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Presentations
Feeling stressed about your upcoming presentation? Whether you’re nervous about how you’ll organize your thoughts or how you’ll articulate them on the big day,
Presentations
provides the quick guidelines and expert tips you need to:
• Craft your message
• Prepare and rehearse effectively
• Engage your audience
• Manage Q&A sessions
About HBR's 20-Minute Manager Series:
Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic.
Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives—from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.
• Craft your message
• Prepare and rehearse effectively
• Engage your audience
• Manage Q&A sessions
About HBR's 20-Minute Manager Series:
Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic.
Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives—from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.
113 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 18, 2014
39 people are currently reading
584 people want to read
About the author
Harvard Business Publishing
323 books796 followersHarvard Business Publishing (HBP) is a publisher founded in 1994 as a not-for-profit, independent corporation and an affiliate of Harvard Business School (distinct from Harvard University Press), with a focus on improving business management practices. The company offers articles, books, case studies, simulations, videos, learning programs, and digital tools to organizations and subscribers.
HBP consists of three market units: Education, Corporate Learning, and Harvard Business Review Group. Their offering consists of print and digital media (Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review Press books, Harvard Business School cases), events, digital learning (Harvard ManageMentor, HMM Spark), blended learning, and campus experiences.
HBP consists of three market units: Education, Corporate Learning, and Harvard Business Review Group. Their offering consists of print and digital media (Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review Press books, Harvard Business School cases), events, digital learning (Harvard ManageMentor, HMM Spark), blended learning, and campus experiences.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 3, 2022
A presentation is a way of communication like a group, a meeting, or a team. It is the method of getting the message across to the listeners
What are the most important factors that help you to make the best presentation?
Presentations can be done in different forms by different methods. The key to presentation is the same irrespective of the method or the modality.
“No matter what form your presentation takes, the key to presenting effectively is to know your goals, your audience, and yourself. ”
My favorite three lines from this book.
Most of us have had at least one presentation at some part of our life. This book might be telling just the basics of presentation, but it will help you make an excellent presentation in the best possible way.
What are the most important factors that help you to make the best presentation?
Presentations can be done in different forms by different methods. The key to presentation is the same irrespective of the method or the modality.
“No matter what form your presentation takes, the key to presenting effectively is to know your goals, your audience, and yourself. ”
My favorite three lines from this book.
“Ending early is better than not completing the talk or rushing at the end during a presentation. Plan what you skip if your time is cut short.”
“What main point do you want people to remember when they walk away from the presentation?”
“Assess the seating. People who have to stand during the presentation are more likely to leave early than those who have a chair.”
Most of us have had at least one presentation at some part of our life. This book might be telling just the basics of presentation, but it will help you make an excellent presentation in the best possible way.
December 25, 2020
Give me my 20 minutes back. This is way too elementary for anybody who has any sort of experience presenting whatsoever.
Read
June 28, 2019Bəlkə də ilk dəfə təqdimat edəcək biri üçün çox yararlı kitab ola bilər, amma artıq uzun müddətdir işin içindəsizsə yenilik görməyəcəksiz. Ən azından öz adımdan onu rahatlıqla deyə bilərəm ki, bilmədiyim heç nə ilə rastlaşmadım. Ümumilikdə belə tərz kitabları elə də sevmirəm, sadəcə Harvard Business School Press olduğu üçün gözləntilərim daha yüksək idi.
November 23, 2021
Boleh la untuk tahu basic presentation 👍
August 22, 2020
A way too simplistic book on "improving" your presentation skills. It just lacks depth.
It's in one's best interest to skip it & read some other authoritative book in this genre.
Key points:
• Define your goal i.e. why are you giving a presentation
• Explaining new data.
• Soliciting ideas or feedback to build consensus.
• Asking people to take action.
• Seeking help solving a problem.
• Getting buy-in on an initiative.
• Know your audience:
o Size
o What roles do they have in the organization & to whom are they accountable
o What do they already know? What do you want them to know
o Will some attendees’ goals conflict with the others? If so, acknowledge that upfront and offer to help
• Have a core message
• An effective statement of the need or problem:
• Spells out the main challenge you want to address
with the audience’s help.
• Shows how that issue directly affects the
audience.
• Has a sense of urgency.
• Empty questions aimed at the whole sweep of the room—“Is everybody following?”—generally don’t
work. Most polite people will simply nod. Instead, directly address individuals: “Does that seem like the
biggest problem with customer satisfaction, Maria, given your front-line perspective?”
• Call to action
A good wrap-up has a strong call to action. These are
the key ingredients:
• Reiterate the challenge and your solution.
• Recommend specific action.
• Obtain commitment or buy-in.
• Agree on assignments if appropriate.
• Explain what you’ll be doing to follow up after
the presentation.
• Keep your audience engaged
• Change what you’re doing—pause, for example,
or alter your tone of voice.
• Survey the audience: “Just out of curiosity, how
many of you believe that our customers are
satisfi ed with our current returns policy? Let’s
see a show of hands.”
• Add humor if appropriate. Audience members
welcome a little comic relief.
• Provide analogies and vivid examples.
