Here are some recommended books on designing and delivering presentations and business communication structures.
Presentation Zen – Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery.
Garr Reynolds’ book is one of the best I’ve ever read on presentations. If you’re looking for new ideas to improve your presentations it’s a perfect place to start. However, like many books it is totally focused on ballroom-style presentations.
Presentation Zen Design – Simple design principles and techniques to enhance your presentations.
Garr Reynolds’ second book will guide you through the art of making good presentation slides. Like his previous books, Garr focuses on slides to be used in ballroom-style presentations. If you’re looking to make really good graphs or if you have to visualise complex studies, it won’t provide you with the answers you’re looking for.
The Pyramid Principle – Logic in writing and thinking.
This book by Barbara Minto should be mandatory reading for anyone who writes management reports. After reading this book, you will have a complete new vision on writing reports and recommendations. Although it’s not written specifically for presentations, almost everything is relevant and can be applied.
Advanced Presentationd by Design – Creating Communication that drives Action.
Unlike most authors, Andrew Abela focuses completely on presentations for business meetings. His ideas for slides and content are far less sexy than the ones you’ll come across in Garr Reynolds’ books, but the ideas are easier to apply in most business environments. He is the only author to advocate that you can make print slides. On the downside, you might get bogged down in theory.
Show me the Numbers – Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten.
An excellent book by Stephen Few on designing meaningful and visually intelligent tables and graphs. The author, however, doesn’t make the distinction between tables and graphs for print and/or presentations.
Slide:ology – The art and science of creating great presentations.
This excellent book by Nancy Duarte will provide you with insightful ideas backed up with examples to help you create graphically attractive slides. It’s very similar in style to Garr Reynolds’ ballroom-style slides. So, unless you make keynote or boardroom-level presentations, Nancy Duarte’s examples will not always be applicable.
Beyound bullet points – using MicroSoft Office Powerpoint 2007 to create presentations that inform, motivate and inspire.
As the title reveals, Cliff Atkinson‘s book is also an ad for Microsoft PowerPoint (as opposed to most graphical designers and authors). The book has some very good ideas, not the least that it’s also possible to make great slides with PowerPoint. The author elaborates in length around a rather rigid process, which doesn’t make it easy to read.
The Naked Presenter – Delivering Powerful Presentations with or without Slides.
The third book by Garr Reynolds is again very, very good, making him ‘the’ reference in the field. In this book the focus is on presentation skills. But although the ideas are great, the structure is much less clear. Also, I would have liked to have seen more practical examples.
Presenting to win - The art of telling your story.
by Jerry Weissman
Wake me up when the DATA is over – How organizations use stories to drive results.
by Lori Silverman
Why most PowerPoint Presentations SUCK – & how you can make them even better.
by Rick Altmann
