Making Presentations (DK Essential Managers)
Would that all business presentations could be made as succinctly and  stylishly as this nifty little 72-page thumbnail guide. It makes its own points,  starting with presentation preparation (knowing your audience, location and  purpose; finding, structuring, and writing your material; and using audio-visual  aides, and rehearsing), then covering self-preparation (improving your  appearance, body image, and voice, and eliminating tension), delivery (speaking  confidently, and closing effectively), and handling an audience (judging the  mood, fielding questions, and coping with hostility, should it arise). On every  page, boxed tips, crisp graphics, mini case studies, sample material, and handy  checklists make the whole process clear and easy to follow. Granted, if you're  looking for very specific or in-depth guidance, you might find this book too  cursory and general in its approach. But, if you're looking for a thumbnail  guide to the basics, it'll do just fine.It's worth mentioning that the book is part of the "Essential Managers" series  by reference publisher Dorling-Kindersley--a series comprising 20 itty-bitty  books on business and career topics that range from communication, leadership,  and decision-making to the management of time, budgets, change, meetings,  people, projects, and teams. Combining the talent of the "For Dummies" book  series for breaking down a lot of information into bite-sized bits and sidebars  with Dorling-Kindersley's signature design style of crisp, classy graphics on a  gleaming white backdrop, the books don't represent the cutting edge of business  thinking or reflect necessarily any unique individual perspective. Instead, it's  as if someone had collated the best general thinking on these 20 topics, and  rolled them out into 72 brightly designed and easy-to-read pages--studded along  the way with boxed tips, color shots of a multiracial cast of "coworkers"  animatedly hashing through the workplace issues of the day, and, on the last few  pages of each volume, a self-test of one's skills in the topic at hand. Again,  they're not for anyone who's looking for more in-depth or focused help on any of  the covered subjects, but they're perfect as a quick general-interest reference;  and, let's face it, they're so damn cute, and look so smart in a neat little  stack or row, that probably you'll want to buy a whole bunch to give as gifts to  your entire staff or department.--Timothy Murphy