Say It With Charts: The Executive's Guide to Visual Communication (4th Edition) |
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| Gene Zelazny |
| February 2001, McGraw Hill, Hardcover, 225 pages, ISBN 007136997X
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Say It With Charts shows business presenters how to use today's
technology'animations, scanned digital images, video, links to URLs, and
more, to effectively translate information and ideas into persuasive charts,
visuals, multimedia presentations, and more.
The new edition of this best-selling classic'complete with a new section
titled Saying It With .com'now includes:
- Three critical commandments for designing successful onscreen visuals
- New visual metaphors added to the Saying it With Visual Concepts section
- Step-by-step templates for translating data and ideas into charts
and visuals
Step-by-step guide to creating compelling, memorable presentations
A chart that once took ten hours to prepare can now be produced by anyone
with ten minutes and a computer keyboard. What hasnt changed, however,
are the basics behind creating a powerful visual - what to say, why to
say it, and how to say it for the most impact. In Say It With Charts,
Fourth Edition --the latest, cutting-edge edition of his best-selling
presentation guide -- Gene Zelazny reveals time-tested tips for preparing
effective presentations. Then, this presentation guru shows you how to
combine those tips with todays hottest technologies for sharper, stronger
visuals.
Look to this comprehensive presentation encyclopedia for information
on:
- How to prepare different types of charts -- pie, bar, column, line,
or dot -- and when to use each
- Lettering size, color choice, appropriate chart types, and more
- Techniques for producing dramatic eVisuals using animation, scanned
images, sound, video, and links to pertinent websites
Ingram
In this third edition, Gene Zelazny provides a portolio of over 80 complete
charts, including pie, bar, column, line and dot charts, plus a new dictionary
of 150 visual images that can be used to visualize non-quantitative ideas
such as forces at work, interaction, leverage, and barriers. Other convey
flow structure and process. Say It With Charts will help you choose
the chart form that will work best and translate data and ideas into visual
concepts. 4-color insert.
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Introduction: Say it with Charts 1
Section 1 Choosing Charts 9
A. Determine Your Message 11
B. Identify the Comparison 21
1. Component Comparison 21
2. Item Comparison 22
3. Time Series Comparison 22
4. Frequency Distribution Comparison 22
5. Correlation Comparison 23
C. Select the Chart Form 25
1. Pie Chart 28
2. Bar Chart 33
3. Column Chart 36
4. Line Chart 38
5. Dot Chart 46
Section 2 Using Charts 73
Component Comparison 81
Item Comparison 87
Time Series Comparison 97
Frequency Distribution Comparison 119
Correlation Comparison 122
Section 3 Say it with Concepts and Metaphors 129
Visual Concepts 137
Linear Flows 139
Vertical Flows 142
Circular Flows 144
Interaction 148
Forces at Work 151
Changing Course 155
Leverage/Balance 157
Penetration/Barriers 159
Filters/Screens 160
Interrelationships 161
Processes 165
Segmentations 166
Visual Metaphors 169
Games 171
Sports 174
Puzzles/Mazes 176
Optical Confusion 178
Steps and Stairs 180
Strings and Things 181
Punctuation 182
Words, Words 183
Drips and Drops 185
Office Stuff 186
Going and Coming 188
Coming and Going 189
Far Out 190
Etc. 191
Section 4 Say It.Com 195
Ensure Legibility 201
Use Color with Purpose 213
Let Content Drive Special Effects 216
Index 221
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| Todays most comprehensive, up-to-date business presentation
guidebook
Easy-to-Follow Tools and Strategies for Creating Powerful,
Interactive Business Presentations
As a professional, your career relies on reaching audiences, convincing
them that your message is valuable, then making them remember that message.
Say It With Charts, 4th Edition, walks you through the entire visual
presentation process and shows youstep-by-stephow
to create compelling, memorable presentations.
Business presentation tools have changed tremendously. A chart that once
took ten hoursand ten co-workersto prepare can now
be produced by anyone with ten minutes and a computer keyboard. What hasnt
changed, however, are the basics behind creating a powerful visualwhat
to say, why to say it, and how to say it for the most impact.
