The Webinar Way

In just under 3 minutes, Nancy Duarte identified the framework for the most successful presentations both in politics and business. "the greatest communicators of all time..." She identifies the two points in time you need: 1. What is 2. What could be She goes on to say, "You need to make that gap as big as possible because there's the common place of the status quo and you need to contrast that with the loftiness of your idea". Point 1: Presentations are about creating an emotional desire in your audience. Research has backed this idea up in how human make decisions. In people who have damaged the part of the brain responsible for emotion, they can't make even the simplest decision. Point 2: People are going to resist. This is why Duarte says to go back and forth between what is and what could be. She references a sailing technique to capture the resistance that if captured right makes the ship sail faster than the wind itself. The same applies for presentations. The back and forth and back and forth is what uses that resistance to your advantage and turns resistance into buy in. Point 3: End on a poetic and dramatic high note. Duarte goes on to say how she used this tool to analyze many of the most famous speeches and presentations. MLK's "I have a dream", Steve Jobs iPhone keynote, The Gettysburg Address, and so many more. While I learned about this framework after my time as a trial lawyer, it's one of the most powerful ways that I built my opening statements and closing arguments. It's how I was able to try and win dozens of the most vicious criminal cases in Texas on murders and child abuse. Show people the future state of bliss and make them feel it, and they will do whatever you want. As Ben Horowitz says, "the story is the strategy." @nancyduarte