Looking Good in Presentations

If you're one of the many people who get frazzled at the mere thought of giving a presentation, get this book. It'll give you the confidence-boosting advice you need to plan and produce informative, interesting, and well-targeted presentations. Author Molly Joss shows you how to establish your objectives, design an effective layout using storyboards and grids, select a good font and color scheme, arrange text frames and use them to streamline your message, and create graphs and diagrams that are useful and clear. All the while, you assess the needs and tastes of your audience, decide on the best the presentation-delivery method--such as computer, overhead projector, slide show, or flip chart--and consider whether the presentation venue has the equipment you need to deliver your show.

Delving into more advanced aspects of the current business scene, Joss teaches you about adding multimedia elements such as audio clips, video clips, and animated graphics, and she also explains the drawbacks and positive aspects of Web-based presentations. You get insight into common design mistakes, such as using too many typefaces and relying on literal and visual cliches. The Sample Scenarios chapter reminds you to learn in advance about the presentation venue--seating, lighting, acoustics, and so on--and explores the best ways to deliver your show based on whether you're dealing with peers, Web users, conference associates, sales shows, traveling shows, courtroom exhibits, financial reports, boardroom graphics, or instruction and training. There's also a summary chapter advising you, for example, to check your pace, look for errors, and review a final checklist.

Joss wraps up the books with an appendix on 3-D objects; a glossary; suggestions for further reading; resources for presentation software; image-editing and animation software; computer hardware and peripherals; presentation equipment; and free fonts, images, and clip art. --Kathleen Caster