Beginning in July, Professional Communication and Presentation will begin using a new textbook: Nancy Duarte’s Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences. I cannot wait for the opportunity to teach Resonate in the classroom, especially since I do believe it to be one of the most comprehensive books on developing strong presentation content.
Resonate covers the following:
- The importance of story in presentations
- How to structure a strong speech
- Duarte’s Sparkline tool
- The audience as the “hero” with the presenter as “mentor”
- Preparation
- Audience analysis
- Developing content that means something to an audience
- Structuring and organizing a presentation
- Duarte’s “S.T.A.R.” moment and how to create one
Resonate also uses case studies to help explain the content in each chapter. Speeches analyzed include MLK’s “Dream” speech and Benjamin Zander’s TED Talk on music and passion among many others.
I cannot wait to begin using this in the classroom!
Do you use Resonate as your class textbook? How do students respond to this book as opposed to something more cliche such as Speak Up or The Art of Public Speaking?
