prepare you for skeptical questions
and comments—and it’ll help you develop a deeper understanding of the topic and a more
nuanced point of view.
#2 Emotional Resistance
Does your audience hold fast to a bias, dogma, or moral code—and do your ideas violate that in
some way? Hitting raw nerves will set people off. So look at things from their perspective, and
proceed carefully. If, for example, you’re at a medical conference launching a new HPV
vaccination for kids, emphasize the importance of abstinence in youth.
#3 Practical Resistance
Is it physically or geographically difficult for the audience to do what you’re asking?

Acknowledge any sacrifices they’re making, and show that you’re shouldering some of the
burden yourself. Suppose you’re asking your team to work nights and weekends to meet a tight
deadline. Explain that you’ll be in 24/7 mode, too, until the big project is wrapped up—and that
everyone will get comp time afterward.
Anticipating overcoming audience resistance forces you to really think about the people you’re
presenting to, and that makes it easier to influence them. If you’ve made a sincere effort to look
at the world through their eyes, it will show when you speak. You’ll feel more warmly toward
them, so you’ll take on a conversational tone. You’ll sound—and be—authentic when you
address their concerns. As a result, you’ll disarm them, and they’ll be more likely to accept your
message.
If you’re struggling to figure out what kinds of resistance you’ll face, share your ideas with
others before you present and ask them to pressure-test the content. You may be so deeply
connected to your own perspective that you’re having a hard time anticipating other points of
view. Use your boss as a sounding board as you prepare to speak to the executive committee, for
example. Or ask a colleague for a reality check before you present to other managers in her
group.
Always remember that the people in your audience get to determine whether your idea spreads or
dies. You need them more than they need you. So be humble in your approach. Their desires and
goals—and their frustrations and anxieties—should shape everything you present.
7 Ways to Make Your Best PowerPoint
Presentations
By Chariti Canny | 5 min read
Microsoft estimates that there are about 30 million PowerPoint presentations created every single
day—which is why if you’ve spent time in an office, you’ve probably spent time looking at
something that was built in PowerPoint.
If you have to give a talk accompanied by slides and you’re not the most tech-savvy person,
PowerPoint is a great option because you don’t need to spend months learning how to use it.
Instead, there are some easy steps you can master that will help you create a presentation that
looks great and lands masterfully.
Here are seven of the most basic and powerful things you can learn about how to make your best
PowerPoint presentations that are persuasive, engaging, and beautiful.
1. Get Familiar and Comfortable with Your Tools
Your first step to designing the best PowerPoint presentations is familiarizing yourself with its
tools and commands. You should learn where they are and how to use them.
PowerPoint was designed with a ribbon, or a toolbar that runs along the top of the application
window and contains most of the tools and commands that you’ll use frequently. The ribbon is
organized into tabs, and each tab contains a grouping of related resources (for example, in the
“Home” tab, you can find tools for the most common actions that users need, like adding text
boxes or creating new slides).
Before you start designing your presentation in PowerPoint, spend some time exploring the
ribbon. This way, you’ll understand how to use it and be able to navigate it quickly during your
presentation creation process.
In addition to the intuitive ribbon, PowerPoint also has a Quick Access Toolbar, which can sit
either above or below the ribbon. The Quick Access toolbar is customizable, so you can add the
tools that you use most frequently to it.
No matter what ribbon tab you’re using, the Quick Access toolbar always remains visible, which
means it’s a convenient solution for speeding up and simplifying your process.
To customize your toolbar, take the following steps:

1. Click on the downward arrow on the far right side of the toolbar, then choose “More
Commands.”
2. Under “Choose Commands From,” click “All Commands.”
3. You’ll see all of the commands that can be added to the toolbar. Choose the ones you want to
have in front of you.
4. Hit “Okay” or “Save,” then your toolbar will be updated.
Pro-tip: Re-order your commands so that, for example, all text formatting commands are
together, or all alignment buttons together.
2. Understand the Power of Grids
Two of the main visual goals for the best PowerPoint presentations are: to create something
aesthetically pleasing and to display information clearly. You can tackle both of these aims at
once by relying on grids in PowerPoint.
Grids are the underlying slide structures of a presentation, and they are made up of vertical and
sometimes horizontal lines. Grids can aid you in creating a presentation whose slides are
balanced.
All useful grids are comprised of the same key ingredients:
• Margins, which are your slides’ borders and are kept free of text and graphics
• Columns, which are the vertical slide sections that have actual content in them (images,
text, etc.)
• Gutters, which are the blank spaces that separate columns
While grids are proportioned and made up of straight lines, they are actually surprisingly flexible
and can be set up in a limitless number of arrangements. PowerPoint Guides allows you to create
your own custom grids for your presentation, so you can create a slide structure that best suits
your information—then automatically implement that structure across all of your slides.
3. Commit to a Visual System
When it comes to designing the best PowerPoint presentations that are enjoyable to look at and
deliver a clear, memorable message, it’s important to remember: less is more.
You should rely on a simple visual system when designing your slides, with only a few colors
and fonts, so that your audience is not distracted by busy visuals—and so your brand or
messaging remains consistent and recognizable throughout.
Choose two colors and incorporate these in the design elements throughout your slides. Consider
choosing the colors used in your branding materials, or, think about the psychology of color.
Research has shown that certain colors can make people feel a certain way, which could, in turn,
influence their mindset.
Use only two typefaces in your presentation. By keeping your font choice simple, you can help
people focus on the content of your presentation and minimize the chances that they have to do
extra work to process new or unexpected visual information while you talk.
4. Create Visually Stunning Moments with Photography
If you want to grip your audience visually, add photographs to your PowerPoint presentation.
Stunning photographs grab the attention of viewers and pull focus, which means they’re a good
tool for minimizing distractions during your talk. They can also be thematic, which can help to
further reinforce your Big Idea.
For the most powerful way to use photographs in a PowerPoint presentation, try using them as
full-screen. You can simply display a full-screen photo on its own, or place text over a slide,
using it as a background, to help communicate more information at once. (Just make sure you
own the photograph or have the legal rights to use it before you choose to put it in.)
5. Consider Your Audience
The content you choose to include will also have a significant impact on how your presentation
lands. So, take some time to make sure that you’re tailoring your talk and the text you include
properly.
One key step to making sure you are including the right stuff on your slides (and leaving the
right stuff out) is getting to know your audience. By taking some time to consider the people who
will be taking in your presentation, you can be intentional and specific about what they see and
hear, then, increase the chances that it will engage and move them.
To get to know your presentation audience a little bit better, consider where they are now (in
terms of mindset, belief, or situation) and where you want them to be when you’re done
presenting. Then, think about what changes they’ll need to make in order to get where you want
them to go.
A helpful tool for discovering what stories and information will land with your audience is
the Audience Needs Map. This seven question guide gets you thinking about your listeners
beyond their profession, helps you get to know them better, then guides you in narrowing in on
the right stories, facts, and concepts.
6. Determine Your Big Idea
Your presentation might include lots of interesting data and important information, but
ultimately, it should only have one overarching message or takeaway. We call a presentation’s
main focus its Big Idea. Your Big Idea is essential because the best PowerPoint presentations can
be beautiful and the accompanying talks can be eloquent, but if people don’t leave with a clear,
coherent takeaway, then your talk was all for naught.
The Big Idea of a presentation is comprised of two components:
• Your unique point of view: why you are qualified to be delivering this information
• What’s at stake: what will happen to listeners if they don’t adopt your point of view
Once you’ve determined your Big Idea and gotten it down on paper, you should ensure that
every component of your presentation supports that idea. Each design element, bit of text, and
image should all serve to bolster your main takeaway. If something does not, remove it, or frame
it in a way that helps connect it to your message.
7. Commit to One Idea per Slide
In order to keep your presentation visually clear, make sure you only put one idea on a single
slide. By adhering to the one-idea-per-slide mindset, you can minimize the potential of your
audience getting distracted from what you’re saying.
To make sure that you stick to the one-idea-per-slide strategy, create a title for every single slide.
Then, as you design the slide, regularly check to make sure that the information you’re including
aligns with the title at the top of the page. If it does not, make sure to remove it, or include it on a
slide with a relevant heading.
If you are trying to learn how to make the best PowerPoint presentations, the essential steps are
simple. With just a little exploration of the program and some practice using it, you can master
the art of making presentations that work, and return to the application again and again to take
advantage of all of its capabilities.
Designer Q&A: Pushing the Limits of
PowerPoint Animation
By Steve Wishman | 5 min read
When it comes to animating in PowerPoint, there’s a spirit of one-upmanship here at Duarte.

Every so often, one of our designers will share an amazing animated piece that they made
entirely in PowerPoint. This kind of experimentation leads to innovation and discovery of new
techniques that we employ in our work for clients. It’s a pretty awesome feedback loop rotating
around the pursuit of delight.
For several years, I’ve been eyeballing the intro sequence for the animated show, “Archer” on
FX. It’s a beautiful, energetic piece of visual storytelling, pulling influence from Saul Bass’s
work on motion picture title sequences. The clean lines and 2D animation make it the perfect
candidate for a PowerPoint homage. Tired of always hearing me mumble about how I could
“totally recreate that in PowerPoint,” my wife finally challenged me to put up or shut up.
Here is the original, in case you aren’t familiar. Below is my PowerPoint version, exported as a
video for easy viewing, and here is a link to the PowerPoint file.
Read on for some of the most asked questions I received after sharing this with friends and co-
workers on how I was able to create this PowerPoint animation.
Q: Why do you geek out on pushing the limits of PowerPoint animation? Wouldn’t video
be more suitable?
A: We are often asked to do things with PowerPoint animation when it could more easily be
done in video, in order to keep file sizes low. The nature of presentations is that they’re portable,
and our clients are often looking for cinematic experiences that can still be emailed.
Q: Did you use any video components in this PowerPoint animation?
A: Using video assets would have defeated the whole point of this. The Archer intro sequence
appealed to me because, other than a few moments of character animation, pretty much
everything boiled down to shapes changing size and position. At first glance, a person might feel
limited to using the PowerPoint animation presets (Fade In, Fly Out, Wipe, etc.) All this requires
is a shift in thinking. Traditional animation principles like Squash & Stretch, Slow In & Slow
Out, Overlapping Action, and Anticipation are all available to a person with a little ingenuity.
Q: But what about that character animation?
A: I created stop-motion sequences for a few of these complex scenes. Basically, this meant
creating vector silhouettes of the character in different poses, and having them appear and
disappear to create walk-cycles. I felt like this technique could turn into a crutch if I leaned too
heavily on it, so you’ll notice that the walking animation in the opening scene is made entirely of
looping Motion Paths and Spin PowerPoint animations. This was a bit time-consuming since
there is no character rigging or puppet tool available in PowerPoint. The thighs, calves, and feet
are not connected at the knees and ankles, so each body part had to be moved and rotated
independently. It’s not ideal but that’s the point. With a little sleight of hand, and careful
positioning of pivot points, the illusion came together really well.
Q: Did you redraw all of this?
A: For the most part, yes. I recreated all the silhouettes in Adobe Illustrator and dropped them
into PowerPoint as vector art to keep things crisp. In the interest of time, some of the silhouettes
were a little rough around the edges, but it’s a fast-moving animation so the lack of precision is
forgivable. To make the schematic/blueprint textures, I created a large reference image by
stitching together single frames of the original to make a large mosaic, then interpolated the parts
of the schematics that were hidden. Again, some of this isn’t going to perfectly match the
original, but it was enough to get the job done.
Q: How did you time the music?
A: Syncing audio to animations that span multiple slides in PowerPoint is hard, because the
timing can shift a little depending on the specs of the device handling the playback. The music is
triggered when the first animation happens, and from there I would play the entire file every time
I finished another “slide” to make sure things hadn’t fallen out of sync. If the PowerPoint
animation was leading or dragging too much, I would make tiny adjustments in the animation
pane to compensate. If you compare this to the original, you’ll probably notice that certain
moves don’t happen exactly on-beat like they were meant to. The fact that it’s only 30 seconds
long is another reason why this was such an ideal piece to recreate. Any longer, and things can
get unpredictable.
Q: These PowerPoint animation panes are crazy. Do you have any tips for staying
organized?
A: First, it makes things much easier to edit when you don’t have a thousand PowerPoint
animations stacked on top of each other in a single slide. Thankfully, the Archer intro is broken
into logical vignettes where each character is featured. This allowed me to break each scene out
as a separate slide. After that, I made sure the transitions were set to “none” so that it would
advance from slide to slide, seamlessly.
Another tip for staying organized is to label each and every object in the selection pane. It’s hard
to stay oriented if all your shapes are named things like “shape 12” and “Oval 6,” so a little time
spent renaming everything keeps you from getting frazzled, down the road.
Q: Is there anything you wish you could have done, but couldn’t due to the limitations of
PowerPoint animation?
A: Oh yeah. I have a laundry list of feature requests for Microsoft’s PowerPoint team. The one
thing I just couldn’t pull off is the blending modes that are used on the schematic/blueprints. In
the original animation, you can see that the colors shift and multiply as those blueprints pass over
other colors objects. PowerPoint doesn’t have blending modes, so we tend to use a lot of tricks at
Duarte to work around this limitation. Usually this means faking the blending mode by manually
coloring the overlapping area. Unfortunately these blueprint textures are in motion, so my
normal tricks wouldn’t work. In the end, I made the textures white and reduced the opacity to
50% and called it a day.
Q: Are there any other clips from TV or film that you want to try PowerPoint animation
with?
A: I’ve been kind of captivated by the style that Elastic is bringing to title sequences (West
World, Daredevil, The Night Manager) but they’re almost exclusively 3-dimensional. 2D or
2.5D animation tends to be more within the realm of possibility. The second half of the Kung Fu
Panda end-credits is beautiful and mostly 2D, but redrawing all that would be a real challenge.
This is why so many of us look to Saul Bass-inspired work for inspiration. The Catch Me if You
Can intro sequence is like the holy grail for a lot of us, but it has some 3D rotations and
perspective-moves that make it, maddeningly, just slightly out of reach. So for now, I’m going to
sit back and wait for an epiphany, or for that spirit of Duarte one-upsmanship to catch me by
surprise. Whichever comes first, it’ll be a great day.
When Presenting Data, Get to the Point Fast
Projecting your data on slides puts you at an immediate disadvantage: When you’re giving a
presentation, people can’t pull the numbers in for a closer look or take as much time to examine
them as they can with a report or a white paper. That’s why you need to direct their attention.
What do you want people to get from your data? What’s the message you want them to take
away when presenting data?
Data slides aren’t really about the data. They’re about the meaning of the data. And it’s up to you
to make that meaning clear before you click away. Otherwise, the audience won’t process—let
alone buy—your argument.
Take this table, for instance:

