Book Review: slide:ology
October 09, 2008
Subtitled "The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations", this book is for anyone who ever does presentations. Instead of treating your presentation as merely a series of prompts to yourself about what you want to say, it promotes making your slides as important as what you're saying to help you really get your message across.
The first thing I noticed about this book is that it's really nice to flip through. Each page is well laid out and the information is clear and informative - exactly how you want your slides to be. It's good to see that the author, Nancy Duarte, practices what she preaches!
There are numerous relevant (and often witty) quotes and sound bites which reinforce the points that the author is trying to get across. Combine this with the Case Studies, tips for getting inspiration, techniques for conveying data and general layout guidance; you'll soon be thinking about how you can improve your presentations.
What's the catch? I suspect that the majority of people who do presentations don't have particularly good design skills - like me! So, whilst I can look at the examples in the book and think "hey, that looks great" I'd struggle to produce something to match. Having said that, there is still a lot that you can take from this book, and it's actually quite an enjoyable read, so don't be put off.
I'll conclude this review now (in keeping with the books advice - keep it concise!) with my killer slide...
What this book isn't is a guide to using PowerPoint or Google docs, what it is, is a really good and thought provoking book that helps you improve your presentations benefiting you and your audience. I for one hope that the next time I watch a presentation, the presenter has read this book before dishing up another animation riddled PowerPoint presentation!
slide:ology is published by O'Reilly and is available in print, as a PDF or online via the Safari Books Online service that O'Reilly offer. The book has an accompanying website which provides additional resources such as downloads and videos.
Buy it from: O'Reilly, Amazon (UK) or Amazon (US)
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If you found this post useful, interesting or just plain wrong, let me know - I like feedback :)
Thanks for the great book review! Enjoy your weekend.
Nancy
Comment by Nancy Duarte – October 12, 2008
Comment by John Whish – October 13, 2008