
Millions of presentations & billions of slides have been produced -- & most of them miss the mark. slide:ology will challenge your traditional approach 2 creating slides by teaching you how 2 be a visual thinker. And it will help your career by creating momentum 4 your cause.
This great approach works well because it's visual with the green www taking little space. Thus, you don't feel like the book wastes any space 2 point you away from the book's pages. Some people don't care 2 go online -- they want their entire book within the book's pages. So it won't bother this audience.
A useful book companion site also helps market the book 2 those who don't have it. If they like what they see, they'll want the rest of it. Smart authors balance the print & online resource 2 avoid taking away from the experience of the print edition & providing bonus material that would not work in the book (videos of the presentation & downloadable PowerPoint files) while giving just enough information 2 those who don't own the book... yet.
Duarte refers 2 Sky McCloud's dynamic presentation containing 200 slides that she shows in eight minutes. Her book site includes her full presentation -- which you can't capture in the book. As a deaf person, I couldn't hear what she said. That girl's slides captivate me the whole time as they almost tell a story on their own.
What I like about these PowerPoint files is the site shows them like a movie. It also helps 2 watch the presentation in full first & then download the file 2 see its individual slides & how 2 make it work. Duarte provides the links referenced in the book so readers can click instead of type them.
The slick & colorful book shows how 2 create effective, intriguing, & visual presentations from the beginning of the process where you ask questions 2 know your audience better. It works through finding inspiration & coming up with the initial ideas & design.
slide:ology helps those who know all the tricks of PowerPoint, but struggle with the visual aspects of the presentation -- the art & design part. That's me. I'm a right-brain thinker who tells it like it is.
I struggle when it comes 2 creating & showing my thoughts with visuals. It's like when I tried 2 be a web designer. I knew how 2 do HTML, CSS, & create a site. But it was flat, lifeless, & boring.
This book blends PowerPoint & information visualization. Such visuals help tell the story. So the book covers space, typography, delivery, diagrams, color, animation, design value, & more.
This won't teach you how 2 use PowerPoint. Plenty of books covering that exist already. Instead, Duarte focuses on helping you tell your story in a dramatic & visually appealing way. You won't have 2 resort 2 cliché images anymore.
Case studies appear throughout the book between creativity & design discussions. Some zoom in on a specific feature of a real presentation while others share expertise from talented speakers & executives of organizations ranging from Cisco 2 a church pastor.
After reading slide:ology, I believe I can step up my presentations from a design perspective. I'm a pro when it comes 2 text, but visuals... kaput. Since I can easily create charts, it won't take much 2 make them more effective with the tips from the book. I'm in no hurry 2 do a presentation & test out what I've learned.
The book is easy 2 read & reference as it uses a lot of pictures & slides. Although a lot of the text uses too small of a font size -- very surprising considering the discussion on font size.