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Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire
 
 
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Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire [Paperback]

Cliff Atkinson (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews) |

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Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0735623872 | ISBN-13: 978-0735623873

Unlock the amazing story buried in your presentation—and forget boring bullet points forever! Now updated for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, this widely-acclaimed book includes seven new examples of compelling presentations from board room to classroom. Communications expert Cliff Atkinson guides you, step by step, through his revolutionary three-step method for increasing the impact of your presentations. You’ll discover how to combine classic storytelling techniques with the power of visual media to create a rich, engaging experience. Transform the way you create and deliver your critical message—and quickly bring your ideas to life!

FOCUS:

Learn how to distill and shape your best ideas into a crisp and compelling narrative.

CLARIFY:

Use a storyboard to illustrate your ideas, creating the right blend of message and media.

ENGAGE:

Move from merely reading your slides to creating a rich, connected experience with your audience—and increase your impact!

CD includes:

  • Cliff’s custom templates—build your story!
  • Quick reference checklists for compelling presentations
  • Complete eBook—plus bonus content!

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to booktech@oreilly.com.

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From the Publisher

Key Book Benefits:

Goes beyond how-to and features innovative, easy-to-apply techniques to help you clarify, visualize, and present your ideas

-Written by a leading presentation-skills consultant and popular author

-Includes information on graphic design and delivering presentations online

-Features a CD with sample PowerPoint files and graphics--plus bonus resources on a companion Web site

About the Author

Critically praised author and presentation expert Cliff Atkinson is revolutionizing the way people use Microsoft PowerPoint to communicate. He is a popular keynote speaker and consultant—teaching his innovative three-step method to Fortune 500 companies, law firms, government agencies, and business schools.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Microsoft Press (October 10, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0735623872
  • ISBN-13: 978-0735623873
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Cliff Atkinson Page
Cliff Atkinson
Cliff Atkinson is an acclaimed writer, popular keynote speaker, and a consultant to leading attorneys, Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. He designed the presentations that helped persuade a jury to award a $253 million verdict to the plaintiff in the nation's first Vioxx trial in 2005, which Fortune magazine called "frighteningly powerful." Cliff's book "Beyond Bullet Points" (Microsoft Press, 2007) was named a Best Book of 2007 by the editors of Amazon.com, and it expands on a communications approach he has taught at many of the country's top corporations, advertising agencies, law firms, government agencies and business schools including Sony, Toyota, Nestle, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Intel, Microsoft and the United Nations. Cliff's latest book is titled "The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever" (New Riders, 2009).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Beyond Bullet Points is about how to communicate effectively using PowerPoint. You start by defining a single purpose or goal, set a limited number of objectives to achieve that goal, and support those objectives with explanations logically arranged.

Nothing new about that. What's special here is an easy-to-follow system that pretty much guarantees success by forcing you to think about what the audience needs to know, rather than what to put on a slide. It's a very solid approach and much more helpful than, "First, write down your goal."

The process starts with a MS Word template that is so simple, elegant and easy to use that I couldn't resist trying it. Once completed, it becomes a roadmap or specification that guides you in creating or finding images that best support the points you want to get across.

The author has distilled thousands of years of knowledge about effective communication - from Aristotle to recent research by educational psychologists - into a very simple and practical system. And should you for some reason want to delve into original sources, he credits them.

It's much more about content than the software, and assumes a rudimentary knowledge of PowerPoint. It does not include any of those ubiquitous thematic templates with design elements repeated on each slide, and it explains why they should be avoided. It does include a PowerPoint template to help organize and structure your presentation.

On the negative side, though the system is simple and elegant, the book less so. It would benefit from a good editing, paring it down to about a third its size. And its layout and design is less inviting than it might be.

But that doesn't detract from the value of the information, which includes advice on editing presentations ruthlessly and making the design simple, clear and attractive. The author has thoughtfully provided a concise summary of the system as appendices - not in the book but on the included CD. I suggest you print out appendices A, C, and D first, and use them as a guide through the text.
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58 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I recommend "Beyond Bullet Points" in my class all the time. I continually have people coming up to me and asking where my slides came from or how I go about creating them. While I cannot say that I stick to the BBP process strictly, I do use its concepts heavily in my slides. This is why I tell these people ot start with BBP.

