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Duarte.com/edy Episode 1: Make Your Slides Count

November 22, 2011 | Eric Albertson

Welcome to the very first episode of Duarte.com/edy (we pronounce it “Duarte Dot Comedy”), starring our puppets, Bob & Finn. They’re both really excited about their on-camera debut, so sit back and enjoy the zaniness.

If you like what you see, please share with your friends, and be sure to leave a note in the comments. You just might hear back from Bob or Finn in person!

Visit www.duarte.com/edy to sign up to be notified about future episodes.

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Kate B.

I LOVE this! It feels like have this conversation all the time with my coworkers.

My favorite part is when Finn asks “how long is it” and Bob answers “8 1/2 x11??”
Jim B.

Oh no, the solution is not faster talk, but quad charts. Just take four charts and slap them on one. I have seen that migraine-inducing trick more than once and even templates with the four “key” areas to fill in.
http://vitaminch.com/blogs CallKathy

Hilarious! 100+ slide intro… that sounds familiar. (But, Kathy, I have to tell them everything I know so they will listen, right?)
http://somewiseguy.com ThatGuyKC

That was brilliant! Haha!
Drussell63

about 1:45 too long to get across one point
Greg

It’s cute, but ironically, it probably takes wayyyyy to long for the point it’s making. Once I “got” where it was going, it was a bit cringy waiting for it to end – particularly given the subject matter. But I hung in there waiting for the payoff zinger that must’ve been in store considering the time, and….. nothing.

BUT – Love the idea of characters, humour and ‘hitting painfully close to home’ as a way to illustrate good presentation design. Even the ‘Friends’ pilot was painful. Keep it up…
Mikhailharner8888

Don’t hate. It only makes you look like a fool.
http://www.presentinenglish.com Carl_pullein

Awesome, simply awesome guys. Thank you. That was brilliant. We want more!!!!
http://twitter.com/RABotha Reinhardt A Botha

Great stuff, absolutely love the speaking faster bit. Sounds just like some presenters I’ve heard :)
http://www.present.me Ben Daniel

Thought this was great!
http://www.duarte.com/edy Bob Solete

Jim, That sounds like a great idea! I will incorporate that into my next presentation. Thanks! – Bob Solete
Shorsey

This is great!
http://www.duarte.com/edy Finn O’Vation

Bob, I think he was being sarcastic…
http://www.duarte.com/edy Bob Solete

Oh. Thanks, Finn.
http://www.duarte.com/edy Finn O’Vation

Don’t tell Bob you loved it, okay? He doesn’t need the encouragement…
guyeiny

Nice

A little tip – if you add a still image to the page, sharing it on Facebook will have a thumbnail, which leads to a better clickthrough rate.
Guranteed.
James Piecowye

I love it! I teach a course at Zayed University in Dubai where I point my students to Duarte for real world lessons on effective presentations. I love this bit of comedy. Maybe the boys could just teach my course one week!
http://twitter.com/mareklutz Marek Lutz

Love the idea, love the way it’s don and love the names of characters! Looking forward to more!
http://www.cobrahealth.com Craig J. Casey

Is my presentation too long? http://cobrahealth.com/Obamacare.html
http://twitter.com/billyk2373 Bill Kernoczy

Yep – fewer words more pics
Martin Tolley

Interesting, but as others have said, maybe a tad long to make the point. And perhaps in future productions (please make more) could it be that the roles get reversed? It’s NOT just spikey haired youngsters who can innovate and make presos better. We old, spectacled guys can do it too.
http://www.theageoftheplatform.com Phil Simon

Brilliant.
http://twitter.com/garymdietz Gary Dietz

Mucho lovissimo.
Fred Miller

This is great and shows that Death by PowerPoint could be taken to a new level!

Thanks for the Post!
http://www.duarte.com/edy Bob Solete

Muchas thanksias!
http://www.duarte.com/edy Bob Solete

I’ve been meaning to try out one of the new First Class airline suites on Emirates…
Anonymous

…And webinars pose double trouble. Not only do people create too many slides per minute, but they feel obligated to fill an entire hour once they have people show up. And because most webinars are audio-only, presenters feel obligated to pile on with complicated slides.

It’s time to reinvent the webinar: shorter length, fewer slides, and video so the presenter can use all the communications tools they have available — body language, facial expressions, props, gestures, etc.

Michael Kolowich
KnowledgeVision
(http://www.knowledgevision.com)
http://www.duarte.com/team/nancy Nancy Duarte

Hi Michael,

Sounds like you’ve just outlined one of our future books! We’re planning to recreate all our own training material and then do a series of webinars about the best way to host a webinar. Webinars definitely suffer even worse than in-person presentations.
Anonymous

Funny you should mention that, Nancy. I just published a post for Content Marketing Institute this morning called “How Content Marketers Can Reinvent the Webinar for 2012″ — kind of the first volley in my personal crusade to reinvent every aspect of the webinar this year:

http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/01/how-to-reinvent-webinar-2012/

It pained me, having written this, to have been invited to be a guest on a webinar hosted by a big media company, only to find that it is truly old-style: audio-only, talking over slides, traditional structure…and they even told the host and me to be in different locations, even though we’re in the same city!

It sounds like you and I share the same wish — that by the end of this year, this “old-school” webinar format will be a thing of the past. I’d love to work with you on this, as we’ve developed some tools that address this problem.

Michael Kolowich
KnowledgeVision
(http://www.knowledgevision.com)