Stories that Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations

Stories that Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations

by Martin Sykes, A. Nicklas Malik, Mark D. West
Released December 2012
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118423998

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Book description

Learn how to use stories and visuals to make top-notch presentations

It's called CAST (Content, Audience, Story, & Tell) and it's been a quiet success, until now. Developed over a twelve year period as a presentation method to help Enterprise Architects, it was adopted by Microsoft Enterprise Architecture teams and filtered from IT managers to Sales, and beyond to major organizations around the world. Now, thanks to this unique book from an expert author team that includes two Microsoft presentation experts, you can learn how to use this amazing process to create and make high-impact presentations in your own organization.

The book helps you build complete visual stories, step by step, by using the CAST method to first create a Story Map and from there, a compelling presentation. It includes sample Story Maps, templates, practical success stories, and more. You'll discover how to go beyond PowerPoint slides to create presentations that influence your peers and effect change.

  • Explains the secrets of making presentations and effecting change using CAST to create Story Maps and from there, high-impact and visual presentations that tell a story

  • Covers how to apply a range of techniques and what the results look like, using screenshots of presentations, one page hand outs, and basic delivery with whiteboards

  • Coauthored by Microsoft experts and a visual design guru who have years of experience training professionals in these methods

  • Includes sample Story Maps, templates, practical success stories, and more

Learn how to sell your ideas and trigger change in your company with Stories That Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Publisher's Acknowledgements
  6. Authors' Acknowledgements
  7. Contents
  8. About the Author
  9. Epigraph
  10. Preface
  11. 1: The Power of Stories
    1. Visual Stories
    2. Should We Blame the Tools?
    3. Finding the Right Tool for the Job
    4. To Be Effective, You Have to Affect People
    5. Convincing Evidence
  12. 2: CAST and the Visual Story Map
    1. The Visual Story Map
  13. 3: Using CAST to Tell Stories
    1. Use the Visual Story Map
    2. Learn From Our Experience
    3. Examples of Using CAST
    4. Build Your Own Example
    5. Example 1: Personal Trainer
    6. Example 2: City University Hospital
    7. Tell the Right Story
    8. Tell the Story Right
  14. 4: Why
    1. The Three Big Whys
    2. Focusing First on “Why”
    3. All Motivation is Personal
    4. Techniques for Discovering Whys
    5. Five Whys
    6. Pain Chain
    7. Outcome Mapping
  15. 5: What
    1. Elements of Change
    2. Brainstorming the Changes
    3. Filter and Focus
  16. 6: How
    1. Traceability and Milestones
    2. Finding the “How”
    3. Understanding the Dependencies
    4. Cum hoc ergo propter hoc
  17. 7: What If
    1. Walking Backward Through the Story
    2. Alternative Scenarios
    3. Final Thoughts on the Story CONTENT
  18. 8: Who
    1. Finding the Common Ground
    2. Creating a Power Map
  19. 9: Learning and Decision Styles
    1. Categorizing Your Audience
    2. Preferences, Not Prescriptions
    3. Learning Styles
    4. Decision Styles
  20. 10: Structure
    1. Plot Structure
    2. Nesting and Embedding (or How to Tell Many Stories at the Same Time)
    3. Using Reality and Fiction
    4. Hope's Story
    5. Putting All the Parts Together
    6. In a Hurry?
  21. 11: Character
    1. The Hero and the Villain
    2. Character Associations
    3. Believability
    4. The Cast of Characters
    5. Personification
  22. 12: Sense of Urgency
    1. The Enemies of Change: Complacency and Distraction
    2. COMMON FACTORS CREATING A SENSE OF URGENCY
    3. Success Is a Decision
    4. Success Is a Commitment
  23. 13: Delivery Plan
    1. Decisions Take Time
    2. Planning for Scale
    3. Hook, Line, and Sinker
    4. City University Hospital
    5. Delivery Tips
  24. 14: Design
    1. Intentional Design
    2. Many Formats, One Root
    3. The Infographic
    4. Ideation
    5. COMPOSITION
    6. Content Coding
    7. Writing
  25. 15: Test
    1. Testing and Rehearsals
    2. Opening, Closing, and Timing
    3. Repetition
    4. Retention
    5. The Six Key Tests
  26. 16: CAST Example: What a Difference a Day Can Make
  27. 17: Afterword: Improving Your Visual Storytelling
    1. Practice Makes Perfect
    2. Use Your Tools
  28. References
  29. INDEX

Product information

  • Title: Stories that Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations
  • Author(s): Martin Sykes, A. Nicklas Malik, Mark D. West
  • Release date: December 2012
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118423998