In this age of information overload and short attention spans, the ability to deliver clear and concise presentations is one of the most important skills.

Instead, business presentations today are mostly long, unfocused and boring. In a typical PowerPoint presentation, the audience is forced to sit through slide after slide of charts, bullet points and text while the presenter reads from the screen.

As a result, both presenter and audience feel stressed and disengaged, and everybody ends up wasting their time (this common situation is also referred to as Death by PowerPoint).

Garr Reynolds' quest to end PowerPoint presentations as we know them started years ago when, riding on the express train from Tokyo to Osaka, he had his epiphany: after watching a Japanese businessman nervously flipping through a printout of poorly designed PowerPoint slides in an obvious state of confusion, he decided to launch his Presentation Zen blog, now the most popular presentation design site on the web.

Presentation Zen (the book) is organized in three main sections:

*Preparation

*Design

*Delivery

In the way of the true classics, this book is more than a simple step by step tutorial. It outlines an approach, a strategy to solve the complex communication issues of today. It not only tells us how to do a presentation, but instead takes us on a journey to discover what is it that we need to communicate in the first place, and how to make it resonate with our audience.

Here are some of the things I learned:

*How to discover your core message (the one thing, and only one, that you want your audience to remember).

*The importance of having quiet time to think. Busyness kills creativity. We all need some quiet time alone to come up with our best ideas.

*Use two often forgotten PowerPoint tools: notes (so you don't have to read from the screen) and handouts (so you don't have to cram all the data on your slides)

*Less is more: remove from slides every single element that is not necessary and doesn't add to our core message.

*PowerPoint is not a document creation tool. It's job is to provide visual aid to our presentation. The slides themselves are not the presentation.

*Images are more powerful than words.

Drinking from his own Kool-Aid, Reynolds packs his book with visual examples of great (and not so great) presentations, so we can see the difference. Also, he summarizes the most important ideas at the end of each chapter, and links to great presentation resources on the web (my favorite is TED, where you can see the great presenters of our time in action).

This book is not for everyone. Those readers who are looking for a few quick tips on how to do a PowerPoint presentation may get impatient with the author's frequent and lengthy references to the Zen philosophy and concepts.

However, if you bear with him, you will learn more than just do a presentation. You will learn how to analyze and solve complex communications problems, how to see the big picture from your customers' perspective, and how to effectively position products and services in the marketplace.

If you have to do presentations for a living (and who doesn't these days?) read this book and keep it handy for future reference. And, while you're at it, add Presentation Zen (the blog) to your blogroll or favorites.

Remember that old commercial showing a guy eating chocolate and a guy eating peanut butter crashing into each other as they round a corner? It was a smart way to advertise Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which considered itself an ideal marriage of ingredients that most people would never have dreamed of.

PRESENTATIONZEN is a lot like that commercial. You read it and feel as though four people, each intently oblivious in his own world, have crashed at a 4-way juncture, blending How-To with Self-Help, Philosophy, and Art. Let's start with Art. You can save five bucks and buy the Kindle version of this book if you wish, but I don't know why you would, so beautiful is the print version with its glossy photos of zen gardens and lovely slides showing many arresting images by way of example for those wishing to make Power Point presentations.

The philosophical aspect comes from the "Zen" you see in the title. Author Garr Reynolds, an expat resident of Japan himself, constantly weaves Zen-like wisdom into his advice by discussing the beauty of simplicity, the need for a less-is-more approach, and other bits of wisdom designed to thwart "death by Power Point" (we've all been there). This ties in with the "How-To." In simple steps, the book shows how you can make a live presentation, whether you work in business, education, or the public sector. Finally there's a dose of self-help to the book. Reynolds counsels would-be presenters on the need to get in touch with the child within all of us, the need to take risks, the necessity of connecting with the audience by ignoring negative voices that whisper fears of failure.

Each chapter ends with a section called "In Sum" which offers the highlights of what you read. Many visuals are provided as well. The only annoyance is that, sometimes, they are crowded together on a page with copy that you can barely read.

Overall, a wonderfully simple book with complex considerations. It should be required reading for all businessmen especially. By the nature of their job and its expectations, they are the worst offenders when it comes to carnage through Power Point (Professor Plum did it in the board room with a slide show). If their boss's won't buy them a copy, maybe their beleaguered audiences will. It's all in the name of mercy and Zen.

