Presentation Books

Important Note:
Please be sure to save the template to your hard drive; then open the file from within Word before making your own changes.

We call the presentation book template "casual" because its ideal for those times when a full-blown, formal slide, overhead, or on-screen computer presentation is overkill. Its for the times when five or six people are sitting around a table in a conference room or two or three are gathered in an office - the run-of-the-mill meetings that that keep the mill running.

To produce it, all you need are these easy-to-produce pages and an easel back binder. With them, you can create a handsome presentation that you make right from your seat. And its so easy to change that you can personalize it for every prospect, so affordable that you can leave it behind so your ideas, facts, and figures can be shared with others after you've gone.

Easel back binders are available at any of the office supply superstores. They look just like conventional binders but they include a built-in easels that allows you to organize, display, and flip through the pages.

To create your version you need two different page templates: a headline page and a text page. The headline page is used to present the title of your presentation and the subsections thereafter.

The text page is used to fill in the details: at the top, there's space for a subheads, below it, ample room to include running, numbered, or bulleted text.

Each page is divided into two sections: on the left is a graphic platform on which you present your message. On the right is a tall thin column where you list your presentation talking points - one or two sentence summaries of each point you make on the left. During your presentation the text points are too small for your audience to read, you use them as your notes to guide you through the details. You move to a page, run through your talking points, then flip to the next. Later, after you've gone, your prospects can read through the same talking points as a reminder of the major points you made.

To personalize the presentation to a specific prospect, use the space on the top right of the cover page to add the name of their organization, in this case it reads "Prepared for Sampler Industries" and is dated. At the bottom you can add your name and a phone number or e-mail address.

Make your message memorable using the same basic rules you would use for a slide presentation.

1. Keep it short. Use your presentation as an outline not a brochure. If you write your points out in sentence form, your audience will be so busy reading they'll miss the spoken details. For example, instead of writing "Example Comfort Company gives your cooling and heating system a twenty-point check during the months of March, June, September, and December," condense the idea into as few words as possible: "Quarterly system checks."

2. Limit the visual focus. The examples use just two typefaces - one for headlines and one for text. When you add more typefaces or overuse attributes such as italics or bolding, you can end up drawing attention to so many parts of the page that attention is drawn to nothing.

3. Add illustrations not decorations. Use graphics and photographs that say something more quickly or clearly than words can - to telegraph the subject matter or symbolize your main points. Use charts and graphs to illustrate complex statistics. Artwork should pay its way, meaningless decorations send the wrong message or no message at all.

4. Organize with color. To add color to your presentation, print the pages on colored stock (paper). If you have multiple sections, visually divide your presentation by printing each section on a different color.

All templates are compatible with the C5000 Series, C7000 Series and C9000 Series digital color printers from OKI^® Printing Solutions.

Template design by: Chuck Green, Logic Arts (804-266-7996, www.ideabook.com);
Headline font: Impact, Adobe Systems (800-68-ADOBE, www.adobe.com);
Symbols: from Design Elements, Ultimate Symbol (1-800-611-4761, www.ultimatesymbol.com)