Cranking out code

This book was recommended to me by a friend when I said I was interested in presentation technique and design. The author (Garr Reynolds) explains simple ideas on presentation and design in a very easy to read manner. The book contains a lot of examples with slides “before” and “after”. Makes it very visual and easy to understand what Reynolds means with his ideas. Thanks to all the examples in the book it’s very easy to get ideas and be inspired to do better.

The book starts with the situation today, how PowerPoint is misused and mainly used for displaying bullet after bullet with text.

The next chapter gives ideas on how to prepare. Don’t start with PowerPoint and create

slides. Instead think through what you want your presentation to convey. Reynolds mentions two questions you should ask yourself whenever you do a presentation: “What’s Your Point? Why Does It Matter?” If you can’t answer those two questions, your audience probably wont be able to grasp the core message of your presentation either.

After you’ve worked out your core message and the flow of the presentation Reynolds continues to talk about design. Reynolds is a strong believer in simplicity, amplification through simplification. Keep it clean and simple.

The last part of the book is where most of the example slides are. With both a before and after image, visualizing the difference between the two.

Since the book is only about 200 pages and filled with pictures it’s very easy to read through it. I must say I felt very motivated to start on a new presentation and being able to use these tips n tricks I’ve picked up from the book.

I highly recommend this book!

Link to Amazon