Just the idea of a “Presentation Designer” is something fairly new. There aren’t a ton of us. The universe of presentation designers is small enough that we consider it more of a shared passion than a race to the top (in the business sense). Many of us have formed groups where we connect, share advice, and help each other find our way while we pave this new trail.
This profession is new enough that while presentations are occurring every second of every day, most people are unsure to what extent they need their presentation to be professionally designed. I would dare to say that the majority of presenters (or those they’ve delegated the responsibility of designing their PowerPoint slides) have no idea that their text filled, bullet-point ridden, imageless presentations are so incredibly ineffective.
Possible clients come to me with their needs, unsure whether or not a presentation designer would be worth it. So I’ve decided to offer some insight into when you would be best served hiring a presentation designer, and also when you might not.
Keynote/Conference Presentation
Conferences are a great way to establish yourself and your brand as a thought leader in the industry, while also giving you and your brand exposure. While it’s a great opportunity, it’s also a great responsibility. Attendees often pay a great deal of money to listen to you speak. If you’re pelting them with bullet-points and delivering an uninspiring presentation, then you may have some unhappy audience members who tend to show little fear in voicing their displeasure, and rightfully so. I know – I’ve walked out of a few conference presentations because either the visuals or delivery (or both) were not the caliber I expected.
This type of presentation usually have a good deal of lead time (speakers are often booked months in advance) and provide such a huge opportunity to spread your story that a presentation designer would serve you well. (This includes book/speaking tours as well.)
Company-wide Sales Presentation
One of my most common types of clients are organizations with a team of sales people, often spread out across multiple offices. This makes it important to ensure not only that the presentation looks professional, but has a cohesive story. I’ve seen many companies that think they have a unified presentation, only to realize that each of their presenters are using a different version of the PowerPoint presentation (often designed on their own). This can lead to poor design techniques and off-brand visuals.
If you have a presentation that will be given numerous times by a distributed team of presenters, then utilizing a presentation designer can pay great dividends to ensure that your message and visuals are unified (and looking damn good!). The best presentation designers will not only be able to ensure that your design is vibrant and on-brand, but will help you craft the story that you’re trying to tell. They’ll ask the questions from the audience’s point of view (your prospective clients) and form the structure of the presentation before a single slide is created.
Venture Capitalist or Investor Pitch
Guy Kawasaki provided what many consider to be the “rule” for VC pitches – the 10/20/30 rule. As an investor, Guy sits through countless VC pitches, saying in his blog:
As a venture capitalist, I have to listen to hundreds of entrepreneurs pitch their companies. Most of these pitches are crap: sixty slides about a “patent pending,” “first mover advantage,” “all we have to do is get 1% of the people in China to buy our product” startup. These pitches are so lousy that I’m losing my hearing, there’s a constant ringing in my ear, and every once in while the world starts spinning.
While he is absolutely right about the state of VC presentations, I wouldn’t consider 10/20/30 to be a steadfast rule. It’s a fantastic guideline for rookie designers, but if you want to create presentation visuals that grab the attention of investors and create a backdrop for your billion dollar idea, then a presentation designer will serve you well. We don’t subscribe to just one method of presentation design. A presentation designer will look at your story, learn about your delivery style, and craft the visuals to fit you.
You don’t want to serve your filet mignon idea on a trash can lid, do you?
These aren’t the only three situations to hire a presentation designer, but they’re the most common I see. Of course, there are certainly situations when you should not to hire a presentation designer, particularly if you’re looking to get something done on the cheap or if your timeframe doesn’t allow a truly concerted effort. You don’t want to pay a premium price for “fast” when you could get much better, much cheaper, if you just allowed more lead time.
It comes down to this (in my opinion) – If your message matters, then your visuals matter.
I know a number of fellow presentation designers read my blog, so feel free to chime in with other situations where a presentation designer can make all the difference.
Image courtesy of Luis du Mont on Flickr
