The objective of a technology sales presentation is to convince your potential client of how great your product is, and how poor the competition.
Assumption: the above is actually true, which makes designing a presentation a lot easier.
One approach is to list all the benefits, and in a few more charts show that the competition does not have them (most of the times, without naming names explicitly). This story does not stick very well, a feature list that seem unrelated.
Better is to dive in a bit into the detail. Often technical products have one specific innovation, one characteristic of the architecture, one design approach that triggers all of the goodness mentioned above. Now that the customer understands this (and Einstein said that you can explain anything to everyone - even a 6 year old), it becomes a lot easier for her to understand the full picture.
Investor investor presentations
Yes, most venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) investors need to rais money themselves, usually from institutional investors (large insurance companies and asset managers).
When pitching, these investors often make the same mistakes the companies pitching to them make. The most common one: a story that is not very differentiated. Careful deal selection, deep involvement with your portfolio companies, really working with management. Institutional investors get pitched all the time by VC/PE funds that say exactly the same thing.
The best VC/PE investor pitches are those that tell a story about a really distinctive type of investor, where everything reinforces each other: the backgrounds of the investment team, the deals you picked, the exit track record. Some funds have great access to deal flow in the telecom industry, some funds are really good in bidding for privatizations, some are really good in turnarounds, some have a really deep understanding of bio molecular structures, some have a unique skill in stitching together innovative financing structures. It is very rare that all of the above work for one fund.
When pitching, these investors often make the same mistakes the companies pitching to them make. The most common one: a story that is not very differentiated. Careful deal selection, deep involvement with your portfolio companies, really working with management. Institutional investors get pitched all the time by VC/PE funds that say exactly the same thing.
The best VC/PE investor pitches are those that tell a story about a really distinctive type of investor, where everything reinforces each other: the backgrounds of the investment team, the deals you picked, the exit track record. Some funds have great access to deal flow in the telecom industry, some funds are really good in bidding for privatizations, some are really good in turnarounds, some have a really deep understanding of bio molecular structures, some have a unique skill in stitching together innovative financing structures. It is very rare that all of the above work for one fund.
Presentation lessons from TED
Chris Anderson is the curator of TED and has written an article with some excellent suggestion on how to give a presentation of TED-like quality. Some of the points discussed in the article:
- Plan your story: beginning, middle, end
- No jargon, keep things conversational, cut back on the ego, show that you are vulnerable
- People do not relate to descriptions of organisations/institutions
- Do not try to cover too much ground, you need to go into some level of detail to keep things interesting
- Let the audience draw conclusions themselves, not everything has to be spoon-fed
- Really, really, memorize your talk in order to be spontaneous. Sort-of memorising is the worst, you are not your improvising self, but the words do not flow either with frequent memory pauses giving away that you are playing off a script
- When rehearsing, think what feedback you need to take in, and what not. Usually, experienced speakers give the most useful feedback
- Stay relatively stationary on stage, emphasise with arm gestures, keep eye contact with a few people in the audience
- Use slides only if you have to make a point that needs visual backup
- When using video: keep it short, and think twice before including a sound track
- Final advice: be yourself
The 1-1 institutional IR meeting
I am starting to work with the CEO of a very large company to design a presentation for 1-on-1 meetings with institutional investors. I am thinking of a presentation designed for iPad, or even a loose stack of slide print outs that can be randomly selected as the need comes up in the meeting.
The big story of the company can probably be explained verbally in a conversation, these slides that are typically included in a presentation for a big audience can be left out. But then, equity analysts are likely to have detailed questions that require factual backup slides that are denser in design than the ones you would typically use for a large audience investor update.
An interesting project.
The big story of the company can probably be explained verbally in a conversation, these slides that are typically included in a presentation for a big audience can be left out. But then, equity analysts are likely to have detailed questions that require factual backup slides that are denser in design than the ones you would typically use for a large audience investor update.
An interesting project.
DIY shapes
It is hard to get an arrow to point exactly right in PowerPoint. If the standard shapes fail, why not construct your own out of small individual bits. You can group the shape together, or create a new custom shape with one of the shape boolean functions (Windows instructions here, on a Mac: select 2 shapes, right click, go in the grouping menu).
Just a confidence booster?
Often, I see that the slide deck is just a confidence booster for the presenter of a new story. Having those beautifully designed slides behind you makes sure you will not s**w up. Over time, you become more and more confident in delivering the story, your slides get bolder and more minimalist, until finally, you do not need them anymore.
But, without that slide deck on day 1, you would not have gotten to that level of story telling...
But, without that slide deck on day 1, you would not have gotten to that level of story telling...
Flowboard - presentations on iPad
Flowboard is a presentation design app for iPad. In the TechCrunch video below, the company CEO gives a quick demo of the product.
I am curious to hear your feedback on designing presentations on a tablet in a new app (using an iPad to display them is a no brainer). I can see the advantages of mobility, the touch interface, but on the other there are drawbacks: screen size, lack of navigation precision, incompatible file formats, and file management problems.
