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I first learned about Nancy Duarte and her ninja-like Powerpoint slide skills though a webinar presented by Speaker Net News. Ms. Duarte’s clear, usable information in just the short webinar was invaluable. I was immediately able to put many of her suggestions to use.

What I most liked was her recommendation to have two slide shows. One that you show to the audience which incorporates the clean, big picture conceptual slides and another which contains all your details and is basically the high tech version of “3×5″ notes. I’ve used the second, more detailed slide show to put on SlideShare for the participants to view later.

“resonate: Present Visual Stories Transform Audiences” answers questions not covered by her first book “slide:ology.” You can have the most well-designed slides in the world, but if your story doesn’t resonate with the audience, you’ve failed.

In the introduction to “resonate” the author acknowledges this and calls “resonate” the “prequel” to the first. The book is wonderfully designed, with easily digestible chunks of information on the left side matched with a picture on the right side (as if it were a slide illustrating the point). It’s not only good information, but it’s interesting to read. Just like Ms. Duarte teaches you to create your slides and presentations.

The key point to “resonate” is that a presentation is something that falls between the two opposites of a report (detailed documentation) and stories (which are emotional and experiential). The successful presentation incorporates the best of both, using structure and providing information, but communicating it in an engaging way that will help the audience learn, believe and take action.

There is a clear story pattern or structure, which can be used to present even the most prosaic of information, called the “hero’s journey.” In this case the audience is the hero, not you. You are given detailed directions, ideas and “how to” on building your own presentation to take your audience (the heroes) through their own journey.

To help you along the way, there are case studies of some of the most powerful and moving speeches in history including Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream,” Richard Feynman’s famous gravity lecture, and Ronald Reagan address to America after the Challenger disaster. You’ll see and be taken on the hero’s journey in all of the examples.

Like me, you’ll probably want to start working on your presentations before you finish the book. Go ahead and get started, but come back to chapter 8 where you’re given help on improving. Then go out and use your new knowledge to change the world.

We all know that the smell of a Sunday roast makes our taste buds dance or when we see an exquisite chocolate cake dessert with thick wiped cream on top that our mouths salivate almost uncontrollably.

Well hello! Our senses (all six of them) are always with us so don’t stop appealing to them when it comes to selling your home!

Selling your home in the easiest way possible and in the shortest time frame for the most dollars available, nothing bar nothing beats a great Presentation.

And we all know this wealth secret but for many of us we either don’t want to put the effort in or don’t know what to do to present our homes how they should be and especially when the budget is tight.

That’s not to say that you will get the highest price in the street, or that easy means that it will be a cinch, but what it does say is that the better your house is presented in a way that appeals to our senses, the easier and quicker you will sell your house and for the best money that a buyer will pay.

Presentation is not about spending dead money or total renovation. It is about spending money and effort that will preferably return its capital and some. Unfortunately you may need to spend dead money and put in some long over due effort to make the sale however.

You see, sometimes depending on the state of repair of your home, it is necessary to spend money that should have been spent in ongoing repairs at the time, to now make the sale. Like a toilet that doesn’t work for example, because most buyers will quite naturally expect your toilet to work.

However, for the most part, a functional kitchen need not be replaced to make a sale. Certainly new cupboard handles or a bench top may be justifiable but normally not so a full kitchen renovation.

And here’s a wealth secret. You must be able look at your home through the eyes of an educated stranger even before you look through the eyes of a potential buyer. Why? Because a stranger has no emotional interest in your home and can tell you like it is without fear, favour or bias.

Your bright pink girl’s room and dark blue boy’s room may seem appropriate and even beautiful to you, but not to a buyer with no teenage children. Your grandiose entertaining bar area may be your center of attention but not to a ‘Tea Totaler’ buyer.

Your stranger’s perspective will present an honest opinion about such personal tastes and identify things that can be changed or altered with minimal cost and in a short time frame.

Without doubt a big wealth secret is that cleaning and painting are two of your most cost effective and fastest paths to a sale and maximum dollars. Your motto should be, “If it’s not clean, clean it and if I think it needs paint… then paint it”.

Remember it is all about presentation, so your cleaning and painting should include de-cluttering. Then when you have a wonderfully clean and neutrally coloured paint theme throughout your house with no clutter, you can now do all those wonderful presentation tricks of the trade for your house inspections. Here are just a few, and always always remember another wealth secret. Perception is reality!

o Open the curtains to let in the natural light

o Turn on a light if any room is anything like a dark space

o Strategically place fresh flowers in your home

o Deodorize or ensure a nice fragrance permeates every room in your home

o Get rid of the dog and other house pets

o Ensure a pleasant musical CD is softly playing in the background

o Remove your vehicle from the open garage or driveway. If you do leave a vehicle there, it must be new or near new, sparkling clean and preferably prestige in make and model

o Have the house cool in summer and warm in winter and … if you have a log fire it should be lit.

o Have the smell of fresh baked Bickies or bread in the kitchen

o Freshly dampen the garden beds with a spray hose

o Set your dining table with the silver ware and fine china that you have possibly never used

o Keep personal photos strategically placed and to a minimum but just enough to be warm

o Take your phone socket out of the wall

If it is convenient for you to have your house in vacant possession, go to the effort of having it professionally furnished. There is no better way to present your house, period. Typical costing for this is approximately $2800 to $3500 for a full house of furniture over a period of 5 to 6 weeks. This has proved time and time again to easily pay for itself in both speed and financial return of sale.

Yes, it may take some work to achieve great presentation but if you really do want to sell your home in the easiest way possible and in the shortest time frame for the most dollars available, then nothing bar nothing, beats the best wealth secret of all, Presentation!