Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Berkeley, CA : New Riders, c2012.
Description
Provides lessons to help users design and deliver creative presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jcbrunner
Garr Reynolds has turned the lessons of his wonderful blog presentation zen into a brochure-like book with good presentation design tips. A good, concise book for the Powerpoint-challenged who do not want or lack the time to distill the essence of Tufte's works. Reynolds's book is much better than
Tracing ideas not to the current management bestsellers but back to their origins might reduce my impression of Mr Reynolds as an airport bookstore reader. Combining the works cited into a bibliography and a little bit less backscratching would have been helpful. At times, the repeat appearance of a select few becomes almost comic: The sect of Powerpoint addicts or the buddies of Garr Reynolds. Recommended.
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Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points. I only wish someone would tackle the real topics of presentations. With a little effort, it is easy to make a case against global warming, world hunger and obesity. It is much harder to do an engaging presentation about the next steps of a SAP project or a monthly sales report. It is thus no wonder that Reynolds does not quote neither Minto nor Zelazny who are helpful in those aspects. Tracing ideas not to the current management bestsellers but back to their origins might reduce my impression of Mr Reynolds as an airport bookstore reader. Combining the works cited into a bibliography and a little bit less backscratching would have been helpful. At times, the repeat appearance of a select few becomes almost comic: The sect of Powerpoint addicts or the buddies of Garr Reynolds. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member russelldad
Excellent Book! This book changed the way I think about presenting. I used just two of the suggestions in this book in a presentation and people are still talking about how great the presentation was. I borrowed this from the library bit I'm seriously considering asking for it for Christmas. It
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book makes a great reference guide and is really worth having on hand when you're working on presentations. Show Less
LibraryThing member pipster
Inspirational. This book is filled with examples & inspiration. I'm not sure how well Garr's appraoch to presentations would be received at my company, but I'm going to try.
LibraryThing member tgraettinger
This was a good, solid, straightforward discussion about improving presentations. The author generally adopts the "less is more" aesthetic, and he provides plenty of useful, visual examples to support his claims.
There were a number of useful recommendations in the book. For instance, he suggests
If anything was lacking, it was helpful responses for managing your bosses, peers, or possibly audience members who are expecting (or even demanding) "Death by PowerPoint" - that is, dense slides with many bullet points and lots of data per slide. In the book, the author notes that highly visual slides are the exception, and their very nature can be perceived as simplistic or "not doing your homework". The goal is to do the hard thinking in preparation to make the slides clear, coherent, and easy-to-understand. That is a very worthwhile goal.
The book has inspired me to really work on developing my presentations and presentation skills.
There were a number of useful recommendations in the book. For instance, he suggests
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using a detailed, written document to support the live presentation. That way, the audience will have access to all of the details, and can focus on what you're saying. I also liked his push to "go analog" before you "go digital". That is, work offline (on paper, whiteboard, post-its, etc.) with the ideas and core message for your talk before you start putting bullet points on slide templates in PowerPoint. In fact, he eschews bullet points altogether, and I think he's won me over.If anything was lacking, it was helpful responses for managing your bosses, peers, or possibly audience members who are expecting (or even demanding) "Death by PowerPoint" - that is, dense slides with many bullet points and lots of data per slide. In the book, the author notes that highly visual slides are the exception, and their very nature can be perceived as simplistic or "not doing your homework". The goal is to do the hard thinking in preparation to make the slides clear, coherent, and easy-to-understand. That is a very worthwhile goal.
The book has inspired me to really work on developing my presentations and presentation skills.
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LibraryThing member writemoves
Excellent book for any businessperson who makes presentations.
LibraryThing member kjacobson1
Inspirational. This book is filled with examples & inspiration. I'm not sure how well Garr's appraoch to presentations would be received at my company, but I'm going to try.
LibraryThing member hugh_ashton
I actually teach presentation skills to undergraduates, and this book forms the basis of my philosophy when explaining how students should not make slides consisting of 6 or 7 bullet points that they then read off word for word. Anyone who has ever heard a yawn or seen drooping eyelids while they
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are giving a presentation should read this, and learn from it (and no, it doesn't mean using every fancy PowerPoint feature in the book - this is not a book about PowerPoint or Keynote - it's a book about presentations). Show Less
LibraryThing member paulsignorelli
In a world committed to effective training-teaching-learning, publication of Garr Reynolds' beautifully produced and engagingly written book "Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery" three years ago would have resulted in the disappearance of "death by PowerPoint."
