Presentations

Most presentations are terrible. That, however, does not need to be the case for your presentations. Author David Sparks, a trial attorney and seasoned technology speaker, explains how to create your own exceptional presentation. This Presentations Field Guide explains how to plan a presentation that will connect with your audience, the technical wizardry to create a stunning presentation, and walks you through presentation day to make sure it goes off without a hitch. The book was built entirely in iBooks Author. There are 44 screencasts, embedded Keynote files, audio interviews, and other rich media assets to help you make your next presentation riveting. The material is accessible to beginners and power users alike with a thoughtful, fun, and systematic approach to planning, creating, and delivering a stellar presentation.


Chapters include:

1. The Trouble with Presentations

Presentation technology should make life easier. So why does everyone groan and mumble "Death by PowerPoint" when they see a projector? This universal disdain for presentations doesn't need to apply to yours.


2. Tell a Story

Before you start putting together the whiz-bang technology, you need to spend time and energy planning what you are going to say. Specifically, you need to connect to your audience and plan out the ebb and flow of a presentation that is compelling. Every great presentation tells a story. This chapter explains how to develop your story and, step-by-step, turn that story into a great presentation.


3. Apple Keynote

Apple's Keynote presentation application has some remarkable tools for turning your story into a captivating presentation. This chapter uses detailed descriptions, screenshots, and video screencasts to help you transform your ideas into an impressive presentation. Keynote has a lot of power and with versions for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and the web, you'll be able to create and tell your story just about anywhere. This chapter details Keynote's history, installation, file management, themes, screen layout, master slides, use of text, creation of graphics and images, charts and tables, timelines, hyperlinking objects, animation, transitions, slide organization, sharing options, preferences, and keyboard shortcuts. This is all written for easy comprehension with many examples and screencasts to take you from Keynote novice to pro all within the pages of this book.


4. Other Presentation Software

While Keynote is the software of focus of this book, this chapter covers other applications available for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and the web for turning your story into a great presentation. These alternative applications include PowerPoint, Prezi, and more with explanations of their best features and ideal uses.


5. Presentation Day

Once you've got your story nailed down and turned it into a compelling presentation, you'll need to shine your shoes, stand up, and deliver. This chapter is full of practical advice from someone with many years' experience delivering presentations ranging from what to do before you leave the house to the best techniques for delivering your story.


This is the fifth book in the MacSparky Field Guide series. This book, beautifully designed and a joy to read This multimedia book (1.2GB) includes many rich media assets including photo galleries, screenshots, illustrations, over 2 hours of video screencasts, and audio interviews all engineered to make you a master presenter.