How to be a Presentation God: Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate [Hardcover]

Scott Schwertly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2011

How to build, design, and deliver a fire-breathing, wing-flapping, roar-bellowing behemoth of a presentation

Unlike most presentation books that say the same things regarding presentation design and delivery (less is more, get rid of bullets and use images, emulate Steve Jobs, and so on), How to Be a Presentation God actually divulges step-by-step secrets for how to build, design, and deliver blockbuster presentations.

By providing entertaining and clever presentation insights, veteran presenter Scott Schwertly gives you the in's and out's for presenting yourself, your business, and your cause with an easy-to-implement approach.

• Focuses on content, design, and delivery
• Author is a regular speaker at national and regional industry conferences such as PowerPoint Live and Presentation Camps, and is the founder of the award-winning Ethos3 Communications
• Author is the creator of an app, Present, that landed in the top-20 iPhone apps in the Business category on iTunes

How to be a Presentation God will ensure that your presentations reach a new level of effectiveness.

From the Author: A How-To Guide for Slidecasting

Author Scott Schwertly

I’m talking about taking your presentation online. If the commonplace web acts of slidesharing and podcasting got married and had a baby, that baby is Slidecasting. And it changes everything. By pairing your voice with your slides, you can put your little hand in the crook of opportunity’s arm and follow it wherever it goes. Whereas a gathering of two to three potential clients doesn’t always justify a trip to Japan, you now have the capacity to treat them to the full measure of your presentation experience via the Web. You’ve worked hard on your deck; brainstorming, outlining, designing (or paying someone to design), and so on. Shouldn’t you put that deck to work wherever and whenever possible? I feel confident the logic speaks for itself. For many, the only questions are: How hard will this be? And how do I do it?

1. Turn on your computer.
   
2. Visit a slidecasting web site, like SlideShare.
   
3. Upload your presentation to the site.
   
4. Record your voice delivering the presentation.
   
5. Upload the MP3 recording to the Web.
   
6. Link your slidecast to the MP3 recording (the site will have simple instructions for doing this).
   
7. Edit your deck so that the slides change in time with your voice.
8. Sip on a drink while cancelling those mid-winter plane tickets to Warsaw.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

We've all been there: an Excel spreadsheet smeared across a projector screen as someone on stage mumbles into a microphone while you sneakily check your email on your phone just to stay awake. It's presentation hell, and we've all been there before. But it doesn't have to be this way, especially when you're the one delivering the presentation.

As founder of presentation design firm Ethos3, Scott Schwertly knows the difference between a great presentation and a great reason for an audience to take a nap. In How to Be a Presentation God,Schwertly begins to right the multitude of wrongs we have endured at the hands of dull speakers and poorly crafted presentations.

Schwertly shows you how to design and deliver a fire-breathing, earth-shaking presentation that will have your audience praising the heavens and hanging on your every word. You'll find proven and effective step-by-step secrets for delivering transcendent presentations with an easy-to-implement approach focused on engaging content, personal storytelling, and effective design elements—the holy trinity that leads to godly delivery.

As a presenter, your job is to move people, and anything less is merely wasted time. Presentations matter. We use them to convince others to do more, think differently, or invest in our ideas. Yet most of us can't seem to muster the forethought, passion, and execution that our ideas deserve. If you've got a presentation to deliver, it's probably important to you. So treat it that way.

How to Be a Presentation God gives you the tools you need to deliver when it matters and fulfill your own passion and vision for what can and should be. When people take time out of their day to sit and listen to you speak, not boring them to death is the least you can do. Packed with examples and lessons from great presenters—from Abraham Lincoln to Steve Jobs—this book shows you how to beat the boredom, flip your script, and start changing the world . . . one presentation at a time.

From the Back Cover

Praise for How to Be a Presentation God

"Please take my word for it. As the book's title says, if you want to be apresentation god, you simply must buy this book."—Richard MatsumotoHead of Global Business Development, Global Managed Services Division, Fujitsu Ltd.

"At the heart of every presentation is a story begging to be told in an engaging way . . . Scott and his team get this and have a unique talent for transforming the boring into the meaningful."—Carlos RoldanCreative Media Manager, Trade Marketing and Sales Communications,Carnival Cruise Lines

"At a time when everyone is increasingly bombarded with messages, Scott's book provides wonderful perspectives and tools for each of us to stand out from the crowd—connect with our audience—and become more effective storytellers. The best communicators are almost always the best storytellers!"—Mike DuBoiseSr. Vice President, Customer Marketing and Category Management, Universal Studios Home Entertainment

"The brilliance of How to Be a Presentation God is that it inspires you to rethink the way you approach creating and giving presentations moving forward."—Chuck DietrichCEO, SlideRocket

