Rating: 

If ever I was asked to do a short, very short review of a book, it would be this one, and my review would read as follows: Buy it, Read it, Live it, Share it – That’s it.

Slide:ology is a perfect answer to boring boardroom presentations. The book lives up to its message by having a timeline, a cartoon, a short quote on a double-spread, and a feel of “here is something different,” even before the reader comes to the first chapter.

I have been dipping into it several times, as this is the kind of book which you’ll need to keep close to wherever you are when creating presentations. (Make sure its hidden from colleagues, because it’s the kind of book people will borrow and never return). If I seem to be raving about the book, it’s because anyone who has been “battered and bruised” by boring presentations will know that there needs to be a better way, and Duarte shares the high road of presenting page by page.

The first part of the book is a dip into the preparation for the presentation, but unlike other books, Slide:ology, does not fall into the trap of merely telling the presenter what to do. The beautiful, colorful and well placed pages show how you can avoid committing career sui-slide as well as how the whole ecosystem of presentations work.
The part about creating ideas and not slides guides the reader into the magic place where great presentations have their roots: – The untapped idea-factory of the playful human mind. Just in case you feel it gets a bit too loose for you (you might want to do corporate boardroom presentations to serious people, after all - ;-0), the next part shows you how to turn ideas into diagrams. It goes even further by showing you what kind of diagrams are used for different kinds of concepts. Yes, it does matter!
The 5 data slide rules are straightforward, simple, effective – and often NOT USED in poor presentations – stick them on a post it note somewhere close to your workstation and adhere to them rigidly. You’ll be contributing to making the world of presentations a better place.

When reading the part about design, visual elements and the arrangement of elements in your slideshow, one is reminded of the fact that Daniel Pink has said that DESIGN is a crucial requirement for future success. Duarte gently guides the presenter, who has to become more of a designer, into the intricate world of color, fonts, illustrations and animation. Although some concepts may seem strange at first, they make so much sense that one will keep coming back to read them.
Once the slides have been created, Duarte does another brilliant job of showing how to improve on what she calls “Interacting with slides”. This part covers more than merely the simplification of the slideshow and the message, it also touches on the media that are used.
In the end the book assists the reader to live the five theses of the Power of the Presentation as indicated in the final manifesto, which is to:
Treat your audience as king.
Spread ideas and move people.
Help them see what you are saying.
Practice design, not decoration.
Cultivate happy relationships.

Well, if you more than a book to assist you in improving your presentations. This is more than a book. It’s a companion. Read it, Live it, Share it – and the world of presentations will become much better place.

Igno van Niekerk
Manager: Adobe User Group, Bloemfontein, South Africa