Synopsis

GRAPHICS AND VISUAL COMMUNICATION FOR MANAGERS, Second Edition, offers practical and useful advice on how to work with graphics and visuals in reports, briefings, and proposals. It also offers direct instruction on how to integrate graphic aids into spoken presentations and public speeches. There are dozens of illustrations, drawings, and graphs included throughout the text. This text integrates the latest research on visual communication with the best managerial practices in a wide range of businesses that provides the latest information available. It explains the details involved in crafting graphic images that tell a story clearly, crisply, and with powerful visual impact. Using a step-by-step approach, it demonstrates how to create PowerPoint files that support and enhance a presentation without dominating or overpowering the content of a talk. And it offers an inside look at how the best graphic design shops create images that support business objectives and make management communication more effective.

Biography

James S. O'Rourke teaches management and corporate communication at the University of Notre Dame, where he is Founding Director of the Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication and Concurrent Professor of Management. In a career spanning four decades, he has earned an international reputation in business and corporate communication. BUSINESS WEEK magazine has twice named him one of the "outstanding faculty" in Notre Dame's Mendoza College of business. His publications include MANAGEMENT COMMUNICAT

As a professional graphic designer, Robert P. Sedlack, Jr., is responsible for consultation service, design, and execution of a wide variety of print and multimedia projects to the business and cultural community. Projects include annual reports, corporate identity programs, fundraising and development packages, and website development. Sedlack's personal research is focused on the life-changing impact that design can have when applied appropriately and collaboratively with organizations dedicated to social betterment. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate design students, and his course work includes projects that tackle various social issues such as discrimination, gun control, and voter participation. Sedlack is also interested in connecting students to the professional world of design. He fosters this relationship by hosting conferences and visiting speakers, organizing frequent visits to design firms and related organizations, and arranging trips to design shows, exhibits, and portfolio reviews.

Barbara L. Shwom has more than 25 years of experience on the writing faculty at Northwestern University and the Kellogg School of Management—and as the managing principal of Communication Partners (http://www.communipartners.com), a consulting firm that works with businesses and not-for-profit organizations. Shwom's teaching and consulting focus heavily on strategies for communicating complex technical and business information in both written and oral formats. Her clients include pharmaceutical companies, consulting companies, market research organizations, and engineering firms. In 2005, she introduced a new course at Northwestern: Communicating Effectively with Tables, Charts, and Diagrams. A nationally recognized leader in business communication, Shwom has served as president of both the Association for Business Communication and the Association of Professional Communication Consultants. At Northwestern, she has been named a Charles Deering McCormick University Distinguished Lecturer and is a Fellow of the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence and the Institute for Design and Engineering Applications (IDEA). She is a frequent presenter at national and international conventions in communication and education, and has published numerous articles on workplace communication, training and curriculum development, and communication strategy. Before earning an M.A. and Ph.D. in English at Northwestern University, Shwom received a B.A. in English and Philosophy from Simmons College in Boston.

Karl P. Keller, M.A., M.B.A., is a principal at Communication Partners (http://www.communipartners.com), a management communication consulting and training organization that focuses on effective knowledge communication in complex business settings. For Communication Partners, Keller has developed a variety of customized training courses that provide immediately practical advice on communicating complicated technical and numerical information. Keller has also delivered platform courses in accounting, finance, budgeting, sales skills, and asset allocation. He has authored many key business documents, including successful business and marketing plans; annual reports and strategic plans; specifications and user guides for multi-million dollar technology projects; and capital raising Regulation D Private Placements for entrepreneurial companies. Prior to his work with Communication Partners, Keller held senior positions in marketing, strategy, and technology in the financial services industry. He has worked for the registered broker/dealer at a top money center bank; a leading investment bank and management company; and a top Chicago-area financial services and brokerage organization. Before entering the financial services industry, Keller taught English at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois-Chicago, and spent three years as a journalist covering real estate development and finance. He co-authored HOW TO RAISE CAPITAL: PREPARING AND PRESENTING THE BUSINESS PLAN (Dow-Jones Irwin), designated in 1990 by THE ECONOMIST as one of the top 500 business books published in the previous 20 years. Keller earned an M.A. in English from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management, also at Northwestern University, and holds two securities licenses, Series 7 and Series 24.