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Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences, by Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte gives us a reason to Resonate. Her new book, Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform aAudiences, is part how-to guide and part narrative that gives justification for an approach Duarte calls “story based messaging.” Using techniques from storytelling and the cinema, she explains her methodology, explores case study applications, and guides readers through a unique process for building presentation content.

Duarte bases her premise on a simple phenomenon in physics: If you know an object’s natural rate of vibration, you can make it vibrate without touching it. Resonance occurs when an object’s natural vibration frequency responds to an external stimulus of the same frequency. She then builds the case that this same ide is what moves audiences and that all presenters should strive to create resonance with their listeners.

According to Duarte, resonance in speaking is created when the presenter delivers a memorable story in a powerful way. To help readers accomplish this, Duarte builds a new language for story creation. Her content development process gives readers a model to create presentations, and it advocates using a well-developed, example rich storyline coupled with powerful, visual design. By incorporating Edward Tufte’s sparkline concept, Duarte provides a way for readers to build and analyze presentations visually.

What’s wonderful about this book is that at the same time Duarte is telling us what to do, she is also showing us the steps visually. In this way, she practices what she preaches: the beautifully designed pages come to life and resonate with the reader.

Resonate has many gems, but one that stood out was Duarte’s explanation of the STAR moment. As she explains, STAR is a presentation device that drives home the big idea of a presentation for the audience. STAR stands for Something They’ll Always Remember, which Duarte states “should be so profound or so dramatic that it becomes what the audience chats about at the watercolor or appears as the headline of a news article. Planting a star moment in a presentation keeps the conversation going even after it’s over and helps the message go viral.”

In this book, the visuals are Duarte’s STAR moment. She is a master of visual design. Where at times the text was tedious, the visual images were always exciting and memorable.

Particularly interesting are the case studies ranging from Ronald Reagan’s eulogy after the Challenger disaster to speeches from people like Richard Feynman, Michael Pollen, Pastor John Ortberf, Steve Jobs, Markus Covert, Leonard Bernstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others.

While the case studies are powerful examples of her methodology, I was disappointed that there were so female speakers mentioned. With so many women in the arts, science, education, fashion, business, politics, and the law, readers can learn much from great female speakers like Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey,  Gloria Steinem, Wangari Maathai, Isabel Allende, Renee Fleming, Elizabeth Gilbert,  Carol Bartz, and Elana Kagan, just to name a few.

As unique and useful as Resonate is, be forewarned that this book is not for casual readers who are looking for a few tips to help them succeed in front of a group. Rather, it is a complex book that requires concentration and commitment to interpret and adopt the process, models, and graphs. As Dan Post, President of Duarte Design, says in the book’s Foreword, “Resonate is intended for people with ambition, purpose, and an uncommon work ethic.” In other words, this is a book for professionals who want to delve deeply into the study of what makes powerful presentations.

If you take your presentations seriously and want to build “presentation literacy” this book is an important resource and well worth the effort. Duarte’s work is thoughtful and inspiring. By synthesizing disparate points of view and using examples of speakers from many disciplines, she has created something unique in the industry. While it’s hard to improve on the speaking lessons from the ancient Greek Orators, Duarte has done it. Resonate will give you a fresh, new look at an age-old subject.