Below are my top ten books that I recommend in the field of public speaking and business presentations. I have read & own all of these books – let me know if you have any questions on them.
What are your favourite books on the topic? I’d love to hear from you.
Chip & Dan Heath – Made to Stick
The Heath brothers’ masterpiece. They introduce a format of 6 key elements to add to messages to make them stick (as e.g. unexpectedness). Rich in stories and examples, you will not be able to put this book away.
Garr Reynolds – Presentation Zen
The classic in the field of modern presenting. Garr Reynolds instructions on key, simple and clear chart design are unparalled. Highly useful.
Lilly Walters – Secrets of Successful Speakers
Lilly Walters runs a speakers bureau in the US. She has collected wisdom from professional speakers on preparation and platform skills and has put this into this highly actionable book.
Scott Berkun – Confessions of a Public Speaker
Scott Berkun is a great author and storyteller. With openness and he opens the books and shares his experiences of the “behind the scenes” of speaking professionally. Great, revealing, with many tips and tricks also for the novice and business presenter.
Nancy Duarte – Resonate
This book looks at the basis of great presentations. What si the underlying structure & framework? Very practical, watch also Nancy’s TEDx talk to get an overview.
Jeremy Donovan – How to give a TED talk
TED is a modern presentation format that is setting standards in terms of presentation delivery and design. Jeremy has analyzed plenty of TED talks and destilled what it takes to present one.
Stephen Few – Now you see it
One of the more forgotten items behind all the fancy presentations – often we have to present data and tables. Stephen Few shows in this book the key elements to transforming your data and tables into communication devices.
Gene Zelasny – Say it with Charts
The McKinsey classic. I got my consulting schooling with this firm. Here, the communications director shares his thoughts on compelling business presentations. Especially valuable for the exploration of chart types.
Nancy Duarte – Slide:ology
In this book Nancy covers the key ground on how to create great visual expression of your thoughts. With plenty of examples to help you design great content with presentation software.
Paul Arinaga & Lars Sudmann – The Smart Presenter
The book that I co-authored together with Paul Arinaga. In there we have put everything we know about business presentations. It covers in a highly practical fashion the POINT formula – 5 key steps to double your impact and halve your preparation time for your next business presentation.
The above book links will point you to amazon.co.uk where you can directly order these books via amazon with free shipping also to continental Europe. They are affiliate links.
