If you prepare presentations and use slides, there are interesting ideas in Cliff Atkinson’s book, Beyond Bullet Points. As the title suggests, he warns against using slides with bullet points. Instead, he uses slides to tell a story, planning them with a storyboard technique.

The author starts by describing a presentation that used the BBP technique to win a major legal case. The rest of the book takes you through the steps of planning, creating and delivering the presentation. He even suggests handouts with financial data in an Excel spreadsheet, to supplement the presentation, and “quickly establish credibility.” Incorporating Excel is obviously a smart move in almost any presentation!

I found the book easy to read, with detailed instructions, checklists, tips and examples. The book comes with a CD which contains templates and checklists to help you get started. There are also templates and other free resources on the BBP web site, where you can download a couple of chapters from the book, to see if you like it enough to buy it.

Filed under: Excel, PowerPoint, Presentations