O’Reilly has published slide:ology – The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. What’s that got to do with photographers? Well, when you present your photos to clients you’re actually making a presentation. And when you do it with slideshows, you’ll need this guide, man.
slide:ology – The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations is written by Nancy Duarte, head honcho of Duarte Design, the firm that created the presentation for Al Gore’s Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth.
The new book offers practical approaches to visual story development that can be applied by anyone. The book combines conceptual thinking and inspirational design, with insightful case studies from the world’s leading brands.
Oh, you have a presentation tomorrow? Here, use some of these tips from a recent interview with Nancy Duarte:
1. Treat your audience as king: They didn’t come to your presentation to see you. They came to find out what you can do for them. Success means giving them a reason for taking their time, providing content that resonates, and ensuring it’s clear what they are to do.
2. Spread ideas and move people: Creating great ides is what we were born to do; getting people to feel like they have a stake in what you believe is the hard part. Communicate your ideas with strong visual grammar to engage all their senses and they will adopt the ideas as their own.
3. Help them see what you’re saying: Epiphanies and profoundly moving experiences come from moments of clarity. Think like a designer and guide your audience through ideas in a way that helps, not hinders, their comprehension. Appeal not only to their verbal senses, but to their visual senses as well.
4.Practice design, not decoration: Orchestrating the aesthetic experience through well-known but oft-neglected design practices often transforms audiences into evangelists. Don’t just make pretty talking points. Instead display information in a way that makes complex information clear.
5. Cultivate healthy relationships: A meaningful relationship between you, your slides, and your audience will connect people with content. Display information in the best way possible for comprehension rather than focusing on what you need as a visual crutch. Content carriers connect with people.
There’s also book trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UI439bKA1Q&e) where Nancy talks about the concepts outlined in slide:ology.
[Site: Oreilly.com]