• Introduce personal stories.
• Keep returning to how your message affects the
audience: “Here’s what that last point means
for you and your team.”
• Debrief your presentation
You may discover small glitches, such as a slide
that could not be read from the back of the room, or
bigger ones, like a missing step in a process you outlined.
Make a list of those fl aws as soon as possible—
no more than an hour or two after your presentation
ends, if that’s feasible. Incorporate the changes into
your slides and other master fi les within a few days.
Trying to reconstruct and correct the problems weeks
or months later almost always yields worse results, if
you remember to fi x the mistakes at all.
• Follow up with the audience
• Sending thank-you notes to key attendees.
• E-mailing the entire audience to briefl y reinforce
your takeaway message and to get
your address in their in-boxes.
• Making yourself available for questions that
occur to people after the presentation.
• Booking “next steps” meetings to ensure that
your implementation plan proceeds effi ciently.
• Giving the same or a similar presentation to
another group that needs to hear your message.
It's in one's best interest to skip it & read some other authoritative book in this genre.
Key points:
• Define your goal i.e. why are you giving a presentation
• Explaining new data.
• Soliciting ideas or feedback to build consensus.
• Asking people to take action.
• Seeking help solving a problem.
• Getting buy-in on an initiative.
• Know your audience:
o Size
o What roles do they have in the organization & to whom are they accountable
o What do they already know? What do you want them to know
o Will some attendees’ goals conflict with the others? If so, acknowledge that upfront and offer to help
• Have a core message
• An effective statement of the need or problem:
• Spells out the main challenge you want to address
with the audience’s help.
• Shows how that issue directly affects the
audience.
• Has a sense of urgency.
• Empty questions aimed at the whole sweep of the room—“Is everybody following?”—generally don’t
work. Most polite people will simply nod. Instead, directly address individuals: “Does that seem like the
biggest problem with customer satisfaction, Maria, given your front-line perspective?”
• Call to action
A good wrap-up has a strong call to action. These are
the key ingredients:
• Reiterate the challenge and your solution.
• Recommend specific action.
• Obtain commitment or buy-in.
• Agree on assignments if appropriate.
• Explain what you’ll be doing to follow up after
the presentation.
• Keep your audience engaged
• Change what you’re doing—pause, for example,
or alter your tone of voice.
• Survey the audience: “Just out of curiosity, how
many of you believe that our customers are
satisfi ed with our current returns policy? Let’s
see a show of hands.”
• Add humor if appropriate. Audience members
welcome a little comic relief.
• Provide analogies and vivid examples.
• Introduce personal stories.
• Keep returning to how your message affects the
audience: “Here’s what that last point means
for you and your team.”
• Debrief your presentation
You may discover small glitches, such as a slide
that could not be read from the back of the room, or
bigger ones, like a missing step in a process you outlined.
Make a list of those fl aws as soon as possible—
no more than an hour or two after your presentation
ends, if that’s feasible. Incorporate the changes into
your slides and other master fi les within a few days.
Trying to reconstruct and correct the problems weeks
or months later almost always yields worse results, if
you remember to fi x the mistakes at all.
• Follow up with the audience
• Sending thank-you notes to key attendees.
• E-mailing the entire audience to briefl y reinforce
your takeaway message and to get
your address in their in-boxes.
• Making yourself available for questions that
occur to people after the presentation.
• Booking “next steps” meetings to ensure that
your implementation plan proceeds effi ciently.
• Giving the same or a similar presentation to
another group that needs to hear your message.
December 23, 2019
A memory refreshing book as many things you already know about presentations.
The book gives an outline form of all considerations for getting ready, doing the presentation and the follow-up with the audience at the end.
The major topics covered are, to define your goal, know your audience, craft your message, identify your resources, plan your visuals, practice your delivery, deliver your presentation, manage responses, debrief your presentation and follow-up with the audience.
Approaching a presentation with logical steps makes it easier to stay on topic and give a presentation that is meaningful to the audience.
The book gives an outline form of all considerations for getting ready, doing the presentation and the follow-up with the audience at the end.
The major topics covered are, to define your goal, know your audience, craft your message, identify your resources, plan your visuals, practice your delivery, deliver your presentation, manage responses, debrief your presentation and follow-up with the audience.
Approaching a presentation with logical steps makes it easier to stay on topic and give a presentation that is meaningful to the audience.
December 21, 2020
Buena y rápida introducción acerca de las presentaciones de negocio:
- Inicia con un objetivo claro, ESCRÍBELO.
- Piensa en tus oyentes y adapta el mensaje
- Prepara el material adecuado y los argumentos lógicos que apoyen tu punto
- Practica tu presentación
- Has el seguimiento de la presentación
- Obtén retroalimentación y apunto algunos puntos que mejorar
Los recursos que vienen al final del libro se ven increíbles.
- Inicia con un objetivo claro, ESCRÍBELO.
- Piensa en tus oyentes y adapta el mensaje
- Prepara el material adecuado y los argumentos lógicos que apoyen tu punto
- Practica tu presentación
- Has el seguimiento de la presentación
- Obtén retroalimentación y apunto algunos puntos que mejorar
Los recursos que vienen al final del libro se ven increíbles.
