Dan Roam

Get ready for the ultimate crash course in communicating and solving problems through simple pictures.

Thirty-two thousand years ago, your many-times-great-grandparents Oog and Aag drew pictures on the wall of a cave. They had an innate need to communicate, but no written language. So they found an easy and natural way to share their thoughts and stories.

Today, after so many years when speaking and writing dominated, we're back in another highly visual age. About 90 percent of everything shared online is now visual--selfies, GIFs, smartphone videos, and more. This explosion of communication through pictures isn't a millenial-driven fad; it's as natural as those lines first drawn by Oog and Aag. Just turbo-charged by the latest technology.

And yet over the past twenty years, as I've taught people from Fortune 500 CE0s to White House staffers how to harness the power of imagery, the biggest objection I've always heard is, "But I can't draw!" Trust me, you can. You don't need to be da Vinci to be an outstanding visual thinker and communicator. The most effective drawings are the simplest, and you can get good at those in three minutes. In this little book, I'll teach you how to use seven basic shapes to explain just about anything to just about anyone.

If you've read my previous books, you'll see one or two familiar tools here, along with a bunch of new tools you can start using right away.

If you're new to my approach--welcome! Get ready to work smarter, communicate more clearly, and get better at whatever you do, just by picking up a pen.

Get ready to draw to win.

"Dan Roam is a master of communicating with pictures and words, together. I've stolen truckloads from him, and now you can, too."
--Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work

For the vast majority of us, giving a presentation is an extremely difficult and nerve-racking process, whether we're in a one-on-one meeting, a conference room with a dozen strangers, or a lecture hall in front of thousands.

But according to Dan Roam, the visual communications expert and acclaimed author of The Back of the Napkin, it doesn't have to be so hard. We struggle when we forget the basic steps we learned in kindergarten: show and tell.

In this short but powerful book, Roam intro-duces a new set of tools for making extraordinary presentations in any setting. He also draws on ideas he's been honing for more than two decades, as an award-winning presenter who has brought his whiteboard everywhere from Fortune 500 companies to tiny start-ups to the White House.

Even if you're already a good speaker, you'll learn more about understanding your audience, organizing your content, building a clear story line, creating effective visuals, and channeling your fear into fun. And you'll master three fundamental rules:
- When we tell the truth, we connect with our audience, we become passionate, and we find self-confidence.
- When we tell a story, we make complex concepts clear, we make ideas unforgettable, and we include everyone.
- When we use pictures, people see exactly what we mean, we captivate our audience's mind, and we banish boredom.

From nailing the opening to leaving a lasting impression, you'll soon be able to give the perfor-mance of a lifetime--time after time.

"If I tell you the truth, if I tell it with a story, and if I tell that story with pictures, I can keep you glued to your seat. Let me show you how."

For the vast majority of us, giving a presentation is an extremely difficult and nerve-wracking process, whether we're in a one-on-one meeting, a conference room with a dozen strangers, or a lecture hall in front of thousands.

But according to Dan Roam, the visual communications expert and acclaimed author of The Back of the Napkin, it doesn't have to be so hard. We struggle when we forget the basic steps we learned in kindergarten: show and tell.

In this short but powerful book, Roam introduces a new set of tools for making extraordinary presentations in any setting. He also draws on ideas he's been honing for more than two decades, as an award-winning presenter who has brought his whiteboard everywhere from Fortune 500 companies to tiny startups to the White House.

Even if you're already a good speaker, you'll learn more about understanding your audience, organizing your content, building a clear storyline, creating effective visuals, and channeling your fear into fun. And you'll master three fundamental rules:

- When we tell the truth, we connect with our audience, we become passionate, and we find self-confidence.

- When we tell a story, we make complex concepts clear, we make ideas unforgettable, and we include everyone.

- When we use pictures, people see exactly what we mean, we captivate our audience's mind, and we banish boredom.

From nailing the opening to leaving a lasting impression, you'll soon be able to give the performance of a lifetime . . . time after time.

Roam's "The Back of the Napkin," a "Business Week" bestseller, teaches readers the power of brainstorming and communicating with pictures. This expanded edition presents more exciting ways for solving all kinds of business problems.

Ever been to so many meetings that you couldn't get your work done? Ever fallen asleep during a bulletpoint presentation? Ever watched the news and ended up knowing less? Welcome to the land of Blah Blah Blah.

The Problem: We talk so much that we don't think very well. Powerful as words are, we fool ourselves when we think our words alone can detect, describe, and defuse the multifaceted problems of today. They can't-and that's bad, because words have become our default thinking tool.

The Solution: This book offers a way out of blah-blah-blah. It's called "Vivid Thinking."

In Dan Roam's first acclaimed book, "The Back of the Napkin," he taught readers how to solve problems and sell ideas by drawing simple pictures. Now he proves that Vivid Thinking is even more powerful. This technique combines our verbal and visual minds so that we can think and learn more quickly, teach and inspire our colleagues, and enjoy and share ideas in a whole new way.

The Destination: No more blah-blah-blah. Through Vivid Thinking, we can make the most complicated subjects suddenly crystal clear. Whether trying to understand a Harvard Business School class, or what went down in the Conan versus Leno battle for late-night TV, or what Einstein thought about relativity, Vivid Thinking provides a way to clarify anything.

Through dozens of guided examples, Roam proves that anyone can apply this systematic approach, from leftbrain types who hate to draw to right-brainers who hate to write. This isn't just a book about improving communications, presentations, and ideation; it's about removing the blah-blah- blah from your life for good.

This companion workbook to "The Back of the Napkin" helps readers put Roam's principles into practice with step-by-step guidelines. It's filled with case studies, do-it-yourself exercises, and plenty of blank space for drawing.

Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin can help crystallize ideas and communicate in a way that people simply get. Roam shows that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems, and improve their ability to share their insights.