I came to Duarte after twenty years in four careers: academia, Hollywood, teaching and freelance creative consulting. I expected to size the place up, categorize it and get a quick handle on the environment, the people and the product. WRONG!

My first portal into Duarte was the website, and I laughed out loud. Staff profiles included Yoda, rubber brains, blond wigs, plush toys, and a wide selection of hats. The accompanying quotes referenced superheroes, ’70s tv shows, the Loch Ness monster, and Nintendo. These people seemed real.

During the “getting to know you” phase of the interview process, I asked to tour the building, ostensibly to acquire a feel for the culture, but really to make sure that the cool, modern building front didn’t give way to dark, dank dungeons where designers labored away like oarsmen on a Viking ship. I need not have worried. Most prominently, a dedicated cold drink fridge–Diet Coke, sparkling water, Fresca—promised a bubbling work environment. The oasis of pillows, the fully rigged ping-pong table, the stocked kitchen, and the basketball hoops suggested respite spots to refuel after diving deeply into content matter.

After I accepted a position, first on the schedule was a walking tour of the website profiles, giving me a chance to meet the personalities behind the portraits. At every stop, smiles, chats, and warm greetings. I talked hockey with several designers, child rearing with the marketing team, movies with a couple of account managers and of course, books with the content team. I met only one shy person on my journey, and even he smiled.

In the course of my twenty years of productively earning a living, I’ve worked in wildly creative environments that feel alive with brain waves and synergy. And I have worked in organizations that want to be open, accepting and creative, but strict grays, offices with closed doors, snack machines, and picnic tables on the veranda obstructed the natural flow of ideas based on the “way we’ve always done it” rationale.

Creativity surges when it feeds off touch points that encourage thought and inspiration. Creativity sags when it’s regulated by memo, policy, procedure, and hierarchy. Stuffing Nancy Duarte into the backseat of a VW Bug to carpool to the company picnic strikes me as the epitome of a humble, thought provoking touch point moment.

Several days ago, one of my co-workers sent out a link to a video entitled “Embrace Life”, a commercial promoting seat belt use. Apparently The Sussex Safer Roads Partnership decided that it was time for a seat belt awareness campaign that didn’t use the shock and awe approach. Sussex must be a lot like where I grew up, because the only seat belt awareness messages I’ve seen involve threat of punishment… and punishment by way of fine, personal injury, or death.

The video immediately arrested my attention,  a feat nearly impossible when I am two cups deep into a pot of coffee, and juggling multiple tasks. But by the time the father’s expression changed to concern, I was reacting emotionally to this thing… in my cubicle, of all places. How embarrassing.

I thought to myself, “Don’t blink. Just finish the video, collect yourself, and get back to life as usual. And in the event of a total emo-meltdown, there is Kleenex nearby.”

But I could not go back to life as usual. For some reason I found myself thinking about it the following morning while brushing my teeth. I couldn’t stop thinking about how quickly that video got inside my head. Why did it have such power over me? Was it luck, or was there a formula to charging something that fully with emotion? And how could I bring that same level of emotion to my own creations?

As it turns out, it was no accident. On the production company’s website there is a “Making Of” page, where I learned the method behind this masterpiece.

“I wanted to create a visual metaphor addressing how a single decision in a person’s day can greatly influence both their own and their loved ones’ lives. Choosing to film the story inside the family living room represents the feelings many people equate with their own car, in that it represents a level of safety and protection from the ‘outer’ world.”

This was true for me. Instantly I was thinking about my own family and friends… the people I owe my personal safety to the most.

“So to create the emotion of this dramatic moment, I wanted to tell the story using slow motion to allow the audience the time to be drawn into the film’s world and to let them connect with and project their own feelings onto the scenario playing out before them. I wanted to give the audience the time to breathe, to absorb our message and using slow motion was the right technique to allow this to happen.”

Ahhh so that’s how I got so absorbed. It takes a lot to yank us out of the hypnosis of our routines, but I was completely halted in the first 15 seconds.

“I wanted to keep the audience in the moment and so we kept the film’s look to be subtle and natural, complimenting Luke’s onset lighting.”

