At some point you've probably been asked to give a presentation. How did it go for you? Many business presentations miss the point, or worse, have no point. Presentations should be about sharing ideas. They should be about changing something. Anything. It could be a change in the direction of a project (from failure to success...), it could be a change in attitude (from negative to positive...) or it could be a change in knowledge (from uninformed to informed).
This lens is a collection of books, blogs and other resources I've found helpful in preparing to present. I hope that they will also help you create presentations that change things for the better.
Photo Credit: Exploring an idea by jjay @ flickr
Books worth reading
Recommended Online Reading
Here is some stuff worth reading
- Really Bad Powerpoint by Seth Godin
- An old, but great, e-book by Seth Godin that asks the question, "Why Are Your PowerPoints So Bad? (Hint: it's not your fault)". (790K PDF file)
- How I made my presentations better
- Merlin Mann shares what he has learnt about putting presentations together
- How to Design & Deliver Presentations Like a Pro by Garr Reynolds
- A brief handout that covers some of the points in his book, Presentation Zen. (700K PDF file)
- The Art of Telling Your Story
- Developed for small businesses looking for investment, this guide from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology highlights the need to have a good story at the heart of your presentation.
Blogs
Blogs worth tracking
- Presentation Zen
- The blog of the book...or is it the book of the blog? Anyway, Garr Reynold's blog is a fantastic resource for anyone wanting to create great presentations.
Presentation Resources
- Flickr - Photo Sharing
- A good source of images for presentations. You need to make sure that you use images that are licensed under a creative commons license.
- iStockPhoto royalty free images
- A great source of images that I use all the time.
- Freemind - free mind mapping software
- I use this to help me as I create content. The flexibility and semi-structured nature of mind maps supports the way I like to create.
- Google docs
- Allows you create, publish and share presentations online without the need for presentation software on your PC.
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