Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck...and how you can make them better

by Rick Altman

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

Genres: Business

492 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

Rick Altman is a professor of Cinema and Comparative Literature in the Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature, University of Iowa.

Reviews

[David]

The Best Book on Powerpoint (so far anyway): I was NOT disappointed. It is the first book on PowerPoint which I picked up and read cover to cover (with stops in between airports). I found it useful, amusing, full of tips, and wisdom from Rick's experience
A valuable resource. Now, your next book will be about macros??
Well worth the price, actually you could have gotten more $$ but that's MY gain.

[Pat Stanford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overall

While I wasn't sure what I was looking for, I knew I needed a little help with PowerPoint. I found this to be informative and humorous, which made getting through the slog of material a little easier.

The annoying thing is the constant "sidebars" which are links to separate yet almost the same topics. For Pete's sake, just make them a separate paragraph. Or if you have to, make them another chapter already.

I wasn't really expecting chapters on how to speak and where to stand, but guess some people need that. Those chapters were too long and seemed like a lot of added fluff that really didn't need to be there.

Overall, though, a good book.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book must be written to the 40+ age group. A large part of the book is about how to create certain kinds of ppt presentations that a generation Y reader will simply skip over.

The advice he gives are true enough, but they are also just common sense. Anyone who's gone through a basic communications class will already learned all the talking points.

The author does write in an entertaining manner that keeps the readers interested. Good read for someone older?

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on creating slides.

A very informative book on creating PowerPoint slide decks. I got a great deal of off it nearly all the information contained is still relevant to PowerPoint 2016/365 but the advice provided on creating clear slides that convey your message applies across all versions. A recommended read that will make you look like a pro.

[Lexy Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got a few good tips out of this and will share this with our graphics people for the even deeper tips they will find

[Ed Boule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent content for presenters. Was better on iPad kindle reader than native kindle because there were a lot of links with examples. A must-read for any presenter!