We've ranked the best presentation books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.
Cover unavailable
1
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
Garr Reynolds
5.0
Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today’s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations. --back cover
…
Cover unavailable
2
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The instant classic about why some ideas thrive, why others die, and how to improve your idea's chances--essential reading in the "fake news" era.
Mark Twain once observed, "A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on." His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus news stories circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas--entrepreneurs, teachers, politicians, and journalists--struggle to make them "stick."
In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds--from the infamous "kidney theft ring" hoax to a coach's lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony--draw their power from the same six traits.
Made to Stick will transform the way you communicate. It's a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice.
Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas--and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.
@conorgil My all-time favorite example of research communication is The Selfish Gene. Astonishingly effective at explaining deep research ideas/findings to a lay reader. A book with great advice: https://t.co/QD1sM2o0z6 (It isn't specific to research but still super valuable.) [source]
Bill Liao
The Book "Made to Stick" combined with "The Poetics" by Aristotle really helped me to see the power of telling great stories with surprises in them and every time I meet a start-up I can always make a contribution to their pitch. [source]
Cristian-Dragos Baciu
I highly recommend all the books written by the Heath brothers, especially Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die. This one's a must-read for marketers. The reason I enjoyed their work so much is because they offer real-life stories and insights that makes it so much easier for the reader to imprint that information in his mind [source]
Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly acclaimed book.
You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.
It covers a range of ways in which we end up doing things, and how we don’t understand why we’re doing them. [source]
Max Levchin
Co-founder/PayPal, CEO/Affirm, Investor
Max Levchin recommended this book as an answer to "What business books would you advise young entrepreneurs read?" [source]
Cover unavailable
4
slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
Nancy Duarte
4.9
No matter where you are on the organizational ladder, the odds are high that you've delivered a high-stakes presentation to your peers, your boss, your customers, or the general public. Presentation software is one of the few tools that requires professionals to think visually on an almost daily basis. But unlike verbal skills, effective visual expression is not easy, natural, or actively taught in schools or business training programs. slide:ology fills that void.
Written by Nancy Duarte, President and CEO of Duarte Design, the firm that created the presentation for Al Gore's Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, this book is full of practical approaches to visual story development that can be applied by anyone. The book combines conceptual thinking and inspirational design, with insightful case studies from the world's leading brands. With slide:ology you'll learn to:
Connect with specific audiences Turn ideas into informative graphics Use sketching and diagramming techniques effectively Create graphics that enable audiences to process information easily Develop truly influential presentations Utilize presentation technology to your advantage Millions of presentations and billions of slides have been produced -- and most of them miss the mark. slide:ology will challenge your traditional approach to creating slides by teaching you how to be a visual thinker. And it will help your career by creating momentum for your cause. --back cover
…
Cover unavailable
5
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High is a guide to hone your conversation skills, and prepare you for the most important or trying times of your life and career. The book discusses how talking in the right way can help people achieve what they want. People are often tongue-tied when it comes to interacting with someone, especially when there is a lot of tension in the air. Strong emotions often give away the ability to rationalise one's thoughts, especially during conversations, and emotionally-driven conversations will not work on important occasions. This book teaches readers how to tackle such situations with ease. It provides tips on how to be persuasive, and turn a conversation to one's advantage. The book helps in dealing with confrontations at home, at work, and even with friends. These skills can positively impact the lives of the book's readers in all spheres, and direct their thoughts in a constructive manner. Some of the sections from the book are, How to Notice When Safety Is at Risk, How to Speak Persuasively Not Abrasively, How to Turn Crucial Conversations, and How to Stay Focused on What You Really Want.Kerry Patterson, the co-founder of VitalSmarts, has authored four bestsellers. Some of his other books are Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success, and Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior. Joseph Grenny works as a consultant for many Fortune 500 companies and has impacted many lives throughout the globe through his corporate change initiatives. He is the co-founder of VitalSmarts, and a popular speaker too. Al Switzler is the author of four New York Times bestsellers and has designed and framed many programs for Fortune 500 companies. Ron McMillan has worked as a leadership consultant and trained many people, from first level managers to CEOs.
…
Recommended by Max Levchin and Deke Bridges.
Max Levchin
Co-founder/PayPal, CEO/Affirm, Investor
A now-venerable guide to having tough conversations in a way that engages the debaters. [source]
Deke Bridges
Picked up this great book @Powells to read. Better conversation and listening enables you to get deeper into subjects at hand. When talking with people, this makes your communication skills a very powerful tool. Always be learning. #growth #education #leadership https://t.co/r0ujX9IPqh [source]
Cover unavailable
6
Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences
Nancy Duarte
4.8
Reveals the underlying story form of all great presentations that will not only create impact, but will move people to action Presentations are meant to inform, inspire, and persuade audiences. So why then do so many audiences leave feeling like they've wasted their time? All too often, presentations don't resonate with the audience and move them to transformative action.
Just as the author's first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action. The author's approach is simple: building a presentation today is a bit like writing a documentary. Using this approach, you'll convey your content with passion, persuasion, and impact.
Author has a proven track record, including having created the slides in Al Gore's Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth Focuses on content development methodologies that are not only fundamental but will move people to action Upends the usual paradigm by making the audience the hero and the presenter the mentor Shows how to use story techniques of conflict and resolution Presentations don't have to be boring ordeals. You can make them fun, exciting, and full of meaning. Leave your audiences energized and ready to take action with Resonate.
…
Recommended by Brian Burkhart.
Brian Burkhart
But the book which really hit home was “Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences,” by Nancy Duarte. It’s interesting, I didn’t agree with her methodology or like much of what I read. It was too complex and not realistic for people to use in everyday life. That said, it did help confirm to me that I was onto something. It was a different kind of validation than Godin—that the power of a great presentation isn’t just one man’s opinion. There’s real science behind it. [source]
Cover unavailable
7
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?
People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. It was their natural ability to start with why that enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.
In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way—and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be lead, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.
Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? WHY are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?
Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Those who start with WHY never manipulate, they inspire. And the people who follow them don't do so because they have to; they follow because they want to.
Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or who wants to find someone to inspire them.
Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]
The basis of this book is so important to anyone looking to increase their influence, profits or impact. People won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. When you start with the why, everything else falls into place. This book is so impactful, I consider it required reading. [source]
Tony Hsieh
CEO/Zappos.com
Over the years he’s recommended well over 20 business books — including his own, the 2010 bestseller Delivering Happiness and you can always find what he’s currently reading atop his cluttered desk. Start with Why is amogst those titles. [source]
Cover unavailable
8
TED Talks: The official TED guide to public speaking
In Ted Talks Chris Anderson, head of TED, reveals the inside secrets of how to give a first-class presentation. Where books like Talk Like TED and TED Talks Storytelling whetted the appetite, here is the official TED guide to public speaking from the man who put TED talks on the world's stage. 'Nobody in the world better understands the art and science of public speaking than Chris Anderson. He is absolutely the best person to have written this book' Elizabeth Gilbert.
Anderson shares his five key techniques to presentation success: Connection, Narration, Explanation, Persuasion and Revelation (plus the three to avoid). He also answers the most frequently asked questions about giving a talk, from 'What should I wear?' to 'How do I handle my nerves?'.
Ted Talks is also full of presentation tips from such TED notable speakers as Sir Ken Robinson, Bill Gates, Mary Roach, Amy Cuddy, Elizabeth Gilbert, Dan Gilbert, Amanda Palmer, Matt Ridley and many more. This is a lively, fun read with great practical application from the man who knows what goes into a truly memorable speech. In Ted Talks Anderson pulls back the TED curtain for anyone who wants to learn how to prepare an exceptional presentation.
…
Recommended by Chris Anderson, Chris Anderson, Chris Anderson, and 1 others.
Chris Anderson
In Apollo week, a great book recommendation: this more than a story of a computer--it's about the first shot in the man vs machine battles (should astronauts be pilots or "spam in a can"?) that foreshadowed today's debates about drones & self driving cars https://t.co/CidYughKHz [source]
Chris Anderson
In Apollo week, a great book recommendation: this more than a story of a computer--it's about the first shot in the man vs machine battles (should astronauts be pilots or "spam in a can"?) that foreshadowed today's debates about drones & self driving cars https://t.co/CidYughKHz [source]
Chris Anderson
In Apollo week, a great book recommendation: this more than a story of a computer--it's about the first shot in the man vs machine battles (should astronauts be pilots or "spam in a can"?) that foreshadowed today's debates about drones & self driving cars https://t.co/CidYughKHz [source]
Cover unavailable
9
Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds
Ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century. In order to succeed, you need to be able to sell your ideas persuasively. This ability is the single greatest skill that will help you accomplish your dreams. Many people have a fear of public speaking or are insecure about their ability to give a successful presentation. Now public speaking coach and bestselling author Carmine Gallo explores what makes a great presentation by examining the widely acclaimed TED Talks, which have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking. TED ? which stands for technology, entertainment, and design ? brings together the world's leading thinkers. These are the presentations that set the world on fire, and the techniques that top TED speakers use will make any presentation more dynamic, fire up any team, and give anyone the confidence to overcome their fear of public speaking.
In his book, Carmine Gallo has broken down hundreds of TED talks and interviewed the most popular TED presenters, as well as the top researchers in the fields of psychology, communications, and neuroscience to reveal the nine secrets of all successful TED presentations. Gallo's step-by-step method makes it possible for anyone to deliver a presentation that is engaging, persuasive, and memorable.
Carmine Gallo's top 10 Wall Street Journal Bestseller Talk Like TED will give anyone who is insecure about their public speaking abilities the tools to communicate the ideas that matter most to them, the skill to win over hearts and minds, and the confidence to deliver the talk of their lives.
The opinions expressed by Carmine Gallo in TALK LIKE TED are his own. His book is not endorsed, sponsored or authorized by TED Conferences, LLC or its affiliates.
…
Recommended by Emma Wedekind, Radu Marcusu, and Shaen Yeo.
A book that most recently made a difference for me was Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds. My IMWorld speech this year benefited tremendously from Carmine Gallo's framing of the nine secrets of all time successful TED presentations. I believe Gallo's step-by-step method makes it possible for anyone to sell their ideas persuasively when delivering a presentation. … Talk like TED is NOT an optional book whatever career path you want to follow. A person can have the best idea in the World, but if that person can not convince enough people, it doesn’t matter. I’ve seen too many good ideas dim due to lack of pitching skills. This book will help you raise your game when it comes to selling your ideas. [source]
Shaen Yeo
In the book Talk like TED, there were a few suggestions on how to make my speech better. I tweaked the way I speak using the advice, and produced a speech like never before. I had many people coming up to shake my hands and offer me name cards! [source]
From the author of the bestselling biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, this is the exclusive, New York Times bestselling biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.
Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.
Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.
For Chesky, a source may come in the form of a biography of a business hero such as Steve Jobs or Walt Disney. His primary book source on management technique is Andy Grove’s High Output Management. [source]
Cover unavailable
11
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
Carmine Gallo
4.6
The Wall Street Journal Bestseller!
Updated to include Steve Jobs's iPad and iPad2 launch presentations
"The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs reveals the operating system behind any great presentation and provides you with a quick-start guide to design your own passionate interfaces with your audiences." --Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points and The Activist Audience
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs's wildly popular presentations have set a new global gold standard--and now this step-by-step guide shows you exactly how to use his crowd-pleasing techniques in your own presentations.
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is as close as you'll ever get to having the master presenter himself speak directly in your ear. Communications expert Carmine Gallo has studied and analyzed the very best of Jobs's performances, offering point-by-point examples, tried-and-true techniques, and proven presentation secrets in 18 "scenes," including:
Develop a messianic sense of purpose Reveal the Conquering hero Channel your inner Zen Stage your presentation with props Make it look effortless With this revolutionary approach, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to sell your ideas, share your enthusiasm, and wow your audience the Steve Jobs way.
"No other leader captures an audience like Steve Jobs does and, like no other book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs captures the formula Steve uses to enthrall audiences." --Rob Enderle, The Enderle Group
"Now you can learn from the best there is--both Jobs and Gallo. No matter whether you are a novice presenter or a professional speaker like me, you will read and reread this book with the same enthusiasm that people bring to their iPods." --David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave
…
Recommended by Jack H. M. Wong.
