Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck (Perfect Paperback)

~ Rick Altman (Author)
Key Phrases: pro show, alternative text, new title master, Series Item, Slide Show, Custom Animation (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Did you learn PowerPoint in 15 minutes? Join the crowd...most people spend less than a half-hour getting to know the program that might be responsible for more first impressions of them and their company than anything else. This book is for earnest presenters and presentation designers who want to escape the perils that entrap so many who turn to PowerPoint for their presentations.

About the Author

Rick Altman is one of the most widely-read authors on graphics and presentations in the world, with 15 titles to his name. He is the host of the PowerPoint Live User Conference, an annual learning event for presentation professionals (www.pptlive.com), and the CorelWorld User Conference (www.corelworld.com). He is a regular speaker at industry events that focus on better communications.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 271 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books; 1st edition (April 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615142230
• ISBN-13: 978-0615142234
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #88,965 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why, Unfortunately, This Book Sucks, February 28, 2009

By	Paul J. Kelly "Author of The 7 Slide Solution" - See all my reviews

The title of Rick Altman'book --Why Most PowerPoint Presentations SUCK And How You Can Make Them Better -- is only the first problem with this book (is he promising that if I read this book I can personally make "most"of the millions of PPTs created each day better? Tall order.)

The book actually exemplifies why most PowerPoint presentations "suck" --it is so badly organized that it detracts from some excelllent content.
The book is organized into four parts:
· The Pain (6 chapters): This part offers standard complaints like cramming too much into a presenation and overdoing it on animation:
· The Solution ( 6 chapters) "Pain" can be allleviated, eliminated, or deferred but can it be solved? These kinds of things become increasingly irritating as I proceeded through the book.
· Public Speaking (4 chapters) a 40 page non sequitur given that the book is about PowerPoint
· Working Smarter, Presenting Better (5 Chapters) wherein all pretense of organization is abandoned.

This lack of organization is unfortunate because Rick clearly knows his PowerPoint. The advice he gives is practical, straightforward and useful.

In chapter 9 he states, "...that is the beauty of writing a book that is designed to be uneven. I can indulge the arcane and burrow into the obscure, and there's nothing you can do about it." Wrong. We can take a pass.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars must-have for better presentations, September 10, 2007

By	John Wyne (Winnipeg, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Big "thumbs-up" for Rick Altman's "Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck..."

Everybody admits - our PowerPoint presentations need to improve. There's an understatement! But how? What can we do to make a real difference for our self - and our audiences?

Have stacks of PPT how-to books. This is the first one that finally got the mix of technical, creative & presenter savvy right. -- and the first (I think) that I actually read cover to cover!

The conversational tone of the writing was more like a personal tutor walking you through the subtle nuances of the software that both designers & presenters need to know. This book is filled with the great ideas, practical examples, and good background information you've been looking for.

There's a good selection of practical techniques you can put to work immediately -- they've already influenced how I think about the shows I develop. The methodology & layout made sense and was easy to follow to achieve the promised results.

There are also numerous links that enable the reader to download working examples of the techniques he describes, as well as valuable insights about complementary third-party software.

It was also a "shot in the arm" for a long-suffering PPT user trying to push the envelope a little with each show!

If you're not getting the results you want with PPT, quit blaming MS -- maybe you need to learn something new. This book is top rate.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nicely Done (with a few nits :-), November 30, 2008

By	Jason Levitt "fair and balanced" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First, a few quibbles.

* The index is worthless. I'm not sure why the author (or the book editor?) dropped the ball on the index, but it's almost non-existent. If this book were more of a typical reference book, you'd lose some points for that, but since it's more of a handbook, it's not so bad.

* No mention of the Macintosh versions (it's not going away -- deal with it :-). I've had more than my share of issues where I prepared my Powerpoint on a Macintosh and then (for whatever reason) had to present on some Windows machine that was tied to the conference room projector. Or, I had to share presentations with teammates who used Windows (and vice versa). Fonts, graphics, video files, animation -- there are plenty of potential cross-platform issues that could really benefit from the author's expertise.

* Size. Yes, size does matter when you are sending presentations to team members via email. PPT files can get really big really fast. I was surprised that there wasn't a short section that addressed ways to minimize the file size of presentations.

I've looked at a lot of computer books over the years, and this book is far better than most. The key thing the author does (that most computer books don't) is really address the user needs as opposed to just outlining the information and regurgitating it. Nicely done.