by Stephen M. Kosslyn
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Product Description
True or False?
Most PowerPoint presentations are:
compelling illuminating informative clear and to the point
Answer: False
Make a change following the principles of Stephen Kosslyn:
a world authority on the visual brain a clear and engaging writer
Making PowerPoint presentations that are clear, compelling, memorable, and even enjoyable is not an obscure art. In this book, Stephen Kosslyn, a renowned cognitive neuroscientist, presents eight simple principles for constructing a presentation that takes advantage of the information modern science has discovered about perception, memory, and cognition. Using hundreds of images and sample slides, he shows the common mistakes many people make and the simple ways to fix them. For example, never use underlining to emphasize a word--the line will cut off the bottom of letters that have descending lines (such as p and g), which interferes with the brain's ability to recognize text. Other tips include why you should state your conclusion at the beginning of a presentation, when to use a line graph versus a bar graph, and how to use color correctly. By following Kosslyn's principles, anyone will be able to produce a presentation that works!
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Where research and practice meet, 2008-06-11
Finally!, a book that engages visual communication practice with cognitive
neuroscience and psychology research. Too often these areas live separately
and as a graphic designer professor, I find the Kosslyn's content invaluable.
As producers of visual communication, students should know what is going
on in the mind of their users. I plan on adding Clear and to the Point to my
course reading list.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
 Eight principles lost in a forest of recommendations, 2008-03-25
The idea seems good -- eight principles for compelling PowerPoint presentations. But the execution is neither clear nor to the point. For example, chapter 2, the first chapter of substance, lists eight recommendations for overall structure, five recomendations for building the introduction, ten recommendations for the body of the presentation, three recommendations for the wrap-up, and five recommendations for delivery (that's 31 recommendations in all), before returning to the eight psychological principles. And that, as I said, is only chapter 2. Other chapters are similarly ungainly.
In addition, as other reviewers point out, many of the suggestions are barely worth the paper they're printed on. For example, "start with a bang" or "face the audience."
In short, this is a book that will overwhelm novice presenters and bore experienced ones. Find another.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Great Thoughts, 2008-02-27
Having studied Psychology in College it was refreshing to see Psychological principles applied to PowerPoint.
I believe we do have to consider psychology when making presentations that connect. Kosslyn goes along way to reaching that goal. A lot of the ideas I have heard at other places and seminars. It was nice to see them all listed in one source.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
great book, 2008-02-08
This is a great book. I really liked the psicological approach and the appendix where the author goes with more detailed scientific description of how psicology interacts with communications and powerpoint.
17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
 If you're new to presentations, this is good but otherwise, you will find little value., 2007-12-03
This book is filled with very basic advice - much of which is very intiutive. For example, there are a lot of Do's and Dont's. Some of the do's and dont's:
dont vary bullets arbitrarily (one bullet is round, second is a ~, third is #, fourth is >).
dont present one giant list of items on a slide, do categorize them
dont make the subheading of your title slide more salient (visible, eye catching) than the heading. do make the heading more salient than subheading.
dont vary color in your presentation purely for decoration, do vary for emphasis
don't use underline, do use bold italics, etc.
This book is filled with probably 50 pages of such examples since each do and dont takes up a full page (sometimes two).
the 8 principles are also very simple things you would learn from watching a few well done presentations online such as talking at the right level, not trying to cram too much in people's heads at once, keeping focused on what you want people to get out of the presentation, etc.
If you are new to presentations, this is a good book for you. If you are familiar with giving presentations, you're better off trying a different book.
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