slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations

I teach people how to win in high stakes presentation situations. I have always advocated the power of verbal visuals (metaphors and analogies) to drive home a point particularly "when your audience just doesn't get it." I love Slide:ology because it is a brilliant book for anyone who needs to make a point with actual visuals. Rich in examples and case studies, its messaging and lay-out model what it is selling with grace, elegance and sophistication. A must-have for all communicators.

I typically post reviews of books based on technology topics like .NET, LINQ, etc. but I thought this book would be a could fit for the site. This book is about creating effective PowerPoint slides which many technology professionals, like myself, do on a regular basis. On to the review...

The author breaks up the book into multiple chapters but not your typically kind of chapters. These chapters are about the different parts that make up a slide; graphics, displaying data, diagrams, use of movement, etc. Each chapter is typically closed with a Case Study which demonstrates the use of the technic or recommend. This is done by showing a before and after presentation. The author also reinforces her points effectively by using graphics, colors and illustrations.

The book is chock full of handy tips and suggestions that anyone can use to create dazzling and effective PowerPoint slides. If you present using PowerPoint, this is a must have.

This is a great book that I would give 4.5 stars if I could. I'm a Marketing VP, I bought it to help clean up our text-heavy, no-white-space slides. Now the Sales VP is studying it, and have you ever seen a sales guy study anything?

The best part of the book is it's step-by-step exploration of the whole presentation process, from creating ideas, through diagrams, images, colors, templates, etc. Most other resources focus only on the slides, which is just the visible end product of the whole process. This book does not slack on the slides either, with lots of color examples.

Why not five stars? After studying the book for a few days, I realized that there could have been a much wider variety of presentation samples. There is a bit of sameness to the examples shown. An example of a software product presentation, and of a consumer sales presentation, would have added great variety. In fact, one spread is devoted to an Audience Definition exercise, with a very detailed profile of the "empty nester" audience for a presentation about investments or timeshares. While the exercise was very well done, if we could have seen the resulting presentation, it would have gone a long way to getting this book its extra half star.

Make no mistake, this book is worth buying and reading. Buy copies for your staff. Maybe the expanded second edition will have a few more examples.

Slide:ology is really an incredible book. I do some presentations part time for a music business. I really felt overwhelmed in starting it. It is not a primer. If you are experienced with PowerPoint you will get a lot out of it. If you are beginning, then use the PP tutorials on the web. This is advanced board-room stuff. Don't get me wrong. It is a great book with incredible visuals. I have gotten a lot out of it. The ideas are there. How to do what they say is up to you to spend time with the program. I would have given it 5 stars but for the need to really be an advanced user. I would have preferred a section for the novice advancing to the more detailed presentations. The pictures and graphics are great but I feel like I am watching someone who knows how and where to get these, but I don't. It is daunting!! Yet, it really is a must read if you are entangled in the corporate world of presentations. For me, an intermediate, I have to go back into the PP program and learn more about the how-to portions. Then maybe I can get my monies worth out of the book!

slide:ology:
The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
by Nancy Duarte

As a professionally trained Educational Communications Specialist and former Graduate School professor, I read this book with skepticism. Nancy Duarte has capsulized all that I learned in a thirty plus year career communicating with professionals, and the public. This is the book I should have written so many years ago. Chapter by chapter, one is reminded of the many aspects necessary for effective visual communications. Although the book concentrates on slideshows it's lessons are applicable to all forms of visual presentations. It should be read and reread by anyone responsible for group presentations.