"In typical Ethos3 fashion, this book provides you loads of presentation wisdom, while maintaining a fun, whimsical, and irreverent tone."—Michael PortNew York Times bestselling author of Book Yourself Solid and The Think Big Manifesto

"Scott is a presentation genius. I am constantly amazed by how he cantake an idea and turn it into a compelling presentation."—Rashmi SinhaCEO, SlideShare

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470915846
• ISBN-13: 978-0470915844
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scott Schwertly (Nashville, TN) is founder of Ethos3 Communications, a presentation firm providing professional presentation design and training. Ethos3 boasts a national and international client list ranging from Fortune 100 companies like Google and Pepsi, to branded individuals like Guy Kawasaki and Tim Ferriss. Among other honors, Ethos3 placed 1st in the Business Category in Slideshare's World's Best Presentation contest. Scott is a regular speaker at national and regional conferences such as PowerPoint Live & Presentation Camps, and has created an iPhone app, Present, that landed in the Top 20 iPhone apps in the Business Category on iTunes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The most useless book on Presentatios I have read, March 4, 2011

By 

H. Fanning (Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to be a Presentation God: Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate (Hardcover)

Choosing a catching title is fine - but that is almost the only positive point I see in this book. What the author mainly does is urge us to use all our presentations as an occasion 'to change the world'. But when it comes to giving concrete advice, this book simply does not deliver on its title. I recommend Chip and Dan Heath 'Made to stick. Why some ideas survive and others die.' instead.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Same old stuff., July 5, 2011

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: How to be a Presentation God: Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate (Hardcover)

All of us, at one point or another, have something to sell.

For some, it is a daily requirement: if they don't make so many sales calls every day and sell so many widgets, they will be out of a job. For others, It is a situation that may arise only a few times a year or even on just a few occasions in a lifetime.

And when the need to sell something, whether it be a widget or an idea or whatever, people reach for PowerPoint.

The net result is millions upon millions of boring PowerPoint presentations - and countless millions of lost opportunities to sell whatever it is being sold.

Scott Schwertly wants to help you "Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate".

And he does that, sort of, by repeating the things other people have written. Not plagiarism, mind you, but just a recycling of the same kind of advice you'd find in dozens of other similar books. Gems such as " [c]ontrolling your presentation, then, is a vital aspect of controlling your message and, more importantly, what people think about it." One nostrum, one old adage after another. The writing style is lively and some may find the illustrations cute, but there is no golden treasure trove of secret knowledge between the covers of this book. But you'll find plenty of chestnuts like "Start making a habit of imagining life from another person's point of view. Your presentations will take on a new level of emotional interaction that is vital to establishing credibility and rapport."

Toward the close of the book, the author shows how to become a Presentation God with an example from the remake of the "Karate Kid" movie. That's right, you can learn how to become a Presentation God by studying the example of fictional characters in a movie.

This is not the worst book on honing your presentation skills, but it isn't really much more than fluff like "Confidence is the painted metal door that separates the nerds stuffed in the locker from the jocks that do the stuffing".

You really may want to intensively browse this book before buying it.

Jerry

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not sure I'm even a demi-god after this book., June 18, 2011

By 

Mike B of Syd "Mike" (Oz) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to be a Presentation God: Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate (Hardcover)

There's a lot of superfluous text in this book. That might be to your liking in which case you'll enjoy reading this: there are countless little 'whimsical' bits to keep you entertained as you wait for the promised apotheosis. I hit somewhere around page 60 before I felt the book had really started to get to its core message - what had come before might well be Mr Schwertly's style on stage (and I guess it *might* be entertaining in that context) but here it just seems to be unnecessarily wordy.

There is value in this book: there is a summary of the various types of presentation styles in use (Godin, Takahashi, Lessis) and a core message about the 3 requirements for a great presentation (Content, Design, Delivery) and I found some interest in reading such sections but, again, it was too little and far too late. For example: Design is important. If you're not good at design then perhaps hire some outside talent. I guess that's good advice (and he does mention a website or two that discusses design) but it's nowhere near enough given that this book stretches to some 240 pages. Content? Find your message in 3 "bullets" - something that I think has been covered before (for example, "Beyond Bullet Points") and better elsewhere.

While this is not an expensive book, I would recommend, in its place, other titles that simply deliver more useful content. Given the focus on Content, Design and Delivery, I would propose:

Content: Weissman's "Presenting to Win." Excellent. It also includes more on design than here.
Design: Reynold's "Presentation Zen."
Delivery: There are countless of these available and it depends upon perceived areas of need which mechanism might work best. But there is better elsewhere than here with a full chapter (!!) dedicated to 'being a chatterbox' as part of the persona of deliver.

From a (still) lowly mortal.