Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire

Not bad. There are good ideas in here, but they all have their time and place.

Advice on how to create presentations without the use of bullet points. The main theme of the book is that a presentation is more interesting when it is presented as a story, and Atkinson provides a structured framework for storytelling.

Some of the general ideas in this book are solid but I really, really didn't like how it is based on an extended tutorial. By using this template he gives, it restricts thinking abstractly about how to apply this to your own presentations. I don't like books that constrain your thinking this much.

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He takes an approach many programming tutorial books might takes which is not helpful when dealing with presentations. Coding is a very structured process whereas there are many different presentation styles and ways of delivering content. So, this is a good book for extreme beginners or people who really need help but not for good speakers who want to know how to be more effective. For the latter person, you would be better off reading something like Edward Tufte to get a more generalizable understanding of presenting.

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While Edward Tufte's The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint will continue to be, for me, the BEST book on making a good PowerPoint presentation, this book comes in second... and then there's a big jump to all others on the list. I can't believe I'm recommending a book published by Microsoft but this one

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is really good. With Atkinson's and Tufte's advice, I now regularly get compliments on my PowerPoint presentations.

I've also recommended this book to a few librarians when they've asked me how I've created my online animated tutorials; the advice here translates well to that forum.

Overall, a great book even if it can feel a little long in some areas. Hopefully the next edition is pared down a bit to make for a more enjoyable (and faster) read.

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Very disappointed. A few ideas, but basically one theme: write presentations like movie scripts. The example used throughout the book is so contrived and condescending that is detracts rather than supports this theme.

Powerpoint and bullet points seem to be so synonymous with each other that I never think twice before working on any presentations. After reading 'Beyong Bullet Points ' it gave me another perspective of presenting my ideas. Thinking in terms of story is what we all do in our daily lives so why not

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use it professionally.
A very nice reading to deliver your ideas effectively by keeping the audience engaged.

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Excellent advice on how to give attention-holding presentations. It boils down to: Write an outline; rehearse; write a speech based on the outline; rehearse; make some slides to go with the speech; rehearse. It really puts the emphasis on what is important - your presentation, not the slides that

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go with it. Sort of an alternative to Tufte's advice, which could be paraphrased as: don't give a PPT presentation; write a technical memo, instead.

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I tend to be involved in more interactive meetings than the typical one-way PowerPoint presentation, but every discussion needs a framework at the beginning. The storyboarding templates alone are worth the price of the book. Unless, of course, you like to see people dozing off or checking their

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blackberries during your presentation.

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