Presentation help that’s good enough to eat

Duarte Circle D logo

Written by

Eric Albertson

Longtime friend of Duarte, Garr Reynolds has championed the cause of effective presentations through his blog and books for years.  Now he gives you the tools to help you create those effective presentations, all in one beautifully designed (shall we say delicious?) package.

Combining his love of presentations and his love of Japanese culture, Garr packaged his presentation job aids into a bento box-style container that is as functional as it is lovely.

Garr Reynolds "PresentationZen" package

Inside the box we see several items: Two yellow sticky note pads, two red pencils (packaged to resemble chop sticks), a green iStockphoto coupon (good for 20 free images at iStockphoto.com—a $300 value) and a red Presentation Zen DVD.  [Garr chose these colors to reflect the five colors of a balanced Japanese meal—yellow, red, green, black and white].  In the 50 minute DVD, Garr talks shares his Presentation Zen techniques for the preparation, design and delivery of a presentation, incorporating beautiful imagery and illustrative examples to reinforce the principles—a definite must-watch.

"The PresentationZen" box opened. Inside is 2 pencils, a booklet, and paper for notes.

But that’s not all!  Underneath the top layer of the box is another layer which contains one more surprise: a 168-page sketch book to use when working on your presentations.

"The PresentationZen" box opened. Inside is a dvd and a notebook.

The sketchbook not only has lots of blank pages for your ideas, but also has pages for you to put your sticky notes when you are storyboarding your presentation (see image below).  Garr also includes quotes from Presentation Zen throughout the sketchbook to encourage you as you create your next masterpiece.

"PresentationZen" notebook opened. Outlines of slides printed on the paper for note taking and sketching.

With the Presenation Zen Way, Garr serves up presentation help that is both visually delightful and easily digestible.  Itadakimasu! (Japanese for “Let’s Eat!”)