Book Club

One area this book does not cover -- and in my opinion is missing -- is to teach readers how to shift the focus from "what it does" to "what it does for you". This is a huge step, and one lots of people seem hesitant to take, but Steve Jobs (for example) is particular is known for creating presentations which utilize this little known emphasis.

There were a large number of tips and techniques on selecting and preparing images for presentations as well as how to integrate sound, videos and flash into them. One of the impressive parts to me was the techniques for bringing YouTube videos and Internet Web content into a presentation. The step-by-step instructions on creating custom backgrounds, created by combining and dithering 3 different images together was a very valuable insight, which I think will have usefulness long after the reader places this book on their bookshelf.

So to summarize, the one area which this book did not cover enough ? and which I think that there is a great need for in the business presentation arena ? is that of teaching PowerPoint users when and why to use certain artistic capabilities when attempting to create their electronic message. Since we all understand, that presentations are created to share a message and often to convince viewers of an opinion, then this knowledge would be invaluable to creators as an even more powerful persuasion tool.

Overall, this book is a valuable resource for business professionals creating one or more presentations a month (which is nearly everyone!), and offers up a good amount of information and techniques to make the 4-6 hours of reading well worthwhile.

Review by: Mark Friedman
June 18, 2007