Subtitled, "Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery," the author of this exceptional book is a writer, designer and musician who lives and works in Japan. Drawing upon zen principles throughout the book, each of the three key chapters (Preparation, Design and Delivery) is full of practical insights and examples of the primary principles for enhancing the reader's ability to make their points powerfully and concisely. Multiple topics close with an "In Sum" page that repeats the key principles of that portion of the book. Beautifully illustrated with scores of examples of both good and bad presentation slides (the book is not really about PowerPoint or Keynote, but the entire presentation process), Reynolds and his contributors provide excellent, practical insights on the entire process.

Some key takeaways from the book include:

-Seek to realize the maximum effort with the minimum means.

-Never start your design on a computer. Presentation software is not designed for the brainstorming necessary. Consider using Post-its on a wall or a storyboard.

-There are three documents in a presentation - the slides you show, the notes you use and the handouts you provide after the presentation.

-Avoid "slideuments" - Documents that are masquerading as PowerPoint slides.

-Be sure your presentation answers the two main questions: 1. What is your point? 2. Why does it matter?

-Practice the six Main Principles in your presentation - Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions and Stories (the acronym is SUCCESs).

-Regarding design (there are scores of examples in the book), remember the Big Four: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity.

An incredibly useful (not to mention aesthetically striking) book for anyone who seeks to enhance their presentation skills.

To quote Seth Godin (one of the contributors and no slacker in this area himself!), "Please don't buy this book! Once people start making better presentations, mine won't look so good. (But if you really want to learn what works and how to do it right, Garr is the man to learn from.)"

I've been doing public speaking for twenty-five years, and teaching before that, and I'd guess that I've created hundreds of Powerpoint presentations. But I still gained some great insight into alternative approaches for using Powerpoint from this book.

If you're an advocate of simplicity, this book will resonate with you. It doesn't tell you exactly what to do, or even give you a process (as Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Bpg-Other) does). However, I found that Presentation Zen was much more thought-provoking, and it affected my presentation style much more than Beyond Bullet Points. It has a generous number of examples taken from real presentations, and these really help. It's approach of "here's a typical prosaic way, and here are some better ways" will make you unsatisfied with traditional, boring Powerpoint slides.

It also delves into using Powerpoint as a supporting tool rather than as the central focus of your presentation, and goes beyond Powerpoint into the finer points of presenting. The last section named "delivery" contains two chapters: "The Art of Being Completely Present" and "Connecting with an Audience". They don't really talk about Powerpoint at all (except for some comments on using a slide clicker), instead concentrating on helping you to focus on what's important - making a presentation a good experience for both you and your audience.

The style and philosophy presented work especially well for presentations in which the primary purpose is persuasion. I don't think presenters of technical material (which is what I do) need to dogmatically adopt all of the techniques in this book. But even a technical presentation needs introductory material on why the presentation is important. The audience must be persuaded of that before they'll even pay attention.

I've bought two of these for colleagues, one an experienced presenter in sales/marketing/promotion, and one just starting out in technical presentation. I believe it will help both.

This book seems to present a bit of a paradox. It is a book about slides. Reynolds admires Tufte. Tufte has written scathing words about Power Point. The Cognitive Style of Power Point & The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition How can this be? In short, they agree on a critical point. Don't let your slides try to be documents, and if you have to write a document, do so, and don't make slides. The two authors differ in style and emphasis, and their topics are entirely different, but essentially they agree. Tufte suggests that short "pitches" are trivial in content, and therefore not worth his commentary or time. He thinks that a presentation rich in details, rich in content, should be accompanied with technical reports. Reynolds would agree. So if you that is your goal, seek out Tufte. Reynolds would argue you should be doing a report, not slides. If, on the other hand, you need to make a "pitch", or need to do a high level overview, or need to present at a corporate meeting, you need this book. It is a tough competition between this book and Duarte's. slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations I prefer this one. It is highly visual and reads like a extended series of magazine articles, while keep you thinking. In a couple of sections, it feels like a bunch of blogs posts, strung together. This is not endemic, so it never became too distracting. Another reviewer's critique that it is "light" is fair, but in my case it made it more effective. It is not as detailed as Duarte's, but if you are looking for inspiration more than instruction, an interlocutor of sorts, this delivers. Compared to this, Duarte's feel like a text book, albeit a very good one. The two authors know each other, and have presented together. Presentation Zen will convince you to be a little brave, and try a few new things. I experimented with stock photos as a result of reading this book. It will also talk you out of doing what you know will fail, but find yourself doing anyway, in an attempt to be like everyone else. Finally, upon completing this book, I became utterly persuaded on one key point: never, ever print a slide deck. It never works. Instead, produce a document that is designed to be read (not projected on a screen) to accompany the slides, and to be given after the talk.

