Product Description

Clear information shows clear thinking, and clear thinking informs, influences and impresses.

How often do you stare at uninviting and confusing presentations, notes, reports and information packs and get nothing out of them?  It doesn’t have to be like this. We could all produce amazingly clear work that has incredible impact – if only we knew how.  This book shows you how. It is full of ideas, tips and principles that are simple and easy to implement, yet brilliantly effective.You will never look at a business document in the same way again.  And your work will impress the people that matter and get the results you want.

It guides you through the most effective ways of using all forms of presenting information - tables, charts, slides, flowcharts, etc. Moon also introduces the new WiT (Words in Tables) approach to give impact to your message on all documents and slides.

“I love Jon’s work. His tips are hugely useful, his WiT fantastic and ground-breaking, and his book essential reading. If you want to enhance your sales tenders, pitches and slides – if you want to win more business – get into Jon’s stuff. It’s really, really good.”

Gavin Duffy, a Dragon on Ireland’s “Dragons’ Den”, top media coach and economics columnist with the Irish Sunday Independent

"Every once in a while, simple ideas change business forever - this book is full of such ideas. A must-read if you want to do something about all those impenetrable reports, slides and information packs. This book has all the answers and will redefine how you think about business documents." Dominic Burke, Chief Executive, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc.

"This is a vital topic that has been sorely neglected. Jon’s book changes that. It is crammed with new ideas that are creative, thoughtful, yet practical and relevant for all disciplines of business. Essential reading for everyone in business! " Dr Jikyeong Kang, Professor of Marketing and Director of MBA Programmes, Manchester Business School.

 "I’ve seen Jon’s talk and his ideas are full of originality and wisdom. Many ideas are stunningly simple, others are mould breaking. He takes preconceived thinking and turns it on his head. Your business reporting will never be the same again. " Michael Izza, Chief Executive ICAEA.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5880 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review

“I love Jon’s work. His tips are hugely useful, his WiT fantastic and ground-breaking, and his book essential reading. If you want to enhance your sales tenders, pitches and slides – if you want to win more business – get into Jon’s stuff. It’s really, really good.         Gavin Duffy, a Dragon on Ireland’s “Dragons’ Den”

"This book will inform and inspire. It has simple design tips to make work look sharp" - Business Executive

"Jon Moon's book provides a comprehensive and convincing guide to making all sorts of information clear and compelling." - Student Accountant April 2008

Moon presents some relatively simple ideas and principles that can be used to improve the writing and structuring of reports, produce better slides that engage an audience or design tables that communicate points clearly and concisely. People Management January 08

 "Stunningly simple, yet mould-breaking. You’ll never look at a bullet point the same way"Michael Izza, Chief Executive ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales)

"Simple ideas can change business forever. WiT is one such idea"Dominic Burke, Group CEO, JLT Group plc

"Jon’s new approach (WiT) gives documents real clarity. It visually lifts ideas from the page and gives work a clean, slick look"Plain English Campaign

Student Accountant, April 2008
Jon Moon's book provides a comprehensive and convincing guide to making all sorts of information clear and compelling

People Management, January 2008
Moon presents some relatively simple ideas and principles that can be used to improve the writing and structuring of reports, produce better slides that engage an audience or design tables that communicate points clearly and concisely.

Customer Reviews

One of the best investments I have ever made
For anyone who produces written reports or presentations, this book is a must and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is a comprehensive reference manual of how to make sure that messages get across with maximum effect and minimum effort. Moon deals with a host of commonly used tools such as tables, graphs, charts and bullets, and introduces a number of uncommon ones such as "Words in Tables". He shows when and how to use these and when not to use them. Moreover, he does so in a way that makes the underlying logic blindingly obvious, so the concepts he introduces are easy to apply and to remember. I have already followed his recommendations in a number of client financial reports and have received very positive feedback as a result. Moon's book is in a class of its own and is one of the best investments I have ever made.

Admirably thorough, clear, and concise.
I attended one of the author's courses, and bought the book at the same time. I've since recommended it (and his website) extensively.

It does what it says on the tin - gives you advice on how to improve your written communications - but does so clearly, concisely, and completely. The book addresses design of slides, documents, and spreadsheets, focussing in turn on charts, tables, number formats, fonts, and explains the rationale behind its (far better) alternatives to conventional wisdom. I replaced my bullet-point-format CV with his "words in table" format, and it not only looks better, I'm getting more calls as a result.

I've recommended the book (and his website) pretty much non-stop since then. A massively useful resource!

The bible on business document design
The unprompted praise you will receive after you implement the more straightforward of Jon's suggestions is sufficient reason to buy the book. Another of the pluses is that the book explains exactly why things work better one way rather than another. Thirdly, putting your thinking on any issue into a tabular structure (Jon's "Words in tables") really does sharpen up your analysis. It forces you to articulate your key points in a way that is readily accessible to others. The book is also an entertaining read, poking gentle fun at practices which are all too common. Finally, and on a practical note, the book points you in the right direction on how to tweak those pesky Microsoft default settings.

I, like one other reviewer, am mentioned in the Acknowledgements. I too proof-read a number of chapters. I first met Jon when he gave his one hour talk at the Institute of Chartered Accountants and he subsequently presented his full day course at my employer, a UK economic regulator. Note however that the ideas set out in the book are of universal application and are not just relevant to the business world.