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The world seems to have other ideas. We still suffer through poorly designed PowerPoint presentations, where far too much text is crammed onto slides that are then read to painfully bored and tuned-out learners. Which is a shame since so much of what Reynolds suggests and displays throughout his book and on his ongoing Presentation Zen website makes so much sense and is so easy to incorporate into our work. "PowerPoint is not a method," he reminds us early in the book; "it is a tool that can be used effectively with appropriate design methods or ineffectively with inappropriate methods" (p. 12). Clarity and simplicity are the overarching themes he encourages us to explore and incorporate into our work. And if we needed proof that Reynolds cares as deeply about his audiences as we should care about ours, we find it explicitly in his admonition that "If your content is worth talking about, then bring energy and passion to your delivery. Every situation is different, but there is never an excuse for being dull" (p. 211). So let's hope his work continues to reach an ever-widening--and receptive--audience, and that dull presentations will eventually become little more than a dimly remembered nightmare. Show Less
LibraryThing member michaelpnorman
Excellent quality book
LibraryThing member samsheep
I speed-read this today in my lunchbreak so can by no means be said to do it justice. Plus as I read, it sparked multiple ideas on how to re-think and re-imagine my presentations so that took up even more time than the reading. Great book - makes you really think about what you want to put across
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to people as well as the best way to accomplish that. Lovely illustrations too. Show Less
LibraryThing member AndrewRusling
Visually it is a beautiful book that shows off Garr Reynolds design skills.
If you like discussing design and the art behind it, then this book is for you.
However if you want to improve your presentations this book offers very little. The useful information in the book could be condensed to about
I picked it up hoping to improve my presentations, I walk away knowing about a few more free picture sites and having seen some great examples of slides but not having learnt very much.
If you like discussing design and the art behind it, then this book is for you.
However if you want to improve your presentations this book offers very little. The useful information in the book could be condensed to about
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20 pages; you are better off searching the web for articles on basic design principles.I picked it up hoping to improve my presentations, I walk away knowing about a few more free picture sites and having seen some great examples of slides but not having learnt very much.
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LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes
There's some great information here, but the book is also a bit puffy. A book about clear presentation design being less concise that it could be seems problematic, but it's not so bad since I think in this case it allows a more thorough immersion for some readers.
LibraryThing member antao
PowerPoint has always enabled people who are basically thick and dull to look clever.
Of course it’s boring - would you hold up cue cards to an audience and then READ THE SAME CUE CARDS - no? So why does a digital projector and PowerPoint make it a good idea?
But PowerPoint is worse than that -
People say - 'don't read the words on the slide'
Well, why HAVE the bloody slide then?
Does the slide say something MORE IMPORTANT than what you are saying? If it does well.. why aren't you just saying it?
In fact if what you are saying can be said just as well on a slide show, why bother turning up at all? Just press play and go home.
We HAVE a system of text and images that conveys information – it’s called the internet. It way better than PowerPoint and I don't need anyone talking over it while I look at it.
Death to PowerPoint.
Death to seminars.
Death to people who wear those clip microphones.
Bring back good speakers who can keep you interested and answer questions as they go along.
Powerpoint no more makes someone a presenter than having a typewriter makes them a novelist. But many people fail to notice that. I have sat through far too many dull presentations in my time, and succeeded in staying awake during some only by gnawing on my own wrist.
Of course it’s boring - would you hold up cue cards to an audience and then READ THE SAME CUE CARDS - no? So why does a digital projector and PowerPoint make it a good idea?
But PowerPoint is worse than that -
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with PowerPoint you can put a buzzword next to a graph - next to a picture and with a swish fade effect and for some bizarre reason that makes the buzzword important.People say - 'don't read the words on the slide'
Well, why HAVE the bloody slide then?
Does the slide say something MORE IMPORTANT than what you are saying? If it does well.. why aren't you just saying it?
In fact if what you are saying can be said just as well on a slide show, why bother turning up at all? Just press play and go home.
We HAVE a system of text and images that conveys information – it’s called the internet. It way better than PowerPoint and I don't need anyone talking over it while I look at it.
Death to PowerPoint.
Death to seminars.
Death to people who wear those clip microphones.
Bring back good speakers who can keep you interested and answer questions as they go along.
Powerpoint no more makes someone a presenter than having a typewriter makes them a novelist. But many people fail to notice that. I have sat through far too many dull presentations in my time, and succeeded in staying awake during some only by gnawing on my own wrist.
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Subjects
Language
Physical description
xi, 296 p.; 23.2 cm
ISBN
9780321811981
Copy notes
2nd edition, revised and updated.
Introduction: Presenting in today's world -- Preparation. Creativity, limitations and constraints ; Planning analog ; Crafting the story -- Design. Simplicity : why it matters ; Presentation design : principles and techniques ; Sample visuals : images & text -- Delivery. The art of being completely present ; Connecting with an audience ; The need for engagement -- Next step. The journey begins.
Includes index.
Series: Voices that matter.
Old labels on back cover.
Introduction: Presenting in today's world -- Preparation. Creativity, limitations and constraints ; Planning analog ; Crafting the story -- Design. Simplicity : why it matters ; Presentation design : principles and techniques ; Sample visuals : images & text -- Delivery. The art of being completely present ; Connecting with an audience ; The need for engagement -- Next step. The journey begins.
Includes index.
Series: Voices that matter.
Old labels on back cover.