A521.7.4.RB - Secret Structure

Nancy Duarte in her TedX Talk: The Secret Structure of Great Talks (Links to an external site.)describes a few different structures/outlines. She also describes techniques used by Steven Jobs and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In your Reflection Blog, discuss the structure and techniques shared and how you might use them.

Nancy Duarte (2011) suggests we have the most powerful tool in the world: ideas.  She believes these ideas can change the world when effectively communicated.  She discusses how the structure of a presentation can be the key in getting the audience to move from one thing to the idea the presenter is trying to communicate.  Duarte used an excellent illustration of comparing the presenter and the audience to Star Wars characters Luke Skywalker and Yoda.  More importantly, she made it clear that the presenter is more like a mentor like Yoda.  She goes even further past the basic characters in a story and delves into the possibility that every successful story has a basic structure.  This examination gives her the idea that if stories have successful structure, then presentations must also.  I can appreciate her analytical mind because I have a similar way of thinking.  Looking for patterns in most anything is something that comes naturally to me and is put to use every day at my job.  Duarte approached presentations in the same manner by looking for successful communication patterns.  She struck pay dirt when she used Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Steve Jobs iPhone launch presentation to discover structure patterns.

Duarte found that the beginning of a presentation must establish the status quo and compare it with a heavy contrast of what could be.  The middle of the presentation continually traverses between those comparisons, moving back and forth between the establish quo and what could be.  Duarte (2011) suggests the end of the presentation should have a call to action and describe the world with a new bliss or a utopia by adopting the new idea.  She used her discovery as an analysis tool and broke down Steve Job’s speech by showing a structure of the beginning (what is), the middle (traversing), and the end (what could be) and by labeling all the different events that took place during the speech.  Duarte found similar structure in Dr. King’s speech, but she also found some unique qualities such as repetition, metaphors, songs, and scriptures.  Another key element of his speech was his ability to know his audience so well that he could pull from their experiences to communicate is idea, or dream in this case.

Dr. King and Steve Jobs more than likely experience some doubt as to whether or not they could make their idea reality.  Yet, they believed in their idea so passionately that they never gave up.  Everyone can learn from these men and their ideas.  Keeping faith in one’s ideas and structuring a presentation in a similar fashion can surely increase odds in getting an audience to an idea.  I constantly have new ideas.  Sometimes I do not think it is possible for them to come to fruition based on lack of confidence.  Sometimes I believe in an idea so religiously that I will share with anyone willing to listen.  However, knowing the structure and pattern to a successful presentation can only better my chances at making my ideas become reality.  

Duarte, N. (2011).  The Secret Structure of Great Talks.  Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks