Designing Presentations is a Dirty Job

As a designer, there is nothing like having your presentation create excitement in front of hundreds of people. You won’t get that off the website or a print piece! Besides, the mark of a good designer is one who gives their heart into their work and leaves their pride at the door.

“I thought it best to talk in pictures”

What a great example of how sometimes the best visual aid – is none.

I read Garr’s book two years ago, and have been an avid reader – and maven of his blog and his principles ever since.

Ironically, while I do love my current job – in which once in a while I get the chance to help others communicate their message more effectively -

Just the other day – after reading your book and seeing what you guys did at Ted this year – I told my wife what a dream job it would be to help people rework their presentations all day.

Brilliant-

i can’t help but think about Ira Glass’ advise about storytelling ( http://gelconference.com/videos/2007/ira_glass/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7KQ4vkiNUk for part 1 of 4)… where they start with action-action-action-reflection… Rowe shows mastery of this.

Well… finally realised why I spent so much
in soaps and detergents, for the last 20 years!

Just GLAD to be one of those dirty workers!

I think great designers will soon find these dirty jobs becoming their dream jobs.

Well-designed slide presentations add great impact on the overall performance of otherwise ordinary presenters.

Nancy — thanks for sharing — so true and I’m extending it to our work here: http://www.rocksarehard.com/my_weblog/2009/03/and-ill-just-keep-riffing-off-of-nany-duarte.html

I loved the connection between innovation and imitation, and I would extend that this way:

impact = innovation + imitation

Innovation alone is art. But if you want to have an impact–if you want to change the world around you, you’ve got to innovate things that can be reproduced. Hopefully, good things.

It’s one of my favorite things about slide:ology, Nancy. You gave away a bunch of the secrets, the innovations, and I have high hopes that presentations the world over are better for it. I know that the ones in my office are.

Nice presentation (but then so is almost anything else from TED! ).

I’m not quite sure *what* slides he could have used though…. can you imagine the images?

S

Shhh – we don’t want too many “real” designers to find out how satisfying it is to work in the dirt.

Hi Nancy, I love your work and the book Slide:ology. Recently, it was a great help in putting together a PowerPoint presentation for a new client in which I was proposing a new way to present their brand and talk about what they do. Within my presentation, I created a 6-frame story about the value of a new product they’re offering clients. On the 6th frame, their head sales manager jumped up and said “I’ve been trying to sell this for months, but I never thought of saying it that way!”. It was then that I realized the power of presentations to tell stories that really motivate people. There are a lot of clients out there that need our help when it comes to their PowerPoint presentations. This is fertile territory for designers if they care to enter it.

Nathan, it is a dream job to be able to rework presentations all day. I started focusing solely on presentation design late last fall and it’s been fantastic.

As someone who designs slides, you might think my first inclination when seeing this video is that “Oh no, there were no slides! Bad! We need the work!”

But, I have to say how refreshing it was to witness this slideless presentation because it reinforces the idea that storytelling is the key to delivering mind-blowing presentations. How you translate the story you have to tell into visual accompaniment is what REALLY begins to polish and round out a great presentation.

Great video. Glad you shared it.

…thanks Nancy. love this.
and thanks for your great work. there’s nothing better in my line of work than finding a strategic designer with great aesthetic that can be my “creative” partner in visualizing strategy. downside is that these folks are so hard to find.

love duarte and your vision. keep up the good work!

Many of us have spent our careers just about slideless and training others to focus on the audience and not the screen. Mastering storytelling makes all of your presentations better.

Great storytelling by Mr. Rowe.

Hi Nancy,
I used your book to create my first ever power point presentation. The book was invaluable and it helped me visualize my story in a clear and interesting manner.

I’m glad to know that presentation design has started to be recognized. This blog has really helped me appreciate the work that goes into making great presentations.

Good presenters are always looking for ways to add more power to their presentations and print work can only do so much. At the end it comes down to the individual and what they project from themselves. Mike Rowe is very good at that btw. Awesome guy.