Resonate: A Youth Pastor's Perspective

BOOK REVIEW: RESONATE (by Nancy Duarte)

A YOUTH PASTOR'S PERSPECTIVE

If you study communication very much, you have certainly run across Nancy Duarte's book, Resonate. It is in numerous top five lists all over the internet as a "must read" on the topic of presentation skills. Many reviews have been written over the last two and a half years. A simple google search of the book title and author will give you plenty of review-reading for weeks-on-end.

Instead of rehashing this plethora of critique, I thought that I would bring a unique perspective of response; therefore, I give you, Resonate:  A Youth Pastor's View.

WHY DID I READ IT?

As a student of communication skills and homiletics, I am always on the lookout for great books and resources on these topics. I actually did not set out to read Resonate initially (I ignorantly assumed it was a book about PowerPoint), but was reading Duarte's new book at the time, HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. While doing so, she had tweeted about a contest involving reviewing her new work on Amazon. Everyone who did so, received an autographed copy of Resonate.

Two weeks later, I received a brand-spanking new, personally-autographed copy of Resonate.

Upon receipt, I immediately dug in. Not at the beginning, mind you, but in the section entitled, The Hero's Journey (I was familiar with Nancy's take on this after having previously watched a short version of it on Youtube in a TED talk she had given).

As a student of youth ministry communication skills, especially storytelling, I was smitten.

THE HERO'S JOURNEY

Duarte's treatise on Joseph Campbell's monomyth is worth the price of the book alone. In fifteen pages she outlines the typical literary journey of a hero as found in every great story, ties it in to Star Wars, and then relates it back to communicating in a way that makes the audience the hero and the speaker the Jedi master.

As a youth pastor and youth communicator, I found myself thinking, "Why didn't they teach me this in my homiletics classes?" Students love great stories and connect with great storytellers; however, many youth speakers and youth pastor's miss this vital point: You are not the hero. Your audience is.

Worth the price of admission.

STEVE JOBS AND MARTIN LUTHER KING

If you follow any of Duarte's other communication training, you are probably familiar with her comparison of Apple's founder, Steve Jobs, and the Reverend Martin Luther King. Nancy takes Jobs' unveiling of the iPhone speech and compares it to King's I Have a Dream. The two speeches could not have been more different in topic, but more similar in form. In Resonate, Duarte takes the time to parse both speeches in format and visually show the results.

In a word, mind-blowing.

WHAT ELSE?

In Resonate you will also find practical insights for creating powerful stories, improving message structure and utilizing visuals in an effective way. Duarte also takes the time to break down numerous speeches to demonstrate the familiar format of: What is, what could be, and call to action.

As a side note, I think one of the other characteristics I find interesting is the layout of the book itself. I would call it a "coffee table" format: Large in size, stunning visuals, pictures and charts.

SHOULD YOU READ IT?
Absolutely.

As I mentioned earlier, I wish they would have made Resonate required reading in my homiletics classes. If you are a seasoned youth communicator or a noob student minister, you must get your hands on a copy of this book. Read it twice. Keep it for future reference. It will shape the way you communicate to students, build your messages and potentially forever alter your approach to preaching.