Encyclopedia of Slide Layouts – Announcement

Good news! After three years of hard work, the Encyclopedia of Slide Layouts is finally ready for publication.

cover-esl

 

One of the most common questions we get at our Extreme Presentation(tm) Workshops is “Can you show us some more examples of Conference room style slides?” Now our answer is “Yes,” a whole book full of them.

The Encyclopedia of Slide Layouts presents 169 examples of Conference Room style slides, used with permission, from companies like the Corporate Executive Board, McKinsey & Co., and others. These are “real world” slides, right from the front lines of visual communication. Each slide is described, explaining why and how it works, and what variations on it you might want to consider.

The book is organized according to our “Slide Chooser.” Many of you are familiar with our popular “Chart Chooser,” which helps you chose a good chart design. Well, the Slide Chooser does the same thing for slide layouts:

Slide Chooser

It’s a little hard to read there, so here’s a zoomed-in shot to give you a better idea:

slide zoom

And here’s another:

slide zoom 2

You’ll notice that the layout uses the same approach as the Chart Chooser, taking you through a series of logical choices, and terminating with one one or more suggested layouts. The book has a chapter dedicated to each layout: that’s what the page numbers are for. The Slide Chooser thus serves as a visual table of contents for the whole book.

When you turn to the relevant page, e.g. page 213 for the “Linear Process” layout, you’ll come to the “Linear Process” layout chapter, in this case chapter 27. On the first page of each chapter you’ll find a generic version of the layout (think of it as the pure, Platonic form of that layout), guidance on when and how to use that layout, and options for how to draw the layout using templates from Charteo, Duarte Design’s Diagrammer, Powerframeworks.com, or PowerPoint’s own SmartArt.

linear process

This page is then followed by several (seven in this case) examples of the slide layout in real life, such as these two:

Allocated Staged Investment

two sides of the same coin

We know that loyal followers of our blog have been awaiting for the Encyclopedia patiently, so even though we’re not quite ready for our official launch (marketing details still being finalized…), you can get hold of a copy right now, only available from here (not yet on Amazon.com or other online booksellers). The book sells for $39.99, but for our loyal blog readers we’re happy to offer, just until the official launch date, a 15% off coupon – use code 4H973NNC.

Remember that the book is entirely dedicated to examples of Conference room style slides–slides that are designed to persuade, and therefore must contain lots of relevant detail, carefully organized to pass the “squint test.” (And if you don’t know what Conference room style and squint test are, the book explains these in detail. While you’re waiting for your copy to be delivered, you can read about the squint test and about why Conference room style slides are good for Presenting to physicians, scientists, engineers… and marketers.)

Be sure to comment below and let us know what you think of our new book!

Paul & Andrew.

 

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