I have to say that Nancy Duarte’s presentation “The Secret
Structure of Great Talks” was a very interesting tool that I know I can use for
my future presentations. She discusses on how to incorporate stories into
presentations. Harbin & Humphrey (2010) “If you don't have a story to tell,
one that evokes mental pictures, people on the receiving end tend to forget the
message.” (p.102) she discusses Aristotle’s beginning, middle, and end model
where presentations at times don’t even possess the qualities discussed when it
comes to a story. Case in point, possesses no painted picture for her audience.
Her main focus was on our ideas as presenters to ensure that our audience
grasps the idea that we are trying to present. (Duarte, 2012)
The structure and techniques that she had shared when she
evaluated Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs’s speech with the “What is” and “What
could be” model (Duarte, 2012) is something that I would take with me and try
to utilize when giving a presentation to others. The question I have for myself
is; is it only applicable to presentations to a big group? Or can it even be
used at a smaller scale? Stories help us to understand differing perspectives
and to vision alternate futures. (Anonymous, 2008) When Ms. Duarte described
Steve Jobs’s Iphone launch speech she described in detail every moment from the
times the audience laughed, clapped, a guest speaker came in, and there was
even a point where Steve Jobs’s clicker had a malfunction but he was able to
recover from it and continue with his story. She discussed the medium (the “what
is”) and the peaks of each presentation (the “what could be”) in both speeches.
Each “peak” of the presentation was where the audience was able to visualize in
their heads the painted picture of what the presenter wanted to get across.
Steve Jobs and Dr. King’s “What could be” is the reason why they were able to persuade,
convince, and have embraced their ideas to their audience in attendance.
I would like to try her technique (if given the opportunity)
in my organization. It will be quite difficult because of my rank, however, if I
can find something to present or a story to tell I definitely will use this
tool. If there was an idea I would share it would have to be the direction of
creating Officer and Non Commission Officer schools to be located on Guam. It
presents the perfect opportunity to explain myself on where the organization can
go in the upcoming years. The “What is” we are still the youngest organization
in the 54 States and Territories and still ambitious to expand our organization
as a whole. The “What could be” is if we were to host our own schools for
further development of our soldiers we can save money, establish our own
training “in house”, and have other units in the Pacific pump funding into our
organization so we can use for future logistics, resources, etc. This has
always been an idea of mine but never really given an opportunity to speak. If
given, I definitely will use Ms. Duarte’s tools of structure and outlines in my
presentations. That concept of having an “Idea” and using it to inspire change is
a dream for me, and would capitalize on it when I afforded an opportunity.
References:
Duarte, N. (2012, Feb). Nancy Duarte: ““The Secret
Structure of Great Talks”.” (Video File)
Harbin, J., & Humphrey, P. (2010). TEACHING MANAGEMENT
BY TELLING STORIES. Academy of
Educational Leadership Journal, 14(1), 99-106.
Retrieved from
Once upon a time..
(2008). Strategic Direction, 24(10), 16-18.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1108/02580540810907065
No comments:
Post a Comment