Presenting data is confusing—especially if you project it for five seconds and then move on. And
even if you leave it up for five minutes while you talk, anyone who’s struggling to derive
meaning from it won’t be paying much attention to what you have to say. They’ll be too busy
squinting from their seats, trying to navigate all those heavy grid lines that give every single cell
equal weight. It’s not at all clear where the eye should go. Your audience won’t know what
direction to read—horizontally or vertically—or what conclusions to draw. Though the Grand
Total line is emphasized, is that really the main point you want to convey?
Now let’s look at presenting data presented more simply. Say you’ve identified three business
units with potential for sustained growth in Europe. By eliminating the dense matrix and
connecting only key numbers to a pie with leader lines, you remove clutter that distracts from
your message. And notice the clear hierarchy of information: You can highlight important pieces
of the pie by rendering them in color and their corresponding annotations in large, blue type.
Other sections recede to the background, where they belong, with their neutral shades and small,
gray labels.
But pie charts can be tricky for an audience to process when segments are similar in size—it’s
hard to distinguish between them at a glance. If you’re running into that problem, consider
displaying the same data in a linear way. In this bar chart, for example, you draw attention to the
poorest-performing unit, a point that got lost in the pie:
These few tricks will help audiences see what you want them to see when presenting data. By
focusing their attention on the message behind the numbers, not on the numbers themselves, you
can create presentations that resonate with them and compel them to act.
Illustrated by Ash Oat

Your Most Frequently Asked PowerPoint
How-To Questions
PowerPoint is one of the most misunderstood Office software products on the market. While a
majority of business professionals use the product practically every day, many have a strong
aversion to the program. Some organizations have banned it altogether.
But PowerPoint is actually a versatile and creative tool when used correctly.
PowerPoint’s features enable even non-designers to create beautiful, custom slides that allow
users to more precisely convey a message and the brand of an organization.
While conducting research for our newest course Slide Design Lab, I came across some of the
same PowerPoint how-to questions again and again. Below, I answer five of the most popular
questions that I saw. I encourage you to practice these on your own so you can discover that
elegant and effective slide design is right at your fingertips.
1. How to Turn a PowerPoint Into a Video
Building a training deck that you’re looking to share beyond a live presentation? Want to include
multimedia with the press release that you’re publishing for an upcoming product launch? You
can easily turn your presentation into a standalone video for distribution, with or without
recording narration. PowerPoint’s export to video is a standard feature that many people don’t
know about.
Start by clicking on the File tab in the ribbon. Scroll down and select Export, and then navigate
to Create a Video. Choose your video settings preferences, including video quality, timings and
narration, and seconds spent on each slide (this timer is for how long the video pauses on a slide
*after* all animations have built through). Click on Create a Video. Finally, choose a file name,
saving location, and video type (.mp4 or .wmv).
The Create a Video dialog has a lot of options. There’s also a preview video option in the
dropdown.
A few notes to keep in mind: When you export a presentation as a video, each slide plays for a
uniform period of time that you define in the Create a Video dialog. The default is 5 seconds, but
if you want the slides to move through immediately after each animation build, change this to
0:00.
A slide with a Transition set to “After” (i.e., timed) will override the settings in the Create a
Video dialog.
This example is showing a slide that is set to advance to the next slide 14 seconds after the final
animation on the current slide.
You can also record yourself moving through the presentation at your ideal pace for each slide.
The recording could be made with or without voice narration. If you record yourself moving
through the slides be sure you select Use Recorded Timings and Narrations from the Create a
Video dialog.
Any slide without narration or slide advancement timing will default to the seconds spent on
each slide option which you define in the Create a Video dialog.
Pro-tip: When recording and including an audio track, gently use the scroll wheel of your mouse
to move through animation builds and slide transitions to avoid a mouse “click” from being
recorded into your video.
Also note that some transition effects may play differently in a video, and some animation effects
may not play at all. Be sure to review your video before publishing it.
2. How to Make a PowerPoint Image the Background of a Slide
In PowerPoint, an emotionally evocative image is worth a thousand words. Make your images
fill your entire slide to enhance the impact like we did to illustrate the power of stats in a recent
presentation that Procore gave at America’s largest construction software conference.
Making this photo of a typical user of Procore’s products the background of a stats slide added
emotional power.
Just right-click in the gray area surrounding your slide and select Format Background.
(Alternatively, you can select the Design tab in the ribbon and click the Format Background
button.) You’ll then see the Format Background panel appear on the right of your screen. Click
the Fill button and select the “Picture or texture fill” radio button. Next, click the “File…” button
and select a file. Click Insert and your image will become the background for the entire slide.
If you copy an image from elsewhere, and it’s the last thing you copied, you can click Clipboard
instead of File to quickly paste the image into the background.
If you change your mind about having an image embedded into the background, click the Reset
Background button in the Format Background options.
3. How to Make a PowerPoint Timeline
How many presentations have you created requiring a timeline? This is a frequent ask among my
clients and workshop attendees, particularly when they’ve been tasked with explaining project
milestones and process steps. You could rely on one of the pre-made SmartArt process shapes
included in PowerPoint. However, these generally won’t give you simple, clean, and customized
timelines, like the one we made for Hyperloop One.
To create more unique timelines that can be tailored to your presentation’s message, click on
Shapes on the Home tab and select the first option within the “Lines” subheader.
Holding down shift on your keyboard, drag your cursor across your slide to create perfectly
straight horizontal and vertical lines. You can apply this same technique to create any perfect
shape. For example, you can create a perfectly round circle to function as the first point along the
timeline by selecting the circle shape and holding shift while drawing it.
Duplicate this circle by selecting it and holding down Ctrl+shift as you drag it along the line. To
duplicate it again with the same distance between the third and fourth circles click F4. This key
will always duplicate the exact last action you did in PowerPoint.
Another way to ensure that you create evenly spaced points is by using the Arrange menu. Set
your ideal first and last points of the timeline, then select all the circles. On the Home tab, click
Arrange and select Align. Click on Distribute Horizontally if your circles are placed on a
horizontal line, or click on Distribute Vertically if your line is vertical.
You can apply these alignment tools as you add labels, text boxes, images, and shapes to your
timeline. There are vast possibilities for creating clean, custom timelines that convey history,
process, and other time-based messages.
4. How to Make an PowerPoint Image Transparent
Making images transparent can add texture and dynamism to your slides. (Check out the images
we created in a keynote presentation for RTI International to see what I mean.) Transparency
allows layers behind the image to show through, including text, shapes like icons, or other
images.
First, click on Shapes on the Home tab and create any shape on your slide. Next, right-click your
shape and click Format Shape. In the Format panel that appears, select the “Picture or texture
fill” radio button. Select a file and PowerPoint will insert it into the shape. To retain the
proportions of the shape you may have to click “Tile picture as texture” and adjust the scale and
offset until the portion of the image you want to show does show. Last, drag the meter under the
Transparency section to the right to make the image more see-through.
Mastering image transparency enabled a Duarte designer to simulate a Space Shuttle’s exhaust
on this slide for RTI International.
5. How to Make a PowerPoint Master Layout
Master Layouts are the baseline structure of a presentation. At the risk of oversimplifying, the
PowerPoint master captures the most common ways that presentation elements such as color,
fonts, and layout are set up on the slides. Instead of having to place all these elements over and
over each time you start a new a slide, a Master Layout puts these common elements into place
on each new slide.
Begin by clicking on View in the ribbon, then click Slide Master. In this view, you’ll be able to
edit the various Layouts your presentation currently uses.
Any change you make to the first layout (technically named the “Parent Master”) will be
replicated in the layouts below it (technically named the “Child Masters”). For example, if you
add a logo to the parent master, it will appear on all the Child Masters. To make unique changes
to individual layouts, select that layout and adjust as needed. Changes made to Child Masters
will only affect each one individually.
The power of master layouts is in streamlining the design of repeated elements. For example,
your team may often need to include a quote slide, and you want the text to always be the same
size, color, and location on the slide.
Begin in Slide Master view. Right click any master layout (but not the first one, the parent
master). Select Insert Layout.
From here add editable preformatted elements by clicking Slide Master in the ribbon and
clicking the Insert Placeholder dropdown. Select a placeholder type and make formatting
changes to it.
Exit the Master Layout view by clicking Close Master View in the Slide Master tab of the
ribbon.
Pro-tip: You can quickly access the master layout view for each slide you are working on by
holding shift and clicking the “Normal” view icon on the bottom right of the workspace. Click
this same button without holding shift to exit master layout view.
Now your layout has become a layout option in the layouts catalog (To view or apply the new
layout: In the ribbon click Home > New Slide, or click Home > Layouts). The formatting applied
to the layout master will always be the formatting in place on the new slide.
One of the best parts of my job is empowering non-designers to get more out of PowerPoint than
they ever thought possible. My hope is that these tips will get you well on your way to designing
slides that are more tailored to your story and brand.
Illustrated by Noah Smith

