Contents
Section I: Content: The Art of Telling Your Story
1. A Lesson from Professor Marvel, a.k.a. The Wizard of Oz: How to Customize Your Presentation
2. Obama and You: The Most Persuasive Word
3. The “So What?” Syndrome: ... and How to Avoid It
4. Beware of Jokes: Dispelling a Common False Belief
5. Presentation Advice from Abraham Lincoln: Clarity, Ownership, and Add Value
7. Presentation Advice from Mark Twain: Brevity Takes Time
8. Presentation Advice from Mike Nichols: How to Find Value in Your Story
9. Show versus Tell in Hollywood: The Wrong and the Right Way to Tell a Story
10. Slogan Power: Why the U.S. Army’s “Be All That You Can Be” Succeeded
11. How Long Is Too Long?: When in Doubt, Leave it Out
12. The Elevator Pitch in One Sentence: How to Describe Your Business Succinctly
13. Do You Know the Way to Spanish Bay?: The Correct Way to Practice
14. Getting to “Aha!”: The Magic Moment
15. This Is Your Pilot Speaking: A Lesson in Flow from the Airlines
16. Presentation Advice from the iPhone: Substance and Style in Your Story
17. Presentation Advice from Steve Jobs: The Power of Positive Words
19. Presentation Advice from Novelists II: Storyboard and Verbalize
20. Microsoft Slogans Score a Trifecta: Three Persuasive Techniques
21. Presentation Advice from a Physician: Audience Advocacy
22. Presentation Advice from a Politician: Audience Advocacy
23. Ronald Reagan Meets Lenny Skutnik: The Catalyst of Human Interest Stories
24. Human Interest Stories: A Double Advantage: Two Ways to Use Anecdotes
Section II: Graphics: The Correct Way to Design PowerPoint Slides
25. The Presentation-as-Document Syndrome: Never the Twain Shall Meet
26. Blame the Penmanship, Not the Pen: Operator versus Machine Error
27. You Can’t Use a Sentence As a Prompt!: Less Verbiage Is More Useful
28. Baiting the Salesperson: Selling Is about In-Person Communication
29. PowerPoint and Human Perception: Scientific Support for Graphics Design
30. PowerPoint Template: Combined Picture and Text: The Best Positions for Pictures and Text
31. Shady Characters: The Wrong Way and the Right Way to Build Text
32. “I Can Read It Myself!”: Three Simple Steps to Avoid Reading Slides Verbatim
33. A Case for Case I: Initial Caps or All Caps: Text Design in Presentations
34. A Case for Case II: Serif or Sans: Font Design in Presentations
35. What Color Is Your PowerPoint?: Contrast Counts
36. Presentation Advice from Corona Beer: Peripheral Vision Counts
37. The Cable Crawlers: How Television Animates Text
38. Computer Animation: Three Simple Rules
39. PowerPoint and the Military: Sometimes More Is More
Section III: Delivery Skills: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
40. The Art of Conversation: Eye Contact and Interaction Start at Infancy
41. Presentation Advice from Edward R. Murrow: The “Person-to-Person” Role Model
42. Nonverbal Communication: Look Them in the Eye
43. Presentation Advice from Pianist Murray Perahia: Concentration Creates Control
44. Presentation Advice from Actress Tovah Feldshuh: Concentration Creates Communication
45. Presentation Advice from Michael Phelps and Dara Torres: How to Control Stress under Pressure
46. Presentation Advice from Frank Sinatra: The Art of Phrasing
47. Presentation Advice from Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa: The Importance of Breathing
48. The One-Eyed Man: Necessity Is the Mother of Invention
49. Bill Clinton’s Talking to Me!: The Power of Group Dynamics
50. Liddy Dole and Person-to-Person: From Law School to the Republican National Convention
51. Fast Talking: Fun or Maddening
52. Presentation Advice from Titian: Position, Position, Position
53. Presentation Advice from Musicians and Athletes: The Value of Effortlessness
54. Presentation Advice from Vin Scully: From Reagan to Barber to Scully
55. “Ya’ Either Got It or Ya’ Ain’t”: The Fear of Public Speaking Is Universal
56. How to Eliminate the Fig Leaf: A Presentation Lesson from the Military
57. Unwords: Even Barack Obama Says Them
58. To Slip or Not to Slip: Been There, Done That
59. The Free Throw: A Presentation Lesson from Basketball
60. 10 Tips for 30 Seconds: Help for Job Seekers
61. You Are What You Eat: Ten Tips about Food and Drink in Presentations
Section IV: Q&A: Handling Tough Questions
62. Speed Kills in Q&A: The Vanishing Art of Listening
63. A Lesson in Listening from Barack Obama: How to Handle Multiple Questions
64. If I Could Tell Jon Stewart...: Talk Shows Include Listening
65. What Keeps You Up at Night?: How to Handle the Most Frequently Asked Questions
66. Spin versus Topspin: The Political World versus the Business World
67. When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?: How to Handle False Assumption Questions
68. Madoff and Cramer Plead Guilty: How to Respond When Guilty as Charged
69. Tell Me the Time, Not How to Build a Clock: Keep Your Answers Short
70. Presentation Advice from Jerry Rice: Grasp the Question before You Answer
71. Politicians and Spin: Putting Lipstick on a Pig
72. Murder Boards: How Elena Kagan Prepared for Tough Questions
73. Ms. Kagan Regrets: Nonanswers to Tough Questions
Section V: Integration: Putting It All Together
74. The Elephant: The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts
75. Presentation Graphics Meet Linguistics: Symmetry in Graphics Design
76. One Presentation, Multiple Audiences: 12 Presenters, 12 Stories, 1 Set of Slides
77. The Art and Science of Oprah Winfrey: The Secrets of Oprah Winfrey’s Appeal
78. Right or Left: The Deep Roots of Human Preferences
79. Graphics Synchronization: The Missing Link