January 15, 2022
Quick read on what makes a good presentation. Key Take always include:
When someone asks a question state the question back and be sure to tell them why its a good question. Also align the question with your presentation core message.
Debrief the audience once the presentation is complete with next steps and calls to action.
Not re-inventing the wheel but useful tips for such a succinct and short read
When someone asks a question state the question back and be sure to tell them why its a good question. Also align the question with your presentation core message.
Debrief the audience once the presentation is complete with next steps and calls to action.
Not re-inventing the wheel but useful tips for such a succinct and short read
May 15, 2017
Really short read. There's not much depth to it at all. For instance, there's one paragraph on analyzing your presentation. This is a starting off point, but definitely not worthwhile if you are really looking to perfect your presenting skills.
April 20, 2018
Very basic. Really more of a blog post than a book but it is what the title suggests.
August 12, 2019
Very small book but practical suggestions for presentations
November 22, 2019
Nice short guide
March 27, 2021
Super short and quick read, this is very helpful as it guides you from the ideation, preparation, to post-presentation actions to gauge your impact.
July 10, 2022
#85 of 100 self help books
Good
Good
August 19, 2023
A lot of obvious, well known advice on giving presentations (but still a great resource for beginners).
December 31, 2023
Straightforward, love it
March 30, 2025
A good book for folks who have no experience with presentations. But, honestly, it could have had some more details assuming this is a book aimed to give pointers to experienced presenters.
April 13, 2025
a little too basic
August 12, 2019
A good, concise and practical guide for professional looking to enhance their presentation skills. Very accessible with a good overview on how to sharpen your core message and engage with your audience.
February 4, 2016
The usual advice.
Plan out carefully: What is your broad goal? What specific outcomes do you want? Who is the audience, and how should you tailor message to them?
Don't forget to scope out the venue and practice using the equipment well before the talk.
Have a plan of what to cut out in case of delays or if you run out of time (rather than rushing everything "to get through it all").
During Q&A, repeat each question out loud for the rest of the group to hear.
[Not from this book, but notes-to-self on other presentation tips:
* Lillian Lee: "Your goal is not to convince people that you are brilliant, but that your solution is trivial"---which implies they agree your solution is correct.
* Cosma Shalizi: Don't give the gory details of your paper / proof, but an abstract / trailer to convince them to read your paper. Why should they care about the problem and your solution?
* Kathy Sierra: "Open with a question they would very much like an answer for. That's it. Pose a question."]
Plan out carefully: What is your broad goal? What specific outcomes do you want? Who is the audience, and how should you tailor message to them?
Don't forget to scope out the venue and practice using the equipment well before the talk.
Have a plan of what to cut out in case of delays or if you run out of time (rather than rushing everything "to get through it all").
During Q&A, repeat each question out loud for the rest of the group to hear.
[Not from this book, but notes-to-self on other presentation tips:
* Lillian Lee: "Your goal is not to convince people that you are brilliant, but that your solution is trivial"---which implies they agree your solution is correct.
* Cosma Shalizi: Don't give the gory details of your paper / proof, but an abstract / trailer to convince them to read your paper. Why should they care about the problem and your solution?
* Kathy Sierra: "Open with a question they would very much like an answer for. That's it. Pose a question."]
May 1, 2015
A couple of times per year I am asked to be a presenter at the two local county wide mini-conferences. The Presentations book in the 20-Minute Manager Series gives an outline form of all considerations for getting ready, doing the presentation and the follow-up with the audience at the end. The major topics covered are, to define your goal, know your audience, craft your message, identify your resources, plan your visuals, practice your delivery, deliver your presentation, manage responses, debrief your presentation and follow-up with the audience. Approaching a presentation with logical steps will make it easier to stay on topic and give a presentation that is meaningful to the audience. Presentations, 20-Minute Manager Series is a handy reference to make a person a better, more organized presenter.
My thanks to Harvard Business Law Press & Goodreads First Reads Giveaway for my copy of Presentations.
My thanks to Harvard Business Law Press & Goodreads First Reads Giveaway for my copy of Presentations.
January 28, 2015
As a quick read manual for giving presentations I consider it a good idea to read this book and look at some of the reference materials it suggests at the end. It is a very good how to book on creating a good and successful presentation for any sized group of people ranging from five to five hundred and more if you have the means. I hope the entire series of these books is as good as this one is and I wish I had more of them. I will keep this one for reference if I need it later on myself or if someone I know may find it useful. Overall a good book but a bit short on the more tactful end of what needs to be used and the how it needs to be used.
Want to read
March 30, 2014Thank you. I just won this book in a first reads giveaway. I will read and comment once I get the book.
April 15, 2014
Nice refresher course on giving good presentations. Quick read. Definitely recommend it.
February 19, 2016
Clear idea of what to include and how to prepare for a presentation is given
October 16, 2024
Audible, added to Notes
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
May 8, 2019Location: ND6 IRC
Accession No: DL030734
Accession No: DL030734
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews