Resonate Review

Anything else I say or add is just detail tinkering around the edges.

Nancy Duarte describes Resonate as a prequel to her first book Slide:ology: it’s written less to show people how to design their slides and more to help people figure out how to design their presentations.  It’s a big job.

I must admit I was very flattered indeed when I got an email asking if I’d like a copy of Resonate to review – so obviously I said “yes”.  As if Nancy Duarte needed my approval! It didn’t take long to arrive (from America) and I hastily tore into it – much to the annoyance of the people around me I was supposed to be doing boring administrative jobs alongside!

It’s an odd shape and doesn’t fit into my shelves – and it’s floppy, so it doesn’t handle easily – but to be honest, if I’m complaining about that kind of thing you can probably tell how much I liked the content.  No book is ever perfect and there are bits and pieces I think could be slightly different but it’s not far in before the gems keep coming. I routinely tell me clients that it’s not about them, it’s about their audience so you can probably imagine my delight at the phrase “designing a presentation without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it ‘to whom it may concern’.”

That’s the kind of thing we like, here!

I must admit there’s not too much new to me here – in fact I’d be worried if there was, given what I do for a living – but the way Ms Duarte puts it together is clear and accessible. The sequence of images on pages 142 and 143, for example, put into a clear perspective one way (a great way!) of designing a presentation… what’s more, it does it with so few words (I’ve not counted but I’d guess it to be under a hundred, looking at the pages) that it makes the point beautifully. What’s more, even though I say there’s not too much new, there’s certainly enough to keep my attention! (Which is more than I can say for a couple of books I’ve read recently! ;)  ).

Case studies help with that. I’m always a sucker for seeing things in action.  If I have to pick a point to critisize with this book, it would be that just occasionally (and I really do mean just occasionally) it goes a little over-board with proving a point – taking the time to illustrate what one means is great but I only need to see it once (perhaps twice to prove it wasn’t a fluke) but not half a dozen times…. but it’s hardly the end of the world and I can always just turn the page :)

All in all?  A damn fine piece of work.  Given how successful Ms Duarte is, I don’t suppose she’ll care much either way what I think but – for what it’s worth – I wish I’d written it.