The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides by Garr Reynolds

The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides Reviews

• 
  Kim Pallister

  [cross-posted from my blog at
  www.kimpallister.com]
  Recently, I was exchanging email with a colleague on the subject of presentations when he brought up Nancy Duarte's books, which I'd read some time ago, and given a positive review to at least one of them. One of the books that came up was Garr Reynolds Presentation Zen, which I'd also liked. It turned out he had a more recent book out, The Naked Presenter, and so I decided to give it a read.
  
  It's okay, but I can't recommend it as highly as his previous book or Duarte's. The book focuses more on the "Zen" aspects of approaching presentation preparation and delivery, and less on the actual mechanics of those things themselves.
  
  This would be well enough, but I found many of the techniques to be high level and vapid compared to other works, and the metaphors to all things Japanese felt forced.
  
  Like many of the more recent "pretty books" (Duarte's and Reynolds' both fall in this camp), the content is so blown out in favor of whitespace, quotes, and pretty pictures, that it's pretty devoid of content. What's there is not beyond what's already covered in the original book. It does try to get into the whole zen-mental-state thing, on approaching prep, on delivery, on handling a hostile audience, etc, but only superficially. I'd have liked to see some approaches to drills or to methods of rehearsal and the like.
  
  In summary, the book is alright, but I'd recommend Duarte's Resonate or Reynolds' Presentation Zen over this book. If you like Reynolds' other book a lot, then you may enjoy this one.
• 
  Lynda Felder

  This book is fabulous for those who want to become better speakers. You can’t help but feel the book has powerful messages, just by flipping through its pages. Reynolds, as you would expect, practices his own Zen presentation skills, keeping the content simple and straightforward without the fussy marginalia and cartoonish icons for hot tips and so-called bright ideas that typically appear in such books. The book flows smoothly, with seven logical chapters that cover what Reynolds defines as the ten Ps: presentation, punch, projection, passion, proximity, play, pace, participation and power. There’s an extra P at the end, for persistence.
  
  Reynolds states, “Presenting naked means connecting and engaging with an audience, whether three people or three thousand, in a way that is direct, honest, and clear.” He tells us to put the audience first, reminding us that our presentation is a service and that when we present, we are trying to create change in our listeners’ minds. This is a helpful for those like me, who feel self-conscious and a little nervous in front of a crowd. He furthermore says that the speaker should be interested, rather than interesting. I believe this. When you are passionate about your topic and truly interested in the audience, it’s hard not to be a great speaker.
  
  Throughout the book, Reynolds provides lessons for the naked presenter that parallel Japanese traditions and beliefs. In Chapter 1, there are seven lessons from ofuro, the Japanese bath, an integral part of Japanese Life. For example: 1. You must first prepare. One washes before the ofuro. 2. You must go fully naked. In Chapter 3 there are seven lessons from the Japanese Forest that compare good presenting practices to being like bamboo. Other chapters continue with this theme.
  
  Just when you begin to feel the book has become too abstract, with lessons from Akido, or the Dojo, Reynolds shifts gears and provides practical solutions to begin, keep the audience listening, and to end your presentation. He includes excellent real-life scenarios and examples. If you read this book, you’ll also know that Reynolds himself is an avid reader, by the excellent advice and suggestions he attributes to other authors and speakers. By the time I finished the book, I had a list of other books I wanted to read.
  
  I can’t wait to give another talk myself, and to try out several of the great suggestions in this book.
  
• 
  Rowan Manahan

  Not good at all. Reynolds' strength lies in design and he should stick to the knitting. He is not a speechwriter and not a presentation coach, so his advice - while fundamentally sound - rings hollow to me throughout this book. There are no new ideas here and the ideas he does propound are not particularly well-written. Also, the book lacks examples - say, of of a presentation evolving from it an early draft to a strong final version with the reasons for the changes clearly highlighted.
  
  There is another problem with this book. Reynolds is deeply fascinated by Japanese civilisation and clearly believes it has many lessons to teach us and his minimalist, Zen aesthetic on the design side is what has rightly made him famous in the presentation world. But in this book, he reminded me of Alison Hannigan's character in the American Pie films who begins every other sentence with the phrase, "This one time, at band camp ..."
  
  Garr spends a LOT of time using at-best tenuous analogies from Japanese culture to make his points about presentations - so apparently, a presentation is like taking a Japanese bath, should be like a bamboo, must overcome the 10 evils of Budo, could be like Aikido (and Judo!) and should have P.U.N.C.H. (yet another lousy acronym) too.
  
  Garr's fascination with all things Japanese is even starting to pollute his slides. I have noticed now that he regularly has his usual beautiful image, along with the pull quote or tightly phrased idea, on his slides - PLUS Japanese subtitles for the verbiage. What!? That's called clutter! If you're presenting to a Japanese audience, you use the yokogaki, for everyone else, that is just indecipherable clutter taking up room on your slide.
  
  If you're looking for a good text on crafting the narrative of your presentation, try Nancy Duarte's Resonate (Nancy works with presenters every day and it shows on every page) and if you want to get into the meat and potatoes of oratory and rhetoric for your delivery, go to the Master - Max Atkinson. No cutesie ideas, no silly acronyms or self-indulgent analogies, just solid, example-driven advice from the trenches.
  
  This book? Not worth your time.
• 
  Reid

  I'm a big fan of Garr Reynolds, but if you've read his other two books about delivering presentations, this one doesn't add much more to the conversation. He re-quotes his favorite authors (Dan Pink and the Heath Brothers) and speakers (o-sensei, Ken Robinson). Some of the new content feels like wishy-washy filler (particularly "Lessons from the Bamboo"). I've always enjoyed how Reynolds incorporates elements of Japanese culture into his approach to presentations, but some of his examples here feel superfluous or too conceptual to be really useful.
  
  All that being said, there's still some cool new stuff in here about presentation delivery. He has a lot of good advice about rehearsing and preparing; I particularly liked his tips for engaging with a crowd before the start of a presentation. Also, his sponge-like ability to draw up wisdom from all around him (including a flash-flood warning sign, a child dancing at a jazz performance, and Mike Rowe) inspires me to keep my eyes open for the lessons I'm probably missing.
  
  All in all, this is a short book that's worth a once-over from the library, but is by no means a must-buy.
• 
  Наталія

  книжку можна було скоротити разів у 4. від того зміст би не постраждав. текст написаний "американським" стилем - приторно-легким, без особливого концентрату суті. паралелі між мистецтвом презентацій та східною культурою інколи притягнуті за вуха. проте, автор згадує багато імен авторів світових бізнес-бестселерів - можливо комусь стане у нагоді. треба визнати що є кілька корисних порад і цікавих ракурсів на презентування про які мені не доводилось задумуватися раніше. і взагалі, прочитавши сіє думаєш: а для чого перенапружувати реципієнтів, якщо найкращі світові майстри мають просто підвішені язики, що безкінечно вителіпують з себе вербальну "водичку", розказують історії з свого життя та анекдоти і нагло користуються з людського небажання напружувати звивини?
• 
  Amy Enderle

  If you teach public speaking or simply find yourself being asked to present your ideas, this book has some brilliant insight. It's one to read.
• 
  Hongbo Shi

  Must read for any Organization relies on presentation to make decisions...and of course don't forget to have conversations, dialogs and debates.
  
  Liked the metaphors in the book that links Japanese culture to thee ways of doing things. E.g. " hadaka no tsukiai" janapnese likes to go to hot spring bath after work. There is no cloth, no hierarchy, no barriers, no formality...just naked truth/conversation in the pool.
  I know what to do in next team building...
• 
  Erran

  The content is 4 star but I take 1 star out for the presentation of the book, so ordinary, boring and lack of creativity. After reading Resonate by Nancy Duarte, a book teaches you similar techniques but with much better design, I struggled to enjoy this book. Another star lost due to too much overlap of content with another book of the author.
• 
  Shirin

  An inspiring read which I recommend for presenters/public speakers who exercise meditation, Yoga, or martial arts, enjoy the serenity they experience leading this type of lifestyle, and would like to make it part of their professional life, namely, embracing Zen presentation art in their delivery scheme.
• 
  Regis Hattori

  I didn’t appreciate some self-help like parts, but it is totally personal. Besides that, there are some “tips” that are very well-known by anyone that have already searched for quick tips on the internet. However, I liked the most part of this book. It has a lot of good advice about public speaking that is not easily found or at least well explained in other resources.
• 
  François Rodrigue