How to Display Data the Right Way in
Presentations
It can be tricky to display data in presentations because different rules apply in different contexts.
A sales director presenting financial projections to a group of field reps wouldn’t visualize her
data the same way that a design consultant would in a written proposal to a potential client.
So how do you make the right choices for your situation? Before displaying your data, ask
yourself these five questions:
1. Am I Presenting Or Circulating My Data?
Context plays a huge role in how best to render data. When delivering a presentation, show the
conclusions you’ve drawn, not all the details that led you to those conclusions.
Because your slides will be up for only a few seconds, your audience will need to process them
quickly. People won’t have time to chew on a lot of complex information, and they’re not likely
to run up to the wall for a closer look at the numbers. So, think in broad strokes when you’re
putting your charts together: What’s the overall trend you’re highlighting? What’s the most
striking comparison you’re making? Those are the sorts of questions to answer when you want to
display data in presentations.
Scales, grid lines, tick marks, and such should provide context, but without competing with the
data. Use a light neutral color, such as gray, for these elements so they’ll recede into the
background, and plot your data in a slightly stronger neutral color. Then use a bright color to
emphasize the point you’re making, as in this example:
It’s fine to display more detail in documents or in decks that you e-mail rather than present.
Readers can study them at their own pace — examine the axes, the legends, the layers — and
draw their own conclusions from your body of work. Still, you don’t want to overwhelm them,
especially since they won’t have you there in person to explain what your main points are. Use
white space, section heads, and a clear hierarchy of visual elements to help your readers navigate
dense content and guide them to key pieces of data.
2. Am I Using The Right Kind of Chart or Table?
When you choose how to visualize your data, you’re deciding what type of relationship you want
to emphasize. Take a look at this chart, which shows the breakdown of an investment portfolio:
In the pie, it’s clear that this person holds a number of investments in different areas — but that’s
about all you see.
Here are the same data in a bar chart:

Now it’s much easier to discern how much is invested in each category. If your focus is on
comparing categories, the bar chart is the better choice. A pie chart would be more useful if you
were trying to make the point that a single investment made up a significant portion of the
portfolio.
3. What Message Am I Trying To Convey?
Whether you’re presenting or circulating your charts, you need to highlight the most important
items to ensure that your audience can follow your train of thought and focus on the right
elements. For example, this chart is difficult to interpret because all the information is displayed
with equal visual value:
Are we comparing regions? Quarters? Positive versus negative numbers? It’s difficult to
determine what matters most. By adding color, you can draw the eye to specific areas:
We now know that we should be focusing on when and in which regions revenue dropped.
4. Do My Visuals Accurately Reflect The Numbers?
Using a lot of crazy colors, extra labels, and fancy effects won’t captivate an audience. That kind
of visual clutter dilutes the information and can even misrepresent it. Consider this chart:
Can you figure out the northern territory’s revenue for year one? Is it 17? Or maybe 19? The way
some programs create 3D charts would lead any rational person to think that the bar in question
is well below 20. However, the data behind the chart actually says that bar represents 20.4 units.
You can see that if you look at the chart in a very specific way, but it’s difficult to tell which way
that should be — even with plenty of time to scrutinize it.
It’s much clearer if you simply flatten the chart:

5. Is My Data Memorable?
Even if you’ve rendered your data clearly and accurately, it’s another challenge altogether to
make the information stick. Consider using a meaningful visual metaphor to illustrate the scale
of your numbers and cement the data in the minds of your audience members. A metaphor can
also tie your insights to something that your audience already knows and cares about.
Author and activist Michael Pollan showed how much crude oil goes into making a McDonald’s
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese through a striking visual demonstration: He placed glasses
on a table and filled them with oil to represent the amount of oil consumed during each stage of
the production process. At the end, he took a taste of the oil to drive home his point. (To add an
element of humor, he later revealed his prop “oil” to be chocolate syrup.) Watch the video here:
Pollan could have shown a chart, but this was more effective because he gave the audience a
tangible visual — one that triggered a visceral response.
By answering these five questions as you’re laying out your data, you’ll visualize it in a way that
helps people understand and engage with each point in your presentation, document, or deck. As
a result, your audience will be more likely to adopt your overall message.

The Most Powerful Techniques for Speaking
I Learned from Movie Speeches
By Catrinel Bartolomeu | 5 min read
If I asked you to quote a line from one of the most inspirational speeches you know off the top of
your head, there’s a chance you’d recite something by a political or Civil Rights leader, like John
F. Kennedy Jr. or Martin Luther King Jr. But, it’s more likely you’d give me lines from movie
speeches, like Dory from Finding Nemo’s “Just keep swimming!” or the legendary quote from
Braveheart’s William Wallace “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”
Movie speeches have a way of seeping into our collective consciousness as a society, and people
often quote recognizable snippets from cinema in conversation in order to sum up their feelings
or provide relatable wisdom in a variety of contexts. (“There’s no place like home!”)
When a screenwriter really nails inspiring monologue in movie speeches, it can be incredibly
powerful—resulting in both a speech that makes an indelible mark on pop culture and a movie
character that becomes the stuff of legends.
But what ultimately makes the difference between movie speeches that have a lasting impact,
and ones that we forget as soon as we leave the movie theater? The answer is: persuasive
presentation techniques.
When movie speeches rely on tried and true tools for persuasive public speaking, they are able to
deliver rousing messages that inspire both the characters they’re speaking to onscreen and those
of us watching offscreen.
Let’s take a look at three particularly powerful movie speeches to see how the persuasive
presentation techniques their speakers use make them effective—and unforgettable.
John Keating in Dead Poet’s Society, “Carpe Diem”
When Dead Poets Society was released in 1989, it was a box office success. The quintessential
prep school movie landed so well because it tells a relatable story of friendship, it’s set at Welton
Academy, a ‘50s romanticized boarding school, and it’s centered on a beloved, eloquent, hero-
like English teacher: John Keating, played by Robin Williams.
Keating isn’t just adored by characters in the movie. He’s also a source of inspiration for hordes
of real-life teachers. In fact, many teachers experienced serious grief over Keating when
Williams passed away in 2014. Lucy Townsend of the BBC explains: “Keating enthuses his
pupils about the power of English Literature and encourages them to follow their dreams. It’s
Hollywood’s damp-eyed paean to the ability of teachers to inspire young people. Thus the
response to Williams’s death from teachers.”
Keating is legendary because he represents an ideal mentor figure, who is equal parts fun and
scholarly and nurturing and inspiring. But, he’s also iconic because of his ability to deliver a
powerful speech—particularly the “Carpe Diem” lecture he gives on the first day of class.
During the lecture, Keating encourages the boys to take advantage of their time at Welton and
seize all of the opportunities available to them. He shows them black and white photos of former
students, reminding them that those students are now dead, “fertilizing daffodils,” and that their
time here is also limited.
What makes Keating’s lecture so powerful is that he effectively creates common ground with
the students to make his message feel relevant and meaningful. Creating common ground in a
speech allows you to articulate common experience and, in turn, build credibility.
Keating himself is a Welton alum, so his description of being in school is inherently relatable for
the boys. However, he is able to further strengthen his lesson by speaking from the perspective of
the figures in the photos, who also went through an experience at Welton Academy, and, thus,
whose wisdom is trustworthy.
Ultimately, when Keating delivers his famous closing lines:

“If you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you…Listen, you hear it?
‘Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.’”
The students know that the advice is relevant and coming from a source that is credible.
Erin Brokovich in Erin Brokovich, “Lame Ass Offer”
Erin Brokovich is a fictionalized version of the real story of Erin Brokovich: an intrepid legal
clerk and activist who fought the Pacific Gas and Electric Company after they contaminated the
groundwater of Hinkley, CA with hexavalent chromium and made citizens sick.
In the movie, Brokovich completely dedicates herself to bringing justice to the people suffering
in Hinkley, becoming tough and relentless in her pursuit of compensation for the little people
that were made sick by a big corporation.
One of Erin Brokovich’s most powerful moments comes in a meeting between Brokovich and
the utility company’s lawyers, when Brokovich delivers a wallop of a speech in response to the
paltry amount the company initially offers victims as a settlement.
Brokovich implores:
These people don’t dream about being rich. They dream about being able to watch their kids
swim in a pool without worrying they’ll have to have a hysterectomy at the age of 20, like Rosa
Diaz—a client of ours—or have their spine deteriorate like Stan Bloom. Another client of ours.
So before you come back here with another lame-ass offer, I want you to think real hard about
what your spine is worth, Mr. Walker—or what you’d expect someone to pay you for your
uterus, Miss Sanchez—then you take out your calculator and multiply that number by a hundred.
Rather than attempt to appeal to the lawyers’ rational minds in her speech, Brokovich turns away
from logic and attempts to generate emotion in order to spur empathy for the victims and win
them a bigger settlement.
Stirring emotion in a speech is key to changing minds, since speakers who can evoke emotion
can also generate empathy. Neuroscientist Richard Lopez explains, when people feel emotion,
“empathy is possible because when we see another person experiencing an emotion, we
‘simulate’ or represent that same emotion in ourselves so we can know firsthand what it feels
like.” Empathy is directly linked to helping behaviors in people—so listeners who empathize
with speakers are more likely to help them achieve their goals.
By telling graphic stories about the people suffering in Hinkley and asking the lawyers to
imagine the same things happening to them, Brokovich upsets the people listening, then she asks
them to show compassion and understanding. This persuasive technique gets the lawyers to feel
something about the situation, with the hope that they’ll ultimately choose to take a different
action.
Rocky Balboa in Rocky VI, “The World Ain’t All Sunshine and Rainbows”
In the sixth installment of the inspiring boxing movie, Rocky Balboa, the legendary boxer proves
that he’s not only a fighter for the ages, but also a speaker, too.
In the movie, Balboa is over 60 years old, and he has a 30-something-year-old son, Rocky Jr.,
who is working in the corporate world, but struggling to turn his life into a success. Rocky Jr.
looks to blame everyone else in his life for his failures (including his dad) and he doesn’t realize
that he must shift his attention inward to set his course straight.
In order to help his son, Balboa delivers him an inspirational pep talk. The speech works: it
moves his son, and it’s often considered one of the most moving and memorable scenes of the
entire series.
Why does Balboa’s speech land so well? Because he lays out the path to success in narrative
form for his son, and he places his son at the center of that narrative—as the hero.
He starts describing his son’s idyllic childhood and how it devolved, then explains,
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a
very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees
and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But
it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know
what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth!
Placing your audience as the hero of the story you’re telling makes that story relevant and
meaningful. It inspires people to heed your advice because they can see where they’ll end up if
they do. As Chad Hodge explains in the Harvard Business Review, when you speak, try to “help
people to see themselves as the hero of the story…Everyone wants to be a star, or at least to feel
that the story is talking to or about him personally.”
If you need to deliver a speech that changes minds, sways hearts, and spurs action, and you’re
feeling stuck, head to the movies. Thanks to great screenwriters, the best movie speeches have a
way of using just the right speaking tools to deliver talks that are rousing and impactful. You
may leave inspired to write a talk that your listeners will quote for years to come.
May the Force be with you!