Jack H. M. Wong
Question: What five books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path & why? Answer: Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki Second Chance - Robert Kiyosaki Why the Rich Are Getting Richer - Robert Kiyosaki The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience - Carmine Gallo The Little Voice Mastery - Blair Singer [source]
Cover unavailable
12
Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal
When it comes to delivering a pitch, Oren Klaff has unparalleled credentials. Over the past 13 years, he has used his one-of-a- kind method to raise more than $400 million--and now, for the first time, he describes his formula to help you deliver a winning pitch in any business situation.
Whether you're selling ideas to investors, pitching a client for new business, or even negotiating for a higher salary, "Pitch Anything "will transform the way you position your ideas.
According to Klaff, creating and presenting a great pitch isn't an art--it's a simple science. Applying the latest findings in the field of neuroeconomics, while sharing eye-opening stories of his method in action, Klaff describes how the brain makes decisions and responds to pitches. With this information, you'll remain in complete control of every stage of the pitch process.
"Pitch Anything" introduces the exclusive STRONG method of pitching, which can be put to use immediately:
Setting the Frame
Telling the Story
Revealing the Intrigue
Offering the Prize
Nailing the Hookpoint
Getting a Decision
One truly great pitch can improve your career, make you a lot of money--and even change your life. Success is dependent on the method you use, not how hard you try. "Better method, more money," Klaff says. "Much better method, much more money." Klaff is the best in the business because his method is much better than anyone else's. And now it's yours.
Apply the tactics and strategies outlined in "Pitch Anything" to engage and persuade your audience--and you'll have more funding and support than you ever thought possible.
…
Recommended by Alice Kemper, Jeff Gibbard, Michael Herrmann, and 1 others.
Jeff Gibbard
This book single-handedly changed my life. BY learning the principles of "Frame Control" I have had much greater success in sales, public speaking, and in managing my team. [source]
Michael Herrmann
Great book on pitching, and more generally, sales. Funny too. Has some ideas very reminiscent of Thinking Fast and Slow. [source]
Cover unavailable
13
Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations
Garr Reynolds
4.6
In his internationally acclaimed, best-selling book Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, presentation master Garr Reynolds gave readers the framework for planning, putting together, and delivering successful presentations. Now, he takes us further into the design realm and shows how we can apply time-honored design principles to presentation layouts.
Throughout Presentation Zen Design, Garr shares his lessons on designing effective presentations that contain text, graphs, color, images, and video. After establishing guidelines for each of the various elements, he explains how to achieve an overall harmony and balance using the tenets of Zen simplicity. Not only will you discover how to design your slides for more professional-looking presentations, you'll learn to communicate more clearly and will accomplish the goal of making a stronger, more lasting connection with your audience.
…
Cover unavailable
14
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World
The New York Times bestselling author and social media expert returns with hard-won advice on how to connect with customers and beat the competition by mastering social media marketing
When managers and marketers outline their social media strategies, they often plan for the "right hook"-their next highly anticipated sale or campaign that's going to put the competition out for the count. Even companies committed to jabbing-patiently engaging with customers to build the relationships so crucial to successful social media campaigns-still yearn to land the powerful, bruising swing that will knock out their opponent or their customer's resistance in one tooth-spritzing, killer blow. Right hooks, after all, convert traffic to sales. They easily show results and ROI. Except when they don't.
In the same passionate, street-wise style readers have come to expect, Gary Vaynerchuk is on a mission to improve marketers' right hooks by changing the way they fight to make their customers happy, and ultimately to compete. Thanks to the massive change and proliferation in social media platforms in the last four years, the winning combination of jabs and right hooks is different now. Communication is still key, but context matters more than ever. It's not just about developing high-quality content, but developing high-quality content perfectly adapted to specific social media platforms and mobile devices-content tailor-made for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr. A mash-up of the best elements of Crush It! and The Thank You Economy with a 2013 spin, here is a blueprint to social media marketing strategies that really works.
…
Recommended by Daymond John, Marvin Liao, Aaron Agius, and 35 others.
Marvin Liao
Partner/500 Startups
My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian). [source]
Alex Circei
Question: What five books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path & why? Answer: Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons In Life by Richard Branson Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action by Simon Sinek The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki [source]
Auston Bunsen
I’ve got a few, one book that really impacted me early on as someone coming from a middle-class family was “Rich dad, Poor dad”. [source]
A former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new, field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations—whether in the boardroom or at home.
After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a hostage negotiator brought him face-to-face with a range of criminals, including bank robbers and terrorists. Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator. Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss’s head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues to succeed where it mattered most: saving lives. In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles—counter-intuitive tactics and strategies—you too can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal life.
Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car; negotiating a salary; buying a home; renegotiating rent; deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.
Emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence without sacrificing deal-making power. From the pen of a former hostage negotiator—someone who couldn’t take no for an answer—which makes it fascinating reading. But it’s also eminently practical. In these pages, you will find the techniques for getting the deal you want. [source]
This book blew my mind. It’s a riveting read, full of instantly actionable advice—not just for high-stakes negotiations, but also for handling everyday conflicts at work and at home. [source]
Cover unavailable
16
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Edward R. Tufte
4.5
The classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables. Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis. Design of the high-resolution displays, small multiples. Editing and improving graphics. The data-ink ratio. Time-series, relational graphics, data maps, multivariate designs. Detection of graphical deception: design variation vs. data variation. Sources of deception. Aesthetics and data graphical displays. This is the second edition of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Recently published, this new edition provides excellent color reproductions of the many graphics of William Playfair, adds color to other images, and includes all the changes and corrections accumulated during 17 printings of the first edition.
…
Recommended by Bret Victor and Michael Okuda.
Michael Okuda
Edward Tufte's classic book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information is a fascinating, surprisingly readable treatise for anyone interested in infographics. When I hired artists for the Star Trek graphics dept, I sometimes asked them to read it.https://t.co/cK4GQqBDxp [source]
Cover unavailable
17
The Non-Designer's Presentation Book: Principles for Effective Presentation Design
Robin Williams
4.4
Robin Williams, teacher and designer, knows what it takes to give a good presentation. In this revised and updated book, Robin makes it easy for even first-time presenters to get past their fears of creating a presentation. She expands upon the four fundamental principles of good design and typography introduced in her award-winning Non-Designer's series and adds four more principles specific to achieving clear communication with slides.
Let Robin guide you in her signature light-hearted style through the entire process of creating a presentation—from planning and organizing your ideas to designing effective, beautiful slides that won't put your audience to sleep.
In this essential guide to presentation design, you'll learn:
• What makes a good presentation—or a bad one • How to plan, organize, and outline your presentation • Four principles for developing effective presentations • Four principles for designing beautiful slides that communicate clearly • Specific tips for using animation and transitions that aren't annoying • A list of timeless presentation rules . . . that you should totally ignore
…
Cover unavailable
18
The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations with or Without Slides
Garr Reynolds
4.4
When we learn to present naked, we reach our audiences by communicating the essence of the message, stripping away all that is unnecessary and embracing the ideas of simplicity, clarity, honesty, integrity, and passion. If "slideware" is used, the slides never steal the show or rise above serving a strong but simple supportive role. The ideas in the presentation may or may not be radical, earth shattering, or new, but there is freshness to the approach and content that makes a lasting impression.
In this invaluable resource from the author for the best-selling books Presentation Zen and Presentation Zen Design, you will discover how to get to the core of your message and deliver presentations that are as natural as they are memorable. Whether you are just in the planning stages or need advice for a talk that begins in an hour, you'll find wisdom in The Naked Presenter that you can use to connect deeply with your audience and deliver a great presentation.
…
Cover unavailable
19
Confessions of a Public Speaker
Scott Berkun
4.4
In this hilarious and highly practical book, author and professional speaker Scott Berkun reveals the techniques behind what great communicators do, and shows how anyone can learn to use them well. For managers and teachers -- and anyone else who talks and expects someone to listen -- Confessions of a Public Speaker provides an insider's perspective on how to effectively present ideas to anyone. It's a unique, entertaining, and instructional romp through the embarrassments and triumphs Scott has experienced over 15 years of speaking to crowds of all sizes.
With lively lessons and surprising confessions, you'll get new insights into the art of persuasion -- as well as teaching, learning, and performance -- directly from a master of the trade.
Highlights include:
Berkun's hard-won and simple philosophy, culled from years of lectures, teaching courses, and hours of appearances on NPR, MSNBC, and CNBC
Practical advice, including how to work a tough room, the science of not boring people, how to survive the attack of the butterflies, and what to do when things go wrong
The inside scoop on who earns $30,000 for a one-hour lecture and why
The worst -- and funniest -- disaster stories you've ever heard (plus countermoves you can use) Filled with humorous and illuminating stories of thrilling performances and real-life disasters, Confessions of a Public Speaker is inspirational, devastatingly honest, and a blast to read.
…
Cover unavailable
20
Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals
Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
4.4
Don't simply show your data--tell a story with it!Storytelling with Data teaches you the fundamentals of data visualization and how to communicate effectively with data. You'll discover the power of storytelling and the way to make data a pivotal point in your story. The lessons in this illuminative text are grounded in theory, but made accessible through numerous real-world examples--ready for immediate application to your next graph or presentation.
Storytelling is not an inherent skill, especially when it comes to data visualization, and the tools at our disposal don't make it any easier. This book demonstrates how to go beyond conventional tools to reach the root of your data, and how to use your data to create an engaging, informative, compelling story. Specifically, you'll learn how to:
Understand the importance of context and audience Determine the appropriate type of graph for your situation Recognize and eliminate the clutter clouding your information Direct your audience's attention to the most important parts of your data Think like a designer and utilize concepts of design in data visualization Leverage the power of storytelling to help your message resonate with your audience Together, the lessons in this book will help you turn your data into high impact visual stories that stick with your audience. Rid your world of ineffective graphs, one exploding 3D pie chart at a time. There is a story in your data--Storytelling with Data will give you the skills and power to tell it!
…
Recommended by Roger D. Peng.
Roger D. Peng
It’s important to think in terms of what your audience needs, and what would be best for them among the many choices you could make when analysing data. [source]
Cover unavailable
21
Envisioning Information
Edward R. Tufte
4.4
The celebrated design professor here tackles the question of how best to communicate real-life experience in a two-degree format, whether on the printed page or the computer screen. The Whole Earth Review called Envisioning Information a "passionate, elegant revelation."
Recommended by Kevin Rose, Jeff Atwood, Bret Victor, and 1 others.
The master when it comes to taking complicated data and turning it into beautiful charts and graphs that are easy to understand. If you’re into graphic design, print design, web design, you name it, you’re going to get some really good information and how tos out of these books. He has a whole series of these books. [source]
Cover unavailable
22
Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems and Drawings of Shel Silverstein
Shel Silverstein
4.4
Shel Silverstein shook the staid world of children's poetry in 1974 with the publication of this collection, and things haven't been the same since. More than four and a half million copies of Where the Sidewalk Ends have been sold, making it the bestselling children's poetry book ever. With this and his other poetry collections (A Light in the Attic and Falling Up), Silverstein reveals his genius for reaching kids with silly words and simple pen-and-ink drawings. What child can resist a poem called "Dancing Pants" or "The Dirtiest Man in the World"? Each of the 130 poems is funny in a different way, or touching ... or both. Some approach naughtiness or are a bit disgusting to squeamish grown-ups, but that's exactly what kids like best about Silverstein's work. Jim Trelease, author of The New Read-Aloud Handbook, calls this book "without question, the best-loved collection of poetry for children." (Ages 4 to 10)
…
Recommended by Sheryl Sandberg.
Cover unavailable
23
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide To Writing Nonfiction
On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sold, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.
I read a bunch of books on writing before I wrote my first book and the two that stuck with me were Stephen King’s book and “On Writing Well” by Zinsser (which is a bit on the technical side). [source]
Tim O'Reilly
Founder/O'Reilly Media
On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. I wouldn't say this book influenced me, since my principles of writing were established long before I read it. However, it does capture many things that I believe about effective writing. [source]
Great blunt advice about writing better non-fiction. So inspiring. [source]
Cover unavailable
24
Show and Tell: How Everybody Can Make Extraordinary Presentations
Dan Roam
4.4
“If I tell you the truth, if I tell it with a story, and if I tell that story with pictures, I can keep you glued to your seat. Let me show you how.”
