How often do you come across good presentations in your work?
Bad presentations are the scourge of modern Russia, and this is no secret to anyone.
But if you are interested in this book, then you belong to the minority of those who like to do everything awesome.
Here is a review of the book Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte.
I would like to say a special thank you for its release in Russian to the publishing house of business literature "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber" and translator Elena Smirnova. Another book with good efficiency in the piggy bank, that is, on the shelf:)
If Abraham Lincoln lived in our days, then one of his famous sayings could have the following form: "Many are able to withstand the blows of fate, but if you really want to test a person's character, give him a Power Point ." It is with this phrase that the book Slide:ology begins.
UtilitiesThere is a lot of useful practical information: creating ideas, presenting presentations, types of schemes, background, color and text, layout, animation, templates, layout of elements, working with images, technical aspects — all this is considered and chewed up to the smallest detail.
But what pleased me the most was a detailed analysis of creating a palette and working with typography. There is also a chapter about creating templates (a kind of presentation style sheet) and about databases of illustrations and photos for your business area.
The preparation phase has been touched upon, which we forget about. The old-fashioned way we do everything the day before the event. Or we have dozens of presentations with a disparate style that has nothing to do with the company's brand. Don't be surprised that in the chapter on animation, we take lessons from movies: "You are creating either a document or a stage production." The author draws inspiration for ideas and for their embodiments from everywhere.
You will also learn from the book why it is better not to use bulleted lists. You will see the presentation ecosystem. Understand your target audience and characterize your brand with a few verbs and colors. You will find out what a "slide document" is, and this will most likely discourage you from creating such hybrids of slides and documents. The world will get a little better.
Nancy is not fixated on herself and actively advises books by fellow competitors. Slide:ology has a lot of useful examples, links to materials and good presentations. Links will be found both in the text and in a separate block at the end of the book.
Somewhere in the middle of the book there is an association with the title of the film "I am a legend". This comes from the fact that the author of the book, Nancy Duarte, delves into everything that can only deal with the presentation and digs deep every time. As you read, "I am a legend" transforms into "I am a speaker", "I am a director", "I am a designer", "I am a marketer" and many other roles. Nancy Duarte herself is a legend in the field of creating presentations. She has worked with a good dozen well-known brands and has accumulated a huge amount of knowledge in the field of creating presentations.
The only drawback of the book, in my humble opinion, is that a significant part of it is devoted to the belief that it is worth making high—quality presentations, and the repeated repetition of this thought (hey, I'm reading this book precisely because I want to make them better). «The first step is to admit that you have problems. The second is to realize that your slides are completely out of your control.»
Use this book together with Gandapasa's book "Kama Sutra for the Speaker".
«Create ideas, not slides."
Slide:ology, Nancy Duarte
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