Presentation design without the design

Most business presentations can be done perfectly without sophisticated and complex visual concepts. That image of an elephant balancing on a ball, or a 3 dimensional constellation of rotating database cylinders might not be necessary to get your point across.

Storyfying financials

Most presentations have some sort of written summary on the first page. You often almost skip it when presenting live, but it can be important for an important that reads your slide deck at the computer rather than attending a live presentation.

Repeating yourself usually does not help

When a VC says “no, sorry”, she usually means it. Arguing and repeating your viewpoint over and over is not going to change her mind.

• She heard the point before, thought about it, and did not find it convincing enough

The multiple uses of PowerPoint

Presenting slides in front of a big audience is just one application of PowerPoint, and probably not the one that is most commonly used. Here are a few others:

• Corporate knowledge database
• Product catalogue

Dressing down the story

In many pitch presentations, I work hard to lift a story to its true potential. Show the bigger picture, put things in a historical context of where humanity is going, visualise the — dreaded word — vision.

Layout puzzles

Not every presentation slide is about finding the right image. In my work, I encounter a lot of “layout puzzles”: tables or diagrams of boxes that need to convey complex trade-offs and relationships. The challenge is to convey the message simply, without making things too simplistic.

Lower post frequency

I am on vacation with my family at the moment, posting might be a bit unpredictable. Going against good blogging practice, I am not working with a big post content pipeline but rather write entries almost all “live”. You read it five minutes after I wrote it. Authentic and raw, but less good at incorporating family holiday schedules. Apologies.