Read Presentation Zen. If it gives you just one stellar idea, it is worth the modest investment of time and money.

Like most of the business-targeted books I've seen, this

spreads a few good ideas thinly across many pages. Even

with lots of redundancy, the book can be read in a couple

of hours.

I agree with many of Reynolds' points, especially the problem

for the audience of trying to read slide text while listening

to the speaker, and the need for the presenter to clarify

the message "off line", before working on slides. But:

- much of the advice is targeted towards "pitch"-type

presentations (it wouldn't do for me to use a slide with

two words on it and a stock photo of a crying child)

- the frequent references to Japan and use of Japanese

words was gratuitous and distracting

It's ironic that the author decries "slideuments", but

the book itself straddles the line between a traditional

book and slideware.

If in doubt, get a used copy.

PresentationZen isn't really a book about specific techniques; it's about understanding and applying simple principles from Zen to your overall approach to, preparation for, design of, and delivery of your message.

Garr Reynolds invites the reader into his mind as he prepares a presentation. We see his narrowing down the presentation to a core message, then fleshing out the ideas on white board flows, paper storyboards, and post-its. He explains there are three parts of the presentation - the slides, your notes, and the handout - and how each is approached very differently. He speaks out against what's now acceptable as a "slideument," and how slideumentation is killing presentations at conferences and perpetuating the "Death By PowerPoint" phenomenon.

When he gets to design, he illustrates how three Zen principles - Kanso (Simplicity), Shizen (Naturalness), and Shibumi (Elegance) - can work together to create slides that help convey your message. Other non-Zen principles (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, meaning, enthusiasm, and surprise) are also thoroughly discussed throughout the book, and ultimately applied to his slide design.

Okay, I said the book is about principles rather than techniques... that doesn't mean there is no technique in the book. About half way into the book, Garr shifts into technique and starts showing before and afters to illustrate how the techniques are used to apply the principles. The difference between this book and other "before and after" books is that Garr doesn't just show you one bad example followed by the fix; instead he shows a set of bad slides covering the same content, and a set of different ways the principles and techniques can be applied. There are many pages of example after example (many contributed by other designers and presenters) - if Garr had just published these alone, the book would be worth the price.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who designs, creates, and/or delivers presentations. It is a beautifully crafted book, and provides an insight into a presentation master's mind. Having said all that, here is my only negative comment on the book... too often (especially in the first half of the book), I feel the prose overwhelmed the message. I know another reviewer commented on the lack of text (as if adding text increases the value of a book), but when your message is simplify, the same principles should have been applied to the writing of the book.

Presentation Zen will finally make you understand why the typical PowerPoint presentation you often see is incredibly boring and ineffective at getting the audience to understand the message. How should we prepare, design, and deliver an effective presentation to get the message across?

Garr Reynolds begins the first half of the book on PREPARATION. How should we prepare our presentations? He tells us that working with restrictions and limitations are a great ally and are good for producing creative work. We should always focus on the core message and underlying theme. ("What's my Point? Why Does It Matter?")

The second half of the book is focuses on DESIGN. Here, he provides great design principles (with excellent examples) that anyone preparing a presentation should keep in mind. To create messages that stick, he refers to Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die on the six key principles: SUCCESs - Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions and Stories. He also refers to Zen concept of simplicity to clarity, subtlety, essentialness, and minimalism.

It is very rare to find a book that is written with such clear message that tells us what we have all been doing were wrong, and how to do it right. He shows us how we can see things from a different point of view. Instead of asking "How can I save more time?" Why didn't we ask it is not just about our time, but it was about the audience's time? ("Are you wasting your audience's time?")

If you want to know how to make a better presentation design and delivery, this is the book.

この本を通して、Garr Reynolds 氏のプレゼンテーションを体験できます。

分かりやすく、ためになり、何よりも楽しい。

プレゼンテーションの具体的なステップ、やり方をまとめた本はたくさんあります。この本にあるのは、そのような情報ではありません。

プレゼンテーションとは、自分の伝えたいことを相手に伝えることだと思います。その時、本当に大切なこととは何なのでしょうか。

この本は、そんな "Zen" の世界のような、プレゼンテーションの本質に迫る1冊です。

これまでに、退屈なプレゼンテーション、聴衆とのコミュニケーションが取れていないコミュニケーション、何が重要なのか伝わらないプレゼンテーション。そんなプレゼンテーションを見たり、自分でやってしまったことがあると感じる方には、これ以上にない最適な本です。僕自身、この考え方との出会いにより、プレゼンテーションへのアプローチは激変しました。

本だけでは無く、同名の Blog も同じくすばらしいプレゼンテーションの教材になります。僕は Blog のファンから始まり、この本の読者になりました。

あなたもぜひ、プレゼンテーションの楽しさに触れてみてください。

la mia esperenza è assai lontana ma capisco che poi se il problema è avere qualche cosa da raccontare ogni spunto è buono per tirare la carretta.

