Customer Reviews

7-Slide Solution(tm): Telling Your Business Story In 7 Slides or Less

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What makes a presentation compelling? According to the author here, it's the ability to tell a solid story and that, asserts the author, can be done in just seven slides.

I liked this book and yet, for me, I felt that the information had been presented before and done better in a couple of other titles: Beyond Bullet Points and Presenting to Win. Both of these provided clearer presentations of their own material (that is remarkably similar in some ways) than this particular book. One reason for that might have been nothing more than the text-heavy nature of this publication: it feels more weighty than the other publications and detracts from its simple message. While the publisher might have wished to estbalish this as a more serious handling of the topic, it lacks 'white space' in its own presentation.

The material here is fine: the 'story' is a natural format for presentations since we all, at heart, love conflict & resolution. If you've not read material like this before then this book will provide a good introduction. But there are other options that convey the same detail in a less textually heavy manner.

This is two part book. Part 1, how to construct a story. Part 2, creating the slides.

Part 1 is adequate. Yes, it's best to present your data or idea in a coherent, building, story. But the text-heavy explanation of story telling is dull. The book looks like it was designed in 1998.

Part 2 is a disaster. The example slides are horrible. Every example slide is a perfect example of how NOT to design a slide.

My conclusion is that if you make slides like the ones in this book, keep the presentation to as few slides as possible. 7 may be too many.

For my senior year of college we had a new university president. He liked to take a lot of the chapel time to talk about all the ways they were planning to spend our money on improvements to the school that we would never get to see. He also liked to use PowerPoint - a lot! After a few chapels, we were sick of PowerPoint.

Over the years I have been presented to with PowerPoint in a lot of different settings. Most of the time it was the same story of "blah blah blah." Too many people lean on the tool to enhance their presentation when all it does is illuminate the boredom. PowerPoint doesn't make presentations. People make presentations.

That's why I liked the premise of Paul Kelly's book The Seven Slide SolutionTM. I really found the first two sections interesting and helpful when it comes to developing a presentation using PowerPoint. Based on the way people's brains work, Kelly suggests that a presentation doesn't need to be any longer than seven slides. Anything beyond that is wasting your time and the audiences - they won't remember it. He walks you through the process of developing a story, from creating a premise to establishing conflict, adding tension, and ultimately providing a resolution to your presentation. The final section seemed to me a more hands on or reference to have handy when you are actually putting together the presentation.

Again, it wasn't exactly exciting or motivating, but I learned some good things. If you use PowerPoint very often, it might be a good book to take a look at. It's also a good refresher for putting together the basic elements of a story.

What is the best way to start a presentation? How to end it? How to solicit feedback? A methodical approach to these and many other related questions both saves preparation time and improves delivery. The only remaining problem is: what if the new methodology makes sense to you? Would you go through the pain to change your entire presentation style?

Kelly presents a simple three-stage methodology for building an exciting presentation in a minimal set of slides:

1. Build a story board
2. Select supporting facts
3. Elaborate in a set of seven slides

Internet has changed the way we process information and the way we communicate it. My audience is not interested in more statistics. It is looking for new interpretations and new business ideas. What is the right way to present them? If you do it right, you can help your listeners to come to the right conclusions, if not - you just wasted everybody's time.

So the reader has a choice: keep the old presentation habits or adopt the new methodology. Habit versus success. Comfort versus benefit.

This book teaches how to resolve this dilemma and adopt a winning methodology without suffering through change pains. You just need to follow five simple steps for the first stage (premise, conflict, tension, turning point, and resolution) and four steps for each slide (ask a question, evoke a sentiment, answer the question, and move the presentation forward).

Complete with detailed examples and clear illustrations, this is an excellent road map for business presentations.

Yuval Lirov, Medical Billing Networks and Processes - Profitable and Compliant Revenue Cycle Management in the Internet Age

"The Seven Slide Solution" is more than just a book on how to build a PowerPoint presentation in seven slides (or less). Paul Kelly offers a different way of thinking about...and approaching...a presentation in this book.

More specifically, this book covers the core elements of storytelling and maps these elements into PowerPoint presentation language. More about storytelling than PowerPoint, I recommend this book to anyone who presents material to others. Focusing on a story as opposed to bullet points on a slide stands to benefit many presenters and audience members.

This book does for presentations what flow charts do for good programming.

The author begins by depicting the all-too-familiar scene played out daily in most corporate presentations. He moves to an analysis of a better way to present material and provides an easy to replicate template to use when building presentations.

This template is very useful in helping the reader organize his/her thoughts and, in turn, make a better presentation in less time. I used this for the first time a couple of weeks ago to much success in presenting information to the managment of a joint venture. To my surprise, several people on both sides complimented my presentation and thanked me for making the information so clear, etc.

This book will help keep your presentation focused, clear, and clean. You still have to know what you are presenting and do your "due diligence" on facts. But it is definitely a good source to have at your fingertips.

Subtitled "Telling your business story effectively in seven slides or less," this book is rich with advice but is a somewhat ponderous read. Combining cognitive psychology research with presentation techniques, the author creates a presentation scenario and then steps you through the process as if writing a play. People think in ideas, not facts, says Kelly, even though most PowerPoint presentations are nothing BUT facts. Steps demonstrated include:

1. Building a story board
2. Selecting supporting facts
3. Elaborating in a set of seven slides

The first two sections docused on developing a presentation based on the way people's brains work, Kelly suggests that a presentation doesn't need to be any longer than seven slides. Anything beyond that is wasting your time and the audiences - they won't remember it. He walks you through the process of developing a story, from creating a premise to establishing conflict, adding tension, and ultimately providing a resolution to your presentation.

If all seven slides are used, here is the sequence:
1. Engagement - create dramatic impact, perhaps demonstrate the core conflict
2. Backstory - give just enough, not too much
3. Build Tension - it's all about consequences
4. Bring it to a Boil - create real pressure, something that needs resolution
5. Offer Choices - don't give solutions, give them options. Avoid seeking the best, go for the least objectionable to all.
6. Provide Resolution - focus on what, let them ask how
7. Set up the Sequel - let them "take charge," fill in the blanks.

The book closes with examples of how to use the process for meetings, with third party contractors, in sales, etc.

Longer and more detailed than you may expect from the title, there is some excellent guidance in this book if you are patient enough to wade through it.

Well written books are a rarity. Well written business books even more so. Unfortunately, Kelly's book on preparing a presentation is not an exception to the rule. His book is self published and is missing the normal editing work and graphics support that a commercial publishing house might provide. His core idea that telling stories is more powerful than reciting facts is useful, but his book fails to tell a story and is just a collection of do's and don'ts, "shoulding" all over his readers. While style might be arguably subjective, he fails to practice his own recommendations. The book is visually ugly. His points are not supported by his references. He creates no interest, sustains no tension, and provides no resolution. He can't tell a story were his life dependent on it. And oh yes, he trademarked his title.

If you use PowerPoint, even occasionally, it is imperative you buy and review this book! Not only does it contain material important to the creation of the PowerPoint but, it delves into presenting the material that skews the probability of a sale in your favor. It suggests how to present the salient facts in a compelling, modified approach with suggestions should the PP pages require more amplification.

It's quite a concept! It encourages participation and attention on the part of the meeting attendees to the presentation. This long time sales guru has analyzed the process and offers a method that will work for you without paying his firm's fee for just the cost of the book. Immediate cost savings.

Others here have offered contrary impressions and/or faulted the examples presented thus, overlooking the thrust of the book and choosing to focus on secondary factors. Of course, they are entitled to their views however, if you want to grab an audience and hold their attention thru the presentation get this book.

Very pleased with the book. It delivered on what was advertised. Real help in building presentations that focus on communicating what you want and not getting hung up on cute PowerPoint transitions.

M Schupbach Dallas, TX