Title: Everything I Know about Life I Learned from PowerPoint
Author: Russell Davies
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2021; RRP: $29.99
The Author
Russell Davies is a PowerPoint wizard and devotee. Early in his career he put aside writing ambitions, realising there were plenty of contemporaries with better connections into the literary world, so went into advertising instead. Now he calls himself a creative strategist, a communications guru laying claim to helping some of the biggest corporate names, the likes of Honda, Nike, and Microsoft. The British Government and The New York Museum of Modern Art have also benefitted from his assistance in getting their messages across.
The Book
Russell has put out a cool little book that I think captures the essence and feel of PowerPoint. The first half of the book traces Russell’s career and the development of his presentation skills using PowerPoint. He casts himself as the success story due to PowerPoint, showing how a puny shy young beginner challenged by the big time of advertising presentation was turned into something akin to a character (he wishes) from the TV series the Mad Men.
Including the story of his own career gives the whole thing a personal element, someone the reader can identify with (which is a tip for good presentations from the second half).
Russell claims not to be writing exclusively about Microsoft’s PowerPoint and that he uses the term PowerPoint much the same way the British use the term Hoover. While we might vacuum, the Brits Hoover.
The behind-the-scenes history of this popular piece of software is an entertaining read and will appeal to technophile historians. ‘While this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, Russell does a decent job of holding the reader’s interests by adding little anecdotes from some major projects where PowerPoint was used with good effect.
@ doing presentations, by giles turnbull
The second half is all about making presentations using PowerPoint. Some of these tips are obvious especially for those used to doing presentations. The book mimics the format of a presentation deck. The pages open in landscape layout. Never is there any more than one idea per page and rarely does an idea continue over the turning of a page. There are plenty of examples of PowerPoint slides. A key message is that the hard work and detail are in the preparation ,not in the slides.
This book is a master class in communication. The common theme is about making your communication clear, precise, and easily acceptable. If your career involves presentations, this is a must read. I wish I had read this book twenty-something years ago!
Reviewed by: Frank Thompson, December 2021
Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group
Review copy supplied by the publisher
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