It's hard to say just where Nancy Duarte has had the biggest impact: as the architect of Al Gore's presentation on climate change in An Inconvenient Truth... as the author of two profoundly powerful books on crafting and delivering presentations, slide:ology and Resonate...

...as the co-creator of Duarte Design, a firm that has been redefining the art and science of presentations for nearly a quarter-century...

...or as a pioneer in integrating social media and public speaking around the central driving idea of story.

Our conversation lasts less than 10 minutes, but Nancy packs a lot of insight into

• how the backchannel changes the balance of power between speaker and audience
• how speeches can take on a life of their own as social objects
• how even harsh criticism can make you a better speaker
• and how dramatic tension and release can lend your next speech the power and impact your ideas have been waiting for.

Listen in - and then explore more deeply:

• Nancy Duarte on Twitter
• Duarte Design on the web, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – and the Duarte blog
• SlideShare presentations by Nancy and Duarte Design
• Steve Jobs' now-legendary commencement address at Stanford (video) (text)
• Duarte's new online store Diagrammer (imagine an iTunes for PowerPoint-format diagrams, tailored to the relationship you're illustrating and instantly downloadable for 99¢)
• Microsoft PowerPoint, which Nancy recommends for its outlining mode, as a way of clustering and refining your thoughts and crafting a compelling structure
• Prezi and Apple Keynote