In the corporate world, everyone understands the importance of a good presentation. It doesn’t matter how much time and energy you put into researching a pitch or preparing a report, if you cannot effectively communicate your findings to your target audience, the valuable work you’ve done will get lost in the noise.
This is why it has become increasingly common for entrepreneurs, executives, and firms to bring on expert help when it comes to designing PowerPoint presentations. Professional PowerPoint designers have the experience and technological savvy to turn dry data into a digestible and compelling story, and can make all the difference when it comes to closing a deal or communicating essential information to your team.
If you are looking at design firms to help you put together an important upcoming presentation, here are the three most important core competencies that can help you find the support you need to tell your story effectively.
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1. Storyboarding
At heart, every presentation is a narrative. Whether you’re explaining the gains and losses of the last quarter, pitching a new product, or presenting the findings of a customer survey, figuring out what story you’re telling and then finding the keywords and data visualizations that will support it is the best way to make sure your audience is following along.
A good presentation designer will start by storyboarding the presentation as a whole to figure out where the most important beats fall and using this to guide the PowerPoint design.
2. Copywriting
One of the great things about PowerPoint is that it allows you to appeal to both visual and aural learners. Putting key quotes and points on a slide helps ensure everyone in the audience can digest the information you’re providing, and creating pointed and engaging written copy can powerfully augment your presentation.
But written copy can also be a crutch, and text-heavy slides are one of the cardinal sins of PowerPoint design. Working with a designer will help you pare your text down so that it complements what you’re saying without taking the focus off the presentation itself.
3. Visual Design
Visual design is one of the most important aspects of a PowerPoint presentation, but just like with the copy, it is important to be tasteful and to make sure that the design of your slide deck reinforces the narrative rather than distracting from it.
Visual elements include things like:
- Custom graphics
- Photo and image sourcing
- Video integration
It can be tempting to want to include as much content as possible in your presentation — after all, if you have data backing up your claims, don’t you want to show it? But an experienced designer knows that less is sometimes more, and finding a design firm that can help you strike the right balance so visual tools don’t overwhelm your core message.
Researchers who have studied the most effective presentations tend to find that they all have one thing in common: they use the language and images to tell a story that uses character, conflict, and tension to keep audiences interested.
If you want to figure out how to turn your next presentation into a compelling narrative, working with a PowerPoint presentation designer is a great way to ensure the package you create keeps people hooked from beginning to end.
