Saturday, February 18, 2012

The secret structure of great talks + some great visuals

If you are like me, you need to present your ideas in public every now and then. Then you'd better invest one and a half hours in yourself by watching these two presentations.

First one by Nancy Duarte, a professional presentation designer and trainer, about the secret structure of great talks. In her TEDx Talk from November 2011 she is decomposing the structure of two great speeches, one by Steve Jobs, and one by Martin Luther King. Supported by great visuals and finishing with a very personal story.

The second one is Barack Obama's 2012 State of the Union speech with enhanced graphics. It is very interesting to listen to his speech having in mind how Nancy Duarte just decomposed Martin Luther King's speech. President Obama is using the very same techniques to connect with his audience in a very emotional way. See for example how he refers to his grandparents at around 5 minutes of the speech. And just look at how the visuals have been designed to support the story.

Enough said, at least I have a lot to learn from these presentations.


Nancy Duarte talks at TEDx East


2012 State Of The Union Address: Enhanced Version



State of the Union - Enhanced Graphics