slideology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations

Nancy Duarte helps high-tech firms like Adobe, Cisco, and Google craft their images. But she is best known for her work on former US Vice President Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Slide:ology is a combination of the words slide (as in PowerPoint slide) and ideology, which is an apt description for the book.  Although there are specific prescriptions for making successful presentations, the book does a better job at presenting Nancy Duarte’s ideology (although I would use the word methodology) for crafting presentations. If you feel totally lost when you first open Microsoft PowerPoint (or any presentation tool – the book is tool agnostic) or if you feel totally defeated after giving an underwhelming presentation, you’ll find this book tremendously helpful. It beautifully covers the entire lifecycle from imagination to creation to presentation.

Based on the rave reviews of this book, I was expecting to experience a presentation epiphany. Although I found some new tips, much of the advice is presented in the books I already own by Garr Reynolds, author of Presentation Zen and The Naked Presenter. Slide:ology is beautiful and inspirational. But in times when I wanted Nancy Duarte’s own book to go deeper, she provided reading recommendations for still more books instead.

Still, it’s useful to have a few of these guides on your bookshelf and to review them while in the midst of creating your latest presentation.  Many times, we reach immediately for Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote instead of practicing slide:ology. If your bookshelf is light on presentation design books, this book will definitely be a big help. But if you already own a few books on presentation design- like me- you’ll turn the last page still hoping for more. Perhaps I’ll find more as I read Resonate, her second book.

• Purchase slide:ology – The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations (soft cover edition) on Amazon.com
• Purchase slide:ology – The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations (Kindle edition) on Amazon.com

Disclosure of Material Connection: I purchased this book and did not receive it free from its publisher. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”