How to Develop the Best Big Idea for Your
Presentation
When it comes to choosing the content in your next talk, it’s important to remember: less is
more.
While planning a presentation, it’s tempting to include everything you know. All of the facts,
ideas, and fascinating anecdotes probably won’t yield an audience raptly entertained.
For an effective talk, focus only on one central notion: the critical takeaway you want your
audience to leave with; then, surround that takeaway with other information and material that
supports it.
At Duarte, we call this central idea—or takeaway—of a presentation the Big Idea.
The Big Idea is a succinct, concise sentence that sums up your talk’s main message, it helps you
identify what would be most effective to share with your audience.
If you have a lot of information in your next talk, and you struggle to determine what stays in
and what to cut, try taking the following steps. Pinpoint a Big Idea, frame it appropriately, then
communicate it clearly so that your audience members leave ready to take your requested action.
Determine the Big Idea You Want Your Audience to Walk Away With
The point of a persuasive talk is to make sure that audience members leave ready to accept, adopt
and act on the ideas they heard.
The facts, numbers, and stories that you’ve compiled for your presentation are interesting and
persuasive—but most likely, you have elements that can be cut. Only include things you need
your audience to be able to recall when they leave the room.
Establishing a Big Idea before you build a talk will help you hone in on what you want people to
remember when the presentation is over. Articulate what you believe is the essential information
for them to hold onto. Then, write these central ideas down. When it comes time to craft your
specific Big Idea, these key takeaways will form the crux of your talk.
Build a Distinct “Point of View” About Your Topic
Determine why you are uniquely qualified to be delivering the idea you’re trying to get the
audience to embrace. Then, frame your message in a way that makes it clear why you’re
communicating it.
To develop a unique point of view, ask yourself what your stance is on a topic. Then, analyze
how this unique vantage point allows you to deliver a message that is distinct. Determining a
unique stance on a perspective helps make your Big Idea clear and makes you distinct, specific
and relevant—not overly generalized.
Determine the Stakes for Your Listeners
In order to get others to commit to the ideas in your presentation, make it clear what’s at stake
for them. People need to know why they should do what you say—and what will happen if they
don’t.
The stakes of your Big Idea communicate what an audience can expect if they say no to what
you’re proposing. The stake could be a negative or positive outcome that could occur if they do
or do not adopt your idea.
The stakes included in a Big Idea are an energizing part of any talk. They help grab the attention
of the audience because it reveals why the subject matters to them specifically and how their
lives will be impacted based on their decision to adopt or reject your idea.
Craft the Big Idea as a Sentence
Once you’ve determined the desired takeaway for your talk, your unique point of view, and the
stakes for your audience, distill all of this into one succinct, memorable, and complete sentence
that will stick with listeners.
This one sentence is your Big Idea.
Ultimately, your Big Idea should be memorable and repeatable enough that people remember it
and even tweet it. When your audience is asked after your talk, “What was that presentation you
attended the other day about?” they should be able to easily repeat your main message and help
reinforce it—or, maybe even spread it further.
When you need to create a presentation, hone in on a Big Idea first, then craft the rest of your
talk around it. Use your Big Idea as a filter for all elements of your talk. All of your facts,
anecdotes, images and slides (as well as everything else you choose to include) should serve to
directly support what you’re trying to impart. So, choose a clear central idea and communicate it
through the lens of a Big Idea. Then, you can deliver a talk that changes minds and moves your
ideas forward.
Illustrated by Michelle Shepard, Oscar Chacon, and Stephanie Garcia

Everything You Need to Know About Using
Speaker Notes in PowerPoint
Through preparing for our newest Duarte workshop, Slide Design Lab, we realized there’s a
feature that many presenters don’t realize plays a key role in slide design and speaker support:
speaker notes in PowerPoint®.
To use your speaker notes in PowerPoint most effectively during your next talk, follow the tips
below.
What are speaker notes in PowerPoint?
Speaker notes in PowerPoint help presenters recall important points, such as key messages or
stats, as they give a presentation. The speaker note panel lives at the bottom of your screen in
Normal view, although some users may have this section hidden.
Use the speaker notes to add more nuanced information about a slide’s graphics, or instructions
for how to click through an animation. It can also be handy to add links to important files or just
use this space as a general note taking section—like someone would use a scratch piece of paper.
What are the benefits of speaker notes in PowerPoint?
You are the storyteller, and your slides are your support, forming the atmosphere and
emphasizing your key points. Because there’s a limit to how much information people can
process at one time—they will either listen to you or read your slides—it’s important to show
only information essential for your story.
Speaker notes in PowerPoint allow you to move nonessential text and stats off your slides so that
your audience can fully absorb your message. Having the info in the speaker notes allows you to
be ready should your audience ask questions about your data, or other points in your presentation
that may require additional information.
Though speaker notes should be a somewhat simplified version of what you are saying, using
them for the high-level points of your script will help you match your talk track to what’s
happening on the slide behind you.
A presenter who doesn’t need to look behind them to keep pace will have a stronger
connection with the audience. Click To Tweet
Spending a little time structuring speaker notes in PowerPoint can also be an easy way to turn
your presentation into a dual-purpose file. Not only can you use your file to present, you can use
it as a standalone document that can be effectively shared without you presenting. This more
advanced feature is described below.
How do I add speaker notes in PowerPoint?
There are two ways to add speaker notes in PowerPoint.
Method One: Directly edit in slide editing mode (aka Normal View). Click the notes section of
the window and begin typing. If the notes are hidden, click the Notes button found in options on
the bottom right of the PowerPoint screen.
Method Two: Edit your notes in Notes View. Click on the View tab in the ribbon and click
Notes Page. Here you have more room on the screen to write your notes and adjust the font size
and layout.
How should you write speaker notes in PowerPoint?
We typically advise speakers not to write their script word-for-word in the speaker notes section,
as this can tempt a presenter to break a connection with an audience, as well as begin to sound
inauthentic.
Remember: each slide should convey one concept. Click To Tweet
The first bullet point of your speaker notes can convey that overarching idea, and your other
points can support it. I call these speaking touchpoints, and often they are short words or phrases
that will remind me of what I want to say.
If one of your supporting concepts involves telling an anecdote or story, you can trigger your
memory by leaving a note to yourself in brackets. For example, you could type:
• As a company, we’ve been through difficult times before

• [Story: 2008 financial crisis]
It’s also important to keep these simple because the space to view them is limited. Though, there
are times when a more elaborate note needs to be included. I’ve found that including a very
important phrase in full is one of my favorite things about speaker notes. We often spend a lot of
time crafting that pivotal moment, the pace of it, and the wording. Leave room to easily see it in
presenter view.
Once, I sat through a presentation where the presenter stayed on one slide for quite some time.
He was telling a long story that was coming back to resolve and tie together various points of
information on the slide. To help himself stay on track, he wrote about six key speaking
touchpoints in a list in the speaker notes, duplicated the slide (so it looked the same to the
audience), then completed his next few speaking touchpoints for the slide. When he reached the
bottom of the first six touchpoints he clicked the slide without missing a beat and continued the
talk track. The audience had no idea that he just moved slides and he was able to use his notes,
even though they were long.
The speaker notes are also an opportunity to include “stage directions.” These can be anything
from reminding yourself to click and advance an animation, gesture to a co-speaker or member
of the audience, or even take a breath and pause.
How do you project speaker notes in PowerPoint during a presentation?
PowerPoint is set up to show notes only to the speaker when a presentation is connected to
another output, such as a monitor, a projector, a video conferencing app, etc. Just select the Slide
Show tab and click Presenter View to enable a display that only you can see on your computer.
You’ll see your slides, speaker notes, and even a timer, but your audience will only see slides
projected on a monitor or screen.
How else can I use my speaker notes in PowerPoint?
I mentioned that you can structure the notes pages to act as a standalone document that can be
shared without you presenting. This is a more advanced way to use notes, but extremely
valuable.
Let’s say your presentation wowed your audience so much that they requested copies of your
slides so they can reference them later, or share with others. Because you created a presentation
meant to be shown, not read, chances are that your file won’t make sense to someone who wasn’t
in the room.
Unless, of course, they can read and make sense of your speaker notes. Speaker notes can be
used to create beautiful presentation artifacts for your audiences. By giving people a physical
reminder of your presentation content, they’ll keep thinking about your talk long after you give
it, and they’ll more easily share your message with others.
David Allen, the author of the bestselling series Getting Things Done, leaves information behind
after his talks to ensure that his audience remembers his key principles and methodologies.
After we created a cinematic presentation for David, we translated the rich, evocative images and
layouts of his presentation into handouts that anyone could read and understand.
How can I use speaker notes in PowerPoint to create handouts?
Here’s how to do it:
1. Click on View in the ribbon and select Notes Page. You’ll see that the slide visual takes up the
top half of the page and the text below the slide defaults to a bulleted list.
This basic note layout is extremely modifiable. Not only can the Notes Master be adjusted, but
each Notes Page itself can have text, charts, quotes, and images added as separate and additional
content to augment what’s on the surface slide.
2. To make changes that will impact the basic structure of all your notes pages, navigate to the
Notes Master View: View tab > Master > Notes Master.
3. Make changes to the layout in the Notes Master, keeping in mind that changes here will be
reflected on all the notes pages. In the image below, an example of a default Notes Master is
shown at left, with a modified master page at right.
You can scale your slide thumbnail to any size and place it anywhere on the master. Headers,
footers, and the note placeholder can be moved into any position you’d like. You can add objects
to the Notes Master, but remember that objects added in Notes Master will appear on every
slide’s notes page. Thus, you must be strategic about what you add. To that point, adding a logo
or some other universal image would make sense in the Notes Master.
4. Once the Notes Master has been restructured, return to Notes View: View tab > Notes Page.
5. For each page, add any custom graphics, data, text, or other items that relate to that slide.
Remember, these will not appear on the slides; they only appear in these notes.
In the layouts we created for David Allen below, we placed a small image of the slide on the top
left of the page and a graphic and quote at the top right.
How do I print speaker notes in PowerPoint?
Perhaps you’d rather print out your notes instead of viewing them digitally on a monitor. Or
maybe you’ve gone the extra step and customized your notes and now you’re ready to distribute
them to your audience.
1. Click the File tab and select Print to open the print dialog.
2. Pull down the second menu within the Settings options. PowerPoint defaults to the Full Page
Slides option, and you’ll need to switch it to Notes Pages option.
Now you can print the file in Notes View to give a hard copy to your audience.
*Note: Image resolutions may be slightly less in printed or PDF Notes View. Text and shapes
will remain the same.
By putting thought into how you prepare, use, and re-use your speaker notes, you ensure that
your message resonates long after you and your audience leave the room.
How to Make a Presentation with Data that
Moves People
If you’re not analytical by nature but have to give a presentation to a particularly analytical
audience, it’s important to toe the line between knowledgeable expert and impassioned
storyteller.
Professionals in data-dense industries (like Pharma, Tech, Engineering, or Finance) value

concrete information. And they often need statistical evidence to believe what you tell them.
Granted, they’ll respond to narrative-driven presentations like most audiences do. But, they value
evidence too.
Marketing presentations are often packed with compelling stories and emotional anecdotes.
These can be moving for a wide range of audiences.
However, too much emotion, story, and slick graphics feel like marketing fluff that could impact
your credibility.
Keep the following things in mind when preparing presentations for an analytical audience.
Using these tips you’ll build credibility with peers and ultimately incite action in listeners.
Don’t Get Rid of the Emotion—Temper It
Aristotle claimed that in order to persuade, you need to rely on 3 complementary argument types:
appeal to ethics (ethos); appeal to emotion (pathos), and appeal to logic (logos).
The best presentations incorporate all 3 of these—but they don’t necessarily do it evenly spread
across them.
Creating a presentation that hits home for a data-reliant audience, you want to lean more heavily
on an appeal to logic. This is where you include all of your facts, numbers, and data.
Yet, to spur people to act effectively, you should not forgo emotional content entirely.
Remember, nearly all humans are moved by emotion, which means emotional content can help
push an audience from one place (or mindset) to a new one.
Emotions have been scientifically proven to be powerful tools for presentations.
They help to create more accurate and vivid memories for listeners, and they also sharpen
attention, pull focus, and keep people from getting distracted during your talk.
To incorporate the right amount of emotional content for an analytical audience, think of it as
only a thin layer. Similar to the sugar coating on an important pill—it makes the medicine easier
to swallow.
The bulk of what you deliver is going to be factual and packed with numbers and heavily
researched facts. But try to also weave in something that will make people feel. This can be a…
• shocking statistic
• gripping anecdote
• narrative that makes them laugh
• powerful description of what the future could look like if they adopt your idea
Know Your Audience
You have to get to know your listeners beyond simply being people that are good with numbers.
Once you know more about who they really are, you can look for common ground. This will
help you shape how to add the right amount of emotional content.
A quick analysis of your audience helps.
Grab a pen and paper and think about who your audience members really are, beyond their job.
For example, what…
• are their ultimate goals?

