Nancy Duarte, an expert in presentation design and CEO of Duarte Designs, gave a great TED Talks presentation. Duarte (2011) talked about the ability to change the world through communication. She emphasizes how we can learn from the past and tell a compelling story that will encourage others to follow. According to Denning (2011) "stories about the past enable us to make sense of the past and so move into the future" (p. 192). I’m a believer of learning from the past in order to avoid the same mistakes in the future. Everyone has role to play when it comes to shaping the future. However, not everyone has the motivation or guidance to make such advances. It takes people with vision and compassion for an idea or belief. According to Denning (2011), there are four key elements to storytelling: Style, Truth, Preparation, and Delivery (p41). Take for example Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian and leader that change the world. His actions were conveyed through the speeches he made and the impact it had on people. Duarte (2011) talked about the art of drafting a powerful presentation. She describes Aristotle three-act structure; beginning, middle and end. There are heroes and archetypes; in which the audience is really the hero and the presenter is the mentor (Duarte, 2011). The structure of a presentation is very important. Duarte (2011) describes the structure of a great presentation: you have a likeable hero, and they encounter a roadblock, and ultimately they emerge transformed
Freytag’s Dramatic story structure (5-act structure):
A great presentation has a flow and takes
the audience into journey where speaker persuade the audience to believe and
live their ideas. Duarte (2011) found a correlation between the speeches of
great leaders, like Dr. Martin Luther Jr. and Steve Jobs. These presentations
will have a shape as shown below. The gap between “what is” and “what could be”
needs to be big. The middle of this shape goes back and forth Duarte (2011).
Basically, there is a unique flow where the presenter paints a picture and move
the audience past the “what if” and the “what could be” into a call to action,
which lead to the bliss and the ending with a very dramatic and poetic way (Duarte,
2011).
Leaders need to understand the art of presentation
if they are to change the world. Through this course, I have seen the power and
impact storytelling has. Effective communication is an important part of daily
life and we should learn how to communicate effectively. Duarte (2011) concludes by saying “The future
is not a place that we get to go. It’s a place that you get to create.”
Denning, S.
(2011). The Leaders Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of
Business Narrative. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Duarte, N. (2011). The secret structure of great talks.
Retrieved May 08, 2016, from
http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks
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