Well, I just picked up my copy of the 2007 version of BBP last week and wow! This is what it should have always been. It was good before, but the difference between the original BBP and the 2007 versions is as big as the difference between PowerPoint 2003 and PowerPoint 2007. Cliff has provided much more in the way of research-based findings that support the BBP methodology. He has also, I feel, done a much better job of explaining the whole process.

If you are totally new to BBP, you will understand the process and the reason it works much better with this new version that those of us who are old timers now. If you've used the first book or were even turned off by the first book, I highly recommend taking a look at this one. I don't believe you'll regret it.
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book converted me from an anti-PowerPoint extremist to a true believer. Why? Because all my traditional - and well accepted - ideas about putting together PowerPoints were wrong. Atkinson's BBP system is far better. He starts by explaining some basics about how we learn. What he says makes sense and is backed up by research. Traditional PowerPoint presentations violate most or all of these basics by trying to convey too much, too quickly. Atkinson shows how to break up ideas into digestible and memorable pieces with the proper use of templates, text, and images. But before getting into those specifics, he details his system for creating your overall PowerPoint story. Again, his suggestions run counter to conventional practice. For instance, in BBP, everything starts with the Slide Sorter View. Like most people, I guess, I'd start with the Normal View and start pounding out slides. Wrong! With BBP, you craft your story logically and systematically using storytelling methods that are tried and true. The heart of BBP is in storyboarding, which Atkinson likens to the art of storyboarding a film. The result of using BBP is a presentation that is coherent and persuasive.

Atkinson provides the theory and all the "how-to" details for building a presentation using his templates, PowerPoint 2007, and various other Microsoft products. If you don't use the 2007 version of PowerPoint, many of the "how-to" procedures won't apply. The book is still worth reading if only for an understanding of BPP principles and techniques.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Power-point...
While I am still in the process of reading this book, I can attest to the fact that it is quit thorough and applicable to my daily work. Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. Jones
Very helpful
I ordered this book for help with a big presentation I needed to give. It made preparation easy and the presentation was a hit. I got a bonus! Read more
Published 13 months ago by Kathy
Ending Death by PowerPoint
Beyond Bullet Points provides a very solid methodology to easily create a presentation that will not only prevent death by powerpoint, but will also get your audience engaged. Read more
Published 17 months ago by L. Scott
A lot of words...
For a book that is supposed to be beyond bullet points it uses a lot of words. I could not get through it. Read more
Published 17 months ago by William Buchko
couldn't get into it
I bought this book as a textbook for a graduate school class, and just couldn't get into it. Maybe it's really useful, I just couldn't get myself to sit down and actually read it.
Published 19 months ago by biethan
Not enough pictures
I was disappointed in the book. Having experienced a webcast several years ago, I was so looking forward to the book. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Hello Diddy
Used - Beyond Bullet Points
Great book with tips on how to make your presentations deliver the messgae you want without putting the audience to sleep.
Published on December 23, 2009 by Alan Sacco
Had My Audience in the Palm of My Hand
Beyond Bullet Points helped me to create my very first and very successful PowerPoint presentation before an audience of 80 people. Read more
Published on November 24, 2009 by BethesdaReader
Waste of Money
Doesn't worth reading the book.
The author does basically 2 things: 1) Show you how to use the paradigm of Hollywood to produce movies into PowerPoint using a 3 Acts template... Read more
Published on October 20, 2009 by Francisco del Rosal
It does go Beyond Bullet Points...but not that much further.
Over the last 6 months (and, I guess, really it started about a year ago), my work life has become a lot of creating decks and then presenting them to people. Read more
Published on October 4, 2009 by Jason Toney
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
solid fill, protected mode, next mark, case theme, nested storyboards, story template, first five slides, slide hierarchy, verbal strands, hidden headline, classical story structure, puzzle motif, most important slides, slide headlines, beyond bullet points, three ground rules, question your audience, pipeline metaphor, aesthetic match, five headlines, editing headlines, informational hierarchy, custom layouts, corresponding slides, using navigation bar
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Key Point, Notes Page, Slide Sorter, The Plan, The Analysis, Visual Improv, The Report, The Class, The Pitch, Notes Master, Storyboard Formatter, Getting Started, Pat Coleman, Slide Master, Microsoft Office, Sketching Your Storyboard, Sketching the Act, Home Insert Design Animations Slid, Applying Custom Layouts, Format Background, Prioritizing Your Slides, The Trial, Old Dog New Tricks, Planning the Rest of Your Slides, Presentation Views
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
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