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Cited from real sources 6 min read Updated August 2026

A framework by Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte's What Is, What Could Be Story Structure

Nancy Duarte's what is, what could be structure is the shape persuasive presentations share. You establish the status quo, contrast it against what the world could look like, move between the two repeatedly, and end on a new bliss. Duarte reached it by analyzing hundreds of the most effective talks ever given, from the Gettysburg Address to Steve Jobs launching the iPhone, and finding the same waveform underneath all of them.

The whole structure in one move

You need to make that gap as big as possible.

The tension between the status quo and your idea is the engine. Most business presentations describe only the status quo, then wonder why nobody moved.

Nancy Duarte TEDxEast Watch at 06:49

The framework

A waveform, not an outline

The structure came out of analyzing the talks that actually changed something, then looking for what they had in common. What she found was not a template. It was a shape.

It starts with a line most presenters skip past in ten seconds:

At the beginning of any presentation, you need to establish what is.
Duarte at TEDxEast Watch at 06:43

Establishing what is buys you agreement before you ask for anything. The audience nods, because you are describing the world they already live in. Then the move that does the work: contrast it with what could be, and refuse to make the gap small. Duarte's point is that the gap is the persuasion. A talk with a narrow gap is a status report.

From there the talk oscillates. Not once, repeatedly, which is what makes it a waveform rather than a three-part outline. On Lenny's Podcast she traces the shape by hand:

stating what is and then it moves straight up and you move to what could be come back down
Duarte, drawing the shape on Lenny's Podcast Watch at 27:04

The ending has its own rule. You do not close on a summary. You close on the world as it looks once your idea has been adopted, which Duarte calls the new bliss.

How to apply it

How do you structure a presentation using what is, what could be?

Seven rules, drawn from Duarte's own heuristics.

Phase 1 · Before you open a slide deck

  1. 1

    Write the big idea as one sentence.

    Your point of view plus what is at stake if they do or do not adopt it. If the audience cannot summarize your talk in one sentence afterward, the big idea was never clear.

  2. 2

    Cast the audience as the hero, and yourself as the mentor.

    The tell is pronoun count. If you say "I" more often than "you," you have made yourself the hero of a story that is supposed to be about them.

a big idea is what is your point of view and what's at stake if they do or do not adopt it
Duarte, on the organizing mechanism for a deck Watch at 41:47

Phase 2 · Build the waveform

  1. 3

    Open on what is, and make it recognizable.

    Not your company history, not your resume. Starting with yourself is the most common way to lose the room in the first ninety seconds.

  2. 4

    Oscillate, and change mode every few minutes.

    Move between what is and what could be more than once. Duarte's rule of thumb: stay in one mode, analytical or emotional, longer than about five minutes and the audience drifts.

  3. 5

    Cut anything the big idea survives without.

    Remove a slide or a story. If the big idea still stands, that element was decoration. This is the fastest edit available to you.

Phase 3 · Slides and the close

  1. 6

    Apply the three-second rule to every slide.

    If a slide takes longer than three seconds to understand, it has too much on it. If you can read it word for word as your script, you built a document, not a presentation.

  2. 7

    End on the new bliss, never on a summary slide.

    Describe the world once your idea is adopted. A bulleted recap wastes the most memorable moment you get.

You need to describe the world as a new bliss.
Duarte, on how to end Watch at 08:30

Boundary conditions

When does the structure fail?

Works best when

  • You are asking an audience to change something, not just informing them
  • The status quo is genuinely uncomfortable and you can name it honestly
  • You have the floor for long enough to oscillate at least twice

Fails when

  • The audience wants a decision in ninety seconds and you build tension instead
  • The gap is manufactured, which reads as manipulation to anyone who knows the domain
  • You present data with no recommendation attached, leaving the audience to do your job

The first failure is where operators genuinely disagree, and Duarte addresses it directly on Lenny's. Barbara Minto's pyramid principle says lead with the answer, then support it, which is the house style at most consulting firms and in most executive readouts. Duarte's structure deliberately withholds resolution to build tension. Both are correct for different rooms. A board asking for a number wants the pyramid; a team you are trying to move wants the waveform.

The second failure is worth guarding against on your own material. If you have to inflate the status quo to make the gap look big, the gap is not real, and the people closest to the problem will notice first. The honest version of this move is closer to Bob Moesta's switch interview, where you go find out what the status quo actually costs people before you describe it on a slide.

the story kind of builds tension and releases it
Duarte, on why the shape works at all Watch at 24:34

The sources

Where Duarte discusses this

06:43
Timestamp

TEDxEast · Nancy Duarte uncovers the common structure of the greatest communicators

Establishing What Is

"At the beginning of any presentation, you need to establish what is."
08:30
Timestamp

TEDxEast · Nancy Duarte uncovers the common structure of the greatest communicators

The Call to Action and the New Bliss

"You need to describe the world as a new bliss."
27:04
Timestamp

Lenny's Podcast · Storytelling with Nancy Duarte

The Rise and Fall Story Framework

"stating what is and then it moves straight up and you move to what could be."
41:47
Timestamp

Lenny's Podcast · Storytelling with Nancy Duarte

Tactical Slide Design and the Slide Doc

"a big idea is what is your point of view and what's at stake."

Useful? Send it to whoever is building the board deck this week.

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