For the vast majority of us, giving a presentation is an extremely difficult and nerve-wracking process, whether we’re in a one-on-one meeting, a conference room with a dozen strangers, or a lecture hall in front of thousands. But according to Dan Roam, the visual communications expert and acclaimed author of The Back of the Napkin, it doesn’t have to be so hard. We struggle when we forget the basic steps we learned in kindergarten: show and tell.
In this short but powerful book, Roam introduces a new set of tools for making extraordinary presentations in any setting. He also draws on ideas he’s been honing for more than two decades, as an award-winning presenter who has brought his whiteboard everywhere from Fortune 500 companies to tiny startups to the White House. Even if you’re already a good speaker, you’ll learn more about understanding your audience, organizing your content, building a clear storyline, creating effective visuals, and channeling your fear into fun. And you’ll master three fundamental rules: • When we tell the truth, we connect with our audience, we become passionate, and we find self-confidence. • When we tell a story, we make complex concepts clear, we make ideas unforgettable, and we include everyone. • When we use pictures, people see exactly what we mean, we captivate our audience’s mind, and we banish boredom. From nailing the opening to leaving a lasting impression, you’ll soon be able to give the performance of a lifetime . . . time after time.
The latest edition of the communication guide that has sold more than 1,000,000 copies
An enlightening look at how peaceful communication can create compassionate connections with family, friends, and other acquaintances, this international bestseller uses stories, examples, and sample dialogues to provide solutions to communication problems both at home and in the workplace. Guidance is provided on identifying and articulating feelings and needs, expressing anger fully, and exploring the power of empathy in order to speak honestly without creating hostility, break patterns of thinking that lead to anger and depression, and communicate compassionately. Included in the new edition is a chapter on conflict resolution and mediation.
…
Recommended by Dustin Moskovitz, Satya Nadella, Chad Dickerson, and 3 others.
Upon becoming CEO, Nadella confronted Microsoft’s legendarily combative culture by urging his new reports to read this book, which preaches the power of empathy, self-awareness, and authenticity in collaboration in the workplace, at home, and beyond. Like many of his favorites, it was first recommended to him by his wife, Anu: “I’m heavily influenced by the books she reads more than the books I read [source]
Chad Dickerson
Rosenberg’s book Nonviolent Communication is a life-changing text. Reading just now & his concept of “life-alienating communication” basically describes the worst of twitter. Love this, though: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing & right-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” https://t.co/9f9gK6pVSE [source]
Cover unavailable
26
Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story
Jerry Weissman
4.3
Thirty million presentations will be given today. Millions will fail. Millions more will be received with yawns. A rare few will establish the most profound connection, in which presenter and audience understand each other perfectly, discover common ground and, together, decide to act.
Cover unavailable
27
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Dan Roam
4.3
Cover unavailable
28
HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations
Nancy Duarte
4.3
TAKE THE PAIN OUT OF PRESENTATIONS.
Terrified of speaking in front of a group? Or simply looking to polish your skills? No matter where you are on the spectrum, this guide will give you the confidence and the tools you need to get results.
Written by presentation expert Nancy Duarte, the HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations will help you:
• Win over tough crowds • Organize a coherent narrative • Create powerful messages and visuals • Connect with and engage your audience • Show people why your ideas matter to them • Strike the right tone, in any situation
…
Cover unavailable
29
How to Deliver a Ted Talk: Secrets of the World's Most Inspiring Presentations, Revised and Expanded New Edition, with a Foreword by Richard St. John and an Afterword by Simon Sinek
Jeremey Donovan
4.3
DELIVER THE PRESENTATION OF YOUR LIFE--AND LAUNCH YOUR CAREER A nonprofit dedicated to ideas worth spreading, TED challenges the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers to give "the speech of their lives" in 18 minutes or less. The more than 14,000 talks on TED.com have been viewed over 1 billion times and include those by such luminaries as Tony Robbins, Dan Pink, and Sheryl Sandberg.
Now you can learn how to give a TED-style talk to achieve your personal and business goals.
How to Deliver a TED Talk provides more than 100 invaluable tips--everything from opening with an explicit statement of audience benefits to framing your idea as an action-outcome response to a question worth asking. Whether you're presenting to an audience of 1 or 1,000, this book is an indispensable resource for any public speaker.
"Not just for TED talks, it's a great book for any presentation you have to make. If you want to deeply engage and impress your audience, this is a quick, informative, and brilliant guide." -- PETER BREGMAN, TEDx talker and author of 18 Minutes
"Jeremey's advice was key to my successful TED talk at TEDMED." -- AMANDA BENNETT, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Executive Editor/Projects and Investigations for Bloomberg News
…
Cover unavailable
30
The Elements of Style
William Jr. Strunk
4.3
You know the authors' names. You recognize the title. You've probably used this book yourself. And now "The Elements of Style"-the most widely read and employed English style manual-is available in a specially bound 50th Anniversary Edition that offers the title's vast audience an opportunity to own a more durable and elegantly bound edition of this time-tested classic. Offering the same content as the Fourth Edition, revised in 1999, the new casebound 50th Anniversary Edition includes a brief overview of the book's illustrious history. Used extensively by individual writers as well as high school and college students of writing, it has conveyed the principles of English style to millions of readers. This new deluxe edition makes the perfect gift for writers of any age and ability level. Fifty Years of Acclaim for "The Elements of Style," by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White "I first read "Elements of Style" during the summer before I went off to Exeter, and I still direct my students at Harvard to their definition about the difference between 'that' and 'which.' It is the Bible for good, clear writing." -- Henry Louis Gates Jr. "For writers of all kinds and sizes the world begins and ends with Strunk and White's "Elements of Style." Only something to actually write about trumps the list of what is required to put words together in some kind of coherent way. I treasure its presence in my life and salute its fifty years of glory and accomplishment." -- Jim Lehrer ""The Elements of Style" remains an unwavering beacon of light in these grammatically troubled times. I would be lost without it." -- Ann Patchett "To the extent I know how to write clearly at all, I probably taught myself while I was teaching others -- seventh graders, in Flint, Michigan, in 1967. I taught them with a copy of Strunk & White lying in full view on my desk, sort of in the way the Gideons leave Bibles in cheap hotel rooms, as a way of saying to the hapless inhabitant: 'In case your reckless ways should strand you here, there's help.' S&W doesn't really teach you how to write, it just tantalizingly reminds you that there's an orderly way to go about it, that clarity's ever your ideal, but -- really -- it's all going to be up to you." -- Richard Ford ""The Elements of Style" never seems to go out of date. Its counsel is sound and funny, wise and unpretentious. And while its precepts are a foundation of direct communication, Strunk and White do not insist on a way of writing beyond clear expression. The rest is up to the imagination, the intelligence within." -- David Remnick, editor of "The New Yorker" "It's the toughness-the irreverence and implicit laughter-that attracted me to the little book when I was seventeen. I fell in love with Strunk & White's loathing for cant and bloviation, the ruthless cutting of crap, jargon, and extra words. For me, that skeptical directness included a tacit permission by "The Elements of Style" to break its rules on occasion: an alloy of generosity in the blade, a grace I still admire and still learn from." -- Robert Pinsky "In the quest for clarity, one can have no better guides than Strunk and White. For me, their book has been invaluable and remains essential." -- Dan Rather "Eschew surplusage! A perfect book." --Jonathan Lethem "Not until I started teaching writing and I reread "The Elements of Style" did I realize that most everything I would be teaching young writers, and everything I would be learning myself as a writer, was contained between the covers of this slim, elegant, wise little book." -- Julia Alvarez "Strunk and White seared their way into my brain long ago, and I benefit from them daily." -- Steven J. Dubner, co-author of "Freakonomics" "Since high school, I have kept a copy of this book handy. That should be unnecessary. I should, by now, have fully internalized "The Elements of Style." But sometimes I get entangled in a paragraph that refuses to be 'clear, brief, bold.' I dip back into "The Elements of Style" and am refreshed. After Scott Simon interviewed me on NPR about whether the word 'e-mail' needs a hyphen (yes, it does), some listeners, including friends of mine, wondered why I had answered in the affirmative when asked, in passing, 'Are you a drunken white man?' Those listeners misheard. 'Strunk and White man' was what Scott said." -- Roy Blount Jr. "Strunk & White--writing's good-natured law firm--still contains enough sparkling good sense to clean up the whole bloviating blogosphere." -- Thomas Mallon "I used Strunk -- that's what we called it, Strunk -- as a student at Berkeley fifty years ago. I didn't know that it was new, and that we were the first generation to be educated in "The Elements of Style." I got a firm foundation in the English language, learned to write basically, and could depict the realistic world. Then I was able to become an impressionist and expressionist." -- Maxine Hong Kingston "Strunk and White's gigantic little book must be the most readable advice on writing ever written. Side by side with Roget, Shakespeare, the Bible, and a dictionary, it's an essential for every writer's shelf." -- X.J. Kennedy" ""With what joy I welcome the fiftieth anniversary of "The Elements of Style." I am greatly indebted to this book for the invaluable help it has given me all these years." -- Horton Foote "Elegant, droll, and perfectly proportioned, and like your favorite aunt, strict but affectionate. And, like your favorite aunt, full of optimism: You can, and will, be a better writer! There has never been a better, briefer, or more loved book about the art and craft of communicating." -- Susan Orlean "This book is an essential tool. It has been of great use to me and is probably responsible for my best writing. I owe my success to Strunk and White; only the mistakes are mine." -- Ben Affleck, in "O, the Oprah Magazine" "This book is a wonderful example of teaching by example. Not only does it recommend clear and concise writing, it demonstrates it. Written in the style of a friend offering help, it is a godsend to anyone wanting to put words on paper. Thank you, Messieurs Strunk and White. And Happy Anniversary, "Elements of Style."" -- S.E. Hinton "When I began to have ... I wouldn't say arguments but conversations in my mind with Strunk and White about a few of their rules and principles, I knew I was coming into my own. If only they were still here to talk things over! No doubt their side of the exchange would be kindly put, well-informed, and wise. They'd probably help me with my side of it. What more could one want from writers reaching out to help other writers?" -- Barbara Wallraff, language columnist for "The Atlantic" "I don't believe there is a serious writer alive who doesn't have a worn copy of 'Strunk & White'on his or her bookshelf." -- Mignon Fogarty, author of "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips ""for Better Writing" "This little book has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to write better -- partly by precept and partly by example. It continues to influence more writers than any other. It's a force for good in the world." -- Bryan A. Garner, author of "Garner's Modern American Usage" "I can think of no better guide to good writing, and I always think of this little classic with a warm heart. More importantly, I revisit its pages often. It's the one essential book on writing." -- Jay Parini, author of "Why Poetry Matters" "Clarity and simplicity have always been the goals, and this book shows the way. It has always been a lighthouse in the dark and stormy night of student prose, of all of our prose." -- Ron Carlson "The only rules you are ever going to get from me are all in Strunk and White." --Ursula K. Le Guin, from "Steering the Craft " "["The Elements of Style "is] a book to which I return from time to time, the way I periodically reread Shakespeare. I always discover something new, settle a question that has been puzzling me, or learn a principle of usage that I have been pretending to know, a pretense that has resulted in inconsistency and in the sort of errors from which I can only pray some saintly copy editor will save me." -- Francine Prose, from "Reading"" Like A Writer" ..".still a little book, small enough and important enough to carry in your pocket, as I carry mine." -- Charles Osgood "Almost every writer has a Strunk and White story. One journalism professor spends the first two weeks of school forcing his students to memorize the book. A top editor at a major paper buys copies at yard sales to distribute to her writers and interns. It has even caused love affairs. . . . Could its greatness be any more clear?" -- Jesse Sheidlower, American Editor of the "Oxford"" English Dictionary," on NPR" ""If the English language is one of the finest homes ever devised for the human spirit, "Elements" is the best guided house tour we've got." --David Gelernter, "The Wall Street Journal" ..".Should be the daily companion of anyone who writes for a living and, for that matter, anyone who writes at all." "--"Jonathan Yardley, " Greensboro (N.C.) Daily News" "No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume." -- Herbert A. Kenny, "The Boston Globe" "Buy it, study it, enjoy it. It's as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility." -- Charles Poore, "The New York Times" "White is one of the best stylists and most lucid minds in this country. What he says and his way of saying it are equally rewarding." "-- "Edmund Fuller, "The Wall Street Journal ""If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of "The Elements of Style." The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy." -- Dorothy Parker, "Esquire"
…
Recommended by Tobi Lütke, Alina Varlanuta, Ann Handley, and 3 others.
Tobi Lütke
Founder & CEO/Shopify
My most frequently gifted book is this book because I like good writing. [source]
Alina Varlanuta
My professional path – copywriting – somehow intertwines with my unprofessional (hahaha) path – writing so I would recommend reading literature for both. Somehow reading and writing are two ways of doing the same thing: storytelling (even when you read you tell yourself a story in your own voice, bringing your personal emotion and empathy to the story you’re reading). The only difference is that when I’m reading, panic is far away from me, in a safe place. Nevertheless, the words below helped me rewrite and think twice before adding an exclamation point: The Elements of Style. [source]
Bill Nye
This is my guide. I accept that I’ll never write anything as good as the introductory essay by the author. It’s brilliant. [source]
Cover unavailable
31
Presentation Secrets: Do What You Never Thought Possible with Your Presentations
Alexei Kapterev
4.3
Plan, create, and deliver amazing presentations!Alexei Kapterev's online presentation on presentations has seen more than one million views, all with no advertising or promotion. Building on this hit, he now brings us Presentation Secrets outlining his successful tactics for planning, producing, and presenting memorable and unique presentations. The author shares his insight, wisdom, and advice with impressive clarity and detail, covering the three main components required to a presentation: storyline design, slide design, and delivery. "Presentation Secrets" lets you get to work immediately, fully prepared, armed with confidence, and ready to inspire.Teaches everything that goes into a successful and memorable presentationHelps create a storyline, from planning the beginning, middle, and end, to establishing key points, to making a presentation scalableDiscusses how to design a slide template that meets your goals, ensure consistency, and find focal pointsDissects the delivery of a presentation, including how to create "a character," integrate mistakes, listening to yourself, talking to the audience, and avoiding monotonyIncludes non-presentation metaphor to drive home your understanding of storytelling, improvisation, and delivery
Also featuring real-world examples of presentations from the worlds of business, science, and politics, such as Steve Jobs, Hans Rosling, and Al Gore, this unique book delivers tried and tested secrets and inside tips for making a sensational presentation!
…
Cover unavailable
32
Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work
Dan Roam
4.2
Ever been to so many meetings that you couldn't get your work done? Ever fallen asleep during a bulletpoint presentation? Ever watched the news and ended up knowing less? Welcome to the land of Blah Blah Blah.The Problem: We talk so much that we don't think very well. Powerful as words are, we fool ourselves when we think our words alone can detect, describe, and defuse the multifaceted problems of today. They can't-and that's bad, because words have become our default thinking tool.
The Solution: This book offers a way out of blah-blah-blah. It's called "Vivid Thinking."
In Dan Roam's first acclaimed book, The Back of the Napkin, he taught readers how to solve problems and sell ideas by drawing simple pictures. Now he proves that Vivid Thinking is even more powerful. This technique combines our verbal and visual minds so that we can think and learn more quickly, teach and inspire our colleagues, and enjoy and share ideas in a whole new way.
The Destination: No more blah-blah-blah. Through Vivid Thinking, we can make the most complicated subjects suddenly crystal clear. Whether trying to understand a Harvard Business School class, or what went down in the Conan versus Leno battle for late-night TV, or what Einstein thought about relativity, Vivid Thinking provides a way to clarify anything.
Through dozens of guided examples, Roam proves that anyone can apply this systematic approach, from leftbrain types who hate to draw to right-brainers who hate to write. This isn't just a book about improving communications, presentations, and ideation; it's about removing the blah-blah- blah from your life for good.
The Art of Explanation - Making Your Ideas, Products and Services Easier to Understand
Lee LeFever
4.2
Your guide to becoming an explanation specialist.
You’ve done the hard work. Your product or service works beautifully - but something is missing. People just don’t see the big idea - and it’s keeping you from being successful. Your idea has an explanation problem.
The Art of Explanation is for business people, educators and influencers who want to improve their explanation skills and start solving explanation problems.
Author Lee LeFever is the founder of Common Craft, a company known around the world for making complex ideas easy to understand through short animated videos. He is your guide to helping audiences fall in love with your ideas, products or services through better explanations in any medium.
You will learn to:
• Plan: Learn explanation basics, what causes them to fail and how to diagnose explanation problems. • Package: Using simple elements, create an explanation strategy that builds confidence and motivates your audience. • Present: Produce remarkable explanations with visuals and media.
The Art of Explanation is your invitation to become an explanation specialist and see why explanation is now a fundamental skill for professionals.
…
Cover unavailable
34
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently
John C. Maxwell
4.2
World-renowned leadership expert and bestselling author John C. Maxwell says if you want to be an effective leader, you must learn how to connect with people. While it may seem like some folks are just born with a commanding presence that draws people in, the fact is anyone can learn to communicate in ways that consistently build powerful connections. Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, helps you succeed by revealing Maxwell’s Five Principles and Five Practices to develop this crucial skill of connecting, including: finding common ground, keeping your communication simple, capturing people's interest, inspiring people, and staying authentic in all your relationships. Your ability to achieve results in any organization--be it a company, church, nonprofit, or even in your family--is directly tied to the leadership skills in your toolbox. Connecting is an easy-to-learn skill you can apply today in your personal, professional, and family relationships to start living your best life.
…
Recommended by Susan Mazza.
Cover unavailable
35
The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
Christopher Vogler
4.2
Provides new insights and observations from Vogler's pioneering work in mythic structure for writers.
Recommended by Darren Aronofsky.
Darren Aronofsky
It’s the Bible for screenwriters. I think it’s the best book on how to write a screenplay ever written. It helped me get through so many roadblocks as a writer. [source]
Cover unavailable
36
Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation. Co-created by 470 -Business Model Canvas- practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools, and makes them easy to implement in your organization. It explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model--or analyze and renovate an old one. Along the way, you'll understand at a much deeper level your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition.
Business Model Generation features practical innovation techniques used today by leading consultants and companies worldwide, including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others. Designed for doers, it is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new models of value creation: for executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations. If you're ready to change the rules, you belong to -the business model generation!-
…
Recommended by Nir Eyal, Steve Blank, Alexandra Stroe, and 3 others.
Alexandra Stroe
I'd recommend The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur and Zero to One by Peter Thiel when they are in the starting phase of a business that needs to validate its business model. [source]
Ashley Hathaway
I could probably name a dozen books here, but I’ll point out The Business Model Generation and Value Prop Design from Strategyzer. I steal from these constantly and are engrained in my work process. These books put into practice really taught me how to think. As soon as I saw that everything should have a foundation of empathy, what good user-testing looks like, how to test and iterate it changed everything. After that any problem could be solved. It wasn’t solving one big monolithic problem. It was going through a process. [source]
Kaci Lambe Kai
This was a great book, because it opened up the idea of what a business model is supposed to be vs what it can be. It doesn't have to be a stuffy, boring document. [source]
Cover unavailable
37
Trees, maps, and theorems
Jean-Luc Doumont
4.2
Cover unavailable
38
Beautiful Evidence
Edward R. Tufte
4.2
Science and art have in common intense seeing, the wide-eyed observing that generates visual information. Beautiful Evidence is about how seeing turns into showing, how data and evidence turn into explanation. The book identifies excellent and effective methods for showing nearly every kind of information, suggests many new designs (including sparklines), and provides analytical tools for assessing the credibility of evidence presentations (which are seen from both sides: how to produce and how to consume presentations). For alert consumers of presentations, there are chapters on diagnosing evidence corruption and PowerPoint pitches. Beautiful Evidence concludes with two chapters that leave the world of pixel and paper flatland representations - and move onto seeing and thinking in space land, the real-land of three-space and time.
…
Recommended by Bret Victor.
Cover unavailable
39
The Pyramid Principle: Logical Writing, Thinking and Problem Solving
Barbara Minto
4.2
The communication of ideas, whether to colleagues or clients, is one of the key factors in determining personal success. 'The Pyramid Principle' shows how to structure and present arguments so that they gain immediate understanding.
Recommended by Danielle Morrill, Patricia Reed, and 1 others.
Patricia Reed
The Minto Pyramid Principle: For would-be consultants, a (very dry) book on how to write effectively for business. [source]
Cover unavailable
40
Unfolding the Napkin: The Hands-On Method for Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures
Dan Roam
4.2
Cover unavailable
41
Visual Meetings: How Graphics, Sticky Notes & Idea Mapping Can Transform Group Productivity
David Sibbet
4.2
Use eye-popping visual tools to energize your people!
Just as social networking has reclaimed the Internet for human interactivity and co-creation, the visual meetings movement is reclaiming creativity, productivity, and playful exchange for serious work in groups.
Visual Meetings explains how anyone can implement powerful visual tools, and how these tools are being used in Silicon Valley and elsewhere to facilitate both face-to-face and virtual group work. This dynamic and richly illustrated resource gives meeting leaders, presenters, and consultants a slew of exciting tricks and tools, including
Graphic recording, visual planning, story boarding, graphic templates, idea mapping, etc. Creative ways to energize team building, sales presentations, staff meetings, strategy sessions, brainstorming, and more Getting beyond paper and whiteboards to engage new media platforms Understanding emerging visual language for leading groups Unlocking formerly untapped creative resources for business success, Visual Meetings will help you and your team communicate ideas more effectively and engagingly.
…
Cover unavailable
42
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience. In Story, McKee expands on the concepts he teaches in his $450 seminars (considered a must by industry insiders), providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the screen. No one better understands how all the elements of a screenplay fit together, and no one is better qualified to explain the "magic" of story construction and the relationship between structure and character than Robert McKee.
…
Recommended by Bill Liao.
Bill Liao
The human world occurs in language so best get good at it! [source]
Cover unavailable
43
Culinary Artistry
Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page
4.2
"In Culinary Artistry...Dornenburg and Page provide food and flavor pairings as a kind of steppingstone for the recipe-dependent cook...Their hope is that once you know the scales, you will be able to compose a symphony."--Molly O'Neil in The New York Times Magazine.
For anyone who believes in the potential for artistry in the realm of food, Culinary Artistry is a must-read. This is the first book to examine the creative process of culinary composition as it explores the intersection of food, imagination, and taste. Through interviews with more than 30 of America's leading chefsa including Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Gray Kunz, Jean-Louis Palladin, Jeremiah Tower, and Alice Watersa the authors reveal what defines "culinary artists," how and where they find their inspiration, and how they translate that vision to the plate. Through recipes and reminiscences, chefs discuss how they select and pair ingredients, and how flavors are combined into dishes, dishes into menus, and menus into bodies of work that eventually comprise their cuisines.
…
Cover unavailable
44
Better Presentations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks
Jonathan Schwabish
4.2
Whether you are a university professor, researcher at a think tank, graduate student, or analyst at a private firm, chances are that at some point you have presented your work in front of an audience. Most of us approach this task by converting a written document into slides, but the result is often a text-heavy presentation saddled with bullet points, stock images, and graphs too complex for an audience to decipher--much less understand. Presenting is fundamentally different from writing, and with only a little more time, a little more effort, and a little more planning, you can communicate your work with force and clarity.
Designed for presenters of scholarly or data-intensive content, "Better Presentations "details essential strategies for developing clear, sophisticated, and visually captivating presentations. Following three core principles--visualize, unify, and focus--"Better Presentations" describes how to visualize data effectively, find and use images appropriately, choose sensible fonts and colors, edit text for powerful delivery, and restructure a written argument for maximum engagement and persuasion. With a range of clear examples for what to do (and what not to do), the practical package offered in" Better Presentations" shares the best techniques to display work and the best tactics for winning over audiences. It pushes presenters past the frustration and intimidation of the process to more effective, memorable, and persuasive presentations.
…
Cover unavailable
45
The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking
Mike Rohde
4.2
This gorgeous, fully illustrated handbook tells the story of sketchnotes--why and how you can use them to capture your thinking visually, remember key information more clearly, and share what you've captured with others. Author Mike Rohde shows you how to incorporate sketchnoting techniques into your note-taking process--regardless of your artistic abilities--to help you better process the information that you are hearing and seeing through drawing, and to actually have fun taking notes. The Sketchnote Handbook explains and illustrates practical sketchnote techniques for taking visual notes at your own pace as well as in real time during meetings and events. Rhode also addresses most people's fear of drawing by showing, step-by-step, how to quickly draw people, faces, type, and simple objects for effective and fast sketchnoting. The book looks like a peek into the author's private sketchnote journal, but it functions like a beginner's guide to sketchnoting with easy-to-follow instructions for drawing out your notes that will leave you itching to attend a meeting just so you can draw about it.