• scares them?
• do they do in their free time?
• ways might they be at odds with you or your idea?
• might be on their mind that’s unique?
Write the answers on a list, then see what stories you have in your arsenal that may appeal to
them. Or alternatively, understand their goals and hopes more clearly.
Consider a Pre-Read or Leave-Behind
If there are convincing numbers that your audience members just have to see, but numbers seem
to be dominating the presentation and stunting the content, consider delivering them before or
after your presentation.
Get important information to attendees by utilizing pre-reads and leave-behinds.
Pre-reads are visual documents (like Slidedocs) you can send to audience members before your
talk that include all of the key statistics, reports, studies, etc. you want them to understand while
you present.
After your presentation, you can give out a handout that serves as an appendix with supporting
data in it. Attendees can reference supporting insights that help them decide what to do with the
new ideas you introduced.
By extricating some of the dense info from your talk and delivering it through a Slidedoc, you
can verbally convey the information in a way that will persuade.
There’s no doubt about it. When it comes to presentations for analytical audiences, numbers are
persuasive, yet people also are human, so they feel, too.
Don’t shy away from using a thin layer of emotional appeal—emotion is a reliable tool, proven
to be effective at convincing people to adopt new ideas.
How to Make Your Presentation Work for
Very Different Audiences
There’s something euphoric about nailing a talk. When you end a presentation feeling certain
your audience is onboard with you, it’s as thrilling as hitting a grand slam in the ninth.
Crafting and delivering a winning talk can feel exhilarating and empowering. But it can also feel
elusive and rare.
I’ve got good news. If you’re a presenter who feels like your great presentation experiences only
happen as often as a hole-in-one, there’s hope.
A presentation or keynote that works doesn’t have to be a thing that you only get to give once.
Once you create a successful talk, you can rely on it again and again as a tool to communicate to
multiple audiences.
Once you create a successful talk, you can rely on it again and again as a tool to communicate
to multiple audiences. Click To Tweet
All you have to do is spend some time tailoring the talk for each group before you present.
You can ensure a presentation is properly suited when you put a little time and energy in. Then,
you can reap the benefits of its success again and again.
Here are some important tips to keep in mind when you’re changing up a presentation for a new
audience.
Do Your Audience Analysis Again
You have to actually move listeners when you give a talk. This involves stirring emotion in them
and, in turn, generating their empathy.
Multiple studies have shown that empathy results in “helping” behavior in people—which means
that people actually feel more inclined to do the things that benefit the people around them (i.e.
for your audience, the things you tell them to do in your talk).
An audience analysis is essentially a deep dive into who your audience members are. Beyond the
professional positions they hold, ask yourself: What are listeners’ fears, hopes, goals, hobbies,
and hesitations? How might they resist the ideas you present? What subjects might enthrall
them?
Once you understand more about who your audience members are, you can incorporate stories
that are relevant to their interests and needs.
Chances are, if you’ve already crafted a successful talk for one audience, you’ve already done
one good audience analysis. But, in the process of repurposing your presentation, you should do
a completely new analysis for your second audience.
Then, remove stories that were tailored to your first group and replace them with ones that will
matter to your second.
For some guidance doing an audience analysis, download our Audience Needs Map. This walks
you through the process of getting to know an audience on a more intimate level.
Get Clear About Your Key Message
It may sound like I’m stating the obvious here, but one of the most important steps to ensuring
that you deliver a talk that works is making sure that YOU know what your key message (or
“Big Idea”) is.
You need to be intimately connected with your big idea if you want it to land. Then, be able to
articulate it clearly and succinctly.
Take some time to hone in on your talk’s big idea. Make sure that it’s relevant to the audience
you’re going to be presenting to. If not, you may want to edit it. What do you want to say to your
next listeners? What do you want them to leave thinking about?
Be vigilant about using your big idea as a filter when you edit. During the process of tweaking,
make sure the key takeaway hasn’t been obscured.
Take a look at our own process of narrowing in on and stating a presentation’s big idea.
Adjust Your Call to Action
Your Call to Action—or CTA—is the part of your presentation where you explicitly state what
you need audience members to do once they leave. A talk can be the most eloquent and beautiful
piece of speechwriting in the world. Your presentation has been essentially fruitless if people
leave not knowing what they’re supposed to do next.
It’s important to note that when it comes to presentation CTAs, one size does not fit all. The
appeal you make to a group of VC bigwigs is going to be different than at a staged industry
event.
When you repurpose a presentation, think about the things that you need your new audience to
do. Then, decide what language resonates with or motivates them.
Update your CTA accordingly. By the end of your talk, your audience should be 100% clear
about what they can do to help you meet your goal.
Keep Your Slides Simple from the Get-Go
Slideshows help the audience “see” what you’re saying. Visuals have been shown to boost
retention and appeal to the audience members who are visual learners. Note: studies show that
65% of all people are visual learners.
If you want to make the process of repurposing a presentation easy, keep your slides simple and
highly conceptual.
If you only include the important information that supports your ideas from the start, there’s a
good chance that information will be universally relevant. That way, you won’t have to do much
editing of the slides themselves for your next talk.
Don’t put that presentation away once it’s been delivered. Instead, keep it handy so that you can
use those key insights again and again.
By crafting simple slides, spending a little time getting to know your audience, and updating the
content so that it appeals to the right hearts and minds, you’ll get to watch the fruits of your labor
pay off again and again.
How to Engage an Audience When You
Might Be Losing Them [Infographic]
Engaging with your audience can be difficult. When you’re on stage, there’s nothing worse than
knowing you worked tirelessly to build a beautiful presentation, but your audience isn’t fully
appreciating it. Luckily, there are ways to pull audience members back in if you feel that you’re
losing them. Check out this infographic for tips on how to connect with a disengaged audience as
you deliver your presentation…
5 Simple Tweaks for Killer TED Talk Slides
By Doug Neff | 5 min read
Since their launch in 1984, TED Talks have become a sort of cultural institution. Today, people
turn to TED Talks for a variety of purposes: wisdom, advice, knowledge, and inspiration. It’s
now easy for the public to access TED Talks via a variety of platforms and formats—including
YouTube videos, Podcast episodes, and blogs containing written transcripts (and much, much
more). In addition to being able to view or read the content of speaker’s talks, can also view TED
Talk slides from previous talks via online slideshow sharing platforms like SlideShare and
AuthorSTREAM.
At Duarte, we take daily inspiration from the TED Talks we hear. We’ve also been lucky enough
to work with many of our clients on crafting TED Talk scripts and slideshows that work. From
the experiences we’ve had helping people create talks that grip audiences, entertain, convey
information, and deliver strong messages, we’ve become keenly aware of a few particular
challenges that presenters face when creating visuals for TED Talks.
These challenges include:
• Budget. Typically, there is going to be a limited budget for the creation of a TED Talk.
And while these budget limitations can limit resources, these constraints can be useful
tools for creative inspiration.
• No standard templates. One of the great things about TED is the diversity of speakers—
but that also means there is no standard or pre-laid out Ted Talk presentation template
format that everyone should follow. We don’t use a single template for all of the
presentations—which means you have to design a new template for each one.
• Limited time. TED Talks are limited to 18 minutes, so we often have to help presenters
(some of whom were not used to working within time limits) trim down their
presentations so they fit in the required time allotment.
In addition to these challenges, we’ve also been able to master some tricks of the trade that
consistently help us design TED slides that rise above the noise and connect with audiences.
The following tips, which contain several simple tweaks you can make to your TED presentation
slides help ensure you create slides that are clear, aesthetically pleasing, and persuasive—as well
as ones that fit within your allotted time and budget. By focusing on making the following small
design decisions (or changes), you can make a big impact on the results of your talk.
1. Use a custom background.
PowerPoint and Keynote both come with a selection of nice backgrounds to choose from. Used
appropriately, they can be the perfect backdrop for your presentation. However, they all share the
disadvantage of being available to everyone who uses PowerPoint or Keynote. This means they
might be boring—and you want your presentation to be unique.
So, choose a custom background for your TED Talk slides. Some important factors to keep in
mind when choosing a custom background include:
• Uniqueness, but also subtlety, so your background doesn’t distract from the message
• Cohesion with the presentation environment (if you know what it will look like)
• The focus of the presentation – whether the background should highlight the words of
the talk, or call attention to images
So where can you get a custom background? One place to look is stock photo sites,
like istockphoto or shutterstock. They have thousands of textures and gradients for sale, many of
which would make an excellent background for your presentation. Another option is to simply
make one yourself. Our solutions are often a simple gradient. Luckily, creating your own
background is easily accomplished with only the tools included in both PowerPoint and Keynote.
2. Choose the fonts for your TED Talk slides wisely
We tend to shy away from using a Serif font in any TED presentation slides – especially when
they will be projected. (Page 143 in slide:ology for those of you following along.) Serif fonts
(like Times New Roman) have little extra details at the end of letter strokes, like the lines at the
bottom of many of the letters you’re reading right now. And they tend to work better when your
words will go on for more than one line. The letters in sans-serif fonts (like Helvetica) don’t
include those extra details, tend to be bigger and bolder, and generally work better in short
bursts, like in headlines, captions, and short phrases. Sans serif fonts tend to be the fonts for most
PowerPoint and Keynote presentations.
For many presentations, we like to choose simple sans serif fonts like Helvetica. We prefer sans
serif fonts for TED slides a few reasons: it’s a relatively standard font, so we wouldn’t have to
worry about mix-ups backstage; it’s a clean, easily readable, sans-serif font; and, well… we
LOVE Helvetica here at Duarte (check out our logo). You don’t have to use Helvetica
specifically for every presentation, but it can be a good fit if you’re looking for the best font for
presentation design to communicate a clear, digestible message.
3. Use animations and transitions appropriately
If you’ve watched TED talks online, you’ve probably noticed that their presentations include
some subtle transitions and a small animation or two. (Then again, maybe you didn’t). If the
presentation was designed well, you probably felt the transitions in the TED Talk slides, but
didn’t really notice them. You want your presentation transitions to feel smooth and soft, so
choose transitions like soft dissolves and gentle scrolling to enhance the overall experience.
Can you imagine engaging with the speaker’s voice while words are zipping and flying back and
forth on the screen? Sadly, you probably can. Instead of focusing on animation, use a small
amount of movement to add something subtle to the whole presentation.
While animations and transitions can help, if you feel your animations don’t add something
positive to your presentation, you’re probably better off taking them out. It’s okay to have TED
presentation slides that don’t use animation or transitions at all.
4. One idea per each of your TED Talk slides
Presenters often include many ideas on one slide, doing their best to be efficient with their slide
real estate. An honorable gesture, but totally unnecessary in a digital world.
During a live presentation, visuals exist in time as well as space. The audience doesn’t need to
stare at the same four points while the speaker weaves his story around each of them. So, make
sure each of your TED presentation slides only focuses on one bullet point or main idea. This
lets the audience absorb them one at a time and (once again) highlights the speaker’s voice as the
most important part of the experience.
5. Take care of your images
I heard a speaker at a recent conference (not TED) give instructions to the audience on inserting
images into their presentations. “When you look for images on Google,” he said, “try to find the
highest quality version”. I could hear a tiny cry of pain from designers and photographers all
over the world.
Folks, Google Image Search is not an appropriate tool for building professional presentations.
Finding the “perfect” image on Google gives you no rights whatsoever to use it in your
presentation. You need to contact the owner of the image and get permission, by paying for
licensing rights. Or asking really nicely.
(Note: If you do get permission to use an image, you want to make it look great for its on-screen
debut. If you have Photoshop, you can do it yourself. If not, why not try out an online photo
retouching service? Do everything you can to make sure the image enhances your story rather
than detracts from it).
If you want to go straight to a resource that makes images available for TED Talk slides, check
out a site like Pixabay, which offers images that can be used and reused commercially for free—
without needing to pay for any special license. You can also check out a resource like
PresentationPro, which offers a PowerPoint Graphics Pack for purchase and includes many
royalty-free graphics and images that you can use throughout your TED presentation slides.
If you’ve followed these tweaks to edit your TED talk presentation, you probably found that the
“makeover” to your TED Talk slides was pretty simple and didn’t take too much time. Luckily,
however, even these small improvements will make a dramatic impact on the end result. Keep
these five tips in mind the next time you need to “clean up” your TED presentation slides.
They’ll save you time and energy in the long run—and make a big difference in the impact of the
talk.
Delivery Event Strategy Tips
10 Ways to Prepare for a TED Style Talk

There’s one question I’m asked frequently: how to give a TED Talk that works.
I’ve given all types of talks. And while all presentations take an investment to make them
effective, the creation of a high-stakes, beautifully staged TED-style talk often proves to be
especially difficult. It takes work to craft the talk, and then even more to make the delivery sound
natural.
What Makes Preparing for a TED Talk So Tough?
A TED Talk is 18 minutes long—a length that was chosen by TED organizers based both on
neuroscience and strategy. They understood that 18 minutes was long enough for a speaker to
flesh out an idea, but short enough that a listener could take in, digest, and understand all of the
important information.
TED curator Chris Anderson explains:
“The 18-minute length works much like the way Twitter forces people to be disciplined in what
they write. By forcing speakers who are used to going on for 45 minutes to bring it down to 18,
you get them to really think about what they want to say. What is the key point they want to
communicate? It has a clarifying effect. It brings discipline.”
In reality, creating a talk that is ONLY 18 minutes, instead of 45, is tougher than you might
imagine. Woodrow Wilson summed up the process of giving a short, but effective speech best
when he said:
“If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half
an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.”
Not only is the 18-minute speech editing process challenging, but the rehearsal process takes a
lot of time. In fact, I discovered that the amount of rehearsal time required is inversely
proportionate to the length of the talk. True story: for the last 18-minute TEDx Talk I gave, it
took me approximately 18 hours to rehearse.
Preparation Tips: How to Give a TED Talk That Gets a Lot of Views
Here are ten preparation tips for how to give a TED Talk that fits within tight time limits and
results in a presentation that’s as effective as possible.
1. Print your current slide deck as 9-up handouts.
The 9-up format is conveniently the same size as the smallest sticky note. When I prepared for
my TEDx Talk, I arranged and re-arranged my message onto sticky notes—adding sticky notes
until I was happy with the flow. If I’m whittling down my talk from, say, a 40 minute talk, I
make sure I cut at least half of my slides. Keep trimming and trimming until you feel you are
close to 18 minutes. During this process it becomes clear that your big idea can be
communicated in a succinct, distilled manner.
2. Solicit feedback.
Assemble a handful of people who are effective presenters that you trust to give honest,
unfiltered feedback on your narrative and slides. Verbally run the ideas by these folks (it doesn’t
have to be a formal presentation). Have them look at all the slides at once so they give feedback
on the “whole,” not the parts. Have them give you feedback on the content you’ve chosen and
ask whether they think it will resonate with your audience. Consider doing this a handful of
times: when I did my TEDx Talk, I repeated this step four times, twice with my ExComm
Manager and twice with my company President. After they added their insights, I was ready to
have the slides designed.
3. Rehearse with a great (honest) communicator.
Choose someone you trust and also that understands how to give a TED Talk, and rehearse with
them. In my case, I rehearsed with a Duarte speaker coach. She would say honest things like:
“When you say it that way, it can be interpreted differently than you intended,” “When you use
that term, you come across derogatory,” “I thought that when you said it last time it was better,
you said…” She worked hard tracking phrases and rounds of what was said. When it comes to
preparing for a TED Talk, honesty is the best policy. Make sure your coach is not afraid to speak
up; 18 minutes goes by fast. You love your material and you want to include all of it, but if you
want to master how to give a TED Talk successfully, you need someone you trust to help you
murder your darlings.
4. Close the loop.
A lot of times, as the presenter, you know your material so well that you think you’re making
each key point clear. You might not be. Your coach should make sure you are telling people
why. It’s the “why” around our ideas that make them spread, not the “how.” Articulate the why
so your audience understands what’s magnificent about your big idea.
5. Practice with clock counting up.
The first few times, rehearse with the clock counting up. That’s because if you go over, you need
to know how much you’re over. Do NOT be looking at the clock at this time. Have your coach
look at it because you don’t want to remember any of the timestamps in your mind. Finish your
entire talk and then have your coach tell you how much you need to trim. Keep practicing until
you’re consistently within 18 minutes. Your coach should be able to tell you to trim 30 seconds
here or add 15 seconds there so that your content is weighted toward the most important
information.
6. Practice with clock counting down.
Once you’re within the timeframe, begin practicing with the clock counting down. You need to
set a few places in your talk where you benchmark a time stamp. Calculate where you need to be
in the content in six-minute increments. You should know roughly where you should be at 6, 12
and 18 minutes. You should know which slide you should be on and what you’re saying so that
you will know immediately from the stage if you’re on time or running over.
7. Be noteworthy.
Your coach is there to jot down what you say well and what you don’t. They should work from a
printout of the slides and write phrases you deliver effectively so they can be added to your
script. They should help you capture phrases so you can type them into your notes.
8. Don’t be camera shy.
Videotape some of your final practices. It doesn’t have to be a high-end video setup—I’ve used
my iPhone camera on a tripod in a hotel room. You just need to feel like something’s at stake.
Videotaping yourself helps you get used to looking at the camera, and you can review the video
to look at your stage presence, eye contact, gestures, plus identify any expressions that need
modification. Also, if you do an especially good practice run, you can go back and listen to the
audio and add the best snippets to your slide notes. The TED audience has only about 1,000
people in it, but the TED.com audience has millions. So, talk to the camera like there are humans
on the other side of it.
9. Do one more FULL timed rehearsal right before you walk on stage.
Right before you go onstage (we’re talking day-of), do one more timed rehearsal. This will
ensure that you know the speech and that you’re well aware of where you might need to slow
down or speed up.
10. Have two natural ending points.
I gave a TED-style talk in India with a head cold. I knew I’d possibly lose track of timing. Give
your talk two natural ending points. Pick two natural places you could stop in your talk, then
demarcate those as possible endings. That way, if you’re running way over, you can stop at your
first ending point, and while your audience may miss out on some inspirational or emotional
ending, they’ll have heard all of the most important information that matters.
How to Throw a Memorable Corporate
Event
By Catrinel Bartolomeu | 5 min read
“Corporate Event.”
It’s a phrase that might send shivers down your spine, or might make you well-up with positive
emotion, depending on the last experience you had at a large business conference or meeting.
At their core, all live corporate events have the same basic goal: to impart a message that leaves
attendees inspired to take action. Yet, events can have such different outcomes: some events
(probably most you attend) cause people to fall asleep in their seats, squirm with boredom, or
simply leave having no idea what they were supposed to take away.
Others, however, can be emotionally-charged and riveting. They can make an unforgettable, life-
changing impact on participants and the broader community, like the annual TED Conference.
TED not only attracts renowned speakers and high-profile guests year after year, but it also has
resulted in a library of world-class post-event content that gives attendees (and society at large)
the chance revisit the experience again and again.
If you’re planning an upcoming corporate event, you may feel daunted, but you can rest assured
it’s worth the effort. The bottom line is that large, live corporate gatherings just work. Why?
• Being around other people makes messages more memorable. Studies showed that 33%
of people better remember information they hear if they hear it when they’re with
other people. (source)
• Group experiences linger with participants. 61% of people say that having a communal
experience shapes the way they think about that experience and the impact it has on
them long after the experience is over. (source)
To make sure your event succeeds, commit to making it a memorable, powerful experience by
utilizing the 4 key elements that we’ve identified as the 4 I’s of Impactful Events: inclusivity,
immersiveness, intimacy, and inspiration. By keeping each of these in mind while you plan,
you’ll produce an experience that effectively relays a message to your listeners—and one that
lands in a way that inspires attendees to take action.
Create “Inclusive” Events
An audience at a live event wants to feel included, both physically and psychologically. In
today’s age of AI and smart technology, people actually prefer personalized experiences when
dealing with companies and brands, which means that they want to feel like your event is
tailored to them, not something that is generic or forced.
That’s why Mark Benioff spent his time wandering through the audience of 90,000 during his
2012 DreamFroce keynote speech. By walking through ALL of those rows of people, he was
able to physically represent that everyone in the room was a part of the same experience.
Live event attendees don’t only need to feel physically included. They want to feel like their
needs are being met and like they have something to do while they’re there. Some strategies for
actively including attendees are:
• Taking polls
• Creating a social media hashtag
• Having a virtual event room for those that can’t make it
• Hosting a photo contest with a designated hashtag
Global utility company Opower took the idea of inclusivity seriously at their 2014 PowerUp
Conference, an event for utility industry professionals held in Miami. Before the event they spent
considerable time in 1:1 interviews with attendees, hoping to understand exactly what clients
wanted to get out of the experience. By making the attendees a part of the planning process, they
both helped them feel valued during the event and helped themselves create an experience that
worked.
After the event, attendees spoke about how successful it was. In a piece for Oracle, Arlen
Orchard, CEO of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, wrote, “…The conference was
refreshing. It sparked conversations I wouldn’t have had at other events. I came home with a lot
of new ideas for my company… PowerUp is worth the trip.”
Plan to “Immerse” Your Audience
When the planners of the Montreal-based business and creativity conference C2MTL decided
that attendees would enter the event by walking through a pitch-black tunnel up to a beaming
ball of light (which turned out to be a button that said, “Prepare to reset your mind” when
pressed), they weren’t just trying to pay tribute to sci-fi movies. Instead, they were honing in on
one of the most important aspects of an impactful event: immersiveness.
For a meeting or conference to move people you’ll have to draw people into a story you’re
telling, transport them out of their daily routines, or create a physical reality or existential realm
that feels completely new.
An event can be made immersive in many ways. You may manipulate lighting or scenery to
make the space feel different. You can offer interactive experiences (like C2MTL’s tunnel
entrance), which can serve as a symbolic or physical demarcation that the event space is separate
from real-world space. Or, you can ask guests to leave behind their technological devices to
ensure that they’re focused on what’s happening and not connected to the outside world.
Immersiveness helps make an event impactful because it offers an experience that is starkly
different from a participant’s everyday routine. It also helps remove distractions, which reduces
the chance that attendees’ attention can be drawn away from the activities at hand and your
central message.
Create a Sense of “Intimacy” Even in Corporate Events
There’s a good chance that part of what you want people to understand is based on data and
numbers. However, it’s hard to make a live event feel riveting by focusing on facts alone.
Instead, allow people to connect with one another, and with you, by facilitating moments of
human connection. This will help attendees feel a personal tie to your brand and build loyalty.
To foster intimacy at your live event, plan activities that are simply for socialization, or those
that require interaction between small groups of attendees. Tech company Slido did this well
when they hosted a “World Café” at their recent all-company training event. Attendees were
divided into groups of 5, then, each member of the group had 6 minutes to explain an issue he or
she was struggling with and get feedback. This activity didn’t only allow company members to
crowdsource solutions and advice from their peers. It also helped create bonds between
employees and fostered a sense of empathy, community, and understanding.
Never forget about “Inspiration”
If you want your event to linger in peoples’ memory, you have to appeal to their emotions, not
just stimulate their minds. Recent studies have shown that emotions have a significant impact on
attention, encoding, and information retrieval. So, focus on creating an event that’s inspiring—
not just informative.
If there’s one event speaker or host who understood how to build inspiration into his live events,
it was Steve Jobs. Jobs was a master at stirring the emotions and excitement of the people who
were in his audiences, which helped him build positive, lasting associations with the Apple
brand.
Jobs was able to stir up exhilaration, anticipation, and hope during many of his keynotes. For
example: the first Mac announcement in 1984 and the legendary iPhone launch in 2007.
Sometimes, he also appealed to more tender or sobering emotions, like during his 2011 iPad 2
announcement, when he returned from a leave of absence he had taken due to illness in order to
reconnect with employees and, in a symbolic way, encourage them to continue to look forward
to the future, no matter happened to him.
You don’t have to make a world-altering speech to create an inspiring moment at your event, but
there are some easy ways you can build emotions so it makes a lasting impact on those who
attend. You can:
• Host contests and challenges to spur excitement