  This book is very insightful for those that struggle with the skill of presenting in front of audiences. However, this book will leave you wanting more at the end. I guess the author is coherent with his statement advocating that a cup filled at 80% is more useful than a cup filled completely.
• 
  Thomas

  If you present for fun or a living, this is a must have. This is a quick read and well worth marking up or taking notes from to help improve presentations. Reyolds' books and Duarte's books are the foundations for crafting and delivering good to great presentations.
• 
  Brian Lawrence

  Along with Presentation Zen, the best How a To books I’ve read on presentation skills. Simple principles, uncomplicated, easy to implement. I’d certainly recommend this for anyone who wants to be a facilitator, public speaker, keynote speaker etc
• 
  Quinn

  I feel it important to read one book on design or presentation every year. This is a wonderful book that helped me clean up some of my sloppy presentation habits. I highly recommend this for EVERYONE.
• 
  Kevin Whitaker

  The 'naked' framing was weird but I guess I might not have bothered to read it otherwise. Some decent but basic tips, mostly in random lists, ironically bad examples of visuals (or maybe that's the implicit point?)
• 
  Ariadna73

  Little abstract of what this book says:
  1. Naturalness and the art of presenting naked
  Quote: To express yourself is the most important thing Shunryu Suzuki
  Books on preparation Presentation Zen ''Design ii l' Design
  Communication experts = Bert Decker; Carmine Gallo; Nancy Duarte; cliff Atkinson
  Presenting Naked = connecting and engaging with the audience
  2. Preparation
  Initially -> No computers.
  Ask why target the whole person
  story telling -> Contrast
  3. Punch-Presence-Projection
  Mistake -> long PPTS-No connection w/a advice Need emotional connection
  PUNCH Personal; Unexpected; Novel s Challenging or Humorous
  Personal Example -> Photos of children . 2 minute honeymoon
  Be like bamboo
  Bend; but don't break
  Never start with apology or confession Focus on the moment
  Project yourself
  Slow everything down
  Leave the lights On. Rehearse-self talk-Diaphragmatic breathing
  Consider: the way you look; the way you move & the way you sound
  4. Passion-proximity-Play
  You cant take interest
  story and evidence matter
  General Principle
  (l) shorten distance w/ audience
  (2) Brig audience closer to each other
  (31 Rcmouc barrier)
  Spirit of play.
  Thechnology should be invisible
  5. Pale-Participation
  No one is obliged to be a genius; but eveyyone is obliged to participate�?� Philip e Starck
  Change pace every 10 minutes
  speak simply
  empathy -> Ready to change plans
  Ask them questions.
  6. Powerful finish
  cause your audience to make a change
  sticky idea; are: Unexpected; Concrete; Credible; emotional; stories.
  Get close to the audience
  Do the closing in the very end (after QRA)
  7. Persistence <- Improvement
  Drop old habits
  Bring your unique self to the presentation
  Best presentations ar works of art
  
• 
  Loy Machedo

  
  To come out with a book on Presentations that is Different, Unique, and Original is quite a task. And then to speak of the same old adage of Communication – the fundamentals, the tricks and tips of public speaking in a Never-Done-Before format is an even harder task – if not impossible. There are tons of Educational Material out there, so to stand out – well that is ‘Mission Impossible’.
  
  But when you least expect it – lightning strikes. And in the lines of Nancy Duarte (slide:ology), Mitch Joel (Six Pixels of Separation) and Seth Godin (Linchpin) comes a Creative Educator of Public Speaking and Professional Presentations – Garr Reynolds.
  
  What I like about this book
  1. In the background of a Japanese theme, this book casts an excellent analogy of Sense, Sensibility and Sophistication in Speaking through Simplicity and Slides. The use of Metaphors was simply mind-boggling. I would say Garr Reynolds is a Master at it.
  2. The use of personalities to reaffirm points of wisdom and the quotations used were very recent, surprisingly original and extremely unique.
  3. I loved reading different points of views from other experts mentioned throughout the book.
  4. The design and layout of the book is also pretty phenomenal.
  5. Finally, I loved the insights given by the author. He is truly an expert at the subject he is speaking on and a Master-Mentor & Coach in how he shares his knowledge and wisdom.
  