…
Cover unavailable
46
Give Your Speech, Change the World: How To Move Your Audience to Action
Nick Morgan
4.2
Do you remember the topic of the last speech you heard? If not, you're not alone. In fact, studies show that audiences remember only 10% to 30% of speech or presentation content. Given those bleak statistics, why do we give speeches at all? We give them, says communications expert Nick Morgan, because they remain the most powerful way of connecting with audiences since ancient Greek times. But as we've evolved to a more conversational mode of public speaking, thanks to television, we have forgotten much of what the Greeks taught us about the nonverbal aspects of speech-giving: the physical connection with audiences that can create an almost palpable emotional bond. Morgan says this "kinesthetic connection" comes from truly listening to your audience—not just with your brain but with your body. In this book, he draws from more than 20 years as a speech coach and consultant, combining the best of ancient Greek oratory with modern communications research to offer a new, audience-centered approach to public speaking. Through entertaining and insightful examples, Morgan illustrates a 3 part process—focusing on content development, rehearsal, and delivery—that will enable readers of all experience levels to give more effective, passion-filled speeches that move audiences to action.
…
Cover unavailable
47
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you're about to get back to work, a colleague taps you on the shoulder to chat. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold.
What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused and overcome distractions? What if you had the power to become "indistractable"?
International best-selling author, former Stanford lecturer, and behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal, wrote Silicon Valley's handbook for making technology habit-forming. Five years after publishing Hooked, Eyal reveals distraction's Achilles' heel in his groundbreaking new book.
In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more.
Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us.
Inside, Eyal overturns conventional wisdom and reveals:
Why distraction at work is a symptom of a dysfunctional company culture - and how to fix it What really drives human behavior and why "time management is pain management" Why your relationships (and your sex life) depend on you becoming indistractable How to raise indistractable children in an increasingly distracting world Empowering and optimistic, Indistractable provides practical, novel techniques to control your time and attention - helping you live the life you really want.
Indistractable is the most practical and realistic approach to balancing technology with well-being. A must-read for anyone with a smartphone. [source]
Cover unavailable
48
The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism
What if charisma could be taught? For the first time, science and technology have taken charisma apart, figured it out and turned it into an applied science: In controlled laboratory experiments, researchers could raise or lower people's level of charisma as if they were turning a dial. What you'll find here is practical magic: unique knowledge, drawn from a variety of sciences, revealing what charisma really is and how it works. You'll get both the insights and the techniques you need to apply this knowledge. The world will become your lab, and every person you meet, a chance to experiment. The Charisma Myth is a mix of fun stories, sound science, and practical tools. Cabane takes a hard scientific approach to a heretofore mystical topic, covering what charisma actually is, how it is learned, what its side effects are, and how to handle them.
…
Recommended by Marissa Mayer, Laura Lang, Dr. Monali Y. Desai, and 2 others.
Marissa Mayer
Former CEO/Yahoo!
Proud of our friend and neighbor Olivia Fox Cabane - her book 'The Charisma Myth' launched today and is already #122 of all books on Amazon. It went into its second printing even before launch! [source]
Laura Lang
CEO/Time Inc.
Olivia Fox Cabane offers hands-on advice and a practical guide to humanizing leaders without comprising integrity or authority. She focused on the ‘it’ factors that can make a real difference. [source]
Dr. Monali Y. Desai
Currently, my favorite business book is The Charisma Myth (Olivia Fox Cabane) because I feel it has so many small but impactful takeaways about improving how you communicate with others, I try to reread it once a year. [source]
Cover unavailable
49
The Non-Designer's Design Book (Non Designer's Design Book)
Robin Williams
4.1
A lot has happened in the world of digital design since the first edition of this title was published, but one thing remains true: There is an ever-growing number of people attempting to design everything from newsletters to advertisements with no formal training. This book is the one place they can turn to find quick, non-intimidating, excellent design help from trusted design instructor Robin Williams. This revised and expanded classic includes a new chapter on designing with type, more quizzes and exercises, updated projects, and new visual and typographic examples that give the book a fresh, modern look. In" The Non-Designer's Design Book, " "4th Edition, " Robin turns her attention to the basic principles that govern good design. Perfect for beginners, Robin boils great design into four easy-to-master principles: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity (C.R.A.P.!). Readers who follow her clearly explained concepts will produce more sophisticated and professional work immediately. Humor-infused, jargon-free prose interspersed with design exercises, quizzes, and illustrations make learning a snap-which is just what audiences have come to expect from this bestselling author.
…
Recommended by David Kadavy.
Cover unavailable
50
Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire
Paul Smith
4.1
Storytelling has come of age in the business world. Today, many of the most successful companies use storytelling as a leadership tool. At Nike, all senior executives are designated "corporate storytellers." 3M banned bullet points years ago and replaced them with a process of writing "strategic narratives." Procter & Gamble hired Hollywood directors to teach its executives storytelling techniques. Some forward-thinking business schools have even added storytelling courses to their management curriculum. The reason for this is simple: Stories have the ability to engage an audience the way logic and bullet points alone never could. Whether you are trying to communicate a vision, sell an idea, or inspire commitment, storytelling is a powerful business tool that can mean the difference between mediocre results and phenomenal success. "Lead with a Story" contains both ready-to-use stories and how-to guidance for readers looking to craft their own. Designed for a wide variety of business challenges, the book shows how narrative can help: - Define culture and values - Engender creativity and innovation - Foster collaboration and build relationships - Provide coaching and feedback - Lead change - And more Whether in a speech or a memo, communicated to one person or a thousand, storytelling is an essential skill for success. Complete with examples from companies like Kellogg's, Merrill-Lynch, Procter & Gamble, National Car Rental, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, and more, this practical resource gives readers the guidance they need to deliver stories to stunning effect.
…
Cover unavailable
51
Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations that Inform, Motivate, and Inspire
Cliff Atkinson
4.1
Unload those boring, bullet-riddled slides—and unlock the amazing story buried in your presentation! In BEYOND BULLET POINTS, communications expert Cliff Atkinson shares his innovative three-step system for increasing the impact of your communications with Microsoft PowerPoint. He guides you, step by step, as you discover how to combine the tenets of classic storytelling with the power of the projected media to create a rich, engaging experience. He walks you through his easy-to-use templates, plus 50 advanced tips, to help build your confidence and effectiveness—and quickly bring your ideas to life!
FOCUS: Learn how to distill your best ideas into a crisp and compelling narrative.
CLARIFY: Use a storyboard to clarify and visualize 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!
Inside!: See sample storyboards for a variety of presentation types—including investment, sales, educational, and training.
…
Cover unavailable
52
Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges
Have you ever left a nerve-racking challenge and immediately wished for a do over? Maybe after a job interview, a performance, or a difficult conversation? The very moments that require us to be genuine and commanding can instead cause us to feel phony and powerless. Too often we approach our lives' biggest hurdles with dread, execute them with anxiety, and leave them with regret.
By accessing our personal power, we can achieve "presence," the state in which we stop worrying about the impression we're making on others and instead adjust the impression we've been making on ourselves. As Harvard professor Amy Cuddy's revolutionary book reveals, we don't need to embark on a grand spiritual quest or complete an inner transformation to harness the power of presence. Instead, we need to nudge ourselves, moment by moment, by tweaking our body language, behavior, and mind-set in our day-to-day lives.
Amy Cuddy has galvanized tens of millions of viewers around the world with her TED talk about "power poses." Now she presents the enthralling science underlying these and many other fascinating body-mind effects, and teaches us how to use simple techniques to liberate ourselves from fear in high-pressure moments, perform at our best, and connect with and empower others to do the same.
Brilliantly researched, impassioned, and accessible, Presence is filled with stories of individuals who learned how to flourish during the stressful moments that once terrified them. Every reader will learn how to approach their biggest challenges with confidence instead of dread, and to leave them with satisfaction instead of regret.
"Presence feels at once concrete and inspiring, simple but ambitious -- above all, truly powerful."-New York Times Book Review
…
Recommended by Ellen Lupton and Ryan Foland.
Ryan Foland
Finished listening to Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest ... by @amyjccuddy via #Audible. Great book 👍👍 Want it? Get it free: https://t.co/Q0kbPqqJuF [source]
Cover unavailable
53
Visual Thinking: Empowering People and Organisations through Visual Collaboration
Williemien Brand
4.1
Visual thinking and drawing are both becoming increasingly important in today's business settings. A picture really can tell a thousand words. Visualization is a crucial part of the journey for companies seeking to boost enterprise agility, break down silos and increase employee and customer engagement. Visualizing thought processes can help break down complex problems. It empowers teams and staff to build on one another's ideas, fosters collaboration, jump-starts co-creation and boosts innovation.
This book will help brush aside misconceptions that may have prevented you using these techniques in your workplace. You don't need Van Gogh's artistic talent or Einstein's intelligence to harness the power of visual thinking and make your company more successful.
With the right mindset and the simple skills this book provides you the skills to develop your own signature and style and start generating change by integrating visual communication into your business setting.
…
Cover unavailable
54
Walleye Presentation: #3 Core Techniques
In-Fisherman Staff
4.1
Cover unavailable
55
Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten
Stephen Few
4.1
Addressing the prevalent issue of poorly designed quantitative information presentations, this accessible, practical, and comprehensive guide teaches how to properly create tables and graphs for effective and efficient communication. The critical numbers that measure the health, identify the opportunities, and forecast the future of organizations are often misrepresented because few people are trained to design accurate, informative materials, but this manual helps put an end to misinformation. This revised edition of the highly successful book includes updated figures and 91 additional pages of content, including new chapters about quantitative narrative and current misuses of graphs—such as donut, circle, unit, and funnel charts—and new appendices that cover constructing table lens displays and box plots in Excel and useful color palettes for presentation materials.
…
Cover unavailable
56
The Art of the Pitch: Persuasion and Presentation Skills that Win Business
Peter Coughter
4.1
Occasionally, a great idea will sell itself. The other 99% of the time, you have to find a way to persuade others that it is, in fact, a great idea. Most executives spend the vast majority of their time creating their work, and almost no time on the presentation. Through an engaging and humorous narrative, Peter Coughter presents the tools he designed to help advertising and marketing professionals develop persuasive presentations that deliver business. Readers will learn how to hone their individual natural presentation style, how to organize a powerful presentation, how to harness the elegant power of simplicity, how to truly connect with an audience, how to rehearse effectively, and most importantly, how to win.
…
Cover unavailable
57
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 11th edition
Henry Robert
4.1
The only authorized edition of the classic work on parliamentary procedure, with new and enhanced features, including how to conduct electronic meetings
Robert's Rules of Order is the book on parliamentary procedure for parliamentarians and anyone involved in an organization, association, club, or group and the authoritative guide to smooth, orderly, and fairly conducted meetings and assemblies.
This newly revised edition is the only book on parliamentary procedure to have been updated since 1876 under the continuing program of review established by General Henry M. Robert himself, in cooperation with the official publisher of Robert's Rules.
The eleventh edition has been thoroughly revised to address common inquiries and incorporate new rules, interpretations, and procedures made necessary by the evolution of parliamentary procedure, including new material relating to electronic communication and "electronic meetings."
…
Cover unavailable
58
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief
Henry M Robert
4.1
Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, In Brief was first published in 2005 to meet the need for a simple and short book on parliamentary procedure. This second edition of In Brief is now updated and revised to match the new full edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, also published this year.Written by the same authorship team behind the officially sanctioned Robert’s Rules of Order, this concise, user-friendly edition takes readers through the rules most often needed at meetings—from debates to amendments to nominations. With sample dialogues and a guide to using the complete edition, Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, In Brief is the essential handbook for parliamentary proceedings.
…
Cover unavailable
59
The 45 Second Presentation That Will Change Your Life
Don Failla
4.1
When you subtract the amount of hours you sleep, work, and commute, you probably don't have more than one or two hours a day to do what you would like to do-and that's if you have the money to do it. Don Failla has been teaching his simple network marketing method which allows anyone to learn how to own his or her life by building a home-based business. It doesn't require selling, and the best part is, it won't take much of your time.
