Quotes by Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte

All “bad” presentations struggle to keep the audience interested. The audience squirms wishing they could escape. The audience has given the presenter an hour of their life, so they want that hour to be useful. It’s disrespectful of a presenter to not show up rehearsed and prepared with information and insights that will improve the lives of the audience in some way. Presenting will do only one of two things for you: it will either diminish your credibility or yield results. Most bad presentations hurt the presenter’s credibility.

Hurt

Struggle

Wish

Audience interest is directly proportionate to the presenter’s preparation. You better spend time and energy on any presentations where the stakes are high. If you are trying to close a large sale or speak at a conference to an audience of potential clients, you better be ON your game. An audience can tell how much energy you spent on your presentation, which is a reflection of how much you valued their time. If they gave you an hour of their time, you need to make it worth it to them by treating their time as a valuable asset by making the content valuable to them.

Preparation

Reflection

Trying

Don’t blend in; instead, clash with your environment. Stand out. Be different. That’s what will draw attention to your ideas. Nothing has intrinsic attention-grabbing power by itself. The power lies in how much something stands out from its context.

Different

Ideas

Lying

Effective communication is fascinating to me yet bad communication is just as fascinating. There are lessons to be learned from both. I can’t say I am a natural communicator, it’s taken a lot of work to be able to develop content relevant to the audience and deliver it with credibility. My initial natural ability tended to be more around the visual display of information. For years I was more comfortable visualizing other people’s great thinking. I preferred to be hidden behind the curtain than a thinker myself.

Communication

Taken

Thinking

If you feel tempted to use a picture of two hands shaking in front of a globe, put the pencil down, step away from the desk, and think about taking a vacation or investigating aromatherapy.

Hands

Thinking

Vacation

In myths and movies, the mentor can play a few roles: they bring the hero a magical gift, teach them how to use a special tool, or help the hero get unstuck. In a presentation setting, the presenter is the mentor. Our role as a presenter is similar to a mentor. We should be brining something of important value to our audience, they should not leave empty handed. There should be something useful and somewhat life-altering that we give them. It’s not very often that we sit through a presentation and feel like we’ve sat at the feet of a mentor, but we should.

Giving

Hero

Special

Most great leaders are also great communicators. Great leaders have learned how to persuade so their objectives can be reached. The most powerful device to persuade is story. Stating facts and figures is not memorable. Emotionally connecting your audience to your idea through story will move them.

Memorable

Moving

Powerful

My hope is that design thinking becomes an innovative discipline and not just the trend of the decade. As a nation and globally, we have some of the biggest problems to solve we have ever faced. We need innovative ways to solve our problems and communicating the solutions will be paramount. Original thinking, complex problem solving, and collaboration are all important skills for our future.

Design

Discipline

Thinking

Personal stories are the emotional glue that connects your audience to your message.

Emotional

Glue

Stories

Practice design, Not Decoration: Don’t just make pretty talking points. Instead, display information in a way that makes complex information clear.

Design

Practice

Talking

Follow The Behaviour University in order to get the greatest quotes from the greatest people of all time so that you can tap into your own greatness.

Beautiful

Children

Communication

Design

Differences

Different

Discipline

Emotional

Encouragement

Giving

Glue

Hands

Heart

Hero

Hurt

Ideas

Lying

Memorable

Mind

Movement

Moving

Names

Pain

Path

People

Powerful

Practice

Preparation

Reflection

Running

Special

Stories

Stranger

Struggle

Taken

Talking

Thinking

Thinking About You

Trying

Vacation

Way

Wish

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

Tool

The Autobiography

Tool

The Behaviour Diary

Tool

The Dating Diary

Tool

The Relationship Therapist

Tool

Quotes by Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte

Don’t blend in; instead, clash with your environment. Stand out. Be different. That’s what will draw attention to your ideas. Nothing has intrinsic attention-grabbing power by itself. The power lies in how much something stands out from its context.

If you feel tempted to use a picture of two hands shaking in front of a globe, put the pencil down, step away from the desk, and think about taking a vacation or investigating aromatherapy.

Most great leaders are also great communicators. Great leaders have learned how to persuade so their objectives can be reached. The most powerful device to persuade is story. Stating facts and figures is not memorable. Emotionally connecting your audience to your idea through story will move them.

Personal stories are the emotional glue that connects your audience to your message.

Practice design, Not Decoration: Don’t just make pretty talking points. Instead, display information in a way that makes complex information clear.

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Topics by Nancy Duarte

Popular Tools

The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

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