Just Add Water by Michael Baldwin

by Michael Baldwin

Michael Baldwin's Just Add Water is dedicated to putting the focus—and the power—of every presentation back where it with the presenter. It is a rediscovery of how to transform dense, ineffective presentations into ones that can actually clarify thinking, improve the quality of decision-making, and close deals. Just Add Water uses a unique teaching method called cognitive leveraging known concepts to shorten the learning process. It is an "illustrated guide" designed to be so simple and direct that any reader can absorb the key concepts and put them into practice immediately.

Paperback

First published June 15, 2015

About the author

Michael is an accomplished leader in the communications industry who helps individuals, teams, companies, and brands Be better ®.

Reviews

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book that I won from Goodreads would be extremely helpful in preparing a business presentation. The ideas were very clear and the graphics were helpful in supporting the information. These ideas could also be useful in many areas other than business and could help individuals doing any kind of teaching. It offers good ideas to help keep the audiences attention and to make sure that they understand the information.

[Russell Howen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Baldwin in his book "Just Add Water" provides the beginning presenter as well as the one who has done it some and those who have done it a lot with key ideas to make your presentations interesting and sell the listener to meet your objective. It's a five-plus book for these presenters.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely useful and practical. I've shared with more co-workers than I care to count.

[Anne Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was disappointing. I expected a few tricks to really improve your contacts with the public, but actually the main idea was to focus on what you want your audience to be convinced of.
That much, I had it figured long ago! The problems come when you have a hard task finding a way...
Convince teenagers school is great. Yeah, but how? convince readers to read my blog. Sure, here it is!
The author seems to think the presentations you want to make rely on obvious truths and will be clear as soon as you enounce them as well as possible. If only...
Most of the time, you are given a task you may or may not agree with. You may think the idea is good, but not the way it is phrased. You are to cope with what you are given, sadly. If you run a campaign for Aleve, whether you like Tylenol better or not does not matter. Do it for Aleve, don't discuss.
So, for me, the content of the book was not worth much. It has beautiful pictures and could help beginners who never thought more than 30 seconds about what they are asked to do.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a FirstRead.

Just Add Water is a book on how to put together an effective presentation, with focus on both the PowerPoint slides and the speaking portion of the presentation. The book uses the same attention-grabbing graphics that it suggests using in your PowerPoint and gives practical advice for how to put together an engaging, connected presentation.

I would recommend this book to anyone who feels they could use some help with putting together a clear, concise presentation.

[Syndi Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was the lucky winner of a copy of this book in a goodreads win. it is an excellent guide to giving presentations. it is written very clearly and uses a step by step guide to getting and keeping your audiences interest. it is easy to follow and includes lots of tips and strategies for ensuring a good presentation. the illustrations are very helpful and sometimes humerous and help to focus your attention while getting the point across very memorably. this book should be a must for any public speaker. syndi

[Peg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forwarded by Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.
Practical guide to presentations using PowerPoint slides and the oral presentation of your CCO. It reiterates what every good presenter should be aware of and restates the simple factual ways in which the presenter becomes the winner. Kudos to Mr. Baldwin. Good to use for review or as a beginner, but no new ideas presented. Love what you do an do it well!

[Debbie Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Step by step, east to read and implement, well written guide to execute any type of presentation. Mr. Baldwin effectively modeled how to prepare and present an informative, convincing, and entertaining presentation throughout his book, "Just Add Water ". I certainly recommend reading this book to anyone who wants to successfully present material in an intelligent and organized manner.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway. The author did a great job of, not just telling, but showing the reader techniques to make a presentation impactful. I will definitely be using what I learned in the future. I also will be sharing the book with my older children for use in school presentations. Thank you.

[Ian Yarington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to read stuff like this because it takes me out of my comfort zone but at the same time I end up not knowing a lot about the ideas behind the book. That is the case for this book. I'm not really savy to public speaking and stuff like that so this is somewhat foreign to me. I enjoyed the way it was written and it wasn't bad to read but I was lost for most of it.

[KarnagesMistress · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is really only useful for Powerpoint presentations. If you're looking to simply hone your general presentation skills, it won't be of much use. The illustrations throughout make it a lovely read, though. I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.