TED has put up a presentation from 2005 that is so good your head will explode. Not only is Scott McCloud's content stimulating and directly relevant to our world of presentation, his unique presentation of his story is a wonderful example of what is possible with your basic slideware app. I've talked about Scott many times before on this site (such as here) and I talk about him a bit in the Presentation Zen book as does Nancy Duarte in Slide:ology. This is just a fantastic TED talk and powerful yet simple use of the slide medium. If the principles Scott talks about excite you, then I recommend his best-selling book on the art of comics (and why and how they matter) called Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. This is an amazing book with applications far beyond the world of comics. Watch his talk below. You can find download options here on the TED site including a higher-rez version.
Good advice from comics guru Scott McCloud So much good stuff in this TED talk, but here's something that sticks out to me. Three types of vision:
Vision based on what one can not see (unseen and unknowable)
Vision based on what has been proven (or has been seen)
Vision based on what can be, what may be based on knowledge (but is not yet proven)
What Scott is saying is that there are many ways to pursue a vision based on what can/may be. People are doing this in science, the arts, politics, personal endeavors, etc. What it all comes down to, says scott, is this:
Learn from everyone
Follow no one
Watch for patterns
Work like hell
These four guidelines will take you far indeed as you create your own life story.
(I will be attending my first TED conference in a couple of weeks in Long Beach, California. I feel very blessed and honoured to be attending this year and look forward to sharing all that I learn at TED here and live on my Twitter site, my Posterous site, etc.)
