Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Bpg-Other)
by Cliff Atkinson
List Price:
Our Price: $6.99
You Save: $18.00 (72%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.45 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Cliff AtkinsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-03-02
ISBN: 0735620520
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Book Reviews of Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Bpg-Other)
Book Review: What I hoped against, and worse
Summary: 1 Stars
I borrowed this book expecting to disagree with much of what was said, but hoping it would be a productive disagreement: opening my eyes to some techniques and sharpening my judgment about when to use what.
The book provides an extended example that is so bad (by my judgment) that if I had been the presenter's boss, I would have told him "Screw up like this one more time and you're fired!" My reaction to the example presentation was either
(1) The presenter's primary motivation was to impress the audience with his brilliance by keeping an extended metaphor going, and he spent so much time on it that he forgot about content, or
(2) The presenter knew he didn't understand the problem and tried to hide it with flash.
Example: The slide entitled "The pharmaceuticals industry today is navigating a sea of change" has a graphic of a compass (or alternatively a steering wheel) as the body of the slide. What would have been useful would have been an enumeration (graphic or textual) of the (major) obstacles.
The excellent advice to not have your slides distract from your presentation is taken to an extreme and beyond. Bullets are very easy to misuse, but they do have important uses. For example:
(1) Use the "visual channel" to provide additional reinforcement to what you are emphasizing in your talk, and
(2) Remind the audience of the priorities and structure of the issue. This is a great tool when you have audience members who are inclined to go off on tangents or become obsessively focused on a minor detail.
I saw no value in the scheme of treating a presentation as a three-act play. I am not arguing against division into three phases - a basic pattern of presentations is (1) tell them what you are going to tell them, (2) tell them, and (3) tell them what you have told them. It was all the extra baggage of the template. I pulled one of my most highly refined presentations from the files and I could see that I might be able to force it into his detailed scheme. But I couldn't see how it would have helped me develop that or other similar presentations, and expect that it would have pushed me down counterproductive paths.
The subtitle of the book is "create presentations that inform, motivate and inspire." I do not do inspirational presentations, but I do see how these techniques could be helpful for such presentations. Similarly for motivational presentations that are primarily inspirational, rather than fact-based. I have seen a number of inspirational PowerPoint presentations and the graphics he uses here are so bland that they don't qualify as banal (Emotive does *not* require children, puppies, flags and belching factories).
It occurred to me that an interesting exercise would be to step through the DVD of Al Gore's PowerPoint presentation "An inconvenient truth" to see how well it fits the author's three-act structure for such presentations (Its Academy Award suggests that it should fit the traditional dramatic structure better than an arbitrarily chosen PPT).
I had a nagging feeling that the author strongly favors speeches and doesn't like PowerPoint, but has been told that he has to use it, so he has a system to minimize the role of PowerPoint in his presentations. I don't remember the author mentioning the use of a PowerPoint component to *augment* or complement what you are saying.
The writing in the book ranged from poor to adequate. There were extended sections where my reaction was that he was just droning on. Although his system for creating presentation is based upon classical rhetoric, there was little of those techniques visible in the book-as-presentation.
More Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Bpg-Other) reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Summary of Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Bpg-Other)
Praise for Cliff?s successful seminars:
"I completely overhauled my presentation based on Cliff?s concepts. The response was unbelievable!"
—Pete Nelson, CEO, The Valeo Group
Unload those boring, bullet-riddled slides—and unlock the amazing story buried in your presentation! In BEYOND BULLET POINTS, communications expert Cliff Atkinson shares his innovative three-step system for increasing the impact of your communications with Microsoft PowerPoint. He guides you, step by step, as you discover how to combine the tenets of classic storytelling with the power of the projected media to create a rich, engaging experience. He walks you through his easy-to-use templates, plus 50 advanced tips, to help build your confidence and effectiveness—and quickly bring your ideas to life!
FOCUS: Learn how to distill your best ideas into a crisp and compelling narrative.
CLARIFY: Use a storyboard to clarify and visualize your ideas, creating the right blend of message and media.
ENGAGE:Move from merely reading your slides to creating a rich, connected experience with your audience—and increase your impact!
Inside!: See sample storyboards for a variety of presentation types—including investment, sales, educational, and training.
Graphics & Multimedia Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Graphics & Multimedia Books
Linear Algebra and Linear Operators in Engineering, Volume 3: With Applications in Mathematica® (Process Systems Engineering)by H. Ted Davis, Kendall T. Thomson
Academic Press; Published: 2000-06-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $131.67
Price in other shops:
Phigs and Phigs+: An Introduction to 3-D Computer Graphicsby Author Unknown
Academic Press; Published: 1993-02-26; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
The Mathematica Handbookby Martha L. Abell, James P. Braselton
Academic Press Inc; Published: 1992-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.00
LabVIEW Graphical Programmingby Gary W. Johnson, Richard Jennings
McGraw-Hill Professional; Published: 2001-07-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $94.84
LabVIEW GUI: Essential Techniquesby David J. Ritter
McGraw-Hill Professional; Published: 2001-11-28; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
North America (Where, How & Why)by Allan Murray
Collins Educational; Published: 1987; Unbound; Book
Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro HDby Diana Weynand
Peachpit Press; Published: 2004-06-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $53.33
Adobe Illustrator CS Hands-On Trainingby Jeff VanWest
Peachpit Press; Published: 2004-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Final Cut Pro for Avid Editorsby Diana Weynand
Peachpit Press; Published: 2002-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $110.98
OpenGL Programming for Windows 95 and Windows NTby Ron Fosner
Addison-Wesley Professional; Published: 1996-11-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Non-Designer's Presentation Bookby Robin Williams
Peachpit Press; Published: 2009-10-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.57
Price in other shops:
How to Wow with PowerPointby Richard Harrington, Scott Rekdal
Peachpit Press; Published: 2007-02-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.76
Price in other shops:
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Futureby Daniel H. Pink
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2006-03-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.58
Price in other shops:
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwritingby Robert McKee
It Books; Published: 1997-11-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.74
Price in other shops:
Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentationsby Stephen M. Kosslyn
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-08-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentationsby Garr Reynolds
New Riders Press; Published: 2009-12-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.25
Price in other shops:
Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiencesby Nancy Duarte
Wiley; Published: 2010-09-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.27
Price in other shops:
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Deliveryby Garr Reynolds
New Riders Press; Published: 2008-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.59
Price in other shops:
slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentationsby Nancy Duarte
O'Reilly Media; Published: 2008-08-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.08
Price in other shops:
Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspireby Cliff Atkinson
Microsoft Press; Published: 2007-10-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.80
Price in other shops: