John Wardley, designer of Nemesis:

What we're doing in twisted steel is what a scriptwriter does with words. We're entertainers – in the business of creating thrills and mystery. Like a good writer, a good designer won't let people know what's coming: it should be a succession of steadily building surprises. The layout of Nemesis broke the rules, too. With a conventional rollercoaster, you're winched up high and dropped, so the ride gets tamer as it reaches the end. Showbiz is all about a big finale, though, and I wanted this ride to get better as it went on – even if it meant defying the laws of gravity. So I put the end station not at the bottom, but halfway up. This means that you swing way below the station in a big finishing dip, then come back up to the end.

A large part of the infographic’s intrinsic appeal seems to lie in its visual reductionism of complex information. Reductionism itself is not inherently bad—in fact, it’s an essential part of any kind of synthesis, be it mapmaking, journalism, particle physics, or statistical analysis. The problem arises when the act of reduction—in this case rendering data into an aesthetically elegant graphic—actually begins to unintentionally oversimplify, obscure, or warp the author’s intended narrative, instead of bringing it into focus.

Harmon outlines the basic skeleton of any good story:

1. A character is in a zone of comfort,
2. But they want something.
3. They enter an unfamiliar situation,
4. Adapt to it,
5. Get what they wanted,
6. Pay a heavy price for it,
7. Then return to their familiar situation,
8. Having changed.

In addition to a classic story structure, the Beyond Bullet Points story template incorporates persuasive techniques that are useful for many types of presentations in different contexts. These techniques include using Aristotle's classical concept that to persuade, you need to appeal to emotion, reason, and personal credibility. Even if your intent is to simply inform audience members about something, you still have to persuade them to pay attention. Why should they listen? What's in it for them? Using this template helps you to answer these questions for your audience.

Creating a Projeqt is simple and intuitive. In fact, you have probably done most of the legwork already. We play nicely with the other social platforms out there so you can embed your videos from YouTube or Vimeo, post pictures from your Flickr account, include RSS feeds from your blog or even your Tweets. Through Projeqt, you can orchestrate all these integral pieces of content to form one coherent story. And then share that story with the world in exactly the way you want it to be heard.

At the 99% Conference, veteran storyteller Jay O'Callahan illustrates how stories tap into our imagination, engage those around us, and inspire amazing achievements. Stories, he argues, are what make us alive.