The best way to ensure your personal branding message gets through to your clients, co-workers, and prospects is to fully engage them, so that your ideas resonate – or are in perfect sync – with them.
Resonate is also the title of a new book from Nancy Duarte, Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences.
Although Resonate appeared after her best-selling Slide:Ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentation, it’s actually a prequel – it provides the content background, or story structure, you need to take advantage of the design advice in her original book.
Although written for those creating formal presentations, Resonate’s lessons are equally valuable for everyone interested in building and communicating their personal brand – whether they’re using articles, blogs, books, podcasts, or videos to communicate their story.
Storytelling today
During the past year and a half, increased attention has been paid to Hero’s Journey drawn from the psychology of Carl Jung and the writings of Joseph Campbell. See Wikipedia Hero’s Journey topic.
The Hero’s Journey describes the structure underlying myths and stories that have survived the agees. The Hero’s Journey structure is as relevant as today’s screenplays and blockbuster movies, like George Lucas’ StarWars series, and the 3-act presentations of Steve Jobs, as Carmine Gallo described in his bestselling, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.
As Nancy Duarte shows in Resonance, the structure of the Hero’s Journey also provides a structure you can use as the basis for your next client, co-worker, or prospect presentation.
And, as Nancy Duarte shows in Resonate, you can also use the 3-act structure of the Hero’s Journey for memorable presentations at TED.com: Riveting Talks byremarkable people, free to the world presentations.
Story pattern at a glance
In Resonate Nancy Duarte provides a concise, understandable, and visual description of the Hero’s Journey story pattern and how it has been used in familiar movies, like Snow White, E.T., and Avatar.
Nancy Duarte begins by providing a brief look at the 3 “big ideas” of the Hero’s Journey story pattern:
- Likeable hero, one that audiences can relate to
- Roadblocks that get in the way of the hero achieving their goals
- Transformation, or, achieving the desired goal
She then describes several case studies from TED.COM presentations, tracing the steps presenters have used to create memorable 17 and 18-minute presentations that built their personal brands and encouraged audiences towards positive change.
Nancy Duarte’s Resonate is a tightly organized, highly-visual, and beautifully produced book that can change the way you present yourself to audiences, clients, co-workers, prospects, and strangers. Resonate will also change the way you tell the story of your personal brand in print and online.
Author:
Roger C. Parker shares ideas for planning, writing, promoting, & profiting from brand building books in his daily writing tips blog and his latest book, #BOOK TITLE Tweet: 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Compelling Article, Book, & Event Titles.
