Everything I Know about Life I Learned from PowerPoint

11 November 2021


In the beginning was the Word. Now there’s PowerPoint.

Everything I Know about Life I Learned from PowerPoint by Russell Davies is the perfect present for the tricky-to-buy-for colleague, the partner who loves tech or the friend who is all about design. This is an ode to the software we love to hate, beautifully designed and full of visual puns. Find out how PowerPoint was invented, how it can help you think, create and persuade, and how to end your presentations with a BANG.

Take a look at some of Russell’s best tips and wittiest puns, taken straight from the book, below.

With these bullet points, I thee wed
A cash point gives you cash. PowerPoint gives you power.
PowerPoint: A Swiss Army knife for the mind
Repeat after me repeat after me repeat after me repeat after me repeat after me repeat after me
Use words. Not too many. Mostly short.

Don’t aim for excellence; excellence will screw you up and get in your head.

Lower the bar. Just avoid mistakes.

Just do these seven things:

Divide your presentation into three sections.
Make your words short, big and clear.
Don’t have many colours.
Don’t have many fonts.
Practise a lot.
Be yourself.

This will get you an excellent presentation. You don’t have to be Steve Jobs.

Honestly, those ☝️ will do.

The 48 Laws of PowerPoint

  1. Don’t just read the screen
  2. Lists
  3. Use lists
  4. Lots of lists
  5. But 48 items is way too many – who thought this was a good idea?
  6. Start with a story
  7. End with an ask
  8. Fill up the rest with ideas and images
  9. Repeat the important things
  10. Remove the word ‘key’
  11. Make it shorter
  12. Repeat the important things
  13. Don’t just read the screen
  14. Arrive early
  15. Respect the AV people
  16. Be a bit bigger
  17. Make it clear, concise and catchy
  18. Or freewheeling, unpredictable and magical
  19. Just be sure which one you’re doing
  20. Repeat the important things
  21. Arrive early
  22. Double-check the tech
  23. What will you do if your slides don’t work?
  24. Press B
  25. Make something very big
  26. Make something very small
  27. Make something rhyme
  28. Finish on time
  29. Actually, finish early
  30. Never outshine the master
  31. Sorry, wrong list
  32. One hour of prep per one minute of talk
  33. Repeat the important things
  34. Demand change
  35. Make it readable
  36. Make it accessible
  37. Make it memorable
  38. Make it bigger
  39. Remove the word ‘holistic’
  40. No 3D
  41. No pies
  42. Slow down
  43. Speed up
  44. Repeat the important things
  45. Start with a story
  46. End with a bang
  47. Don’t just read the screen
  48. BANG

    Everything I Know about Life I Learned from PowerPoint is out now!