Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences [Paperback]

I loved Nancy Duarte's 2008 book, Slide:ology. She has now written her first book, Resonate. Yes, you read right. Her second book came out two years ago. (Sort of like how the first Star Wars movies came out a couple of decades after the later films.)

Duarte describes Resonate as the prequel to Slide:ology. And she's right.

Resonate is the book to read first, because it is about the reason for giving a presentation: to change people's minds, to persuade, to take action. In contrast, Slide:ology is more about design of visuals: the things that you work on once you've know what you want to talk about.

At the core of Resonate is her thesis that all good presentations have a common structure. Great presentations start with "the way it is." Then, they make repeated contrasts between "the way it is" and "the way it could be." Finally, great presentations end with a call to action, and a promise that new, greater things are possible.

It's simple, but don't dare think for a second that it's stupid. Scientists will probably appreciate the repeated analysis that Duarte has done to show that this structure is variable and rich. It's similar to how stories can follow the same basic plot structure, but differ profoundly in almost every other way.

Another unexpected inversion is in how Duarte conceives of the importance of story. She has something more in mind than anecdotes or telling a narrative with a clear beginning, middle, and end. The presenter's role is not to be someone like Sherlock Holmes, who explains and unravels the plot.

The presenter's part is to be Ben Kenobi.

It takes a little while to get used to this view. At first, it's somewhat paradoxical to think of the person given a presentation as a supporting character. After all, this sort of character is not usually the most popular one in the movie. Everyone wants to be the central character. You are not.

These short summaries do not to the justice to the richness of these concepts, and there are many more besides. She talks at length about her work process for developing presentations, and how to persuade people, for instance.

Duarte has again written a deep book. Wonderful.

I love this book! The core concept of translating presentation from the boring to something of interest is not a new idea. However, this book book draws on many of the gems where I have found brilliant thought such as Joseph Campbell and Richard Feynman.

It's not just another business book. It runs deep and helps with a thought process. It brilliantly and visually presents concepts. I'm struggling for words because, oddly, I don't want to give away any of it! Can you give away the plot of a 'business' book? Well, if the book tells a story you could. So I won't.

I want to say this too. I read a lot of business related books and lately have been just burned out by all the shallow stuff and rehashes of old ideas. I mean really burned out from hearing the same old stuff. That said, I was thrilled from the first page of this book to find good, solid thinking presented in a fresh and exciting way. Also, my biggest fault with business type books is that they are long on what we should not do, short on what to do and completely lacking on HOW TO. Not this book. You get plenty of "how to."

My best clients will get this book as gift.

Chris Reich

I bought Slide-ology and wrote a review of it for peers at work. (I love sharing.) I stumbled across Nancy's new book, "Resonate" quite by accident and immediately ordered it here on Amazon. I have read a little over half(on pg. 126 of 232 currently--back matter constitutes another 15 pages or so).

Although I have truly found some material mentally invigorating, I do have two big criticisms:

1) Nancy (the author) uses the terms "resonate" and "frequency" in such vague ways that the reader never really quite figures out what she means. I really wonder if she herself knows what she means. I counted at least 4 contextual meanings, none of which are consistent. Its not that I need just one all-encompassing definition, its just I couldn't get a handle on just how to understand those terms.

2) The book is unnecessarily too long. I reviewed the TOC multiple times. Although it appears structurally logical, when I read the actual content, it seems to bounce around a great deal. I am not the sort of person to casually read a book of this sort. I have a pen with me and make copious marginal notes as well as added sticky-notes. Finally, I transcribe all my notes into a word document to create a summary that I can use as a reference. I found myself flipping back and forth, making cross-reference notes because a concept that was touched on (for example, "The Big Idea on pg. 78) is then expanded on page 120, "From Ideas to Messages." Now,

I appreciate the bk seems to intend to start with a "wide-angle" lens and then further in book, "zoom in" to details, but it would have been much more succinct (in my opinion) if all that were presented together at the outset. I would have organized the material in this book much differently. From my perspective, she fails her own advise on page 126 regarding establishing structure by repeatedly returning to the same matters over and over. My recommendation: Read the first 78 pages of the book, and you have the crux of the whole 232 pages.

So am I am saying "don't read this"? Not at all. Just know that if you truly want to reap the benefits of Nancy's insight, it will take more than just a casual read. You will need to take notes to glean and make any sense of this book. For example, even though she clearly defines "The Big Idea" on page 78 in the very first sentence, and she further explains WHAT it is in concise example on pg. 79, the chapter misses the mark explaining, how, when, where. The examples given are too terse to make sense of it. I'm sure some will take me to task on this write-up. Just remember, it is only my opinion.

Update 2010-1103: I have finished the book, gone back & completed an organized outline (from the disorganized mess this book was in) and even created a graphic that succinctly illustrates the overall "journey." Although I still hold to my stand that the 1st 78 pages IS the book, there are a couple other helpful items beyond that:

Developmental Organization of content: pages 142 to 143
Examples of use of tugging on heart-strings to teach a lesson: pages 156-161

I did make several marginal notes throughout the book, but after going through it, if I found what i needed was a checkoff list. So i created my own containing all the questions I need to answer in the development phase. Unfortunately, it would mean nothing to those who haven't read the book, so read it and develop your own checklist.

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