I do… a lot of presenting. Even in pandemic times a fair amount of my work and professional communication ends up funneling through something that is vaguely “presentation-esque”. So… I spend a lot of time thinking about and trying to get better at it.
Over the years a handful of books have been incredibly influential, helping me up my game and spend less time stressing, more time thinking and communicating. That’s really the goal — improving the ratio of “fussing with tools” to “thinking about the message at hand” over time.
The first is @berkun’s “Confessions of a Public Speaker.” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002VL1CGM/) It’s about the conceptual building blocks — the stuff you have to figure out before you start banging together slides or practicing lines. He’s written other stuff too — https://scottberkun.com/books/
The second is Jerry Weissman’s “Presenting to Win.” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001M60BKK) It sounds sales-y, but it’s a tremendous breakdown of the way ideas and messages can be translated effectively into presentations and talks.
One of its gems is a clear explanation of 16 “flow structures” that can be used when you’re trying to bring order to a pile of ideas and thoughts in a complex talk.
The third is @nancyduarte’s classic “slide:ology”. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QNDDHW) It’s more focused on the design and polish aspects of presenting, but it addresses design questions / challenges / approaches unique to presenting that rarely come up in generalist (or web-focused) work.
One of my favorite talks was built around a concept she explains in the book — using push left/right/up/down slide transitions to move the audience around in a larger spatial metaphor as the talk explores an idea. (shifting around a map, following a path, etc.)
There are loads of other good resources to be found — years back, @richardjingram did an amazing talk on mapping that also introduced me to @danroam’s writing on effective sketching and visual communication. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591842697)
…And @scottmccloud’s classic “Understanding Comics” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591842697) is a little dated, but is packed with insights about the way ideas translate visual/spacial media.
Finally, if you’d like to dive into speaking and presenting but the “Where? How?” questions have you stumped, @lara_hogan’s “Demystifying Public Speaking” (https://abookapart.com/products/demystifying-public-speaking) is a godsend. It breaks down the mechanics of audience identification, pitching, etc. brilliantly.