Do you want to showcase your leadership skills and presence by doing a really “knock your socks off” presentation to the senior leaders in your organization? Have you been asked to speak at an upcoming event and know this is your big opportunity? Do you have to prepare a training class for a new feature or functionality your project has created? Then you need to read this book, as it has really changed the way that I look at doing a PowerPoint presentation!
Garr Reynolds makes the point that many of us have fallen into the trap of creating “slideumentation” – an ineffective combination of a presentation and documentation. He believes that good design, and tight, concise delivery, is much needed in today’s presentations.
When you use the “slideumentation” approach, your PowerPoint deck, with all of its words, is actually competing with you as a live speaker. Instead of enhancing and reinforcing your message it is actually drawing the audience’s attention away from you. Garr Reynolds shows you many examples of concise, evocative, effective slide shows, with before and after pictures. He reinforces the elements of good design and the importance of brevity in your PowerPoint deck. The slide show should not make you, as the speaker, unnecessary. If detailed information needs to be distributed, create a hand-out using a tool like Word, a PDF file, or a booklet, and distribute it or make it available after the presentation.
If you follow Garr’s principles, which are thouroughly outlined in this book, you, too, will begin “Seizing It” by increasing your effectiveness as a presenter and public speaker.
Filed under: Pamela's Book Reviews Tagged: | Communication tips, Executive Presence, Leadership Presence, Leadership Skills, Pamela Geer, Presentation tips
