Business presentations

Contact a graphic designer!

Of course, you can find a cheap or even free template online, which can be beautifully designed, but completely generic. Your product may be visually appealing, but your presentation may not necessarily be better. To create a high-quality presentation, you need to start at your content!

Designing business presentations is a small but increasingly valued niche in the field of graphic design. The job of the designer is to produce high-quality graphics in order to highlight your message and present the essence of your data. A good designer is aware of the importance of a narrative. A good designer will also not blindly follow your instructions, but will constantly question the usefulness of your original ideas – with the intention of truly highlighting only the most important information and also to connect them into a narrative, using graphics and animations.

Most people still make presentations at the last minute. They only think about a designer the day before the event, when they are not satisfied with the appearance of the presentation. Such an approach can not lead to good results, as the designer can only implement some “cosmetic improvement”, which is by no means the purpose of design. It would make sense for the designer to be involved in the process of creating a presentation, so that they can work with the client to create a product that will raise communication to a completely new, professional level.

With a high-quality presentation to a new business

Collaborating with a good presentation designer can therefore help you find new clients and investors. We deliberately emphasise collaboration, as it is crucial that you also participate in the preparation of your presentation, by providing the content. You are the only one who knows your target audience and knows what you want to achieve with your presentation.

Target audience

Think carefully and explain to the designer what the goal is and who will be the audience for your presentation. You probably will not use the same presentation to communicate with potential customers as you would for employee training or presentations to potential investors. The structure and graphics also need to be adjusted accordingly. Every member of the audience will first ask themselves how they can benefit from what you are presenting. So think about what your audience is interested in. Is the presentation intended for a sale or potential collaboration?

What questions could they ask? What distinguishes you from your competition? What is your main message and what is the best way to present your idea? Also consider your relationship with the target audience. Do you already know them, or are you really making a first impression? Do they already trust you as an expert, or will you have to establish a relationship? The more specific the definition of your audience, the more successful will your communication with them be.

Structure of presentation

With your target audience in mind, first prepare the basic structure of your presentation. All too often, we start work on a computer. Once we have already done so much, we become attached to what we have prepared and find it difficult to eliminate the unimportant parts. So start your work on paper. First, try to write down your basic idea or the goal of the presentation in one sentence. This way, you will get rid of all unnecessary information and identity the key points, and later it will be much easier to adjust your content to appropriate length. Then write the essentials on slips of paper, change the structure, and eliminate things that are not crucial.

It is essential that you highlight only the most important facts. A presentation should only include keywords and visualisations of the most important data. Even if you have a longer presentation, you can cut it down to only a few slides. Remember, your time and your listeners’ time is precious. Studies have shown that our attention starts dropping after just 15 minutes of listening. So try to keep your presentation short and concise. Present the essentials and show as much as possible visually, with well-prepared graphics.

Narrative

A good narrative attracts the listener’s attention and evokes an emotional response. Good stories stay with us long after we’ve heard them. Why not take advantage of this fact in your presentation as well?

The basis of every story are the three stages – the beginning, the middle, and the end. At the beginning, we present the complication or problem and thus establish context for the listener. We answer the viewer’s questions such as: Why should I listen to this presentation? What will I benefit from it? Try to create a conflict between the current situation and an ideal situation, to pique the listener’s curiosity and make them wonder how to achieve this ideal situation. This is what you then explain in the middle part of the presentation.

In the middle, you present your idea in more detail and support it with comparisons, factual data and examples. Explain how you propose to solve the problem and why your solution is good. Emphasise the advantages, while considering what will motivate your audience. Are they interested in making a profit? Do they want to be better than the competition? Are they looking for new expertise and know-how? When you understand their motives, you will also be able to direct your narrative so that it focuses on you target audience instead of you.

Every story needs an ending. At the end of your presentation, call your listeners to action. It must be perfectly clear to them what they can do with the information they heard and what you expect from them. You can use your proposal to reference the problem you presented at the beginning and thus invite them to decide on your solution.

However, there are always several possibilities regarding the order in which you present your narrative. Again, it all depends on your audience. Do they know you or are you just establishing your credibility? Are they interested in your process or are they simply looking for a solution? Such questions will help you determine whether your presentation will take place chronologically (understanding the situation, data analysis, solution, call to action) or whether you will first present the solution and only then explain the key points that led you to it.

Data visualisation

High-quality infographics can tell much more than a long explanation that quickly becomes boring. Take the time to prepare a presentation properly and consider what you could present visually and especially how. A designer will help you keep your data organised and clear, visually appealing and in line with your visual design. But you will have to explain the data and collaborate with the designer to define the most optimal solution.

Animations

Oftentimes, we use the same graphics in presentations as we used for some other report. However, in a presentation, too much data does more harm than good. Why display all data at once, when you can use animations to develop your narrative even more convincingly? For example, on the same graph, you can initially display one line, followed by another line for comparison, showing data with your forecast for the upcoming year. You can also use animations to highlight certain important parts of an infographic while you explain them. Animation is more than just transitions between slides and effects for appearing and disappearing elements. It is a tool used by an experienced designer to build your narrative.