Others say...

"Lessons from a master..."
I ditto what all have said. Garr Reynolds created what should be thought of as a Bible for Presentations. One area that has not been addressed in these reviews is the utility of this book for professional (i.e., medical, scientific) presentations. I find that using Reynold's basic tenets for the Introduction and Conclusion of a presentation, and inserting the hard data in the middle creates a novel and arresting change to the typical "Death-by-Powerpoint" scientific presentations. His ideas regarding appropriate ways to present data are eye-opening. I urge professionals to take a walk "outside of the box" and slowly introduce his ideas into your presentations--the improvements will be palpable!

"This book has transformed my presentations, overnight!"
I make a lot of presentations at conferences and business meetings. The ratings I receive are almost always Very Good to Excellent.

Over the last decade, these presentations have evolved from PowerPoint to Keynote, and improved incrementally. I'd seen reviews of the book, but did not buy it until getting a recommendation, in a casual conversation at the New Media Expo.

After reading Presentation Zen, I felt the absolute need to redesign ALL my presentations. I reworked the first one, yesterday, and it is light years better than the original.

I can't wait to use it Tuesday, and later this month.

It's near impossible to read this book and not want to take a new direction.

"Give this to your boss"
I remember getting my hands on Harvard Graphics way back when and being so excited about how it would revolutionize presentations. But basically, though the software has improved since then, we use it the same way. Reynolds shows it doesn't have to be that way; you don't have to shoot your audience full of bullet points. I think you could probably get the gist of his message by reading his excellent blog - the book could have gone further beyond that, I think. In any case, if you suffer from presentation fatigue in your workplace, show this to your boss and your team members. For sure buy the book if your boss won't be impressed that you found a cool business tip on a blog.

"The Journey of Creating Effective Presentations"
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.

"Bullseye!"
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