  Truly, one of the best books on communication I have read in a long time.
  
  If you ask me, I would rate this book to a close 9 out of 10.
  
  Absolutely a thrill to read such an amazing book.
  
  Loy Machedo
  loymachedo.com | loymachedo.tv
  
• 
  Sten Vesterli

  A good book for experienced speakers on how to create engaging presentations. It places a lot of emphasis on thinking your topic and content through, identifying why you want and need to give the presentation and what you want the audience to do differently afterwards, which will in itself improve many presentations.
  
  Much of the presentation advice focuses on achieving the elusive "authenticness" and connection to the audience that excellent speakers have. Telling stories is one way to do it, but inexperienced or insecure speakers will have a hard time putting the recommendations into practice.
  
  On the mechanics of the speech, you'll have heard the advice before if you've read anything on speaking (start strong, max 10 minutes per point, close strong). If you've read other presentation books by Reynolds, you'll know that he does not like bullet point slides; in this book he takes the point further, recommending that many presentations do not need PowerPoint at all.
• 
  Jonathan Cassie

  I am a sworn adherent to the principles Reynold's outlines in his fantastic "Presentation Zen." If you're reading this review and you haven't read it, go get it right now. It deserves 6-stars...really. This isn't a rehash, but there is certain degree of overlap with the themes and ideas from PZ in this book. I still found it super helpful and Reynolds' writing is accessible and clear. I will be putting his ideas to work in my own presentations. If they help as much as PZ did with presentations, reading this will have been totally worth it.
• 
  Joshua Guest

  Some people love Garr Reynolds. I just like him. His books are overpriced, but they are very pretty. And they can be useful if you can remember and apply the three different volumes he has written on presentations (Presentation Zen, Presentation Zen Design, and Naked Presenter).
  
  I may have to read it again to really appreciate it. But I trust in the book's main premise that great presenters strip away all the unnecessary and communicate a simple message with passion and transparency.
• 
  Mark Terry

  A beautiful book and a joy to read. I very much enjoyed the integration of design and message into a coherent gestalt. A book in which the medium truly is the message. I did not find startling truths in the message - variations on common presentation wisdom. However, Reynolds presents it in such a wonderful manner that I did not mind.
• 
  Erik

  I really like Garr Reynolds so I was really dissappointed by The Naked Presenter. It was very abstract without being thoeretical enough to give real, actionable advice. Typical advice would be "be humble but be bold". Maybe I have read too many presentation books but I did not learn anything here. If you haven't read it yet, you should ckeck out Presentation Zen instead.
• 
  Itasca Community Library

  Tuki says:
  
  I have read many books on public speaking but this has to be one of the best. The author lives in Japan and is an ardent believer in Zen culture. He has liberally used analogies from the Japanese in the book to get his point across in a simplistic and effective manner. I can’t wait to read some of his other books-Presentation Zen and Presentation Zen Design.
• 
  Kurt

  Three stars is probably a little low for this book. I would give it a solid 3.5 stars. It has some great tips for presenting. It seemed a bit disjointed and bit philosophical at times but had many gems I will use in my future presenting.
• 
  Tyler Scheff

  Had to read this for a class. Although it presented some GREAT ideas and wonderful new tactics to use for my future public speaking, it's almost like it just repeated itself over, and over, and over.
• 
  Manuel Frias

  Reynolds made it again. After writing about preparation and design in his first books, now he focuses on delivery. Good advice for delivering ideas in a engaging, powerful but also humble way to connect with the audience.
• 
  mellyana

  Not that you are going to find how to make a presentation, but it's more on how to prepare yourself to present. Things that people often forget because we are all too caught up in that .ppt bullet points.
• 
  Alexander Belotserkovskiy

  The Naked Presenter is a very good book as it provides a many insights into how to be a good presenter. Author don't use very common ways of telling how to do that and this, still provides very useful tips and tricks. I highly recommend that book.
• 
  Pam

  This is a great book. It is so helpful. Many of ideas and techniques are not necessarily new but they help you imagine how to use them in your own presentations. All the way through I was making notes in margins of how I can implement the ideas to have more engaging presentations.