I am curious to hear your feedback on designing presentations on a tablet in a new app (using an iPad to display them is a no brainer). I can see the advantages of mobility, the touch interface, but on the other there are drawbacks: screen size, lack of navigation precision, incompatible file formats, and file management problems.
VC presentation parody
This cartoon of Nikola Tesla (who do you say?) pitching VCs highlights many of the dynamics that are happening in VC pitch meetings (unfortunately).
Two comments to this though:
Two comments to this though:
- While entrepreneurs have no shortage of ideas to make a parody about VCs, I think VCs might have equally rich material to make fun of entrepreneurs pitching.
- But more importantly, anticipate this sort of VC behaviour. In this video the entrepreneur did not manage to get across what it is that he is actually doing early enough, and as a result the investor focused more on their email. VCs probably make up their mind whether something is worth listening to in the first few minutes of your pitch, partly maybe because they are arrogant, but also partly because it is the only way to deal with thousands of ideas being thrown your way. Get that elevator pitch ready, and the objective of the elevator pitch is not to land the investment, but to get the attention for the next 20 minutes.
Put things in perspective
I just returned from a camping and hiking trip in Israel’s southern desert (the Negev) and came home with some beautiful pictures.
It is very hard to capture the sheer size of a landscape in a photo, and one trick to do this is the make sure to have an object in your frame that the viewer knows the size of. In the example below you see that the perspective greatly diminishes when I Photoshop my friends out.
It is very hard to capture the sheer size of a landscape in a photo, and one trick to do this is the make sure to have an object in your frame that the viewer knows the size of. In the example below you see that the perspective greatly diminishes when I Photoshop my friends out.
The same is true with data in presentations. Putting the stunning image with the word “53 million” on it does not put the size of the number in perspective. Relate it to something instead.
You understand everything?
An aspiring presentation designer asked me this question. “You really are confident that you can grasp any story that is thrown at you (scientific, financial)?” I answered positive.
Yes, I have some background in business, engineering, and financial analysis, but there are cases where I do not get it the first time around. I do not think that that is my problem though, if I do not get it, the audience of reasonably intelligent people will not either. Time to try to explain it to me again.
I am not embarrassed to ask stupid questions, and never say that I got it when I did not.
Yes, I have some background in business, engineering, and financial analysis, but there are cases where I do not get it the first time around. I do not think that that is my problem though, if I do not get it, the audience of reasonably intelligent people will not either. Time to try to explain it to me again.
I am not embarrassed to ask stupid questions, and never say that I got it when I did not.
Tell people what they should see
What is clear to you is hardly ever clear to everyone in the audience. A screen shot with a cleverly integrated login feature, a photo of a long line of people who cannot wait to try your product, an image of an unhappy customer. When in doubt, put a big call out or title that says what the audience is expected to see.
Oops, doesn't fit
PowerPoint is not very good at creating line breaks in a shape. With lots of space left, it breaks your long word (&lquo;management” is a favourite) to the next line. Two things you can do:
- Right click the shape, hit format shape, select text box and un-tick the wrap-text-in-shape box. Now you can make your own line breaks
- For bigger fonts a 1.0 leading between lines is too much. Select the shape, click format, go to paragraph, and set the line spacing to multiple and put in the value 0.8 or 0.9 instead of 1.0.
Viewer churn
The big challenge of website design is people clicking away to more interesting places. when you send a pitch deck without verbal explanation, you have the same challenge. Will your prospective customer or investor make it all the way to the end? Maybe presentation designers can learn from web designers?
I was brainstorming this with a client the other day. We were thinking about how to include a fake demo in the presentation. Demos always look better with the biggest possible screen shots. The result however, is a very large presentation and the viewer might not make it to the end. A possible solution: add big PREVIOUS and NEXT arrows to the left and right of the screen, maybe a counter (Demo slide 4/12) and a bit SKIP button to keep the viewer on board.
Just a random idea, I need to think more about how to add navigation that is actually useful inside a presentation.
I was brainstorming this with a client the other day. We were thinking about how to include a fake demo in the presentation. Demos always look better with the biggest possible screen shots. The result however, is a very large presentation and the viewer might not make it to the end. A possible solution: add big PREVIOUS and NEXT arrows to the left and right of the screen, maybe a counter (Demo slide 4/12) and a bit SKIP button to keep the viewer on board.
Just a random idea, I need to think more about how to add navigation that is actually useful inside a presentation.
Preaching to the converted
Most sales presentations go on and on and on about an issue that the client might already be convinced of. Worse, if you present slide after slide in an amateurish format making the same point, your client might actually start to doubt what she believed when entering the meeting room.
