The Naked Presenter

Compared to writing about presentation design, writing a book about effective delivery is no mean feat. The printed word affords plenty of flexibility to discuss design principles at length, providing authors sufficient space to explain what constitutes appealing and effectively designed visuals as well as to show examples that readers can use as points of reference. In contrast, it is nearly impossible to capture in words all the intangibles about outstanding presentation delivery, most of which gets lost in translation without an accompanying demonstration.

Then comes a book like The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides, which will make even the most skeptical of readers believe that there is such a thing as an excellent book about presentation delivery.

This third book from Garr Reynolds brings his expositions on modern presentation full circle. With the seminal Presentation Zen, he offered a new approach to presentation design and delivery in the digital age, one based on restraint in preparation, simplicity in design, and naturalness in delivery. In Presentation Zen Design, the subject of design was given a much more comprehensive treatment, covering themes as diverse as font ligatures and kerning, color selection, and negative space. Now, in the The Naked Presenter, Reynolds shows how the Presentation Zen approach applies to presentation delivery whether one uses slideware or not -- resulting in something that is as much a playbook for novice and experienced presenters alike as it is a celebration of modern effective presentation (and thereby a rallying cry against "Death by Powerpoint").

Reynolds' penchant for design thinking permeates The Naked Presenter, in which he employs a constraint as a means to organize his points meaningfully: he discusses what it means to "present naked" (that is to say, naturally) via ten P's. Preparation. Punch. Presence. Projection. Passion. Proximity. Play. Pace. Participation. And a Powerful Finish. Each of these elements is crucial for a person to lay himself bare in front of an audience and make a real connection, and each is discussed in a manner one would expect from no less than a master presenter.

Some might say the magic of The Naked Presenter is how it engenders the belief that, yes, you can be good at presenting, too. But an equally good case can be made that Reynolds' singular triumph with his work more generally and this book in particular is how he has managed to keep his discourse on presentation accessible while at the same time elevating it to a near-philosophical level. The Zen arts clearly have a huge influence in the way Reynolds views presenting, organizes his thoughts, and conveys his message. And his readers are all the better for it.

Restraint in preparation. Simplicity in design. Naturalness in delivery. The Naked Presenter is perhaps best described by these three principles and is arguably Reynolds' most important work to date.