• Bring in keynote speakers who specialize in delivering emotional messages
• Include video testimonials from customers who can offer first-hand stories
• Include improve workshops, which get people laughing
At the end of the day, if you want your event to succeed, you need it to make a serious
impression on the people who are there, and by following the blueprint of the 4 I’s, you can
ensure that you’ll create an experience that lingers once people leave. If you focus on producing
live events that are enjoyable, personalized, memorable, and human, you can ensure that people
will continue thinking about your message—then choose to enact it—long after they’ve left the
event space.
Stop That Stutter: 7 Steps to Overcome
Performance Anxiety
Recently we received a tweet from a follower of @Duarte requesting advice to help a stuttering
presenter. “The presenter is competent with the material,” the message said, “but gets nervous
and begins to stutter on stage.”
As a speech-language pathologist, I immediately began thinking of stuttering from a clinical

perspective. I had flashbacks of a project my professor assigned in graduate school. We were to
go to a public place and speak with a stutter. Complete with hesitations, blocks, stops, and
repetitions. We were asked to take note of the listeners’ reactions.
The range of reactions I received was fascinating. Yes, most people were visibly uncomfortable.
But they gave encouraging smiles, tried to finish my sentences to help me, and overall displayed
a tremendous amount of patience and empathy. I got the sense that people really felt for me.
As you can imagine, it’s incredibly frustrating to be unable to express yourself.
It was a valuable experience for me, as a communication professional, because I realize that
while public speaking is in no way comparable to a clinical diagnosis of stuttering, the struggle
to communicate is a common thread between them. As our tweeter shared, there are moments in
public speaking when your nerves take over and your speech quality suffers.
Luckily, just as there are clinical therapy techniques to help a stutterer ease her speech, public
speakers have options, too.
7 Tips for How to Stop Stuttering When You Give Presentations
Recognize that stuttered speech is really performance anxiety rearing its ugly head. Use the
following tips to help you relax and speak clearly.
1. Visualize Something Positive
There are two types of visualizations you can try to reduce your performance anxiety during a
presentation. The first is to visualize yourself successfully giving a smooth performance before
you go on stage. Multiple studies have shown that people who visualize themselves delivering a
smooth talk, perform better than those who don’t. You can also try visualizing something that
makes you feel happy and relaxed. Or imagine someone or something you love—that’ll calm
you down and comfort you. For example, I’ve seen great speakers use this technique with images
of their children on the podium.
2. Get Familiar With the Presentation Space
Make sure you’re familiar with the space in which you’ll be delivering your talk. That way,
there’s nothing surprising about it when it’s time to present. If possible, visit the venue a few
days before your talk, practice as much as possible, and ask questions about the set-up so you
feel well prepared. Stuttering often occurs when we’re distracted. Becoming familiar with the
space and your surroundings will minimize those distractions and will reduce the fast heart rate
and irregular breathing that can lead to stuttered speech.
3. Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse.
One of the ways to prevent stuttering in a presentation is to rehearse. Rehearsing is key to

