Non-Designer's Presentation Book, The: Principles for effective presentation design

Ms. Williams' book is my "go-to" resource when designing just about anything that others will see and consume, either in "hard" copy form or online. I cannot recommend her book highly enough. I enjoy how she explains WHY she makes the design decisions she does and HOW we can make such decisions in the future. Thank you, Ms. Williams! Jay Creighton

Greta book if you're new to designing a presentation. Also useful for any kind of designing because the principles are the same.

The Non-Designer’s Presentation BookBy Robin WilliamsPublished by Peachpit PressReviewed by Al KunzWow!!! Where was this book when I was in the business world? In the first chapter of this book, the author, Robin Williams, explains what a “Presentation” is and is not. When she described good and bad presentations, she brought back so many memories for me. That was just thinking about presentations that I made. Those I attended are another large batch that sprang up in my head. Needless to say, Robin had my attention for the rest of the book. Had this book existed when I was in the business world, everyone around me would have gotten a copy and the time to absorb it. I hesitate to try and calculate how many bad reactions customers had because of our inept presentation skills.In about 198 pages, Robin takes the reader from a state of realizing what’s good and bad in presentations, to having the knowledge and wherewithal to create and deliver a good presentation. There are three main themes to this book, namely, Before You Design, Optimize the Content and Beyond the Principles. As she goes through these themes and their sub-sections, she uses copious examples of the good and bad. Her text is very easy to follow and I found all her examples, instructions and explanations to be very clear and not overly wordy.The Before You Design segment is basically about getting organized. The author then takes the reader through the process of writing the text of the presentation keeping in mind the four principles of Clarity, Relevance, Animation and Plot. The next section takes in Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity. This covers the design of the slides. The next section covers slide production and several rules that the author recommends ignoring.All during these processes, Robin throws in suggestions on software for slides, information on Internet sites to obtain different fonts, photos and pictures for use in the slides. In addition, throughout the book, she expounds on the role of the speaker and the speaker’s relation to the audience. These tidbits, throughout the book are worth their weight in gold. One struck me as so appropriate but probably normally overlooked. How many speakers go to the back of the room to see if the slides can be clearly read by the attendees seated in that area? Robin also gives an exercise to the reader to solidify the lessons on slide development. Lastly, a checklist for content and another for slides is provided along with a section on Resources available to provide professional images, video and also for free images and for fonts (both free and cheap).In summation, this book is an excellent resource for anyone connected in any way with presentations. If I were still in the business world, everyone in my organization would get a copy of this book and be expected to carry out their part in accord with the guidelines presented by Robin Williams. The book is that good!

I love this author. Read her Design for Non-Designers book years ago and it changed my life. Re-read that many times. This one picks up where that one left off. Down-to-earth, intelligent, covers more than just design... it's about designing a whole presentation. I'm not a trained designer... I just want my presentations to look good. I LOVE this book. ! I'll read anything she writes. She's that good.

Before reading this book, I thought I was proficient with making presentations. However I couldn't have been more incorrect.The ideas and illustration to display these ideas were clearly communicated and well-structured. This has changed the way that I see presentations and has helped my professional develop no end!Fully deserving of 5 stars.