The 45-Second Presentation That Will Change Your Life is a virtual training manual on network marketing, designed to teach you a step-by-step plan for building a profitable, sustainable network marketing business. Network marketing is a system for distributing goods and services through networks of independent distributors. This guide not only unlocks the secrets of successful network marketing, but it provides the method to sponsor people in your organization using Failla's "45-Second Presentation."
With nearly four decades' worth of instructions and insights from Failla, The 45-Second Presentation That Will Change Your Life provides you with the essentials for building and maintaining your lucrative home business.
…
Cover unavailable
60
La Sociedad De Santafé Colonial
ENGELMANN ET AL.
4.1
Cover unavailable
61
The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid
Michael Alley
4.1
The Craft of Scientific Presentations, 2nd edition aims to strengthen you as a presenter of science and engineering. The book does so by identifying what makes excellent presenters such as Brian Cox, Jane Goodall, Richard Feynman, and Jill Bolte Taylor so strong. In addition, the book explains what causes so many scientific presentations to flounder.
One of the most valuable contributions of this text is that it teaches the assertion-evidence approach to scientific presentations. Instead of building presentations, as most engineers and scientists do, on the weak foundation of topic phrases and bulleted lists, this assertion-evidence approach calls for building presentations on succinct message assertions supported by visual evidence. Unlike the commonly followed topic-subtopic approach that PowerPoint leads presenters to use, the assertion-evidence approach is solidly grounded in research.
By showing the differences between strong and weak presentations, by identifying the errors that scientific presenters typically make, and by teaching a much more powerful approach for scientific presentations than what is commonly practiced, this book places you in a position to elevate your presentations to a high level. In essence, this book aims to have you not just succeed in your scientific presentations, but excel.About the Author
Michael Alley has taught workshops on presentations to engineers and scientists on five continents, and has recently been invited to speak at the European Space Organization, Harvard Medical School, MIT, Sandia National Labs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Simula Research Laboratory, and United Technologies. An Associate Professor of engineering communication at Pennsylvania State University, Alley is a leading researcher on the effectiveness of different designs for presentation slides.
…
Cover unavailable
62
100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People
Susan Weinschenk
4.1
Every day around the world millions of presentations are given, with millions of decisions hanging in the balance as a result. Do you know the science behind giving a powerful and persuasive presentation? This book reveals what you need to know about how people listen, how people decide, and how people react so that you can learn to create more engaging presentations. No matter what your current skill level, whether beginner or polished, this book will guide you to the next level, teaching you how to improve your delivery, stance, eye contact, voice, materials, media, message, and call to action. Learn to increase the effectiveness of your own presentations by finding the answers to questions like these: What grabs and holds attention during a presentation?How do you choose the best media to use?What makes the content of a presentation stick?How do people react to your voice, posture, and gestures?How do people respond to the flow of your message?How do you motivate people to take action?These are just a few of the questions that the book answers in its deep-dive exploration of what you need to know about people to create a compelling presentation.
…
Cover unavailable
63
The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion through the Art of Storytelling
Annette Simmons, Doug Lipman
4.1
Cover unavailable
64
Flip the Script: Getting People to Think Your Idea Is Their Idea
Oren Klaff
4.1
THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF PITCH ANYTHING IS BACK TO FLIP YOUR ENTIRE APPROACH TO PERSUASION.
Is there anything worse than a high-pressure salesperson pushing you to say "yes" (then sign on the dotted line) before you're ready?
If there's one lesson Oren Klaff has learned over decades of pitching, presenting, and closing long-shot, high-stakes deals, it's that people are sick of being marketed and sold to. Most of all, they hate being told what to think. The more you push them, the more they resist.
What people love, however, is coming up with a great idea on their own, even if it's the idea you were guiding them to have all along. Often, the only way to get someone to sign is to make them feel like they're smarter than you.
That's why Oren is throwing out the old playbook on persuasion. Instead, he'll show you a new approach that works on this simple insight: Everyone trusts their own ideas. If, rather than pushing your idea on your buyer, you can guide them to discover it on their own, they'll believe it, trust it, and get excited about it. Then they'll buy in and feel good about the chance to work with you.
That might sound easier said than done, but Oren has taught thousands of people how to do it with a series of simple steps that anyone can follow in any situation.
And as you'll see in this book, Oren has been in a lot of different situations.
He'll show you how he got a billionaire to take him seriously, how he got a venture capital firm to cough up capital, and how he made a skeptical Swiss banker see him as an expert in banking. He'll even show you how to become so compelling that buyers are even more attracted to you than to your product.
These days, it's not enough to make a great pitch.
To get attention, create trust, and close the deal, you need to flip the script.
In Flip the Script, Oren Klaff gives readers powerful tools that will help them get what they want. Instead of trying to convince people to buy what you’re selling, his techniques will show you how to create an entirely different dynamic. A game changing read [source]
Flip the Script is the rare book that shows you how to increase your influence, at work and at home. Oren Klaff's methods are both intuitive and completely actionable. This book is loaded with real-world examples, some radical, some surprising, but all incredibly useful. [source]
Cover unavailable
65
Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business
Jon Steel
4.1
A professional "pitching coach" for one of the world's largest marketing conglomerates, Jon Steel shares his secrets and explains how you can create presentations and pitches that win hearts, minds, and new business. He identifies the dos and don'ts and uses real-world examples to prove his points. If you make pitches for new business, this is the perfect book for you.
Recommended by Bogdana Butnar.
Bogdana Butnar
I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written. [source]
Cover unavailable
66
Power Presenter
Jerry Weissman
4.1
Learn the successful presentation techniques used in over 500 IPO road shows and featured in The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company.Jerry Weissman is the presentations coach to Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and many of America's top executives, including founding Yahoo CEO Tim Koogle, Intuit founder Scott Cook, Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings, and many others. The San Jose Mercury News says that Weissman's IPO presentation coaching "is worth 10% on a company stock." Learn why your body language and voice are more important than your words, how to present with poise and confidence naturally, and how to connect with any audience emotionally. Filled with illustrative case studies of Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, and many others, The Power Presenter will bring out the best in anyone who has to stand and deliver.
Readers of The Power Presenter will have access to video clips referenced in the book.
…
Cover unavailable
67
Speak With No Fear: Go from a nervous, nauseated, and sweaty speaker to an excited, energized, and passionate presenter
Mike Acker
4.1
Cover unavailable
68
Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations
Scott Berinato
4.1
Dataviz—the new language of business
A good visualization can communicate the nature and potential impact of information and ideas more powerfully than any other form of communication.
For a long time “dataviz” was left to specialists—data scientists and professional designers. No longer. A new generation of tools and massive amounts of available data make it easy for anyone to create visualizations that communicate ideas far more effectively than generic spreadsheet charts ever could.
What’s more, building good charts is quickly becoming a need-to-have skill for managers. If you’re not doing it, other managers are, and they’re getting noticed for it and getting credit for contributing to your company’s success.
In Good Charts, dataviz maven Scott Berinato provides an essential guide to how visualization works and how to use this new language to impress and persuade. Dataviz today is where spreadsheets and word processors were in the early 1980s—on the cusp of changing how we work. Berinato lays out a system for thinking visually and building better charts through a process of talking, sketching, and prototyping.
This book is much more than a set of static rules for making visualizations. It taps into both well-established and cutting-edge research in visual perception and neuroscience, as well as the emerging field of visualization science, to explore why good charts (and bad ones) create “feelings behind our eyes.” Along the way, Berinato also includes many engaging vignettes of dataviz pros, illustrating the ideas in practice.
Good Charts will help you turn plain, uninspiring charts that merely present information into smart, effective visualizations that powerfully convey ideas.
…
Cover unavailable
69
Presentation Now: Prepare a first rate presentation when you're short of time
Andrew Lighthear
4.1
Cover unavailable
70
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
Matthew Dicks
4.1
Cover unavailable
71
Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker
David Nihill
4.1
Public speaking can be terrifying. For David Nihill, the idea of standing in front of an audience was scarier than cliff jumping into a thorny pit of spiders and mothers-in-law. Without a parachute or advanced weaponry. Something had to change.
In what doesn't sound like the best plan ever, David decided to overcome his fears by pretending to be an accomplished comedian called "Irish Dave" for one full year, crashing as many comedy clubs, festivals and shows as possible. One part of the plan was at least logical: he was already Irish and already called Dave.
In one year, David went from being deathly afraid of public speaking to hosting a business conference, regularly performing stand-up comedy, and winning storytelling competitions in front of packed houses. He did it by learning from some of the best public speakers in the world: stand-up comedians.
Do You Talk Funny? shows how the key principles of stand-up comedy can be applied to your speaking engagements and presentations to make you funnier, more interesting, and better looking. (Or at least two of the three.) Whether you are preparing for a business presentation, giving a wedding toast, defending your thesis, raising money from investors, or simply want to take on something you're afraid of, this book will take you from sweaty to stage-ready.
Ten percent of the author's proceeds from this book will go to Arash Bayatmakou via Help Hope Live until he is fully back on his feet and thereafter to one of the many facing the same challenges after suffering a severe spinal cord injury.
I found when reading a book from my friend David Nihill called "Do You Talk Funny?:7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker" there were lots of learnings. Not just learnings, but actually simple things I've been able to put into practice when presenting. For example, I'm even more conscious of the rule of three, using stories and reconstructing sentences to leave the final word in a sentence as the real punchline. Along with opening your eyes to some invaluable insights into how comedians work, there are some excellent stories intertwined with gems of wisdom. I do highly recommend it. [source]
Cover unavailable
72
Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...about Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business
"Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life." "In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin. Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch."
""How could my life have unraveled so quickly?" he wondered."
In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings. And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.
Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn't know how to solve. And he doesn't know where or who to turn to for advice. His staff can't help him; they're as dumbfounded as he is by their tortuous meetings.
Then an unlikely advisor, Will Peterson, enters Casey's world. When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.
As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world. "Death by Meeting" is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.
…
Cover unavailable
73
Css: The Definitive Guide: Visual Presentation for the Web
Eric A. Meyer and Estelle Weyl
4.1
If you're a web designer or app developer interested in sophisticated page styling, improved accessibility, and saving time and effort, this book is for you. This revised edition provides a comprehensive guide to CSS implementation, along with a thorough review of the latest CSS specifications.
CSS is a constantly evolving language for describing the presentation of web content on screen, printers, speech synthesizers, screen readers, and chat windows. It is used by all browsers on all screen sizes on all types of IoT devices, including phones, computers, video games, televisions, watches, kiosks, and auto consoles. Authors Eric Meyer and Estelle Weyl show you how to improve user experience, speed development, avoid potential bugs, and add life and depth to your applications through layout, transitions and animations, borders, backgrounds, text properties, and many other tools and techniques.
This guide covers:
Selectors, specificity, and the cascade Values, units, fonts, and text properties Padding, borders, outlines, and margins Colors, backgrounds, and gradients Floats and positioning tricks Flexible box layout The new Grid layout system 2D and 3D transforms, transitions, and animation Filters, blending, clipping, and masking Media and feature queries
…
Cover unavailable
74
Презентационный конструктор
Вас Влад and Rask Pete
4.1
Cover unavailable
75
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
Simon Garfield
4.1
What’s your type? Suddenly everyone’s obsessed with fonts. Whether you’re enraged by Ikea’s Verdanagate, want to know what the Beach Boys have in common with easy Jet or why it’s okay to like Comic Sans, Just My Type will have the answer. Learn why using upper case got a New Zealand health worker sacked. Refer to Prince in the Tafkap years as a Dingbat (that works on many levels). Spot where movies get their time periods wrong and don’t be duped by fake posters on eBay. Simon Garfield meets the people behind the typefaces and along the way learns why some fonts – like men – are from Mars and some are from Venus. From type on the high street and album covers, to the print in our homes and offices, Garfield is the font of all types of knowledge.
…
Recommended by Marius Ciuchete Paun.