That is time and slides wasted. More time efficient and effective ways to tackle this:
That is time and slides wasted. More time efficient and effective ways to tackle this:
- A couple of really professional and serious looking slides with the highlights, plus an invitation to visit your web page for all the details
- Discussing the weakness of your competitors verbally and informally: it is hard to put this on paper. Suggest your client some tough questions to ask when they meet the competition. Note that this is actually a presentation design challenge, without creating the actual slides. You need to have this story prepared, maybe even with the help of a “spontaneous” flip chart sketch
Now spend the time you gained on the issues that really matter: are you expensive, is it hard to switch supplier, etc.? Preaching to the converted is never a good use of time.
Working title “Pitchera”
I am brainstorming names for my upcoming presentation app and am currently using the working title “Pitchera”. You can start signing up for the mailing list to stay updated on progress here. In that same form you can indicate what sort of presentation designer you are, I am still pondering to what type of audience the app should be targeted at launch.
I will talk to that
That is what many experienced executives say. It is true that not every point your want to make in a presentation needs to be spelled out in a slide. But sometimes the crucial message of a presentation gets omitted.
Some slide that has been used for a thousand times (often a bad one) is the trigger for the experienced presenter to tell her story that has been told a thousand times before. It looks like a slide presentation, but in practice the presenter is telling the story without slides.
In a focussed one-on-one meeting, the message gets across. It might get lost in a presentation for a big audience, and it will for sure not be communicated when sending the deck by email without verbal explanation.
A really fundamental point in your presentation deserves a slide. It often takes an outsider to point out to you what that point is. “Hey, that is sort of obvious, I can talk to that!” Not really.
Some slide that has been used for a thousand times (often a bad one) is the trigger for the experienced presenter to tell her story that has been told a thousand times before. It looks like a slide presentation, but in practice the presenter is telling the story without slides.
In a focussed one-on-one meeting, the message gets across. It might get lost in a presentation for a big audience, and it will for sure not be communicated when sending the deck by email without verbal explanation.
A really fundamental point in your presentation deserves a slide. It often takes an outsider to point out to you what that point is. “Hey, that is sort of obvious, I can talk to that!” Not really.
From PPT to HTML
Web design involves technical skills that a presentation or print designer does not have. At the same time, (if I may say so), presentation/print designers might have a better feeling for page layout (understatement). Yeah, yeah, I agree, on the interactive technology front the geeks still beat us.
I have blogged many times over the past few years about the similarities between web and presentation design.
Most automated web design tools are aimed at small business owners with zero design or software skills: Wix is an example, or look at Striking.ly. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover Webydo that offers a design environment similar to PowerPoint or InDesign and enables presentation/print designers to create some pretty decent web sites.
The company is still in beta, so there is always the risk that your web site might go down with it in case the company does not get traction (that is why I am giving it some publicity here). Also, the software still has some tiny bugs that I am sure will be ironed out in the near future.
I have blogged many times over the past few years about the similarities between web and presentation design.
Most automated web design tools are aimed at small business owners with zero design or software skills: Wix is an example, or look at Striking.ly. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover Webydo that offers a design environment similar to PowerPoint or InDesign and enables presentation/print designers to create some pretty decent web sites.
The company is still in beta, so there is always the risk that your web site might go down with it in case the company does not get traction (that is why I am giving it some publicity here). Also, the software still has some tiny bugs that I am sure will be ironed out in the near future.
The other side of the table
As I am making slow but steady progress with my presentation app I have had a chance to sit on the other side of the table: being the one who pitches an idea, rather than my usual role as a presentation designer who gets pitched with business plans. Observations:
- Yes, not everybody loves your idea like you do (but all designers do)
- Most people form an opinion about your business without actually understanding/getting to what the truly great thing about it is
- Spending dollars on designers becomes a whole different thing when it is your own money
- When you live and breathe your own story, you actually do a lousy job pitching it to an outsider who has never heard of it. Having a pitch deck at hand (guess what, I do not have one) might actually be handy to slow myself down and take someone to the story that I assume to be common knowledge.
- People point out - rightfully - that it is not only about product, I need a market strategy
When listening to these people I hear myself speak when discussing client presentations. Funny. In any case, the process is making me a better presentation designer.
Where is the money?
Most business presentations address the financials of an idea at some stage. Resist the temptation of using a cartoonesk clip art image to introduce the topic. Financials are serious stuff and you are not asking for your weekly candy allowance from investors or corporate decision makers.
A good PowerPoint template
I just gave a client some feedback on new PowerPoint template options, I might as well share my thoughts with all of you:
- Flat: no drop shadows behind fints, no gradients, no reflections. These look dirty in a world of razor sharp retina displays
- Out with the subtle waves and watermarks, they 1) make slides hard to read and interfere with the slide design and 2) make your presentation look like 2003
- Lighter fonts: there is no need to scream to get your point across. Keep a lot of white space around the slide title.
- If you have to put a logo on each slide, put it at the bottom right, not top right (or even left), you want to leave the maximum space for the slide title.
- The client spent a lot of time on the cover page, but my suggestion is to worry about it last.
- Design your template around a real presentation rather than empty pages.
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