Microsoft Press
Books designed for the different ways you learn. And across the range of Microsoft technologies. Welcome!
We’re very eager to announce that Beyond Bullet Points, 3rd Edition: Using Microsoft® PowerPoint® to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (ISBN 9780735627352; Page Count 352) has gone to the printer and will be available to purchase soon.
Unlock the amazing story buried in your presentation—and forget boring, bullet-point-riddled slides forever! Guided by communications expert Cliff Atkinson, you’ll walk you through an innovative, three-step methodology for increasing the impact of your presentation. Discover how to combine classic storytelling techniques with the power of visual media to create a rich, engaging experience with your audience. Fully updated for PowerPoint 2010, and featuring compelling presentation examples from classroom to boardroom, this book will help transform your presentations—and your business impact!
Chapter 1 The Perfect PowerPoint Storm ■ Stepping onto the Media Stage ■ A Singular Story ■ The Heart of the Problem ■ Distilling the Essence ■ Mixing Mediums ■ Fade to Gray ■ Stark Choices ■ Winds of Change ■ The Power of BBP in Your Hands
Chapter 2 Realigning Our PowerPoint Approach with the Research ■ Three Bedrock Tools of PowerPoint ■ Realignment 1: Use Slide Sorter View to Manage the Volume of Information in Your Presentation ■ Realignment 2: Use Notes Page View to Synchronize What You Show and What You Say ■ Realignment 3: Use Normal View to Guide Attention on the Screen ■ A Well-Trained Tool
Chapter 3 Building a Foundation with the BBP Story Template ■ What Does the Road Ahead Look Like? ■ Sewing Up Understanding with BBP ■ Step 1: Choose a Story Thread and a Pattern to Follow ■ Step 2: Pull Through What’s Most Important First ■ Step 3: Guide the Visual and Verbal Strands with ■ Getting Started with the BBP Story Template ■ Writing Headlines Using Three Ground Rules Chapter 4 Planning Your First Five Slides ■ What Will You Show, Say, and Do in the First Five Slides? ■ Starting with the Title and Byline ■ Choosing a Story Thread ■ Choosing a Pattern to Follow ■ Closing the Curtain on Act I ■ 10 Tips for Enhancing Act I
Chapter 5 Planning the Rest of Your Slides ■ And Now Presenting…Act II ■ Threading the Eye of the Needle Using a Hierarchy ■ Prioritizing Your Slides ■ Pulling Through What’s Most Important First ■ Lowering the Curtain on Your Story Template ■ 10 Tips for Enhancing Your Story Template
Chapter 6 Setting Up Your Storyboard and Narration ■ What Will You Show, Say, and Do During Every Slide? ■ Preparing the Storyboard ■ Planning for the Verbal Channel by Writing Down What You’ll Say ■ Planning for the Visual Channel by Sketching Your Storyboard ■ Storyboarding Using Three Ground Rules ■ 10 Tips for Enhancing Your Storyboard
Chapter 7 Sketching Your Storyboard ■ What Do I Sketch on Each Slide? ■ Sketching the Act I Slides ■ Sketching the Call to Action and Key Point Slides ■ Sketching an Optional Navigation Bar ■ Sketching the Explanation Slides ■ Sketching the Detail Slides ■ Sketching Your Story Template ■ Ready, Set, Sketch!
Chapter 8 Adding Graphics to Your Slides ■ Which Graphics Do I Add to Each Slide? ■ Defining Your Design Constraints ■ Adding Graphics Using Three Ground Rules ■ Starting the Production Flow ■ Applying Final Slide Layouts to Your Storyboard ■ Adding Graphics to the Call To Action and Key Point Slides ■ Preparing Slides That Don’t Require Graphics ■ Adding Graphics to the Act I Slides ■ Adding Graphics to the Explanation Slides ■ Adding Graphics to the Detail Slides ■ Creating the Act III Slides ■ Fine-Tuning and Finishing Up ■ Reviewing and Finalizing the Storyboard ■ 10 Tips for Enhancing Your Storyboard
Chapter 9 Delivering Your BBP Presentation ■ Delivering Your Presentation Using Three Ground Rules ■ Removing Distractions ■ Prompting a Dialog ■ Improvising Within Constraints ■ Presenting Without Being Present ■ And Now, Presenting. . . ■ 10 Tips for Enhancing Your Delivery
Chapter 10 Reviewing a Range of BBP Examples ■ What Other Examples Can I See? ■ Introducing a Case with The Trial ■ Keeping on Track with The Plan ■ Presenting Results with The Analysis ■ Making Information Meaningful with The Report ■ Engaging Students with The Class ■ Putting Your Clients at the Center in The Pitch ■ Handling Objections to BBP
Appendix A BBP Ground Rules and Checklists ■ The BBP Ground Rules ■ The BBP Checklists Appendix B Presenting BBP with Two Views ■ Using Slide Show View and Tools ■ Using Presenter View and Tools ■ Creating the Key Point Slide Layout Manually ■ Creating the Explanation Slide Layout Manually ■ Creating the Detail Slide Layout Manually ■ Adding an Optional Navigation Bar Manually ■ Adding Automated Animation ■ Adjusting the Notes Master Layout
I ORIGINALLY WROTE Beyond Bullet Points in 2005 to offer a new way for people to create Microsoft PowerPoint presentations more effectively. I never imagined that shortly after the book’s publication, the impact of the Beyond Bullet Points (BBP) approach would make headlines in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Since then, interest in BBP has elevated the first edition of this book to bestseller status, at one point reaching the #4 sales rank out of all books at Amazon.com. It turns out that BBP is striking a chord with people who have a simple desire—to move beyond the bullet points that keep both presenters and audiences trapped, frustrated, and alienated from one another.
People are finding that BBP really works for them and that once they try this approach, they can’t go back to the old way of using PowerPoint. Since the first edition of this book was published, BBP has been even more thoroughly road-tested and resoundingly audience-approved. Individuals report a process that is practical, orderly, focused, and disciplined, and organizations are finding a methodology that is attainable, effective, efficient, and scalable.
BBP is working today across an incredible range of professions and purposes. It will help you frame and facilitate a conversation with your audience, and it will guide you on how and where and why to use PowerPoint. Lately, questions about BBP have shifted from “How do I do this?” to “How does my organization do this?” which indicates that the approach is taking hold at a deeper level and setting the stage for a broader movement of people who support and use BBP every day.
The underlying system of BBP in this book is the same as in the first two editions, offering a way to turn general theories about communication into the practical things you do when you open a new PowerPoint presentation tomorrow morning.
As in the previous edition of this book, I take you step by step, chapter by chapter, through the BBP process. Chapters 1 through 3 provide an overview of the reasons why you should try BBP and how the process looks, and Chapters 4 through 10 explain specifically the detailed steps of how to use BBP. A bonus Chapter 11, available at the companion content Web page for the book and at www.beyondbulletpoints.com, introduces a fun exercise called BBP Visual Improv. This book is designed to be a practical guide that you keep close at hand while you work on PowerPoint presentations, as well as a source of ongoing inspiration.
For many people, BBP turns the conventional thinking about PowerPoint presentations upside-down and unlocks the potential that has always been available in the software tool, as well as in the people who use it. The heart of this book is really about people communicating with people. By using a commonly available software tool to help you to do that, you can find focus, clarity, and engagement. I hope you’ll find that and much more in this book, as you make and tell your own presentation stories beyond bullet points.