Although I didn’t notice it at the time, that may have contributed to my initial impression… that the piece seemed to have no wasted energy. No wasted pixels or motions. Every component has purpose.

“Embrace Life’s music … started with Daniel giving examples of the music he felt best optimised the emotion and tone of Embrace Life and from these guide tracks Sid worked his magic until the right blend was achieved.”

There is a moment of tension when the piano changes key at the 50-second mark… and then there is the impact… and the glitter in the bowl showers down around them like pieces of safety-glass or the fragments of one’s fragile life.

The moral of this story is obviously “fasten your seat belt”… but for us creative types, a secondary message exists: Slow down… eliminate clutter… take the high road to emotional impact and really ENGAGE your viewer. Respect your audience. Don’t threaten them… create imagery that they will WANT to remember and maybe even share… and if you can make them want to call their families after your presentation, well then everybody wins.

Read the full “Making of” page: http://www.alexandercommercials.co.uk/Makingof.html

Alexander Commercials: http://www.alexandercommercials.co.uk/index.html

The Sussex Safer Roads Partnership http://www.sussexsaferroads.gov.uk

What are you doing this Tuesday, June 29th? Can you say PECHA KUCHA?

Yeah, neither can I. But you don’t need to say it, you just need to go to it!

The third Pecha Kucha Night – San Jose is this Tuesday, June 29.
The event is from 7-10 P.M. at the Sonoma Chicken Coop in downtown Campbell.

In case you don’t know about Pecha Kucha yet, an excerpt from their website describes it best:

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat”, it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

Presenter Line-up:

Derek McCaw, Producing the Stage Version of “Dead Man Walking”
Jonathan Crabtree, Why
Crystal Yan, Student, Youth and Social Entrepreneurship
Al Kovalick, DIY – Making Your Own Neon Sign
Jason Salizar, Filmmaker
Florian Brody, Every Image Gets Its Credit
Ric Bretschneider, The Story So Far

Summary:

Date: Tuesday, June 29 Time: 7-10 P.M.
Location: Sonoma Chicken Coop
Address: 200 E Campbell Ave, Campbell, CA 95008
Phone: (408) 866-2699

Hope to see you there!

The first book cover design had near unanimous feedback that it looked too much like Seth Godin’s Tribes book:

Argh. We worked so hard on that cover and the creative process is so time consuming and demanding.

We HAD to go back to the drawing board since I’m a huge Godin fan, plus I didn’t want to hear “Your book looks like Seth’s” through the entire shelf life of the dang thing.

So Diandra, Erik, Ryan, and I holed away in the conference room drawing, cutting, mocking up many ideas. We were stuck on having a silhouette be part of the final solution so it would look like slide:ology. It’s really tough to have a human form that looks activated and engaged without looking like they are a whacked out concert-goer.

We created many mock-ups and ideas that hit the cutting room floor.

Below are the final three solutions:

This first option fits well with slide:ology as a family. Inspired by the crinkled paper form above, we wanted to make it look like a person was transforming through the static. This one got a ton of votes. Some passionate people felt it was the only possible choice since it had people in it. A handful of people thought it was either creepy and sci-fi, or spiritual. Our dogged attempt to include a silhouette on the cover actually ended up being a limiting factor. It is good to break away from that because there are only so many things a silhouette can convey. If we’d gone with a silhouette on this second cover, we’d HAVE to have a silhouette on the next book, too. And it was a struggle to find one that was meaningful.

Option 1

More of the business-types and engineering purists liked Option 2. It’s simple and clean and most accurately represents the physical concept of resonance.

Option 2

And last but not least… I collected feedback from Facebook, and the Twitterverse, and this is our winning option! Option 3 got the most votes and was clearly the favorite, with 200% more votes than the other two combined!

Option 3 (and winner!)

Thank YOU for your help in deciding the cover!

The rumors are true… I’ve been hard at work on another book, and I’d like to give you a sneak peek of our first draft at a cover design.

After several internal brainstorms and sketching sessions, we ended up with these concepts.

We all felt that there was something special about the word resonate being made out of dots that look like they are being magnetically pulled towards a gathering. The sketch was inspired by this stitchery I found online.

