No matter where you are on the organizational ladder, the odds are high that you've delivered a high-stakes presentation to your peers, your boss, your customers, or the general public. Presentation software is one of the few tools that requires professionals to think visually on an almost daily basis. But unlike verbal skills, effective visual expression is not easy, natural, or actively taught in schools or business training programs. slide:ology fills that void. Written by Nancy Duarte, President and CEO of Duarte Design, the firm that created the presentation for Al Gore's Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, this book is full of practical approaches to visual story development that can be applied by anyone. The book combines conceptual thinking and inspirational design, with insightful case studies from the world's leading brands. With slide:ology you'll learn to:

• Connect with specific audiences

• Turn ideas into informative graphics

• Use sketching and diagramming techniques effectively

• Create graphics that enable audiences to process information easily

• Develop truly influential presentations

• Utilize presentation technology to your advantage

Millions of presentations and billions of slides have been produced -- and most of them miss the mark. slide:ology will challenge your traditional approach to creating slides by teaching you how to be a visual thinker. And it will help your career by creating momentum for your cause.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 80 Ratings

Adding artsy feeling to your presentation - 2010-01-11
Reviewer Rating:
This book gave me a whole new perspective in building presentation slides. It's for people who already have the basic skill of building a mediocre presentation to advance to the next level, to make their presentation slides stand out from others. That's why some readers may not find it suitable as most business environments settle on mediocre presentations.

I emphasized on the word "slide" because this book as its title suggests, puts more focus on building slides, the how-to part, which in my point of view, is a skill that you should learn only if you already figured out the objective and what-to-say of your presentations. For more basic but essential skill of presentation planning, I suggest "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" by author Carmine Gallo.

I enjoyed reading behind-the-scene stories about some well known presentation making processes such as Al Gore's. And this book made me much more interested in graphic design. Duarte, the company behind this book, seems like an exciting place to work for!

It took me time to go thru the whole book because:
1. I wanted to take time to digest and try out each point at my work presentations
2. This book's rather odd shape and heavy weight makes it difficult to be carried around

Mind expanding eye opening book WOW! - 2010-01-04
Reviewer Rating:
Nancy and her team have done such an incredible job with this book.
Slide:ology has tremendously helped me look at not only presentations,
but also the way I design and layout motion graphics, design layouts and working with photos as well.
The book is choc-full of great direction and advice and covers a tremendous amount of design should dos in a simple, intelligent and fun book from cover to cover.
Thank you Nancy (and team) for such a work of art.
You guys rock!

Bought anyways even though I read Bad Reviews... - 2009-11-26
Reviewer Rating:
I didn't expect much from this book after reading the bad reviews. But since I was doing research on how to make the best keynotes I could I ordered it. Much to my surprise this book was not even close to the negative written reviews, It has a great format with a solid beginning, middle and end, it has case studies of companies. What I enjoyed about this book the most is the inspiration to create beautiful presentations, creating a purpose before starting a keynote through checklist for designing slides. I really loved the book and for how much better my presentations are going to be now that I finished it, it's completely worth the price.

I do have one thing to note, if you are a total beginner, it may be overwhelming to figure out how to go from making regular slides to mind blowing presentations, but the principals work for everyone,


Buy This Book!!

Useful & Fun to Read - 2009-12-25
Reviewer Rating:
Great reference & tutorial. Great introduction to graphic design theory for non-designers (like myself). Full of useful tips. Highly recommended.

Slide:ology - 2009-11-29
Reviewer Rating:
Improving a slide presentation is a never ending challenge so any constructive tips can only improve matters. When I noticed Slide:ology I was a bit skeptical about learning anything new, but it was worth taking the chance. When the book arrived I was impressed first by its size. I wondered how anyone could dedicate over 200 pages to slide:ology. I cracked it open the day it arrived and immediately I could tell that this book would be the most educational authority that I had ever read on the subject. Nancy Duarte is obviously very experienced with presentations. Not only does she tactfully note the do's and don'ts she goes in depth to explain why certain things should be done or not. This is a must for anyone doing presentations. It's also a tremendous reference book that you'll be able to refer to over the years. Well done Nancy! This will surely help my presentations beginning tomorrow.

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