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

Make your next presentation a Success Story The secret is out and it's called CAST, an amazing new presentation system that combines sophisticated storytelling and visualization techniques. While it may not literally have the power to Move mountains or part the Red Sea, wherever it's been used to sell an idea or spark organizational change, the results have been nothing short of miraculous. If you've been tasked with selling a revolutionizing product, pitching a concept, or getting people on board with change, your life just got a lot easier. Written by the creators of CAST and the Visual Story Map model—a powerful process visualization tool—Stories That Move Mountains gives you everything you need to put this high-impact presentation process to work right away. The book includes: A practical introduction to CAST concepts, tools, and techniques Sample Visual Story Maps and templates Illustrated mini-guides showing how to use specific techniques most effectively Step-by-step guidance on how to create your own Visual Story Maps Expert advice on how to deliver high-impact presentations One-page handouts and other valuable presentation aids Tips on how to reengineer the same presentation for different audiences Detailed worked examples that run through the book with screenshots, handwritten notes, and images of whiteboards to illustrate how to apply the techniques in the real world Selling change is hard. Motivating people to enthusiastically embrace and act on it, nearly impossible. Learn how to harness the power of visual storytelling and make the hard simple and the nearly impossible easier than you ever imagined it could be. The companion website at www.storiesthatmovemountains.com features examples of CAST in action; links and blog postings to more examples; and downloadable Story Maps and other templates from the book. 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.