Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
by Garr Reynolds
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Book Summary Information
Author: Garr ReynoldsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-04
ISBN: 0321525655
Number of pages: 228
Publisher: New Riders Press
Accessories:
- The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever
- Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations
- Non-Designer's Design Book, The (3rd Edition)
- The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design
- The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World
Book Reviews of Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
Book Review: Good concepts; ironically, book misses its own ideals
Summary: 3 Stars
I like the design principles and process tools that are provided in Presentation Zen: those are definitely usable and useful, and if I were rating on the book only on the learnings I came away with, I'd give it higher marks.
But I felt I really had to dock marks because of my experience with the book: I found it quite ironic that, for me, the book really failed in the very goals the author says we should have for our presentations: content that is engaging and is clear.
I was quite surprised to find this book non-engaging: for me, it has been a slog to work through. Typically I can read only part of a chapter before I wanted to put it down. I don't normally read like that, and I can usually get through a book like this within a few days, but it has taken me weeks to endure just the first half!
At first, that left me puzzled: The book has visual appeal; the chapters aren't overly long and there are only ten of them; why can't just get through them? The probable reason came to me in reading the chapter "Simplicity: Why it matters": the author really fails at his own ideals of simplicity. Not in the visual design; the visual design of the book is good in this respect. Rather, he fails to keep the written content simple. That very chapter on simplicity made this apparent to me. Let me explain.
He starts with two pages introducing the topic: simplicity really means clarity: getting the essense of the message and presenting that in a way that's clear for the intended audience -- and a key to that is eliminating the non-essential (simplicity). So far, so good.
Then he spends two pages using a comparison of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as illustration. Now, I'm not convinced that the stereotypes of these two are fully valid, and maybe that was a factor, but overall these two pages really added nothing to my understanding of the author's message. In other words, for me that was two pages of non-essential content that only distracted and detracted from the author's message.
The next sub-section is six pages long. The last page is well done and simply has a quotation that is relevant to the author's message: "By stripping an image to essential meaning, the artist can amplify that meaning..." (Scott McCloud). But that was preceded by five redundant and somewhat-tedious pages:
The sub-section starts with a discussion of three Japanese concepts: kanso (simplicity), shizen (naturalness) and shibumi (elegance). But the discussion of shizen really just re-iterates the need for simplicity: the recurring theme in that portion is restraint; naturalness is never mentioned after the opening sentence. (Along the way, he introduces another Japanese term "miegakure" without explaining it -- more distracting content that added nothing meaningful for me.) After that is a full-page discussion of elegance, and that was just more elaboration on simplicity (good taste can be attained in restraint). Then there are two more pages ("Wabi-Sabi Simplicity") in which the author further reiterates the less-is-more idea.
That's followed by a page with a side-bar anecdote that I found pretty silly: it leads to a nonsensical conclusion that a fish shop doesn't need any sign to advertise and identify itself. (More useful would have been a discussion of pros and cons for different signs.)
So, six pages on "kanso", "shizen" and "shibumi" that I found highly redundant with many paragraphs of text that added nothing new to the message. I think that has been typical of my experience in the book so far, and the reason I've found it a slog: there's been a lot of content that adds nothing to the message.
Like the bullets of text on slides that the author wants to steer us away from.
How ironic!
In part, I think the author's obvious interest in Zen and in Japanese culture may be contributing to this problem in the book. He wants to include elements of Zen and Japanese throughout the book because they interest his and because they relate to _his_ understanding of simplicity, clarity and elegance. But it seems to me that he failed to apply his own recommendations of going through a process to understand the audience and to tailor the presentation in a way that will get across his core message to them -- including elminating non-essentials. His core message is not about Zen or about Japanese culture (and if those are topics you want to read about, you can find much better books than this). His core message is about something else, and excessive incorporation of these other themes is, at least for me, a distraction.
In summary, then, I found the book to have some really useful ideas on creating presentations, but that they are presented in a way that really misses the mark in the very goals it strives for. I can readily imagine that Reynolds does live presentations on the same topic that are excellent and highly effective, but for me this written presentation is neither of those things. I'd give a buy rating for the usefulness of the ideas but with this strong caveat for the written presentation. (It's the first book on the topic I've read, so I don't have better alternate suggestions.)
Summary of Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the net ? presentationzen.com ? shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today?s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.General Books
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