Secret Structure

A521.7.4.RB

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

This week’s video of The Secret Structure of Great Talks, Nancy Duarte (2010) highlights the power of an idea. That ideas, when effectively communicated and that resonate with others, have the potential to inspire and invoke action. “Because if you communicate an idea that resonates, change will happen and you can change the world” (Duarte, 2010). Although effectively communicating an idea is key, the method of communicating this idea is equally important. For example, Duarte (2010) notes that “there’s something kind of magical about a story structure that makes it that when its assembled it can be ingested and then recalled by the person receiving it.”

In her quest to find out why when a story (idea) is told in a presentation format, it fails to have the same effect. Duarte (2010) explored many mediums and discussed hero archetypes in which the presenter as the hero and star of the show would inevitability take hold. “I realized right away that that’s really broken. Because I have an idea, I can put it out there, but if you guys don’t grab that idea and hold it as dear, that idea goes nowhere and the world is never changed. So in reality, the presenter isn’t the hero, the audience is the hero of our idea. (Duarte, 2010).

Duarte (2010) then analyzed memorable speeches/presentations given by Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King Jr and highlights many of the methods that contributed to their ideas affecting significant change. As a result of her analysis, Duarte (2010) identifies that both speakers magnificently mastered the ability to communicate their ideas by drawing an audience’s attention to “what is” compared to “what could be,” with a “call to action” and end with describing the total bliss once everyone has come around to their idea (Duarte, 2010).

I believe that Nancy Duarte (2010) did a fantastic and compelling analysis on how storytelling can be effective in a presentation format in an effort to communicate an idea. Specifically, as a visual learner, I was excited to see the analysis in diagram form. Doing so, in my opinion, gave greater weight to her purpose and made a complex topic easier to follow. Being able to process Duarte’s (2010) results, I feel confident that I could incorporate many of the methods highlighted such as, moving from what is to what could be, call for action, ending in bliss, using repetition & metaphors in order to connect and resonate with an audience. Ideas are important as long as they are effectively communicated and resonate with others. Duarte (2010) provided valuable insight and data that indicates that with the right process, a person is better suited to affect others and invoke change.

Reference

Duarte, N. (2010). The Secret Structure of Great Talks. TEDX. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks.