Nancy Duarte's Blog, page 15
March 19, 2019
Power of the Pre-Read: Make Mighty Recommendations Through Story
Recently, a participant in one of our workshops asked me how to handle a situation where she sends a pre-read deck, 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. [...] continue reading
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January 8, 2019
Facial Expressions Matter When Presenting, Here’s Why
About 8 years ago, while visiting my parents in New Jersey for the weekend, I got bored enough to peruse my mother’s Prevention magazine. Actress Amy Brenneman of ABC’s “Private Practice” was being interviewed on her beauty secrets. Boring. As a speaker coach, what did interest me were her comments on Botox. She boldly admitted [...] continue reading
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January 2, 2019
Why (And How) to Care About the First 30 Seconds of Your Talk
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 [...] continue reading
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December 3, 2018
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 [...] continue reading
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November 19, 2018
Why Your Company Needs More Ceremonies to Navigate Change
Early last year, our company was well into a great season of change. We had turned our org chart on its side, so that nearly every person in the company either had a new boss or was a new boss. We had moved to a different building. We had implemented new software tools. We were [...] continue reading
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October 31, 2018
Leaders Who Get Organizational Change Right Know How to Listen
Organizational change comes at a cost. It requires people to sacrifice something they value, whether it’s time, money, responsibilities, control, status, comfort, or relationships. The more your change effort disrupts those things, the more people will resist or even rage against it. That helps explain why failure is so common, but there’s more to it. [...] continue reading
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October 16, 2018
Overcome Presentation Anxiety Easily with These Steps
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 [...] continue reading
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October 9, 2018
Make Your Marketing Messages Useful
Marketing messages are for consumption, just like products. Your audience will value your brand and engage with it if you create content that’s more meaningful than all the listicles and other hackneyed advice out there — content that’s worthy of publication in its own right. That’s not to say you should recycle your white papers [...] continue reading
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October 3, 2018
A Presentation Isn’t Always the Right Way to Communicate
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 [...] continue reading
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September 18, 2018
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 [...] continue reading
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