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Your Learning Zone - Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter)
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List Price: $29.99
Our Price: $17.85
Your Save: $ 12.14 ( 40% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: New Riders Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.58
EAN: 9780321525659
ISBN: 0321525655
Label: New Riders Press
Manufacturer: New Riders Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2008-01-04
Publisher: New Riders Press
Studio: New Riders Press
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Journey of Creating Effective Presentations
Comment: 99 percent of PowerPoint presentation sucks. So begins Presentation Zen with an introduction from Guy Kawasaki. Or I should say, the book opens with a presentation from Kawasaki. Before getting to business, author Garr Reynolds explains that Presentation Zen is an approach not a method.
This book doesn't give you step one, two, three. If it did, the book would turn into a method. An approach provides guidelines and direction. Reynolds looks back at the history of PowerPoint along with experts' slamming the software. People forget that PowerPoint is a tool not a method. The templates, however, may be partially at fault for the bad PowerPoint-based presentations we see today.
So Reynolds says we can keep PowerPoint, but we need to dump the templates and their bulleted lists. Instead, presenters need to go for the right brain and left brain instead of leaning on one or the other.
The book contains three parts: preparation, design, and delivery. Preparation explores creativity, limitations, and starting work on the presentation AWAY from the computer ("planning analogy" as Reynolds calls it) using pen and paper, sticky notes or whiteboards. Reynolds shows how stories and examples can help make your ideas sticky with your audience.
He also encourages practicing restraint. It's too easy for us to fall into the trap of using clichés -- not just in words, but in visuals like two hands shaking in front of the globe. Don't do it. Just don't. It's been done and no longer sticks with people. Here the book discusses the use of storyboards.
In design, Reynolds takes the reader on a trip in achieving simplicity, which we know doesn't come easy. The Zen principles come in as Reynolds covers simplicity (kanso), naturalness (shizen) and elegance (shibumi). Rather than adding to the clutter, try removing things from a slide to simplify the message.
I love chapter six because it contains many example slides -- before and after so you can see the power of changing slides from noisy to simple. I learn well from examples and this chapter covers every aspect including balance, empty space, repetition, contrast and more. I value this chapter because it provides a variety of examples covering different topics while chapter seven examples come from other people's presentations -- some you might recognize such as Shift Happens.
The rest of the book offers suggestions on the giving of the presentation. After all, the slides act as an accessory to the presentation. If they're the presentation and contain the whole thing, then cancel it and send the slides to the attendees. Save them a trip and a boring presentation.
Presentation Zen as a whole combines many of the expertise we've seen or heard over the years from other experts. So it's nice to get it in one little book. I've heard some of the ideas and comments, but I also pick up new ones.
The little book contains a neat little package that will help readers throughout the presentation process from beginning with an idea to ending with applause. It'll serve well as a reference or a read from front to back and later referencing. It won't work as the only tool as it only focuses on approach. Some folks need more than that to create a successful presentation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bullseye!
Comment: Garr Ryenolds has hit the target, right smack in the center, on identifying the misuse of software such as PowerPoint in presentations. Reynolds takes us on an enjoyable, enlightening journey of identifying and avoiding "really bad PowerPoint" presentations, replacing them with really good ones! The author knows how to motivate the reader to strive for excellence in presentations, and provides effective methods for doing just that. As a bonus, the book is a delight to read.
Anton J. Lachner, Ph.D., J.D.
Fu Jen Catholic University
Taipei, Repulbic of China in Taiwan
Customer Rating:
Summary: Philosophy for life
Comment: I LOVE this book! It is not only a wonderful and simply laid out way of challenging old assumptions about Power Point presentations and the way we construct them, but it also contains some great philosophy to inspire originality. The book is cleanly laid out, and has application to areas other than just presentations; it makes you think more about the way you present generally and sell your ideas.
Reynolds is generous in his acknowledgement of other writers and people who have inspired him - I have bought most of the other books he refers to and found them extremely useful.
The chapters are presented in way that makes your recollection of them easier, and putting them in the Zen context certainly aids with awareness.
I really do recommend this book to others, and it's worth also taking a look at the related blog for ongoing examples of effective presentations.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Really Fun ...... had him come in person
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My manager and a few on the team have been fans for a long time, including participating on his blog. We bought the book and then had him come to campus to teach in person. Best 8 hours I've spent! Love him, love the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Inspiring, Motivating, Radical!
Comment: I had finished Garr's book in 2 days. I found it inspiring, motivating and well designed.
The book is an easy read with good example slides, designs and lots of useful references.
I suggest this book to everyone who wants to improve the effectiveness of their presentations.
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Editorial Reviews:
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FOREWORD BY GUY KAWASAKI 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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