The Storytelling Lab

Nancy Duarte's Sparkline: The Secret Structure Behind Every Great Speech


Listen Later

“You don’t just present a pitch—you present a world your audience wants to live in.” — Rain Bennett


What do the Gettysburg Address, I Have a Dream, and your next sales pitch have in common?


They all follow a specific structure—one that Nancy Duarte calls the Sparkline.


In this solo episode, Rain breaks down how this framework works, why it resonates so deeply, and how you can use it to capture attention, build trust, and persuade your audience—whether you're on a stage, pitching a product, or crafting a social post.


Rain dives deep into the Sparkline’s rhythm of “what is” and “what could be,” how this pattern mirrors the Hero’s Journey, and why it triggers emotional investment and action. He also explores resistance in storytelling, the power of contrast, and the neuroscience behind narrative immersion. To drive it home, he analyzes Steve Jobs’s legendary 2007 iPhone keynote—step by step.


If you want to spark belief in your message, this episode is your blueprint.


In this episode, you will learn to:

  • Leverage contrast between the status quo and the dream state to build urgency and desire in your storytelling.
  • Use the Sparkline’s up-and-down rhythm to cut through resistance and guide your audience into emotional buy-in.
  • Avoid the two biggest presentation mistakes—the “report” and the “pitch”—by balancing tension and transformation.
  • Apply the Sparkline framework across formats including emails, speeches, pitches, social content, and videos.
  • Spot and replicate masterful storytelling techniques using Steve Jobs’s iPhone launch as a real-world example.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Storytelling LabBy Rain Bennett

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

43 ratings


More shows like The Storytelling Lab

View all
HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

HBR IdeaCast

175 Listeners

The Moth by The Moth

The Moth

27,330 Listeners

The Amy Porterfield Show by Amy Porterfield

The Amy Porterfield Show

4,572 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,397 Listeners

10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

10% Happier with Dan Harris

12,531 Listeners

The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business by Jenna Kutcher

The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business

12,059 Listeners

Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel by Esther Perel Global Media

Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel

14,774 Listeners

The Science of Happiness by PRX and Greater Good Science Center

The Science of Happiness

1,872 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

6,756 Listeners

A Bit of Optimism by Simon Sinek

A Bit of Optimism

2,181 Listeners

SmartLess by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett

SmartLess

57,931 Listeners

Coaching Real Leaders by Harvard Business Review / Muriel Wilkins

Coaching Real Leaders

649 Listeners

Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media

Huberman Lab

28,272 Listeners

ReThinking by TED

ReThinking

610 Listeners

AI Explored by Michael Stelzner, Social Media Examiner—AI marketing

AI Explored

78 Listeners