Stunning Presentations for book-review ...

We often read books (Fiction or Non-Fiction) and stop there. 

But few of us create notes. 

A few more creates summaries too. 

If you want to add ultimate value to your social media presence or your personal brand, prepare a presentation about the Book. 

• The presentation can be simply presenting summary. 
• The presentation can be a book review, adding your judgment on the Book. 

Either way, it adds value. 

Moreover, reading, writing, and even summarizing is a cognitive activity. It puts IQ in top gear. 

But presentation or creating a graphical summary is an artistic activity. It goes beyond IQ. 

Just by the thought of it - creative juices start flowing. 

So how do we do it! 

Few pointers. 

1. If you have taken notes or written a summary. It is super-easy. 
2. Jot down main key points and critical ideas. 
3. Present only key -ideas that you liked or appealed to you. 
4. Or present those - you disagree with. 
5. But in general, stick to fewer ideas; often three is best! 
6. Create a flow for the presentation. 
1. Catchy Start 
2. Point-1
3. Point-2
4. Point-3
5. Smooth End. Often connecting back to Start. 
7. Add stunning graphics. 
8. Use appealing Fonts. 
9. Your presentation will come alive. 

For example - Look at below 131 slide presentation of John Medina's "Brain Rules." 

[Book is a part of my 39 books for People Skills]  

Note all those points mentioned above. 

1. Give special attention to how each slide is designed. 

2. Color combination used. 

3. Placement of Text and Images. 

4. Note how minimal text is used so that the book summary stands out on its own. 

5. Note the flow, start and end of presentation. 

[By the way, Garr Reynold - who has written books on presentations, prepared it. You may want to visit his site for more tips]

And note - how "limited text" is used!    

Brain Rules for Presenters from garr

About My Research Journey!

 

As a doctoral scholar at XLRI, one of India's leading business schools (leading to degree FPM), I started my research journey. During the period, I worked full time and as a visiting faculty too. 

During my coursework, I explored "Workplace Spirituality" and "Organizational Culture." Later stage worked on "Calling and Karma Yoga" during a seminar paper. First research work under the faculty guidance. 

In the thesis, I focused on "Calling and its interplay with work." 

In the whole journey, I have become more curious about the "Calling" and "Karma" and how it shapes us (human beings)? And does it deliver the "self-transcendence" that it promises? And How?  On this broad canvas, more specific variables or concepts that I explored or getting curious are: 

1. Calling and Careers (specifically Career Change)

2. Future Work Self. 

3. Karma Yoga

4. Job Crafting

5. Leisure Crafting

6. Meaning 

7. Stress

8. Peak performance 

9. Self-actualization  

Within the subject matter of "Organizational Behavior,"  my interests are deepening and expanding more in the areas of "Positive Psychology" and "Indian Psychology". 

(Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia-research.png#file )

Summary Writing: Important Skill.

Imagine. You completed a three-month internship or project in a company. And you have to present your work to the company founder. But he has just 10 minutes. And they asked you to send a two-page executive summary of the project. 

How will you present your three months of work in 10 minutes? 

And how will you transfer your 200-page document in just two pages? 

Summarizing skills will help you! 

Summarizing is a crucial skill in today's workplace for everyone. 

When your interviewer asks you to tell about yourself, tell about your final year project or internship. What you are answering is a concise, to-the-point summary of your persona, project, or internship. 

When your faculty asks you to summarize what you learn in the last class or previous chapter, or till the point in class, what you are using is summarizing skill. 

When your senior manager asks you about the project's status, you are essentially summarizing the report for him. 

CEO, CFO, or CXO, directors, policymakers have a little time to go through lengthy reports. Hence they often ask for a Summary. Here complete unbiased Summary is critical. 

Specifically...

1. An abstract is a summary prepared by experts for experts. 
2. A synopsis is a summary prepared for business proposals. 
3. An outline is also a form of Summary.
4. Executive Summary is a summary of a project, report, or business plan. 
5. Giving a 2-minute talk, 5-minute presentation, or 20X20 format presentation is nothing but summarizing your work within given time constraints. 

The bottom line is that summary writing or summarizing is an essential skill in today's workplace. 

It has specific steps. But to master them, you need to practice them again and again. 

So participate in the class, summarize case studies, join writing executive summaries, write Summary of books, reports that you read. And see how you are improving over it.  

Summarizing skills is highly sought out in the workplace. 

Some do's and don't on summarizing. 

Do's. 

1. write short statements 
2. cover main points, the central argument 
3. cover core information
4. separate facts and opinions. 
5. Distinct main idea and supporting idea. 

Don't 

1. reproduce sentences as it is. 
2. introduce your ideas
3. judge or critic ideas
4. add redundant information.  

Steps to writing a good summary. 

1. Read critically and carefully. Mark in the book/document/report. 
2. Take notes. 
3. Think over notes and original.  
4. Write the first draft of your Summary. 
5. Use short, self-explanatory, and straightforward sentences. (KISS - Keep it simple and straight). 
6. Re-read and check for connections. Update as required. 
7. Ask your peer, friend, coworker to read and comment. 
8. Revise it based on it. 
9. Finally, check for grammar, punctuation, etc. Remember you are writing for senior professionals. 
10. Once again, please read it carefully and then Submit it.  

Best way to keep practicing summarizing skills. 

1. Summarize meetings, classes, case studies in brief. Often in two minutes of time intervals. 
2. Write summaries of books. Summarize introduction and chapter-by-chapter.  
3. Write executive summaries of annual reports, business proposals, and business plans. 
4. Write summaries of your projects- academic or from a business context. 
5. Write a synopsis of books, movies, documentaries. 

As an example. 

  Here are notes and a Summary of the introduction of Cal Newport's best seller: Digital Minimalism. 

  https://www.evernote.com/shard/s580/sh/9f0b9fef-8922-78a9-661d-5deeca48bcb8/99b6e42de478ad45ac618fafda9fe768

Sprint - A quick book review.

 

Sprint means to leap, "run a short distance with a full speed."  

That's what the book is. 

A quick read. 

It is a step-by-step process that one can complete in just flat five days. 

At the end of 5 days, one can have a product or service prototype and customer feedback. 

You can use the process to solve business problems. 

• Marketing campaign. 
• Identifying product or service offerings. 
• Designing/Changing the website or mobile app. etc. 

It is written for facilitators. Those who facilitate OD interventions, team activities, strategy, marketing, innovation interventions can use the process. Others may find the book helpful, but you may find it pretty mundane if you don't have a background in this. 

Book is suitable for facilitators, mentors/coaches for entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs themselves, product managers, designers, etc. People involved in the designing, strategy, or product and service offerings. 

Think of the book as equivalent to "Design Thinking" put on steroids! 

The authors have compressed an entire process of design thinking in just five days. 

You don't need a summary of the book. Book itself gives you an excellent five-day overview at the end. 

I read it after "Make Time" - by the same authors. And this was highly recommended in "Make Time."  

But I sincerely feel this is not the book to read. 

It is to "practice" to "try" to "attempt." 

So if 5 to 7 people read it together and try out some problem solving, they probably can appreciate the book more. That's what I feel.