Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations

This is the best book I've ever read on how to design effective presentations. It is sound, clear, & funny. A must-read!

Finally!, a book that engages visual communication practice with cognitive
neuroscience & psychology research. Too often these areas live separately
and as a graphic designer professor, I find the Kosslyn's content invaluable.
As producers of visual communication, students should know what is going
on in the mind of their users. I plan on adding Clear & to the Point to my
course reading list.

The idea seems good -- eight principles 4 compelling PowerPoint presentations. But the execution is neither clear nor to the point. For example, chapter 2, the first chapter of substance, lists eight recommendations 4 overall structure, five recomendations 4 building the introduction, ten recommendations 4 the body of the presentation, three recommendations 4 the wrap-up, & five recommendations 4 delivery (that's 31 recommendations in all), before returning to the eight psychological principles. And that, as I said, is only chapter 2. Other chapters are similarly ungainly.

In addition, as other reviewers point out, many of the suggestions are barely worth the paper they're printed on. For example, "start with a bang" or "face the audience."

In short, this is a book that will overwhelm novice presenters & bore experienced ones. Find another.

Having studied Psychology in College it was refreshing to see Psychological principles applied to PowerPoint.
I believe we do have to consider psychology when making presentations that connect. Kosslyn goes along way to reaching that goal. A lot of the ideas I have heard at other places & seminars. It was nice to see them all listed in one source.

This is a great book. I really liked the psicological approach & the appendix where the author goes with more detailed scientific description of how psicology interacts with communications & powerpoint.

True or False?
Most PowerPoint presentations are:
compelling illuminating informative clear & to the point
Answer: False
Make a change following the principles of Stephen Kosslyn:
a world authority on the visual brain a clear & engaging writer
Making PowerPoint presentations that are clear, compelling, memorable, & even enjoyable is not an obscure art. In this book, Stephen Kosslyn, a renowned cognitive neuroscientist, presents eight simple principles 4 constructing a presentation that takes advantage of the information modern science has discovered about perception, memory, & cognition. Using hundreds of images & sample slides, he shows the common mistakes many people make & the simple ways to fix them. For example, never use underlining to emphasize a word--the line will cut off the bottom of letters that have descending lines (such as p & g), which interferes with the brain's ability to recognize text. Other tips include why you should state your conclusion at the beginning of a presentation, when to use a line graph versus a bar graph, & how to use color correctly. By following Kosslyn's principles, anyone will be able to produce a presentation that works!