"While reading the book, I was riveted by the content. My mind was flying through my own presentations; the things I could have improved, how the audience must have felt, how this information could be applied to our board of director meetings. Eric provides straight-forward advice to presenting ideas effectively. This book is well worth reading." — Glenn Ives, Chair, Deloitte & Touche LLP There is life after PowerPoint. And this book provides a road map for living it. This “well-written, fascinating book” is aimed at two groups: presenters and their audiences. It provides each with a guide for putting the mind-numbing boredom of 'Death by PowerPoint' in its place—once and for all! From its first chapter—entitled "The Pied Piper of PowerPoint—the book challenges assumptions that lead to the overuse and abuse of slides in presentations, including the basic assumption that they're even necessary or desirable in the first place. Next, author Eric Bergman outlines five steps for conquering 'Death by PowerPoint' everywhere. "It doesn't matter whether someone reads one single word of the book," Bergman says. "If people take these five steps to heart and actively incorporate them, their presentations will improve. And so will their success." The book concludes with insights into "Overcoming the Addiction," and introduces the audience manifesto, which is designed to empower audiences everywhere to say: “Please! Enough is enough! We've had our fill of boring, mind-numbing, slide-driven presentations. "There is life after PowerPoint, and we want to live it.” The foreword is written by John Sweller, Ph.D., one of the world's leading experts on cognitive science and how the human mind processes information to learn. Professor Sweller's research has been cited more than 6,000 times in academic articles, books and journals. He has graduated more than 40 doctoral students. He writes: “Eric Bergman believes that the procedures we habitually use during presentations are dysfunctional and badly need changing. As someone who has yet to listen to (or read!) a stimulating PowerPoint presentation, I find it very easy to agree that change is needed. However, the question becomes: How should we change? “This book provides us with an essential guide. While guides to any number of human activities are a dime-a-dozen, this one is different. “The recommendations in this book reflect much more than the personal views of one author, albeit a very knowledgeable one. The various recommendations Bergman makes are based on strong research evidence he has brilliantly applied to the art of presenting information to a live audience. “The strong research base that underpins this book provides reassurance that the recommended techniques have been tested and actually do work in a variety of contexts. Readers should try these recommendations for themselves. “This well-written, fascinating book provides us with effective presentation techniques, rather than the ineffective ones that have arisen without sufficient thought or consideration of their consequences. Eric Bergman's techniques are a window to the future of this important human activity.”