The Non-designer's Presentation Book

by Williams, Robin

• ISBN13: 9780321656216
• ISBN10: 0321656210
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-15
• Publisher: Peachpit Pr

Summary

These days, it's not just corporate marketing directors tasked with giving computer-based presentations—anyone forced to stand in front of a crowd and talk for more than three minutes had better know how to put together a slide presentation. You're not a professional designer, but you want your slides to look professional. What do you do?

Enter Robin Williams, the beloved, best-selling non-designer's designer (with over 850,000 copies of The Non-Designer's Design Book in print!) who has taught an entire generation the basics of design and typography. In The Non-Designer's Presentation Book, Robin expands upon the design principles introduced in her award-winning Non-Designer's series. She explains four fundamental principles of good design as applied to digital presentations, and adds four more principles specific to clear communication with slides.

Whether you work with a Mac or PC, PowerPoint or Keynote, let Robin guide you, in her signature, light-hearted style, through the entire process of creating a presentation—from using the right software to organizing your ideas to designing effective, beautiful slides that won't put your audience to sleep.

In this essential guide to presentation design, you'll learn:

-What makes a good presentation or a bad one

-How to plan, organize, and outline your presentation

-Four principles of designing effective presentations

-Four principles for designing beautiful slides that communicate clearly

-An exhaustive list of timeless presentation rules...that you should totally ignore

Author Biography

Robin Williams is the author of dozens of best-selling and award-winning books, including The Non-Designer's Design Book, Robin Williams Design Workshop, The Little Mac Book, and so many more. Through her writing, teaching, and seminars, Robin has educated and influenced an entire generation of computer users in the areas of design, typography, the Mac, and the web.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. viii
Before you Design
Where to begin?	p. 3
What's a presentation?	p. 4
Does it need to be digital?	p. 4
My personal experience	p. 6
Yes, it needs to be digital	p. 7
What's a bad presentation?	p. 10
The structure	p. 10
The presenter	p. 10
The digital presentation itself	p. 10
What's a good presentation?	p. 11
Put it in words	p. 11
Software options	p. 12
Apple Keynote	p. 13
Microsoft PowerPoint	p. 14
Google Presently	p. 15
Open Office Impress	p. 16
Get yourself organized	p. 17
Plan, organize, outline	p. 18
Old technology Post-it Notes	p. 19
Outline features in presentation software	p. 20
Mind maps and idea clouds	p. 21
Slide sorter or light table view in software	p. 22
Optimize the Content
Four principles of conceptual presentation design	p. 24
Clarity	p. 25
Edit the text!	p. 26
Avoid lengthy complete sentences	p. 28
Don't present your notes	p. 29
Write in the active voice	p. 30
Avoid the 'ings	p. 32
Experiment with editing the text	p. 33
Sometimes you need the text	p. 35
Spread out the text!	p. 56
Use all the slides you need	p. 38
How many slides in a presentation?	p. 41
But use one slide when appropriate!	p. 42
Sometimes you need a lot on one slide	p. 43
Clarity in the design	p. 44
Relevance	p. 45
Get rid of superfluous stuff	p. 46
That includes the logo on every page	p. 47
Backgrounds	p. 48
The more complex the information, the simpler the background	p. 51
When is a busy background okay?	p. 51
Don't use dorky clip art	p. 52
Use relevant photos	p. 54
Video and animated clips	p. 54
Animation	p. 55
Animation creates a focus	p. 56
Transitions and animations as complements	p. 58
Clearly transition between major topics	p. 60
Use transitions to keep your audience on track	p. 61
Use animation to illustrate and clarify	p. 62
Animate a chart for clarity	p. 63
The facts about animation	p. 64
Plot	p. 65
Make a beginning	p. 66
Tell us where you're going	p. 67
Text vs. Images	p. 67
Find the humans in the story	p. 68
Find the humans in the audience	p. 68
Tell relevant stories	p. 69
Vary the pace	p. 70
Make an end	p. 72
And leave time for questions	p. 73
Design the Slides
Four principles of visual presentation design	p. 76
Contrast	p. 77
Contrast with typeface	p. 78
Contrast with color	p. 80
Contrast provides substance	p. 82
Use contrast to organize	p. 83
Contrast demands attention	p. 84
Repetition	p. 35
Repetition creates a consistent look	p. 86
Repeat a style	p. 88
Repeat the image, but differently	p. 90
Unity with variety	p. 91
Find repetitive elements and design them	p. 92
Repetition doesn't mean sameness	p. 94
Alignment	p. 95
Alignment cleans up individual slides	p. 96
Alignment cleans up your deck of slides	p. 98
Alignment unifies your deck	p. 99
Alignment makes you look smarter	p. 100
Alignment is a great organizer	p. 101
Break the alignment-intentionally	p. 102
Proximity	p. 103
Create relationships	p. 104
White space is okay	p. 105
But avoid trapped white space	p. 106
Proximity cleans and organizes	p. 107
Proximity is a starting point	p. 108
Put it all together	p. 109
Name the principles used	p. 110
Beyond the Principles
Learn your Software
Turn your Autofit	p. 118
Align text at the top	p. 119
Adjust the spacing	p. 120
Adjust the space between lines	p. 120
Adjust the space between paragraphs	p. 121
Adjust the space from the bullet to the text	p. 122
Hang the bullets; align the text	p. 123
Don't squish the images	p. 124
Handouts	p. 125
The truth about handouts	p. 126
It's a permanent record	p. 127
Post your speaker notes	p. 128
Ignore these Rules	p. 129
Never read a slide aloud	p. 130
Never use serif typefaces	p. 132
Never use animation	p. 133
Never use more than one background	p. 134
Never make a slide without a graphic on it	p. 135
Never use more than five bullet points per slide	p. 136
Never use more than two or three words per bullet point	p. 137
Never use PowerPoint	p. 138
Never turn the lights off. Never turn the lights on	p. 138
Never provide handouts before your talk	p. 139
Never use pie charts	p. 139
Never use Arial or Helvetica	p. 140
Listen to your Eyes	p. 141
Quiz: Listen to your eyes	p. 142
Checklist for info	p. 152
Checklist for slides	p. 153
Sources for fonts/images/video/sound	p. 154
Index	p. 155
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