The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides

Reynolds is a speaker, consultant, a writer, and designer. He is a long-time student of Zen arts - and is currently an Associate Professor of management at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. In his first two books Presentation Zen and Presentation Zen Design, he wrote about tools for planning and designing successful presentations. In this book, he focuses on the delivery of the presentation...how presenters can deliver natural and memorable presentations that connect deeply with the audience. Some of the key recommendations include: 1) Think Conversation not performance - natural delivery is more like a conversation between friends than a formal one-way lecture. Don't be boring. Don't read your speech. Make eye contact. 2) Prepare. Identify the purpose. (Start with 'Why?') When you present you are trying to create change in people's minds. 3) Establish "presence." Focus on the here and now. Be present. Take a risk and express your true self. Be authentic. Show your passion. 4) Project yourself. The Way you look. The Way you move. The Way you sound. 5) Have pace in your presentation. Attention spans are normally 10 minutes. You need to mix it up. Have the audience participate. 6) Begin with a punch. End with a powerful finish (inspire, tell a story) 7) I thought this excerpt captured the essence of Reynold's teachings from the book: "I've always said that presentation is more art than science. So what is art?...Set Godin said this about art in the context of work: 'Art is a generous action - it's when a human connects to another human and makes a change.' The work that we do could be art, but if we are just following the rules, playing it safe, and sort of working-by-the-numbers (as in paint-by-numbers), then the work lacks connection and difference, and therefore lacks art. The best presentations are works of art because the best presenters connect in the spirit of contribution and generosity and help people make a change. The worst presentations are speeches are the usual ones, the ones that are perfunctory, route, safe and utterly forgettable. Nobody ever got fired for doing the expected and the safe...Today, more than ever there are opportunities to speak in front of others to make a connection and contribution to lasting change - that is, to create art." My thoughts on the book: 1) Buy the Book - Skip Kindle. I'm as "green" as the next reader - however this book is written to be read (and owned) in print and not on Kindle. It is beautifully designed and intended to sit on your book shelf as a guide. Masterful in its design - its look and feel is "Zen-like" if I can take it that far in description. 2) This book is a quick and captivating read. While Reynolds does not introduce much in terms of new concepts, I found his ability to distill the message to the core essence of what's important to connect with audiences to be worthy. He practices what he preaches - this is a page turner for a self-help book - which holds your attention throughout. The book is well paced and mixed with stories, quotes, tips from professional presenters and beautiful Zen art. 3) Book is best suited for the advanced presenter. There are better options for beginners and intermediate practitioners such as: How to Give a Pretty Good Presentation: A Speaking Survival Guide for the Rest of Us Confessions of a Public Speaker