Say It With Charts, 4th Edition, reveals time-tested tips for preparing
effective presentations, then shows you how to combine those tips with
todays technologies for sharper, stronger visuals. Look to this comprehensive
presentation encyclopedia for information on:
- How to prepare different types of chartspie, bar, column,
line, or dotand when to use each
- Hands-on recommendations on lettering size, color choice, appropriate
chart types, and more
- Techniques for producing dramatic eVisuals using animation, scanned
images, sound, video, and links to pertinent websites
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When well-conceived and designed, charts help us communicate more
quickly and more clearly than we would if we left the data in tabular
form.
From Chapter 1
Business is about communication. Every day, scores of questions must be
answered, and each answer must be communicated quickly, completely, and
with a minimum of confusion. Time has become our most valuable, irreplaceable
commodity, andin todays rapid fire, ultra-competitive business
environmentdelays or errors in communicating information are
uncalled for, unaffordable...and unacceptable.
Say It With Charts, 4th Edition, shows you how to put your message
in visual form and translate information and ideas into persuasive, powerful
charts, visuals, and multimedia presentationsholding your audiences
attention as you communicate exactly what you want, with no confusion.
The newest edition of this bestselling classic covers every important
point from previous editions and, in addition, shows you how to use todays
digital technologies to create professional-quality, attention-grabbing
visuals on your computer screen.
Everything you need to know to make your charts and visuals eye-catching
and memorable is in these pages, including:
- Commandments for designing successful onscreen visuals
- Techniques for conveying your messages using visuals and visual metaphors
- How to decide when to use a chartand know when a chart could
work against you
- Graphic representations of ineffective, counter-productive chartswith
examples of how they could be improved
- Time- and money-saving methods to make one presentation template serve
multiple audiences
- Hands-on practice projects and exercises to help you grasp each important
concept
Over the years, Say It With Charts has become the standard guidebook
for executives, sales managers, management consultantsall those
who want to make their points clearly and concisely, whether speaking
directly to a packed conference room or communicating on computer screens
across the globe. Now updated for todays technological communications
revolution, it will show you how to translate your most compelling data
and messages into even more compelling visuals, and hammer home your message
every time.
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| Gene Zelazny is Director of Visual Communications for McKinsey
and Company, and has over 40 years of experience working with colleagues
and clients to design powerful management reports and presentations. In
addition, Zelazny frequently presents his ideas at the worlds top business
schools, including Chicago, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Wharton, Haas, MIT,
Oxford, Kellogg, Stanford, Tuck, INSEAD, and others. He also is author of
the how-to classic Say It With Presentations.
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Review-Date: 6/5/2009 Rating: 4 Summary: 50% fluff but 50% fantastic
There‘s a lot of useful information in this book. The most educational for me is
1. Decide what your message is and THEN design your chart. Don‘t just generate whatever chart Excel will spit out for you, generate the chart that SAYS what you are trying to say.
2. Once you know what you are trying to say, there are TRIGGER WORDS that lead you to the correct chart. "Increasing" suggests a time series chart. "More than" suggests an item chart. Etc.
3. The author also shows how to highlight certain lines or bars in the chart to draw the eye to the point you‘re trying to make.
4. The exercises are useful for internalizing what you‘ve read and feeling a sense of mastery.
As others have noted, the book ends at the halfway mark but the author fills up the last half of the book with pointless illustrations and visuals to communicate concepts. But how many pictures of process flows do you need to see to get the point? And what am I supposed to do with a page full of mazes? So the last half of the book is pointless. For this, I take off a mark.
The author has also added a few pages on how to create slides using PowerPoint. But the advice misses the mark by a mile, suggesting you use colored text on a black background, and encourages the use of animations. In fact, black on white has the best readability and animations are more often just self–indulgent play that doesn‘t improve clarity for the audience.