For those that are unfamiliar with Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen blog, and even for those that do, but want to know what sets presenters like Steve Jobs, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin apart from the rest, it serves as a great starting point. Presentation Zen is neither about possesing high technical or creative skills, but just about conveying ideas in a simple and easy to digest format. By moving away from information filled slides to ones that support your underlying message, you can lead your viewers to a higher state of understanding.

I didn't give this book a full 5-stars as I personally felt a lot of the imagery used was a bit cliched and didn't really "stimulate" me in the way I thought was intended but there are a lot of example slides which are great and show you exactly in which direction you need to be going. It is very focused on the actual "slideshow" part of presenting and doesn't really go into the art of actually communicating your ideas regardless of your slides and visuals. For the actually communication of ideas and information I highly recommend Dan Roam's "Back of the Napkin" as a companion book to this.

EDIT: I messed up and accidently gave it the full 5 star review. The editing process on Amazon does not seem to allow me to change this :(

Die oftmals propagierte Methode 1-7-7 (ein Thema pro Folie, max. 7 Bullet Points, max. 7 Wörter pro Bullet Point) bezeichnet Garr Reynolds zu Recht als Death by Powerpoint. Heute erst wieder zugehört, auf der dritten Folie habe ich 8 Bullet Points gezählt, während der Vortragende die Folie vorgelesen hat...

Mit Presentation Zen arbeitet Garr gut 2/3 des Buches intensiv daran, die Einstellung des Redners zur Präsentation an sich zu ändern bevor er erst im letzten Teil des Buches ein paar Richtlinien zum Aufbau der Slides angibt. Abschließend finden sich dann noch Beispiel Slides von Top-Speakern.

Garr präsentiert hier keine Methode(n), Regeln oder How-To's, und schon gar keine Anleitung zu den Möglichkeiten von Powerpoint - die empfiehlt er ohnehin zurückzuschrauben bis fast auf den 0-Punkt. Ein paar Tipps zum Aufbau der Slides finden sich als Empfehlungen, aber keinesfalls als fixe Regeln, die garantiert zum Erfolg führen.

Die Kernpunkte für Garr Reynolds sind: Wie plane ich eine Präsentation und deren Aufbau, wie erzähle ich eine "Story", konzentrieren auf die Kernaussage, wie verpacke ich Aussage und Story ansprechend vom Anfang bis zum Ende. Das erzählt er hervorragend, Einflüsse aus seinen Erfahrungen mit japanischen Philosophien oder Lebensweisheiten ziehen sich durch alle Kapitel (das muss nicht jedermanns Sache sein, stört aber den Lesefluss auch nicht).

Design-Techniken wie Schriftartenwahl, Formatierungen usw. fehlen hier, finden sich aber ausführlich im Nachfolgewerk Presentation Zen Design. Vor der Lektüre des zweiten Teils empfehle ich dennoch dieses Buch zu lesen, das die grundlegenden Ideen von Garr interessant, unterhaltsam und (vielleicht eine Spur zu) ausführlich dem Leser nahebringt. Mit diesen Grundlagen kommt man im zweiten Teil direkt an und kann auch wesentlich mehr davon profitieren.

Allgegenwärtig ist die Empfehlung auf die Site iStockphoto.com, die wirklich hochklassige Bilder zu nahezu allen Themen bietet, und für die man beim Kauf eines Kontingents als Buchbesitzer einen Gutschein-Code einlösen kann. Angemerkt sei nur, dass die Qualtität von iStockphoto, die von vergleichbaren Seiten nicht erreicht wird, natürlich ihren Preis hat.

Fazit: Das Buch kann man in einem Schwung lesen und man bekommt von Seite zu Seite mehr Lust das Gelesene selbst zu probieren. Ich werde zwar nie ein Garr Reynolds werden, aber die Erfahrung wie eine Zuhörerschaft sich auf den Powerpoint Schlaf einstellt, und dann nach der ersten Überraschung durchgehend aktiv dem Vortrag lauscht, durfte ich bereits machen.

If you want to create meaningful and memorable presentations that keep people interested and engaged instead of bored and with eyes glazed over, then this book is a must have!!