HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations Quotes

“If I am to speak for 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. —Woodrow T. Wilson”
― Harvard Business Review Press, HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

“Pick the one type of person in the room with the most influence, and write your presentation as if just to that subgroup. The presentation can’t be so specialized that it will alienate everyone else—you’ll need some content that appeals to the greater group. But tailor most of your specifics to the subgroup you’ve targeted.”
― Nancy Duarte, HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

“The people in your audience came to see what you can do for them, not what they must do for you. So look at the audience as the “hero” of your idea—and yourself as the mentor who helps people see themselves in that role so they’ll want to get behind your idea and propel it forward.”
― Nancy Duarte, HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

“We work in a first-draft culture. Type an e-mail. Send. Write a blog entry. Post. Whip up some slides. Speak. But it’s in crafting and recrafting—in iteration and rehearsal—that excellence emerges.”
― Harvard Business Review, HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations