Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 16
 The cure for death by PowerPoint September 16, 2008
M. Donohoe (UK)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Comparing favourably with Presentation Zen Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter) this book is a superb guide to improving your presentations. Beautifully designed and presented (but would you expect anything less) the book takes a holistic view of presentation planning, design and delivery.
The author is the founder of her own presentation design business with a client list that reads like a who's who of the business world. Accordingly, samples of some of these presentations are included in the book.
Aside from practical pointers, this book will serve as an inspiration to presentation creators everywhere!
All users of presentation software should read this! August 29, 2008
Ian Smith (Ilkley, UK)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is indispensable reading for anyone who has to communicate using presentations and PowerPoint (or Keynote or Impress or whatever). Nancy Duarte lays out what she has learned from many years of experience producing professional presentations for the likes of ex VP Al Gore. Her "how to" approach works very well indeed. For example, she doesn't just say "make use of contrast" but shows five different patterns for using contrast in practice, illustrated with simple diagrams depicting contrasts in size, shape, shade, colour and proximity. This book makes advanced slide design accessible to anyone - if you present to other people, you must read this book!
Worth your time and money October 9, 2008
Darren Osadchuk (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations," by Nancy Duarte is a book that will change the way you think about your presentations. Almost anybody who has ever had to deliver a presentation would benefit in some way from reading this book.
The structure of the book follows the process that you'll ideally use in the course of developing a presentation, from coming up with the presentation content itself to developing the slides. At every step of the way, Duarte explains not only how you should create your presentations (e.g. how graphs and charts should be presented), but also why your information should be presented that way. Following Duarte's advice results in a slide deck that supports and enhances your presentation, rather than having the deck detract from or (even worse) BE the presentation. The result is a presentation where there is actually a good reason for the existence and content of each slide.
You might be thinking that you're not a designer, so you won't be able to create a presentation as good as some of the examples highlighted in the book, but you don't need to be a designer to improve your presentations. The book does cover some of the fundamentals of design (color theory, fonts, etc.), and does so in an approachable way, so the non-designers in the crowd (which is most of us) will get at least some information about design fundamentals to help you improve your presentations.
A tiny nitpick is that I would have liked to see even more examples of "good" slides in the book - or even better, more examples of bad slides being turned into good ones. The case studies are great, but many of them are accompanied by an often full-page photo of the presenter. I'd have preferred to see that space given over to more images of the slides.
Overall, I found this to be an excellent book that will easily and immediately reward the time you spend reading it.
A masterclass in communication, not just powerpoint October 2, 2008
pauland (UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As other reviewers have pointed out, this is a stunning book where the messages leap clearly from the page.
Ostensibly about presentation and using power point, the messages presented are easily transferable to other communications media such as advertising and the web. Whether you're about to give a presentation or not, you can use the information here to improve your communication skills in other media.
Highly recommended for those wishing to improve their communication skills, using power point or other communication technologies.
THE book you need November 5, 2008
Stephen Hampshire (Huddersfield, UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you buy one book on designing presentations, make it this one. Nancy Duarte gives away all the secrets of her company, experts in designing and refining presentations for the likes of Al Gore.
Where books like Presentation Zen (also recommended) give you a style to aim for, this focuses more on the basic tools and techniques. The coverage is simply breathtaking, including type, colour, grids, and even a basic primer on photographic composition.
Reading this book, and applying the lessons in it, will change the way you view presentations. It will also change the way other people see you as a presenter. More than worth the money.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 16
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