Slideology
This is a book from 2008 about PowerPoint. It is well-structured, thoughtful, and a massively influential book in the “presentation business”. It makes a whole lot of sense to me and is quite easy-to-read. Nancy Duarte has been doing this for 20+ years and makes some crazy good points. After listening to a podcast interview, you will agree she is also very witty, big-hearted, and fun. Listen here.
Plan to do 3 blog posts on 1 book
I own a copy and also give it out as prizes when I run case competitions. It’s worth your time here. (affiliate link) You will note that the used book prices are still 45-50% of the new price – which means people are holding on to their copies, not selling them. All the quotes shown in italics blue font are from Nancy Duarte.
Why does this matter?
Some clients (even consultants) glibly remark that PowerPoint is nothing more than making slides “pretty”. As if clipart can save you . . . Arrgh. No. It is not an artistic expression, not an eccentric quirk, not stylistic preference. You will find that in Slideology, there are 50+ common sense reasons to do things a certain way. You need to distill a clear message, understand the audience, and deliver it well. Know WHY you are presenting. If you have 200 people in a room, ensure it is time well spent. That is 200 hours x $300 average bill rate = $60,000 talk.
“Making bad slides is easy, and it will negatively impact your career”
The slides should assist your message – not be your message
As any good marketer will tell you – it’s all about the customer. Jump outside your self-centered perspective. It’s now what you are trying to tell them, but the connection you make with them. It’s for them, not for you.
“We groan when we have to attend to a meeting with the slide deck as the star”
Don’t clobber your slides with text
Duarte notes that people will either be reading your slides or listening to you – not both. Also, please DO NOT READ your slides. From Seth Godin, quoted in the book, “If all you want to do is create a file of facts and figures, then cancel the meeting and send in a report.” Yes, yes, yes. Most meetings are a waste of time, and often disrespectful of the audience’s time.
Good slides involves rigorous thinking
Great presentations require preparation. The goal is meaningful communication, not just PowerPoint. If you are in the story-telling and persuasion business (e.g., consulting, sales, marketing, executive decision making), then you should rock at written, verbal and visual communication. It takes deliberate practice.
“The amount of time required to develop a presentation is directly proportional to how high the stakes are”
Duarte estimates that 1 hour presenting requires between 30-90 hours of preparation time. To me that sounds about right.
We are just creating slides for a symposium after the “Duarte” methodology. My colleague who is the speaker, put a lot of time in crafting the idea and creating the story. Much more as you do with a normal “reporting” presentation, but this was also his prep for the speech. So no time wasted!
Great to hear. Seems like the main point is – treating the presentation as an audience experience. Much more than just conveying information. A complete experience. Great.
I have this book for years, but still have not found the spirit and mind to read yet. I hope you help me!
Yes, I am the same way. Looking at my Amazon history, I ordered this January 2014. Will be posting another installment shortly. Thanks for reading.