When I first picked up this book I thought; Oh great Garr Reynolds is a progressive nut who is going to try and convince me that the combination of presenting naked and lessons from Asian culture will make me a better presenter". He was most likely going to tell me that being naked would give me some kind of inner peace allowing me to talk freely and without fear. I quickly found out that I was right. Ok, so presenting naked was figurative and not literal. The author was quick to explain that the way you give a presentation is to present it for the audience not the speaker. I never really thought of it in those terms. I have always prepared my presentations by looking at what I would want. This really opened my eyes to what has been wrong with every boring presentation that I have ever sat through. The presenter never cared or bothered to ask what the audience wanted. There were some good key points in each chapter that I felt would help me with my next presentation. In Chapter two Garr told us that we need to fully prepare before taking the podium. I know that when I give a presentation this is the one area that I spend most of my time. I often spend too much time preparing and end up over thinking the presentation. The end result is information overload. Garr walks us through a very nice eight step process for preparing a presentation. I found this process extremely useful in preparing for my presentation. The 8 step process should be in a pop up window whenever you open power point. Now that I have put some thought into whom I'm giving the presentation to and I'm properly prepared, what about the actual presentation? What can I do to become a more effective presenter? I pulled a few things from the next couple of chapters that I thought would help me to drive home my presentation. Chapter Three Garr says "Connect with Punch, Presence, and Projection". The story he told about the news anchor made me realize that he was right. You should reach out and grab the audience's attention right away. I want to open my presentation like the evening news. In the next chapter he told us to engage with Passion. I have seen a few presentations where a passionate and engaging speaker was able to capture the audience's attention even though the topic was boring. I'm speaking on a topic that I am very passionate about and my challenge will be to ensure that the audience sees that passion. I believe that my passion for the subject will allow me to connect with presence and projection. Projecting my passion to the audience is not the only area that I will have difficulty with. Garr touched on a big problem in chapter five. Looking at it from the audience's point of view I can see that I tend to be very monotone and even though I have passion for the topic I may be putting everyone to sleep. I might use note cards with single words on them like VOLUME, PITCH, and RATE. I have to say my favorite part of the book was chapter six. This was just a well written chapter. Garr tells us to "End with a Powerful Finish". In every presentation I give from now on I will have this image in my head of a cinnamon roll with the words "MAKE YOUR ENDING STICKY". You don't need to say anything after that. The image says it all for you. This was a decent book with a lot of good tips and lessons on the art of the presentation. I still think that Garr Reynolds is a progressive nut. I'm an American and my culture and that voice in my head tells me that I'm not getting into a bath naked with a bunch of people that I work with. He did teach me a few things and changed the way I will approach my future presentations. I am looking forward to giving my first "naked" presentation.

The first thing that strikes me about the book is its elegant design, simplistic feel and logical layout. It successfully captures the essence of the message conveyed throughout the book and sets the stage for an engaging and creative presentation, which truly practices what the author is preaching. There are a number of books about presentations out there, and many of them contain most advices found in this book; but this book distinguishes itself through its cheer elegance and stellar demonstrative style. The author does a great job of cutting right to the chase and gives tons of great advice and really good information on how to take your presentation skills to the next level. The author aims at teaching us how to communicate the essence of our message by stripping away all that is unnecessary and embracing the ideas of simplicity, clarity, honesty, integrity and most importantly passion. The concept of "nakedness" or "naturalness" is used in a superb metaphor to explain the need to remove all barriers between the presenter and his or her audience, and to transform presentations into genuine and honest discussions. Overall, the book was a reading delight! Very well written and superbly presented. Though the book might not be the best start for the very novice, it contains invaluable advice and insightful information that make it a must read! I would advice this to anyone seeking to better their presentation skills.

Reynolds continues to deliver a sublime blend of art and information to help anyone who had the nerve to create a presentation. You can read this one every year and continue to get subtle hints for continually sharpening your message and delivery.

I loved this book and recommend it to all my students at university. I bought it for work, but read it happily in bed, it is so readable and enjoyable (as can be said for Garr's other books too). As an ICT adviser I am obliged to make sure people can use presentation software well - this book emphasises that relying on technical skills is not enough, that making a connection with the audience, applying restraint and being your natural self are actually more important. Do both well and you are rocking!

Comme d'habitude un livre de Garr qui nous aide a voir et comprendre ce qui nous apparaît pourtant comme naturel. Éviter de tuer vôtre auditoire avec vos présentations et passez à la présentation Zen.

まだ日本語版は出ていませんが、待ちきれなかったので買ってしまいました。 良書だと思います。正直いって前２著ほどの「読んでよかった」感、「持っていてよかった」感はないのですが（やはり前２著を読んでいない人には先にそちらを読むべきだとおもいます。 この手の精神論をかたる本はあまり好きではない。むしろ積極的に嫌いなのですが、それでも、可能なかぎり年寄り臭い精神論に陥ることなく、具体的に「〇〇しましょう」みたいなこと（電気は消すな、とか個人的な経験を交えようとか、ジョークをいうなんて考えるな、とか）が書いてあるので自分の中で従う、従わないをきっちり判断することができます。

Illuminating! Just be yourself and communication will be smooth! Nice for eveybody who wants to quickly improve. Buy it asap