Diandra, my Creative Director felt that the dots could be people walking or running towards the gathering. It could look like an aerial shot of the Million Man March in Washington DC.

My team meticulously drew all the figures and shadows. We played with color combos and textures and ended up with this AMAZING cover.

What do you think? We’d love your feedback and comments. Stay tuned as we will be sharing more of these insights along the way.

Driving in my car, listening to Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSound, I realized that J.T. has a really good handle on what it means to deliver a great presentation.  Nice!  Take a look.

Take some of his advice and you, too, can be a presentation rockstar!

Songwriters: Floyd Nathaniel Hills, Timothy Z. Mosley, and Justin R. Timberlake

I *heart* fan mail. There is nothing better than hearing from you guys. We’ve been getting so much mail that we’ve decided to take the load off by setting up specific accounts for different needs. Our goal is to stay better organized so we can respond to your questions faster.

If you’re interested in working with us on a project, contact: info@duarte.com
If your question is specific to our workshops or webinars, send it to: training@duarte.com
For all things media-related, including speaking engagements, contact: tracy@duarte.com
All fan mail, and additional questions/comments go to: comments@duarte.com

We recently realized that “slideology@duarte.com” has been dropping emails into a black hole instead of our inbox, so if you’ve sent something in the last year, please send it again but one of the above addresses… we’re so sorry to have missed you.

I’d like to share one piece of mail that did make it through…because it is one of my absolute favorites. Admittedly I have received thank you notes on personal stationary from some cool people, like Phil Knight (Nike), Al Gore (VP), Warren Buffet (very rich nice dude), but this one takes the cake.

Isn’t that nice?

It’s from a guy named Scott Lynch who works at Sustain Dane, a nonprofit organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. He decided to apply slide:ology principals to his family’s holiday newsletter. He delivered the essential info of a holiday letter–what do you look like, what have you been up to, what are you thinking about? And to avoid the two pages of 10-point drivel, he made it visual so people with a 21st-century attention span could be entertained.

Great work Scott! Keep it up.

Last year was our first year for making predictions: http://blog.duarte.com/2009/01/five-predictions-for-presentations-in-2009/. I’m late to the party again this year, but I feel pretty excited about what 2010 will bring.

In the year 2010…

1. Presentations and social media will blur.

Audience and presenters will have 2-way communication. It won’t just be about the audience twittering to the backchannel.

2. There’ll be another movie about a slide show.

Or, if there isn’t a movie about a slide show… there might be a movie about slides. Or a celebrity will use slides to create a tipping point for their cause. You know, like Oprah or someone. Just sayin’.

3. Face-to-face engagement will trump mouse-to-mouse engagement.

People are human, and desire human connections. The ones who make people feel are the ones who will be heard. Logical arguments and web traffic aren’t enough anymore.

4. Remote presentation vendors will solve their technical limitations.

Gads, could it get any worse? It’s only up from here. Meaningful best practices for presenting in this medium will to emerge, too. ‘Cause it’s bad. Real bad.

And last but not least:

5. There’ll be a more broad understanding of how design thinking shapes business.

The picture below speaks for itself (that’s a real Facebook exchange with an old classmate from Hattiesburg, MS–the home of Tiger Wood’s recovery program).

Enjoy 2010, everybody!

"cranberries" by Muffet

It’s just not Thanksgiving at my house without my family’s favorite cranberry dish on the table. The recipe below was given to me by one of my dearest friends over fifteen years ago, and I’ve made it every year since. It keeps in the fridge for a long time, and it’s great on turkey sandwiches, too.

Happy holidays to you and your family!

Cranberry Apple Relish
2 c. cranberries
1 c. apples
½ c pecans
¾ c sugar
½ c orange marmalade
1 T lemon juice

Place the cranberries in a food processor and pulse the power a few times until the cranberries’ texture resembles pickle relish. Empty the contents of the food processor into a large bowl, and repeat the process with the apples and pecans. Once the cranberries, apples, and pecans are processed, add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and stir well.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin carving is fun, but what’s Halloween without costumes?!

In addition to the Annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest we share with the public, we also hold a costume contest that you don’t get to see. Below is a slideshare presentation of (almost) all of our employee costumes… comment and tell us which is your fave!