Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters
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
80. The House That Jack Built: Make All the Parts Fit
Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story, Updated and Expanded Edition
Foreword to the Updated and Expanded Edition
Preface: What’s Past Is Prologue
Introduction: The Wizard of Aaahs
The Mission-Critical Presentation
A New Approach to Presentations
Chapter One. You and Your Audience
The Problem with Presentations
Persuasion: Getting from Point A to Point B
Chapter Two. The Power of the WIIFY
The Danger of the Incorrect “You”
Chapter Three. Getting Creative: The Expansive Art of Brainstorming
Managing the Brainstorm: The Framework Form
Brainstorming: Doing the Data Dump Productively
Chapter Four. Finding Your Flow
Which Flow Structure Should You Choose?
Guidelines for Selecting a Flow Structure
Chapter Five. Capturing Your Audience Immediately
Tell ’em What You’re Gonna Tell ’em
Winning Over the Toughest Crowd
Chapter Six. Communicating Visually
Chapter Seven. Making the Text Talk
Crafting the Effective Bullet Slide
Minimize Eye Sweeps with Parallelism
Chapter Eight. Making the Numbers Sing
Typography in Numeric Graphics
Chapter Nine. Using Graphics to Help Your Story Flow
Graphics and the 35,000-Foot View
Chapter Ten. Bringing Your Story to Life
Verbalization: The Special Technique
Chapter Eleven. Customizing Your Presentation
The Illusion of the First Time
Gathering Material for Customization
Chapter Twelve. Animating Your Graphics
Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
Chapter Thirteen. The Virtual Presentation
How the Virtual Presentation Works
Preparing for Your Virtual Presentation
Connecting with Your Invisible Audience
Creating a Winning Virtual Presentation
The Future of the Virtual Presentation
Chapter Fourteen. Pitching in the Majors
End with the Beginning in Mind
Appendix A. Tools of the Trade