ensuring you’re familiar with your material before you go onstage. If you have the opportunity to
rehearse in the venue where you’ll be delivering your talk, that’s ideal. If you can’t, try
practicing in front of a comfortable audience, video record yourself, or even audio record
yourself. Receiving some kind of feedback will help guide the way you rehearse. It’s difficult to
memorize your entire presentation, but make sure you focus on your opening and closing. If you
start off with smooth speech, you’re likely to continue in that pattern. And of course, you want to
end with a bang. Even if you end up stuttering in the middle of your speech, your audience will
remember your impressive intro and conclusion.
4. Take a Deep Breath or a Lot of Deep Breaths
Before you go on stage, focus on the pace of your breathing. Inhaling and exhaling long, slow
breaths will calm you and reduce your heart rate. Once you get a good feel for this controlled
rate of breathing, try to be conscious of it when you’re on stage. If the adrenaline kicks in, your
heart races and your speech becomes stuttered, it will be difficult for your audience to understand
you. Use deep breathing techniques to quell anxiety and get rid of its physical symptoms. In a
study on performance anxiety, Australian researchers found that musicians who practiced deep
breathing before performances were able to lower their blood pressure and increase blood-
oxygen concentration. They recommend:
“Before reaching for the beta blockers anyone facing an anxiety-provoking situation might want
to try an extremely low-cost alternative, guaranteed to not produce any negative side effects.
Perhaps the simplest way to let go of fear is to slowly, mindfully exhale.”
5. Channel Nervous Energy Through Body Movement
Think of the adrenaline your body gives you before a physical activity or competition. That
adrenaline gives you the energy you need to perform. In sports, we’re trained to think of this as a
good thing. Why are we trained to think this is bad in a business setting? Use it for good! If you
need a more physical way to channel your energy, move around a bit onstage.
A slow, steady walk across the stage can set a rhythm that will slow down your thinking, set the
speed of your speech, and reduce the confusion that often leads to stuttering. Make sure you’re
not pacing constantly or quickly, however, as that will distract your audience. You can also
channel that energy by using purposeful gestures that are varied and congruent with your
content. Try not to use the same repetitive movements because that can distract your audience.
Listeners will appreciate that you shared that great energy through natural, smooth movements
and probably won’t even notice your nerves.
6. Slow Down
When stuttered speech occurs, it’s usually because your mind and mouth are not in sync. The
obvious solution is for you to slow down. Easier said than done when you’re on stage and
nervous. There are two easy solutions to reduce your speech pace. The first is to over-articulate.
Use your lips, tongue, and jaw to exaggerate your word pronunciation. You’re going to feel as if
you’re speaking to a group of non-native English speakers or to your grandmother who’s hard of
hearing. That’s good! Over-articulating stretches out your words and slows you down. The
second option is to pause. Speakers are so afraid of silence. A few seconds feels like forever to
someone who’s nervous. But when you stop talking, you allow your brain to catch up. You’re
able to think about your next thought and get back on track.
7. Get Some Sleep
Many speakers think if they cram lines and practice until the very last minute, the presentation
will go more smoothly. While we absolutely suggest rehearsing, over preparation can harm you.
In other words, please don’t stay up all night rehearsing and memorizing! That will not calm you
and may, in fact, make you more nervous and cause stuttered speech. Instead, make sure you are
well-rested for your talk. Studies show that people who skip sleep to study end up performing
worse on tests and tasks than those who studied less but took the time to rest. Fatigue is just as
likely to inhibit your performance as lack of preparation, because when we’re tired, it’s difficult
to concentrate. Preparing isn’t only about practicing. It’s also about letting your mind take a
well-deserved break.
We’ve worked with a wide variety of speakers. From first-timers all the way to experienced C-
suite executives. At one point or another, they’ve all been nervous, and it’s affected the way they
present. If you’ve suffered from stuttered speech, the above tips can help you when delivering a
crucial presentation to your team or a high-stakes speech to a client. It’s normal to be nervous,
but taking concrete steps to overcome your presentation fears will help you remain calm. By
improving your physical anxiety symptoms, you may be able to eliminate stuttered speech once
and for all.
4 Principles To Live By When You Design
Presentations
By Ryan Orcutt | 4 min read
Today, more than ever, presentations hold the world’s most critical messages. Whether you’re
presenting a groundbreaking technology, a new business idea, or raising awareness of a social
issue, if the design isn’t carefully thought through, your message could get lost. To make sure
that your message resonates with listeners, follow these four basic presentation design principles
when designing your next presentation.
4 Presentation Design Principles
1. Use Color with Purpose
One of the key mistakes that people make when they create presentation visuals is not thinking
through their color choices. Most people pick their favorite color or just a color at random, but
color is one of the key ways that you can communicate visually, so it’s important to be
purposeful.
It’s not so much which color you use, it’s how you use it. People will draw connections between
the colors you use and the meaning you assign them. For example, in Roger Sant’s climate
change presentation, orange became the key color.
We made a decision, early in the process, that we were going to use orange to represent carbon.
By staying consistent throughout the presentation and using orange with purpose, we made it
easy for people to draw a connection. Orange became a character in our story. In fact, it became
the evil villain: carbon.
In the presentation, on charts with carbon data or large text slides with negative words like
“crisis,” we used the same vivid orange to create a connection. The average audience member
might not make this connection consciously. But unconsciously, they’ll know when they see
orange, it means danger.
Because audiences are constantly making unconscious connections, you want to make sure
you’re not creating connections by mistake. You should be thinking about how, and when, you
use your brand colors or the colors of a competitor.
2. Don’t Be Default
When you put effort into your presentation, people will take notice. It’s almost as if the effort
you put into your presentation demands more attention and respect from your audience. But, you
don’t have to agonize over your visuals to earn respect. One of the key ways that you can make a
presentation stand out is to go just beyond the default settings.
For example, if you’re going to put a chart in your presentation, it would be really easy to just
plug in your data and call it a day. But that’s not what’s going to capture your audience’s
attention. In fact, it might be what puts your audience to sleep. If you put a little bit of extra
effort into your design choices and make it a point to simplify for your audience, your data and
stand out.
BEFORE
Take a look at how we took this chart and avoided being default. The plot area became a
transparency of white. The fonts are the same ones used in the rest of the presentation. Colors are
used consistently and with purpose and the legend is easier to read. The lines of the chart are
thicker and stand out from the axis and grid lines. And, maybe most importantly, callouts are
placed on either side of the line chart so the audience can easily read the key data. All of these
edits transform the chart from default to designed. By doing this, you’ve not only demanded
more attention from your audience, you’ve also helped them understand the data so they don’t
have to go searching for it.
AFTER
3. Use Animation with Intention
We’ve all been guilty of tapping into the vast array of PowerPoint animations and transitions and
adding them into our presentations. While it’s a good idea to keep presentations visually
interesting, we can’t add animation “just because.” Adding animations just for the heck of it can
distract from your presentation rather than add to it. Like color, you want to use animations with
intention instead of just for decoration.
For example, say there are four questions we want to present to the audience. If all four questions
were up on a slide all at once, the audience might get overwhelmed, or read ahead, and not listen
to what you have to say. In this case, we’d use animations to pace the audience and have them
read what we want them to read, when we want them to read it.
Video Player
00:00
00:09
When showing the history of carbon in the earth’s atmosphere during Roger Sant’s presentation,
we showed the previous 400,000 years first. That focused the audience’s attention on a baseline.
Then, to create contrast, we animated in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere since the
Industrial Revolution.
4. Give Photos a Treatment
Another way to improve your presentations without a ton of extra work is to pay more attention
to your photo choices. Take the time you need to find a good stock photo, take a quality photo on
your own, or pay someone to take photos for you.
When using photography in Roger Sant’s presentation, we paid a lot of attention to both the
content of the photo and the tone we wanted to create. For example, when Sant was discussing
the northern white rhino, which is all but extinct, we used a black and white photo (above). We
also made sure to show the armed guards that were protecting the rhino. Whereas when we
showed pictures of the southern white rhino (below), which was successfully brought back from
the edge of extinction, we used a warm, full-color photo. This choice gave the photo an
optimistic feel instead of a cold or a scary one, like the first photo.
The trick is this: it’s not just about choosing the right photos, it’s about applying the right
treatment. Doing this can add another powerful layer of meaning to your presentation.
Use these four presentation design principles and you’ll be on your way to creating a
presentation that inspires and motivates your audience.
How to Move Your Presentation Audience
With This Powerful Story Technique
You can probably recall the last story you heard, but you likely don’t remember the last
presentation you sat through.
A big part of this is because you physically react to story: your heart races, your eyes dilate, you
get a chill down your spine, you laugh, you clap, you lean forward, you jump back. Your brain
just wants to take more in, because your brain loves a great story. But your brain doesn’t always
love a presentation because most presentations aren’t based on story principles. It’s totally
possible though, to use story techniques in presentations to make them more compelling if you
know a little bit about how stories work.
Great Stories are All About Transformation
The most important thing to remember about storytelling is it’s all about transformation. The
typical story does this through a three-act story structure. You’re probably familiar with this
format—the protagonist is identified as likable, then they go through all of these difficult times,
and finally, they emerge transformed.
How to Apply Story Structure to a Presentation
Here’s the key: When you give a presentation, you’re making your audience the hero of your
presentation and asking them to go through a transformation. Whoa, that sounds hard, right? So,
before you present, you need to ask yourself in regard to your audience, “who are they when they
walk in the room and who do I want them to be when they leave the room?”
Once you’ve identified this transformation, you’ve created your audience’s story arc; everything
you input into your presentation needs to support that arc and that transformation.
In really great speeches, the speaker builds tension and releases it, and builds tension and
releases it again.
In order to achieve this tension and release, you must get to a place of shared understanding by
stating what everyone knows to be true. If you’re giving a presentation to the rest of your
sales or marketing team, this could be as simple as saying: “Uh oh, we’re not performing well
this quarter.” You build your credibility here because you understand “what is.”
Next, you want to introduce “what could be.” This is the first time your audience will have
reached a heightened sense of cathartic tension as you’re asking today’s realities to be different.
The end of your talk needs to end with a new bliss; this is your picture of the world with your
idea adopted. Remember—people will always remember the last thing you said more than what
was in the beginning or middle.
This is a conceptual model and can sometimes be hard to understand, but the structure has been
used by famous orators, politicians, religious leaders, CEOs, and many more over time. Take a
look at a few of the examples below and see how it plays out in some of the world’s most famous
speeches.
Story Structure Examples in Famous Speeches
Margaret Thatcher – Former British Prime Minister, Britain Awake speech
In 1976 Margaret Thatcher delivered a speech to warn British officials of the rising threat of
Russia, whose leaders, she said, were “bent on world dominance.” This speech prompted the
Soviet Defense Ministry newspaper, Red Star, to call her “The Iron Lady.”
Thatcher moves back and forth between “what is” and “what could be,” arguing that the
audience should move from accepting the current defense spending cuts and towards upending
the status quo, saying: “What has this Government been doing with our defenses? Under the last
defense review, the Government said it would cut defense spending by £4,700 million over the
next nine years. Then they said they would cut a further £110 million. It now seems that we will
see further cuts.”
At the end of the speech, comes the new bliss. She raises the conversation once again to the
nobility of Britain and the role the nation has played in securing the world’s future: “We are
under no illusions about the limits of British influence. We are often told how this country that
once ruled a quarter of the world is today just a group of offshore islands. Well, we in the
Conservative Party believe that Britain is still …”
“…The Conservative Party must now sound the warning. There are moments in our history when
we have to make a fundamental choice. This is one such moment—a moment when our choice
will determine the life or death of our kind of society,—and the future of our children. Let’s
ensure that our children will have cause to rejoice that we did not forsake their freedom.”
Jawaharlal Nehru – Former Prime Minister of India, A Tryst with Destiny speech
Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian politician, the political heir of Mohandas Ghani, and the Prime
Minister of Independent India. He was a charismatic leader who pushed for complete
independence from the British Empire. After India suffered during a hundred years of non-
violent struggle against the British Empire, Nehru delivered a speech to the Indian Constituent
Assembly on August 14, 1947, the eve of India being freed from British rule.
The speech, Tryst with Destiny, is one of the greatest speeches of all time. It is beloved in India,
similar to how Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech is beloved in the United
States.
Above is the shape of his speech. You’ll notice he starts off with “what is” and moves back and
forth between “what is” and “what could be” in almost perfect frequency. The speech ends high
and to the right by describing the new bliss. He created a perfect cadence of contrast.
Richard Feynman – American Physicist, Gravity lecture
Educators use this presentation form as well. Richard Feynman was a well-known physics
professor at Caltech University. Students would come and audit his class who weren’t even
taking physics because he was such a powerful communicator.
Feynman’s lectures are a magnificent example of contrast and structure. Some academic topics
simply can’t contrast between “what is” and “what could be” until they lay the foundation of
“what is” over several lectures. In his lecture on the Law of Gravity, Feynman masterfully
incorporated contrast by moving back and forth between fact (mathematics) and context (history)
in nearly perfect timing. Technically, this sparkline should be one flat “what is” line. So we’ll
pretend we’ve zoomed in on that line to look more closely at the contrast between fact and
context.
While I’ve used great world leaders and minds to illustrate my point, you don’t have to be a
genius to nail this idea of what is versus what could be. Once you get started, you might actually
find this concept comes more naturally than you would have imagined.
You can use a structure such as this to drive many desired outcomes, as the way you associate
pieces of information with one another influences their meaning and determines how your
audience receives them. Skillful arrangement of information builds emotional appeal that can
greatly increase the impact of your presentation.
8 Presentation Industry Trends To Watch In
2018
By Alexa Harrison | 3 min read
Confucius once said: study the past if you would define the future.
So, before everyone headed out on holiday vacations, we asked a few Duartians to tell us what
they saw in the presentation industry during 2017, so that we all could better understand what
2018 holds. From an inclusion of more personal stories, to leveraging art installations, to
utilizing VR and AR to create more immersive experiences, 2018 is sure to be a year filled with
compelling and persuasive presentations…
Data alone will not be enough. All roles will require understanding data and how to
communicate the data in a way people will act on the findings. In 2018 people will realize the
necessity of communicating data clearly and effectively through a combination of data and
story. – Nancy Duarte, Chief Executive Officer
Non-traditional presentations are taking off, leveraging more installation art vs. projection.
Digital arrays and projection mapping onto stunning 3D objects is attracting a ton of attention.
– Dan Durller, Senior Art Director
One of the emerging trends we’re seeing in presentations has to do with using VR and AR to
create immersive experiences for the audience. Beyond some of the amazing projection-
mapping and room-scale projection that we’re seeing on-stage, some companies are starting to
explore creating apps that are built around the event theme or the main stage presentations. –
Steve Wishman, Art Director
We’re seeing more high-profile leaders use stories as a framing device to explain their strategies
and win support for big initiatives. Whether your audience consists of your customers, readers,
team members, or a group of strangers, leaders will learn they must narrate the audience
journey with clarity, conviction, and most of all empathy in order to create reliable and
profound connections and ignite a desired action. – Patti Sanchez, Chief Strategy Officer
As the workforce becomes more distributed, and time is more scarce, communication is critical
at every level – intern to manager to executive. Arming every team member with the skills
necessary to communicate your message is no longer a choice, but a necessity. Those that
master effective communications, both internally and externally, will outperform competition.
– Deborah Eastman, Chief Client Officer
When we do our workshops, one of the biggest things we see is people realizing what they call
presentations shouldn’t really be presentations at all; they’re more like discussions using a
Slidedoc. So, no more standing in front of the room with a clicker. Instead they should just
prepare a movie trailer-length content summary, followed by discussing a printed version of
the slides. – Mike Pacchione, Senior Corporate Trainer
The bar is getting higher for presentations across the board. On the higher-end, events are
becoming more interactive and awe-inspiring and are thus more likely to be given a larger
budget. At the same time, the average professional is giving more visual and story-driven
presentations to their own peers. We have so many inconsequential digital interactions that
people and brands are really taking advantage of in-person interactions to connect viscerally
and create memories. – Catrinel Bartolomeu, Head of Editorial
There’s now a greater tendency for speakers to challenge themselves by incorporating personal
stories—not just a stronger narrative flow, but actual stories—into their speeches and
presentations. These stories are used to build the speaker’s case, communicate product users’
journeys, and help build empathy in audiences. It’s not easy to tell a story—and deliver it well—
but the speakers who step out and challenge themselves to bring emotion into otherwise logic-
filled talks will be rewarded with audience appreciation and buy-in. – Jeff Davenport, Speaker
Coach and Content Developer
Great presentations stand firmly at the intersection of data and cinema. One without the other
will either be dull or feel hollow. In 2018, the speakers that not only embrace that space but
innovate on the way the two elements interplay, will be our next great persuaders. – Ryan
Orcutt, Associate Creative Director

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A Presentation Isn’t Always the Right Way to

A version of this article originally appeared in HBR.

Illustrated by Sofia Gonzalez

We need to change this.

Now you have their attention.

Illustrated by Jenna Wilke

How Do I Write an Effective Middle of a Presentation?

Step in and Be the Mentor They Can Trust

1. Make your Movements Matter:

2. Speak With Your Hands

State Your Big Idea, Then Cut What Doesn’t Support It

Make Sure You’ve Used Enough Contrast

A Good Story Will Capture & Hold Attention

68% of people believe that interactive presentations are more memorable.

Shorter, Highly-Visual Talks, With Clear Messages Change Lives

Say Something Real and Relevant

Sheryl Sandberg exemplifies this in her TED talk:

Illustrated by Ash Oat

A version of this article originally appeared in HBR.

A version of this article originally appeared in HBR.

Is it physically or geographically difficult for the audience to do what you’re asking?

To customize your toolbar, take the following steps:

All useful grids are comprised of the same key ingredients:

3. Commit to a Visual System

4. Create Visually Stunning Moments with Photography

5. Consider Your Audience

6. Determine Your Big Idea

7. Commit to One Idea per Slide

When it comes to animating in PowerPoint, there’s a spirit of one-upmanship here at Duarte.

Q: But what about that character animation?

Q: How did you time the music?

Take this table, for instance:

A version of this article originally appeared in HBR.

Illustrated by Ash Oat

1. How to Turn a PowerPoint Into a Video

2. How to Make a PowerPoint Image the Background of a Slide

3. How to Make a PowerPoint Timeline

4. How to Make an PowerPoint Image Transparent

5. How to Make a PowerPoint Master Layout

Illustrated by Noah Smith

1. Am I Presenting Or Circulating My Data?

2. Am I Using The Right Kind of Chart or Table?

Here are the same data in a bar chart:

3. What Message Am I Trying To Convey?

4. Do My Visuals Accurately Reflect The Numbers?

It’s much clearer if you simply flatten the chart:

A version of this article originally appeared in HBR.

Ultimately, when Keating delivers his famous closing lines:

Erin Brokovich in Erin Brokovich, “Lame Ass Offer”

May the Force be with you!

Build a Distinct “Point of View” About Your Topic

Determine the Stakes for Your Listeners

This one sentence is your Big Idea.

Illustrated by Michelle Shepard, Oscar Chacon, and Stephanie Garcia

What are speaker notes in PowerPoint?

What are the benefits of speaker notes in PowerPoint?

How do I add speaker notes in PowerPoint?

There are two ways to add speaker notes in PowerPoint.

Remember: each slide should convey one concept. Click To Tweet