Sublime

“The greatest communicators of all time,” says communication expert Nancy Duarte—who has spent her career studying the shape of superb presentations—start by establishing “what is: here’s the status quo.” Then, they “compare that to what could be,” making “that gap as big as possible.”

best-selling presentation book Resonate by Nancy Duarte. Duarte uses a graphical tracking system called sparklines to visually track a presentation’s flow and major points.

Watch Nancy’s TEDx video that presents her sparklines analysis of how Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. Watch for what she views as Job’s top four dramatic techniques: repeatable sound bites, shocking statistics, evocative visuals, and memorable dramatization.

Watch Nancy’s TEDx video that presents her sparklines analysis of how Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. Watch for what she views as Job’s top four dramatic techniques: repeatable sound bites, shocking statistics, evocative visuals, and memorable dramatization.

Each slide should pass what I call the glance test: People should be able to comprehend it in three seconds. Think of your slides as billboards.