However, the first half of the book is excellent, practial and will give your charts purpose and your presentation clear meaning. These few simple concepts, accompanied by attractively hand–drawn examples, makes the book more than worthwhile.
Review-Date: 12/6/2008 Rating: 4 Summary: Extremely actionable!
The book has a very useful approach to improving your graphic communications! I have a master‘s degree in management from Carnegie Mellon, yet I found several useful tips in the first week of reading that helped take my weekly reporting to the next level!
Review-Date: 11/3/2007 Rating: 4 Summary: This is a great foundation for anyone who uses numbers
The first thing to say about this book is when it comes to presenting numbers McKinsey rocks. Nobody else is close.
I worked as a consultant in the UK at Safeway alongside a McKinsey team. Wow were those guys good at presenting numbers.
I experienced them again several years later at Business Objects – same thing. In my humble opinion they have a cookie cutter approach to problems, but that said, they way they user numbers is very impressive.
This book is written by the former communication guy for McKinsey and it shows.
It‘s a great book, quick and simple to consume.
Perhaps you won‘t find anything useful, but it‘s a small investment to make sure you aren‘t missing any tricks.
I used to run the Analytic Application development team at Business objects (now acquired by SAP). I made everyone on the team read this book.
Highly recommended.
Tufte is another great author on the presentation of data, but his findings are a lot harder to implement.
This book is highly actionable.
Review-Date: 8/27/2007 Rating: 4 Summary: Say It with charts
Very good as a quick guide for building presentations based on data and charts, but a little more information about when to use it type of chart would be very usefull
Review-Date: 3/1/2006 Rating: 5 Summary: Getting the point across
As an equity analyst, consultant, and communication specialist, I saw – and made – dozens of colorful presentations with the best charts that excel can draw that simply didn‘t work.
After the failed presentation, a consultant or analyst who knows how to get his point across will draw a simple diagram or chart on a white board that will be far more convincing and effective than the entire PowerPoint presentation.
This book is for the person who wants to get point across.
Review-Date: 10/24/2005 Rating: 4 Summary: Consider it part of a broad business education
When one considers the amount of time/money they spend on improving their job skills, it would seem obvious that a high–value read like ‘Say it with Charts‘ would be worth some consideration. It provides a framework for using charts to your advantage– and not just within oral presentations. If anything, this book will increase your willingness to use charts to your advantage when selling an opinion. It forces the user to think about exactly what it is they are trying to say – and then produce a professional looking chart to relay that message.
Any edition will do – the content will not change with the times. The underlying principles can be quite powerful and can be the difference between a simple presentation and one which elicites praise.
Review-Date: 10/24/2005 Rating: 4 Summary: Say It With Charts: The Executive‘s Guide to Visual Communication
The book is tremendous for anybody who wants to a make a presentation effective by making it easy to understand.
Review-Date: 5/3/2004 Rating: 5 Summary: helpful – nothing more need be said
Full disclosure – I used to work at IBM and as an entry level consultant with an MBA there the first thing you are is the .ppt whipping post. That being said, the IBM training program covers many of the concepts from this book. Why?? Simple, they work. Is it the be all and end all? No. The only thing that can help you assemble good content is practice, practice, practice – with a healthy dose of constructive criticism from someone that knows what they are talking about. I just got through a days worth of presentations last Friday to one of the most senior technology people at a major government agency. All I can say is that I really, really, really wish that the people presenting before and after me had taken 5 mintues to review this book before getting in front of that crowd – it would have prevented some spectacular flamouts.
Review-Date: 7/19/2003 Rating: 4 Summary: Great ideas
This book is a good arsenal to every executive who need to communicate in the form of charts. It opens up the minds to possibilities beyond cut and paste from Excel.However I do agree with one of the reviewer that most of the charts in the books are drawn by graphic designers. This mean that although we can learn the most appropriate chart to use from the book, the is no way of making those charts with our basic computer software. The message in the book is clear; great charts are more of science than arts.
Review-Date: 6/4/2003 Rating: 2 Summary: Dissapointing
They have better charts in Excel templates.
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