How to Tell Your Story for Impact - A Great Lecture on Communication and Presentation - JD Schramm - Stanford University

JD Schramm, Stanford Graduate School of Management has a reassuring message for anyone ? and that includes just about everyone, really -- who frets over the prospect of public speaking. "The beautiful thing about communication is that it is part art and part science," he told a recent gathering at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. While some people are naturally gifted storytellers, "there are strategies that each of us can employ to work for us." Schramm, a lecturer in organizational behavior who also directs the business school's Mastery in Communication Initiative, gave advice to a dozen of the school's alumni in advance of an Oct. 20 celebration of the school's commitment to developing leaders who can address the social and environmental issues of their times. For the occasion, the school's Center for Social Innovation and its 40-year-old Public Management Program have asked alumni social innovators to participate in "Class Notes Live" sessions. The participants in Schramm's workshop are among a larger group who will tell, in just four minutes each, their personal stories of impact. Schramm's job was to get them ready. His first piece of advice:

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Delivering Your Innovative Ideas - Michael Schrage - Harvard Business Review

The most valuable consulting lesson I ever received from a client came from being rewritten with neither my knowledge nor input. I'd been asked to run an innovation workshop for Procter & Gamble's R&D group because of a book I had written. While chatting with my managerial host, I noticed a neatly-typed three-page memo about my work attached to the invitation he'd sent to his Winton Hill colleagues. I asked if I could read it. My host had effectively "translated" my book's central insights into "P&G-ese." This went beyond edit or synthesis; he rewrote my words, phrases and recommendations in P&G research community language. While P&G-ese was recognizably a dialect of English, reading this translation was a bracing experience. Ah, so that's how they see it. While I disagreed with some parts, this was a fascinating glimpse into P&G's innovation aspirations.

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The power of online video (and presentation) to change the world - Presentation Zen

This new talk by TED curator Chris Anderson is a great example of a naked talk given with the support of technology. This is one of my favorite talks ever, in part because of the content, and in part because of the way it was delivered. Anderson is not slick or over rehearsed, he speaks in a human voice, imperfections and all. He speaks from the heart. His embedded video and visuals help but do not get in the way. The visual amplifies his narrative and helps him take people on a little journey. Anderson states that the rise of web video created a growing worldwide phenomenon called Crowd Accelerated Innovation.

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Creating and communicating meaning: Presentation Zen

What entrepreneurship and the art of presentation have in common is they are both really about creating meaning. This simple fundamental is often forgotten (or was never learned). In business, we need to make money, of course. This is a given. But the focus and the very reason one goes into the business should not be money. This is not because the pursuit of wealth is ignoble, but it may be a signal that one's focus is misplaced. If acquiring wealth is the primary goal of an entrepreneur, ironically the wealth will rarely materialize.

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The 4 Elements of Visual Grammar: How To Communicate Without Words | Van SEO Design

I often use the phrase “visual design” when describing what we do as web designers. Recently I came across what I think is better phrase, “communication design.” When we design and build websites our goal is usually to communicate something to an audience. Communication requires language. That language can be aural as in the spoken word, it can be gestural as in sign language, or it can be visual as in design. The more you understand any language the better you can communicate using that language. The visual language of design is no exception. Design elements are like letters and words. When we add design principles and apply them to our elements, our words, we form a visual grammar. As we learn to use both we enable ourselves to communicate visually.

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