Presentation Zen |  | Author: Garr Reynolds
Publisher: New Riders
In Stock
Rating:  163 reviews
Sales Rank: 5,028
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 228
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.58
ASIN: B000WJSCZE
Publication Date: August 13, 2008
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Product Description
Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the net - presentationzen.com - shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today-s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 163
 The Sound of One Hand Presenting July 7, 2010
Bruce Pharr (SF Bay Area, California USA)
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. - Charles Mingus
Garr Reynolds combines his communications expertise (narrative and design), his experience as a jazz musician, and the tenets of Zen simplicity to undertake a noble endeavor: improve the quality and effectiveness of slide ware presentations.
His book, Presentation Zen, summarizes key points at the end of each chapter, and uses visual examples throughout to illustrate these key points. But his goal is much more than simply providing a handbook with tips for making better presentations. The real ambition of the book is revealed in the text where he attempts to change the way you think about presentations.
I suspect this will be the most difficult part for most readers, especially those who may be looking for a quick fix or checklist. Putting yourself "in the audience" to develop your presentation and using slides to illustrate and punctuate your "spoken" narrative (the real presentation) will be a challenge to most business and technology presenters. But the greatest challenge may be the time it takes to achieve a "less is more" presentation. It is so much easier and quicker to stuff everything into a slide deck than to take the time required to achieve the simplicity, clarity and restraint the author advocates. As he states, "Simplicity is not easy, in fact, it is hard."
Editing all of the information into its simplest form, illustrating it well, and practicing the presentation until you can deliver it as naturally as a coffee shop conversation takes time and commitment. However, if you are willing to think differently and invest the time required to develop, design and deliver more effective presentations, this book can most certainly help you achieve that end.
PS - The author also has a very popular blog on presentation design and delivery at [...].
 It could be more zen than this June 29, 2010
Jayme Kopke (Lisbon)
One of the recommendations in this book, apparently drawn from Japanese wisdom, is to stop eating before you're full. It applies to presentations, to design... and to bookwriting too. The book begins very promisingly and it should certainly be read by many people around the world who are delivering boring, pointless and ugly Power Point presentations right now. But then the author forgets its own advice and goes on,and on,and on... long after he has finished saying everything relevant he had to say. In short, I think you should read it. But when you feel you've read almost enough, just drop it.
Conceptually Great, but Incomplete June 2, 2010
J. Martinsson (Israel)
Conceptually, Presentation Zen is an excellent book. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much as I would've wanted to.
Let's start with the good. I love Garr Reynolds's artistic approach to slide design, giving a death kneel to the ubiquitous bullet points. This is where the book really shines, and where you will learn the most. If this section would have been expanded to form the entire book, I would be in heaven.
Here's what I didn't like. Plenty of concepts are mentioned repeatedly, degrading the reading experience when the book is read cover-to-cover. There's also some typographical errors in the book, an issue that always gets me fuming.
But my largest gripe is about the font chapter. There is no such chapter. With plenty of sample slides showing how a changed font can improve upon a slide design, not a single word is written on font usage.
To summarize, the concepts and ideas put forward on slide design are great, and I know that my slides will look better next time I design a slide deck. However, I think that the book is not reaching its full potential, with a halting treatment on slide design - the book's claim to fame.
The Antidote for Death By PowerPoint April 20, 2010
Henry Ferlauto III (New York, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A great book that reminds every would-be presenter to keep it simple (stupid). Lots of real-world examples. If you have to give a presentation this is required reading.
Having said that, it does not address handouts in detail (nor should it). Pages 66-67 are dedicated to basic dos and don'ts on handouts, but you'll need to look elsewhere for advice on that aspect.
Smart way to present information April 8, 2010
A. Rosnovsky (Moscow, Russia)
I've just finished "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds. This book is also available in Russian, but the cover of the Russian edition makes me sick: it destroys the main idea of the book before you even open it! I can speculate that translation is poor too, so please, if you choose to read this particular book - go get the original one.
At first glance this book is not a how-to guide. But on the other hand it really is a step-by-step instruction, which helps you do your best. In fact, to understand Mr. Reynold's advice, ideas and approach in making and presenting presentations you have to understand all this Zen stuff. It was all new for me, all this "less is better" and other ideas (by the way, you can find most of this Zen ideas in Steve Jobs presentations and in most of Apple's products). However, this book is more about philosophy of making better things, than about preparing presentations in PowerPoint, Keynote or whatever.
Anyway, as I said before, this is the step by step instruction. Instruction of how not to make presentations and instruction of how to make something memorable, bright, useful and nice. Even if you never use any slideware, you'll get some interesting ideas of presenting yourself to the audience, or techniques of introducing your ideas to public, or (OMG!) ideas of how to use slideware properly! :)
What's your favorite site with book reviews? ;)
Also, pay attention to Kindle format: Kindle DX is ok for this book - you'll see all the examples, but on the ordinary Kindle (2 gen) some of the pictures won't show.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 163
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