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Storytelling with Nancy Duarte: How to craft compelling presentations and tell a story that sticks

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Jun 1, 2023

Guest

Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte Inc., has transformed how major organizations like Apple and TED present their ideas. In this discussion, she highlights the power of empathy in storytelling and shares practical tips for creating captivating presentations. Nancy explains strategies to combat nerves, the importance of understanding your audience, and the concept of 'torchbearer' leadership. She also reflects on her journey landing Apple as a client and how effective communication can elevate both personal and professional interactions.

01:17:24

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ANECDOTE

Everyday Storytelling

Duarte uses the "what is, what could be, new bliss" structure even in everyday conversations with her husband.
By providing context and outlining a desired outcome, she effectively communicates her needs.

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ADVICE

Visualizing Your Message

Help your audience visualize your message using visual aids, stories, or demonstrations.
Strive for alignment by ensuring everyone sees the same picture, literally or metaphorically.

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ADVICE

Slide Design Tips

Each slide should convey one point supporting the presentation's main idea.
Consider slide docs for detailed information sharing, adapting slide density to the audience.

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The Minto pyramid principle

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The Minto Pyramid Principle is a method for structuring and communicating information effectively. Developed by Barbara Minto, it emphasizes starting with the answer or key point, then grouping and summarizing supporting arguments, and finally presenting detailed supporting ideas in a logical order. The principle is based on a top-down structure, where the main point is presented first, followed by the reasoning and supporting data. This approach helps in maximizing the audience's attention and making the message more convincing and easy to understand. The book is widely used in business, technical, and consulting fields and introduces concepts such as MECE (Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive) thinking and the Situation, Complication, Question (SCQ) framework.

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Illuminate

David Corbin

Brought to you by Microsoft Clarity—See how people actually use your product | Lenny’s Job Board—Hire the best product people. Find the best product gigs | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments

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Nancy Duarte is the CEO of Duarte Inc. and has helped create over 250,000 presentations for influential business leaders across the globe, including Apple, TED, the World Bank, and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. She’s also written six best-selling books, and her TED talk has garnered over 3 million views. She regularly contributes to HBR, MIT-Sloan, and Forbes, and her books are essential reading in leading business schools worldwide. In today’s episode, we discuss:

• Why empathy is at the heart of everything Nancy does

• Why you’re presenting more often than you think

• Tactics for creating interesting presentations and telling better stories

• The concept of a “torchbearer leader” and why it’s important

• Strategies for overcoming stage fright and nerves

• Tips for communicating and presenting remotely

• How Nancy landed Apple as a client and what she learned

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/storytelling-with-nancy-duarte-how

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Where to find Nancy Duarte:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nancyduarte

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyduarte/

• Website: https://www.duarte.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Nancy’s background

(03:25) The insane number of presentations Nancy has helped create

(04:52) The most memorable presentation of Nancy’s career, and what it taught her

(07:04) The lasting impact of working with Al Gore

(09:00) How Nancy landed Apple as a client

(11:44) How working with Apple informed future presentations

(16:22) 3 things to remember when creating a deck

(17:33) The importance of empathy

(20:29) Empathy in action

(22:40) Why internal presentations are so high-pressure

(23:09) Signs you’re doing a good job making the audience the hero of the story

(25:38) The structure of great talks

(28:08) Lessons from great historical speeches

(30:02) You’re presenting more often than you think

(32:07) How Nancy uses this story structure in her marriage

(35:00) The framework What is? What could be? What is the ideal bliss?

(36:07) The importance of visuals

(41:12) Slide-making principles (titles, organization, and more)

(45:46) The Minto Pyramid Principle

(48:02) Think and plan before diving into software

(50:00) The Duarte process for crafting presentations

(53:18) How remote work has influenced the way we communicate and present

(55:46) Strategies for overcoming stage fright and nerves

(1:01:10) The concept of “torchbearer leaders” and why it’s important

(1:04:54) The surprising truth about informal vs. formal production quality

(1:07:37) Examples of PMs telling great stories

(1:11:49) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth: https://algore.com/library/an-inconvenient-truth-dvd

• Apple’s Think Different campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sMBhDv4sik

• The Secret Structure of Great Talks (Nancy’s TED talk): https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks

• The Structure of Great Talks graphic: https://www.google.com/search?q=nancy+duarte+ted+talk+great+story+up+and+down+like+teeth&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2hoCZmJH_AhVXATQIHb1KC2AQ0pQJegQIBxAB&biw=1512&bih=838&dpr=2#imgrc=5Jei-bDCXe2qQM

• I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King Jr.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s

• The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking and Problem Solving: https://www.amazon.com/Minto-Pyramid-Principle-Writing-Thinking

• The Minto Pyramid Principle and the SCR Framework, by Lenny: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/minto-pyramid-principle-scr

• Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols: https://www.amazon.com/Illuminate-Through-Speeches-Stories-Ceremonies

• Marshall Ganz: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/marshall-ganz

• Brian Chesky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/

• Airbnb’s Snow White storyboards: https://uxdesign.cc/how-airbnb-proved-that-storytelling-is-the-most-important-skill-in-design-15d04ac71039

• The Writer’s Journey: https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Journey-Anniversary-Mythic-Structure

• Business Proposal: https://asianwiki.com/Business_Proposal

• Writer: https://writer.com/

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

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