Marius Ciuchete Paun
Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: “Just My Type” by Simon Garfield “Thinking with Type” by Ellen Lupton “Don't Make Me Think” by Steve Krug “Geometry of Design” by Kimberly Elam “Grid Systems in Graphic Design” by Josef Müller-Brockmann “ReWork” by Jason Fried These titles should be a good start, I think. [source]
Cover unavailable
76
The Functional Art: An Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization
Alberto Cairo
4.0
Unlike any time before in our lives, we have access to vast amounts of free information. With the right tools, we can start to make sense of all this data to see patterns and trends that would otherwise be invisible to us. By transforming numbers into graphical shapes, we allow readers to understand the stories those numbers hide. In this practical introduction to understanding and using information graphics, you'll learn how to use data visualizations as tools to see beyond lists of numbers and variables and achieve new insights into the complex world around us. Regardless of the kind of data you're working with-business, science, politics, sports, or even your own personal finances-this book will show you how to use statistical charts, maps, and explanation diagrams to spot the stories in the data and learn new things from it.
You'll also get to peek into the creative process of some of the world's most talented designers and visual journalists, including Conde Nast Traveler's John Grimwade, National Geographic Magazine's Fernando Baptista, The New York Times' Steve Duenes, The Washington Post's Hannah Fairfield, Hans Rosling of the Gapminder Foundation, Stanford's Geoff McGhee, and European superstars Moritz Stefaner, Jan Willem Tulp, Stefanie Posavec, and Gregor Aisch. The book also includes a DVD-ROM containing over 90 minutes of video lessons that expand on core concepts explained within the book and includes even more inspirational information graphics from the world's leading designers.
The first book to offer a broad, hands-on introduction to information graphics and visualization, The Functional Art reveals:
- Why data visualization should be thought of as "functional art" rather than fine art - How to use color, type, and other graphic tools to make your information graphics more effective, not just better looking - The science of how our brains perceive and remember information - Best practices for creating interactive information graphics - A comprehensive look at the creative process behind successful information graphics - An extensive gallery of inspirational work from the world's top designers and visual artists
On the DVD-ROM: In this introductory video course on information graphics, Alberto Cairo goes into greater detail with even more visual examples of how to create effective information graphics that function as practical tools for aiding perception. You'll learn how to: incorporate basic design principles in your visualizations, create simple interfaces for interactive graphics, and choose the appropriate type of graphic forms for your data. Cairo also deconstructs successful information graphics from The New York Times and National Geographic magazine with sketches and images not shown in the book.
…
Cover unavailable
77
The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures
Dona M. Wong
4.0
In today’s data-driven world, professionals need to know how to express themselves in the language of graphics effectively and eloquently. Yet information graphics is rarely taught in schools or is the focus of on-the-job training. Now, for the first time, Dona M. Wong, a student of the information graphics pioneer Edward Tufte, makes this material available for all of us. In this book, you will learn:
to choose the best chart that fits your data;
the most effective way to communicate with decision makers when you have five minutes of their time;
how to chart currency fluctuations that affect global business;
how to use color effectively;
how to make a graphic “colorful” even if only black and white are available.
The book is organized in a series of mini-workshops backed up with illustrated examples, so not only will you learn what works and what doesn’t but also you can see the dos and don’ts for yourself. This is an invaluable reference work for students and professional in all fields.
…
Cover unavailable
78
Communication Skills: A Practical Guide to Improving Your Social Intelligence, Presentation, Persuasion and Public Speaking
Ian Tuhovsky
4.0
Do You Know How To Communicate With People Effectively, Avoid Conflicts and Get What You Want From Life? ...It's mostly about what you say, but also about WHEN, WHY and HOW you say it.
MY GIFT TO YOU INSIDE: Link to download my 120-page e-book "Mindfulness Based Stress and Anxiety Management Tools" for free! Do The Things You Usually Say Help You, Or Maybe Hold You Back? Dear Friends, Have you ever considered how many times you intuitively felt that maybe you lost something important or crucial, simply because you unwittingly said or did something which put somebody off? Maybe it was an unfortunate word, bad formulation, inappropriate joke, forgotten name, huge misinterpretation, an awkward conversation or a strange tone of your voice? Maybe you assumed that you knew exactly what a particular concept meant for another person and you stopped asking questions? Maybe you asked so many questions, you practically started an interrogation? Maybe you could not listen carefully or could not stay silent for a moment? How many times have you wanted to achieve something, negotiate better terms or ask for a promotion and failed miserably? It's time to put that to an end with the help of this book.
Lack of communication skills is exactly what ruins most peoples' lives. If you don't know how to communicate properly, you are going to have problems both in your intimate and family relationships. You are going to be ineffective in work and business situations. It's going to be troublesome managing employees or getting what you want from your boss or your clients on a daily basis. Overall, effective communication is like an engine oil that makes your life run smoothly, getting you wherever you want to be. There are very few areas in life in which you can succeed in the long run without this crucial skill.
What Will You Learn With This Book? -What Are The Most Common Communication Obstacles Between People And How To Avoid Them -How To Express Anger And Avoid Conflicts -What Are The Most 8 Important Questions You Should Ask Yourself If You Want To Be An Effective Communicator? -5 Most Basic and Crucial Conversational Fixes -How To Deal With Difficult and Toxic People -Phrases to Purge from Your Dictionary (And What to Substitute Them With) -The Subtle Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback -Rapport, the Art of Excellent Communication -How to Use Metaphors to Communicate Better And Connect With People -What Metaprograms and Meta Models Are and How Exactly To Make Use of Them To Become A Polished Communicator -How To Read Faces and How to Effectively Predict Future Behaviors -How to Finally Start Remembering Names -How to Have a Great Public Presentation -How To Create Your Own Unique Personality in Business (and Everyday Life) -Effective Networking
Start improving your life today.
…
Cover unavailable
79
The Storyteller's Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don't
CARMINE GALLO
4.0
How did an American immigrant without a college education go from Venice Beach T-Shirt vendor to television's most successful producer? How did a timid pastor's son surmount a paralyzing fear of public speaking to sell out Yankee stadium, twice? How did the city of Tokyo create a PowerPoint stunning enough to win it the chance to host the Olympics?
They told brilliant stories.
In his hugely attendedTalk Like TED events, bestselling author and communications guru Carmine Gallo found, again and again, that audiences wanted to discover the keys to telling powerful stories; inspiring stories that could galvanize movements and actuate global change. And indeed, whether your goal is to sell, educate, fundraise, or entertain, your story is your most valuable asset. A well told story hits you like a punch to the gut; it triggers the light bulb moment, the 'aha' that illuminates the path to innovation. Your story is "a strategic tool with irresistible power," according to the NYT. Radical transformation can occur in an instant, with a single sentence; The Storyteller's Secret lets you craft your most powerful delivery ever.
In The Storyteller's Secret, Gallo offers lessons from a range of visionary leaders, each of whom cites storytelling as a crucial ingredient in success. A good story can spark action and passion; it can revolutionize the way people think and spur them to chase their dreams. Isn't it time you shared yours?
…
Recommended by Julia Enthoven.
Julia Enthoven
Since Kapwing is still a very young company, The Storyteller’s Secret helps me think about how I can communicate the origin story of Kapwing to our users and other people. I’m enjoying both! [source]
Cover unavailable
80
Get Backed: Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams
Evan Baehr
4.0
HOW DO YOU LAUNCH THE VENTURE OF YOUR DREAMS?
Get Backed isn’t just about startup fundraising. It’s a handbook for anyone who has an idea and needs to build relationships to get it off the ground.
Over the last 3 years, entrepreneurs Evan Loomis and Evan Baehr have raised over $45 million for their own ventures, including the second largest round on the fundraising platform AngelList. In Get Backed, they show you exactly what they and dozens of others did to raise money -- even the mistakes they made -- uncovering the secrets of the world’s best storytellers, fundraisers, and startup accelerators. Get trained in “the friendship loop”, a step-by-step process that can be used to meet and build relationships with anyone, from investors to potential cofounders. They also show you how to create a pitch deck, building off the actual examples of 15 ventures that have raised over $150 million.
Get Backed won't just show you exactly what it takes to get funded, it will give you the tools to make any idea a reality.
…
Cover unavailable
81
15 Minutes Including Q & A: A Plan to Save the World from Lousy Presentations
Joey Asher
4.0
Your money, and how you invest it, could help solve the global climate crisis.
In Investing to Save the Planet, Alice Ross reveals why green investing is an untapped opportunity for you to make a positive impact on the health of the planet and your portfolio.
The world is changing. The climate crisis has given rise to a wave of companies that are developing cutting-edge, technological solutions to climate change; from improving energy efficiency to engineering alternative meat. These companies, part of an increasingly-popular investment segment collectively known as Environmental, Social and Governance strategies (ESG), are helping tackle our environmental challenges and reshaping the investment landscape.
Urgent and indispensable, this investor's guide will provide you with the vital information you need to build your successful ESG investment strategy to secure a positive future for you and the planet.
…
Cover unavailable
82
Storytelling Zen: The Art of Using the Power of Story to Create & Deliver Engaging Presentations
Garr Reynolds
4.0
Cover unavailable
83
Evil by Design: Interaction Design to Lead Us Into Temptation
Chris Nodder
4.0
How to make customers feel good about doing what you want
Learn how companies make us feel good about doing what they want. Approaching persuasive design from the dark side, this book melds psychology, marketing, and design concepts to show why we're susceptible to certain persuasive techniques. Packed with examples from every nook and cranny of the web, it provides easily digestible and applicable patterns for putting these design techniques to work. Organized by the seven deadly sins, it includes:
Pride -- use social proof to position your product in line with your visitors' values Sloth -- build a path of least resistance that leads users where you want them to go Gluttony -- escalate customers' commitment and use loss aversion to keep them there Anger -- understand the power of metaphysical arguments and anonymity Envy -- create a culture of status around your product and feed aspirational desires Lust -- turn desire into commitment by using emotion to defeat rational behavior Greed -- keep customers engaged by reinforcing the behaviors you desire Now you too can leverage human fallibility to create powerful persuasive interfaces that people will love to use -- but will you use your new knowledge for good or evil? Learn more on the companion website, evilbydesign.info.
…
Cover unavailable
84
101 Sample Write-Ups for Documenting Employee Performance Problems: A Guide to Progressive Discipline and Termination
Paul Falcone
4.0
Whether you’re addressing an initial infraction or handling termination-worthy transgressions, you need to be 100 percent confident that every employee encounter is clear, fair, and most importantly, legal. Thankfully, HR expert Paul Falcone has provided this wide-ranging resource that explains in detail the disciplinary process and provides ready-to-use documents that eliminate stress and second-guessing about what to do and say.Revised to reflect the latest developments in employment law, the third edition of 101 Sample Write-Ups for Documenting Employee Performance Problems includes expertly crafted, easily customizable write-ups that address: sexual harassment, absenteeism, insubordination, drug or alcohol abuse, substandard work, email and phone misuse, teamwork issues, managerial misconduct, confidentiality breaches, social media abuse, and more!With each sample document also including a performance improvement plan, outcomes and consequences, and a section of employee rebuttal, it’s easy to see why over 100,000 copies have already been sold, making life for managers and HR personnel significantly easier when it comes to addressing employee performance issues.
…
Cover unavailable
85
Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies and Symbols
Nancy Duarte, Patti Sanchez
4.0
More information to come.
Cover unavailable
86
Storytelling with Data: Let's Practice!
Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
4.0
Influence action through data!
This is not a book. It is a one-of-a-kind immersive learning experience through which you can become--or teach others to be--a powerful data storyteller.
Let's practice! helps you build confidence and credibility to create graphs and visualizations that make sense and weave them into action-inspiring stories. Expanding upon best seller storytelling with data's foundational lessons, Let's practice! delivers fresh content, a plethora of new examples, and over 100 hands-on exercises. Author and data storytelling maven Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic guides you along the path to hone core skills and become a well-practiced data communicator. Each chapter includes:
● Practice with Cole: exercises based on real-world examples first posed for you to consider and solve, followed by detailed step-by-step illustration and explanation
● Practice on your own: thought-provoking questions and even more exercises to be assigned or worked through individually, without prescribed solutions
● Practice at work: practical guidance and hands-on exercises for applying storytelling with data lessons on the job, including instruction on when and how to solicit useful feedback and refine for greater impact
The lessons and exercises found within this comprehensive guide will empower you to master--or develop in others--data storytelling skills and transition your work from acceptable to exceptional. By investing in these skills for ourselves and our teams, we can all tell inspiring and influential data stories!
…
Cover unavailable
87
I Can See You Naked
Ron Hoff
4.0
This may be the best piece of advice in this book:When something strikes you as funny, don't let it get away. Hold on to it for dear life. It could be gold. My theory is this: Everything that strikes you as funny is going to turn up on television some day.
