If you’re going to put effort into creating a pitch deck, presentation slides or any type of visuals for a client meeting, you want to make sure that it looks the part and absolutely nails it.
After all, there is nothing worse than an ill-prepared PowerPoint, ugly slides or a client tuning out half-way through your presentation.
Here are my tips for designing a presentation that looks good, keeps your audience engaged and converts clients effortlessly.
1) Make sure it's on brand
should be cohesive, seamless and scream your brand.
When setting up your slide templates, ensure that you have a custom theme based on your visual branding, which includes fonts, colours and imagery.
Think about your aesthetics, and use this to emphasise your talking points, not detract from them.
Crispy Tip
Get a custom branded PowerPoint, Google Slides or Canva template created once, and then you can repurpose forever more!
2) Keep each slide short and sharp
We all have a tendency to overplan, and sometimes that translates to our slides. We want to make sure that we have every single point articulated in our presentation, just in case we happen to forget anything mid-pitch.
However, the best performing presentations actually have fewer words per slide than you may think.
This is because when there is a tonne of information on screen, this draws the attention of the audience.
And, from what we know of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), we know that while your client is trying to read and digest all of this information on your slides, they won’t be able to effectively see or hear what you are saying.
Humans just struggle to absorb information auditorily as well as visually at the same time.
So, keep to less than a handful of words on each slide.
Crispy Tip
Consider your slide deck to be a speaking aid, not a script!
3) Visuals are key
Humans are visual beings, and research shows that people are more able to remember things that they have seen than they are things they have read or heard.
When looking at ways to reduce your words on screen, consider supplementing it with a clean, clear visual instead.
These visuals could include:
- – a diagram that demonstrates your approach or process
- – a photo or meme to demonstrate an analogy
- – a simple graph to show progress
Crispy Tip
Having a graphic that illustrates your talking point will also appeal to those clients who are more visually minded.
4) Selling is about connecting
My last point for crafting a winning presentation is to remember that it is not all about what is on the slides.
A huge part of winning a pitch, converting a client or making a sale is connection. For you to be successful in your presentation, your audience needs to connect with you.
It is so much harder to make a connection if the audience is not looking at you and your face.
So, in addition to keeping your presentation consistent, clean and minimalist, you must also bring a presence and give your audience something to focus on.
Be engaging, make eye contact, and you’ll instantly start to build a connection.
