Creating A Kick-Ass Pitch Deck

Preparing for a presentation can be pretty nerve-wracking. Making sure you communicate your message correctly and accurately is key. Between picking the right platform to present your pitch, making sure the right slides are included and knowing how to design the presentation, there’s a lot to consider when creating your pitch deck.

Platform

There are quite a few options when creating pitch decks. You can get super fancy with In-Design, purchase expensive software tools online, or you can keep it simple with PowerPoint or Prezi. Today, I’m just going to discuss how to utilize PowerPoint and Prezi for your pitch deck.

PowerPoint

I’ll never forget sitting in my high school freshman computer class getting to play with PowerPoint animations. Making the clipart money rain down was one of my favorite things. Times have changed with PowerPoint, but it’s still a great tool for creating kick-ass pitch decks! PowerPoint templates have come a long way since the program was first unveiled to the world. But chances are, most everyone uses said templates. To help make your presentation unique, choose a theme that your audience hasn’t seen dozens of times before — one that matches your brand and complements the topic you’re speaking about. Do you have a graphic designer on staff? Have them incorporate your brand elements into your slides. Graphic River is also a great place to get marketing pitch decks. They have hundreds of slides that you customize for your presentations. One of my favorite parts of these marketing decks are the “presentation slides” that include computers and phones so you can show how things will actually look. Whether you’re highlighting a new website design on desktop and mobile or how Facebook ads will look, this real world mock-up can sometimes knock the socks off your potential client. One other trick that I like to do is make these decks interactive. If I’m showing what a website will look like on a computer, I will include a video navigating the site that will auto play. I’ve also made an image clickable to send someone offsite to either demo software or an ad/site. Be careful with transitions and animations, though. Doing star wipes, curtain swipes, and fades can get annoying quick. Be subtle with interactivity. You still want them paying attention to your message.

Prezi

Prezi is an awesome tool for creating unique presentations. Instead of a sequence of slides or an animated video, Prezi presentations zoom in and out of a single canvas. The Prezi will first focus in on a block of text or a set of images or videos and then fly across the canvas to other text or images. You always have the option to zoom out to see the entire canvas, or in to see any detail. The effect is surprisingly dynamic and engaging, and a Prezi presentation can bring the viewer into the action in ways that ordinary slide-after-slide presentations cannot. Just be cautious with the transitions and looping. It can get tiresome and annoying just like PowerPoint.

The Perfect Mix of Slides

Given that you have limited time to present your pitch, presenting with passion, simplicity and power is Key. We suggest that you include these key slides into your presentation.

1. Why what you do is important? Make a correlation between why what you do is important in our industry. Clients who makes the decision to work with you should feel supported by momentum and support. It may even help them stand out within their organization.
2. What makes you stand out? When Betty tells Joe about your company, what is that amazing thing about you that will stick with them?
3. How you’re going to solve their problem. make them understand why your plan solves the problem far better than anything else.

Slide Design

It’s also important to keep these key design things in mind when creating your slide deck.

1. KISS. Less is always more. Focus on the message rather than the slides. You want them paying attention to you, not what’s on the screen.
2. Keep text to a minimum. focus on visual content when you create your slides. the visual elements of your presentation need to be strategic and relevant.
3. Incorporate multi-media which I explained above.
4. Make your text extremely legible. Make sure your font color contrasts enough with the background and the text is large enough to read. Proper spacing is important as well

Client presentations can be thought of as time-consuming and tedious. I like to think of them as an opportunity. You have the chance to showcase your work while engaging the client to see how both parties can improve. Focus more on your presentations, and your relationships will prosper.