I'll just give you this one example—because it relates directly to the book you're reading.
For as long as I can remember, I've always thought that the old idea of visualizing an audience naked, as a way to control nervousness, was a funny sort of notion. It just struck me funny.
I mean, it's not one of those ideas that flits in and out of your mind. It sticks. And it asks for some kind of response.
So, I made it the title of a book on presentations.
I Can See You Naked.
Need I tell you what happened next?
The idea spread across the networks like a giggle through a classroom. Millions upon millions of people are howling their heads off about this quirky notion of speakers talking to naked audiences. It's hilarious. Dynamite. A TV writer's dream come true.
Then, amidst the laughter, a question hit me: Had my book unleashed all of this hilarity?
Surely not. But how many speakers would now visualize their next audience in a state of dishabille? I shuddered to think of it.
If you're a presenter, a naked audience is not going to improve your concentration. Eye contact is going to be a real problem for you. And you're going to be very self-conscious about that $600 designer suit you're wearing.
This was all dutifully explained in I Can See You Naked—the first edition. But something told me it was time for new emphasis. Even with the relaxed morality that pervades our TV sets and movie screens, there remains a statement that must be resaid:
Never speak to a naked audience. It can be distracting.
There are all kinds of other psychological exercises that can be tapped to rid yourself of nervousness in the face of an awaiting audience. One woman even wrote to tell me that Chapter 13, which starts, "It's the night before your big presentation" enabled her to keep her sanity. Can you imagine? I considered changing the title of the book to reflect that thought, then decided that a promise of sanity was probably more that I could deliver—times being what they are.
As with the first edition, this expanded edition is dedicated to helping you be a better presenter. But it is also dedicated to candor, to saying things that—for one reason or another—never show up in other books on presentation.
Who else would tell you "to keep an eye out for the barracuda?" (Chapter 51). Who else would tell you that "you may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time?" (Chapter 17). Who else would employ the Mafia to give you a pointer or two on presentations? (Chapter 31).
In short, this is a very different book on presentations. It's even different from the first edition of I Can See You Naked, which still strikes me as a funny notion, great for sitcoms—but now there are other things to laugh about, look at, learn from, and try as you get ready to make your next presentation.
…
Cover unavailable
88
TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks
Akash Karia
4.0
Cover unavailable
89
The Big Book of Dashboards: Visualizing Your Data Using Real-World Business Scenarios
Steve Wexler, Jeffrey Shaffer, et al.
4.0
The definitive reference book with real-world solutions you won't find anywhere elseTheBig Book of Dashboards presents a comprehensive reference for those tasked with building or overseeing the development of business dashboards.
Comprising dozens of examples that address different industries and departments (healthcare, transportation, finance, human resources, marketing, customer service, sports, etc.) and different platforms (print, desktop, tablet, smartphone, and conference room display) TheBig Book of Dashboards is the only book that matches great dashboards with real-world business scenarios.
By organizing the book based on these scenarios and offering practical and effective visualization examples, The Big Book of Dashboards will be the trusted resource that you open when you need to build an effective business dashboard.
In addition to the scenarios there's an entire section of the book that is devoted to addressing many practical and psychological factors you will encounter in your work. It's great to have theory and evidenced-based research at your disposal, but what will you do when somebody asks you to make your dashboard 'cooler' by adding packed bubbles and donut charts?
The expert authors have a combined 30-plus years of hands-on experience helping people in hundreds of organizations build effective visualizations. They have fought many 'best practices' battles and having endured bring an uncommon empathy to help you, the reader of this book, survive and thrive in the data visualization world.
A well-designed dashboard can point out risks, opportunities, and more; but common challenges and misconceptions can make your dashboard useless at best, and misleading at worst. The Big Book of Dashboards gives you the tools, guidance, and models you need to produce great dashboards that inform, enlighten, and engage.
…
Cover unavailable
90
The 3-Minute Rule: Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation
Brant Pinvidic
4.0
Cover unavailable
91
How to Make an Impact: Influence, Inform and Impress With Your Reports, Presentations and Business Documents
Jon Moon
4.0
Cover unavailable
92
The Articulate Advocate: Persuasive Skills for Lawyers in Trials, Appeals, Arbitrations, and Motions
Marsha Hunter, Brian K. Johnson, et al.
4.0
An advocate may know what to say but is only effective when he or she knows how to be persuasive. Combining fact with know-how to persuade judges, juries, and arbitrator, the book teaches immediately useful techniques such as how to channel the initial adrenaline buzz, grab and hold the fact finder’s attention, gesture while speaking, speaking in phrases, and polishing the persuasive style. Based on 25 years of experience from coaching practitioners, this guide integrates cutting edge discoveries in human factors, gesture studies, linguistics, neuroscience, and sports psychology to give litigators a competitive edge. This brand new edition includes all new illustrations and new information on motions, arbitrations, and appeals.
…
Cover unavailable
93
Michael Symon's Carnivore: 120 Recipes for Meat Lovers
Michael Symon
4.0
Celebrity chef, restaurateur, and meat lover Michael Symon—of Food Network’s Iron Chef America and ABC’s The Chew—shares his wealth of knowledge and more than 100 killer recipes for steaks, chops, wings, and lesser-known cuts.
Fans across the country adore Michael Symon for his big, charismatic personality and his seriously delicious food. But there's one thing Michael is known for above all else: his unabashed love of meat. A devoted carnivore, Michael calls the cuisine at his six Midwestern restaurants "meat-centric." Now, in Michael Symon's Carnivore, he combines his passion and expertise in one stellar cookbook.
Michael gives home cooks just the right amount of key information on breeds, cuts, and techniques to help them at the meat counter and in the kitchen, and then lets loose with fantastic recipes for beef, pork, poultry, lamb, goat, and game. Favorites include Broiled Porterhouse with Garlic and Lemon, Ribs with Cleveland BBQ Sauce, Braised Chicken Thighs with Kale and Chiles, Lamb Moussaka, and Bacon-Wrapped Rabbit Legs. Recipes for sides that enhance the main event, like Apple and Celeriac Salad and Sicilian Cauliflower, round out the book.
Michael's enthusiasm and warmth permeate the text, and with 75 beautiful color photographs, Michael Symon's Carnivore is a rich and informative cookbook for every meat lover.
…
Cover unavailable
94
Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rule-breakers, and Changemakers
Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo
4.0
Great things don't happen in a vacuum. But creating an environment for creative thinking and innovation can be a daunting challenge. How can you make it happen at your company? The answer may surprise you: gamestorming.
This book includes more than 80 games to help you break down barriers, communicate better, and generate new ideas, insights, and strategies. The authors have identified tools and techniques from some of the world's most innovative professionals, whose teams collaborate and make great things happen. This book is the result: a unique collection of games that encourage engagement and creativity while bringing more structure and clarity to the workplace. Find out why -- and how -- with Gamestorming.
Overcome conflict and increase engagement with team-oriented games Improve collaboration and communication in cross-disciplinary teams with visual-thinking techniques Improve understanding by role-playing customer and user experiences Generate better ideas and more of them, faster than ever before Shorten meetings and make them more productive Simulate and explore complex systems, interactions, and dynamics Identify a problem's root cause, and find the paths that point toward a solution
…
Recommended by Andy Budd and Ola Olusoga.
Ola Olusoga
Skimmed in the past, rereading. It has great examples of frameworks that help move you from fuzzy ideas to tangible output. [source]
Cover unavailable
95
Advanced Presentations by Design: Creating Communication That Drives Action
Andrew Abela
4.0
Advanced Presentations by Design overturns much of the conventional wisdom and practice for creating presentations. Based on over 200 research studies from the fields of communication, marketing, psychology, multimedia, and law, it provides fact-based answers to critical questions about presentation design, including how to adapt your presentation to different audience personality preferences, what role your data should play and how much of it you need, how to turn your data into a story, and how to design persuasive yet comprehensible visual layouts.
…
Cover unavailable
96
Largemouth Bass Presentation: Dynamic Lure Trends That Boat Bass Anywhere
In-Fisherman Staff
4.0
Cover unavailable
97
Draw to Win: A Crash Course on How to Lead, Sell, and Innovate With Your Visual Mind
Dan Roam
4.0
The most concise, easiest to read book of Dan Roam's distinguished career. Perfect for fans who have read every book since 2008's The Back of the Napkin, as well as new readers who just need a crash course in the power of visual thinking. Dan Roam's brilliant strategies for creating images, sharing them and explaining them have finally been distilled into a "best of" handbook for busy readers who need to digest the takeaways, fast.
Since his first book, The Back of the Napkin, Roam has argued that imagery is the most powerful tool for leadership, innovation, and sales. Even though we live in an era of big data, one great picture is worth a million numbers (not to mention a thousand words). A clever idea, visually expressed, can resonate with everyone from the CEO down to the newest intern.
The best news is that you don't need to be an artist to create attention-grabbing images. Roam can teach anyone with a pen and paper to translate business ideas into engaging and clear images. He identifies the types of pictures that work best in various settings and shares the basic shapes that all business pictures can be built from.
This is an indispensable handbook for business leaders struggling to communicate more effectively in a world that everyday becomes less verbal and more visual.
…
Cover unavailable
98
The Art of Rhetoric
Aristotle
4.0
For all men are persuaded by considerations of where their interest lies...
Aristotle's Art of Rhetoric is the earliest systematic treatment of the subject, and it remains among the most incisive works on rhetoric that we possess. In it, we are asked: What is a good speech? What do popular audiences find persuasive? How does one compose a persuasive speech? Aristotle considers these questions in the context of the ancient Greek democratic city-state, in which large audiences of ordinary citizens listened to speeches pro and con before casting the votes that made the laws, decided the policies, and settled the cases in court. Persuasion by means of the spoken word was the vehicle for conducting politics and administering the law. After stating the basic principles of persuasive speech, Aristotle places rhetoric in relation to allied fields such as politics, ethics, psychology, and logic, and he demonstrates how to construct a persuasive case for any kind of plea on any subject of communal concern. Aristotle views persuasion flexibly, examining how speakers should devise arguments, evoke emotions, and demonstrate their own credibility. The treatise provides ample evidence of Aristotle's unique and brilliant manner of thinking, and has had a profound influence on later attempts to understand what makes speech persuasive.
The new translation of the text is accompanied by an introduction discussing the political, philosophical, and rhetorical background to Aristotle's treatise, as well as the composition and transmission of the original text and an account of Aristotle's life.
…
Cover unavailable
99
Presentation Patterns: Techniques for Crafting Better Presentations
Neal Ford, Matthew McCullough, Nathaniel Schutta
4.0
Presentation Patterns is the first book on presentations that categorizes and organizes the building blocks (or patterns) that you'll need to communicate effectively using presentation tools like Keynote and PowerPoint. Patterns are like the lower-level steps found inside recipes; they are the techniques you must master to be considered a master chef or master presenter. You can use the patterns in this book to construct your own recipes for different contexts, such as business meetings, technical demonstrations, scientific expositions, and keynotes, just to name a few. Although there are no such things as antirecipes, this book shows you lots of antipatterns--things you should avoid doing in presentations. Modern presentation tools often encourage ineffective presentation techniques, but this book shows you how to avoid them. Each pattern is introduced with a memorable name, a definition, and a brief explanation of motivation. Readers learn where the pattern applies, the consequences of applying it, and how to apply it. The authors also identify critical antipatterns: cliches, fallacies, and design mistakes that cause presentations to disappoint. These problems are easy to avoid--once you know how. Presentation Patterns will help you Plan what you'll say, who you'll say it to, how long you'll talk, and where you'll present Perfectly calibrate your presentation to your audience Use the storyteller's "narrative arc" to full advantage Strengthen your credibility--and avoid mistakes that hurt it Hone your message before you ever touch presentation software Incorporate visuals that support your message instead of hindering it Create highly effective "infodecks" that work when you're not able to deliver a talk in person Construct slides that really communicate and avoid "Ant Fonts," "Floodmarks," "Alienating Artifacts," and other errors Master 13 powerful techniques for delivering your presentation with power, authority, and clarity Whether you use this book as a handy reference or read it from start to finish, it will be a revelation: an entirely new language for systematically planning, creating, and delivering more powerful presentations. You'll quickly find it indispensable--no matter what you're presenting, who your audiences are, or what message you're driving home.
…
Cover unavailable
100
Stories That Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations
1
