business presentations Archives

Data Visualization 101: What It Is & Why It’s Important

Posted on October 30, 2019May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Data visualization is a powerful force.

Make no mistake: when data is involved, a visual is essential. A well-designed presentation with ample data visualization is a surefire way to get your message across.

Plus, it’ll keep people engaged.

Nothing puts people to sleep faster than someone rattling off statistics or trying to explain quantitative change over time.

Having a contextual representation of the data helps presenters stimulate their audience, giving onlookers a reason to pay attention.

A quarterly boardroom presentation, the pitch for a merger or acquisition, an appeal to stakeholders, the next big company initiative—whatever the subject of your business presentation, it demands data visualization.

Without something to look at, your message may fall on deaf ears.

What is Data Visualization?

Data visualization turns quantifiable data into something more than graphs, tables and charts. It creates comparisons through images and makes sense of data beyond numbers.

More than turning numbers into images, data visualization connects them with three important context variables: Meaning, Cause and Dependency. These variables help audiences better understand what they’re seeing and connect them to the greater concept.

For those of you looking for a deeper dive into data visualization, check out
our “Mastering Data Visualization” guide:

Why is Data Visualization Critical?

Humans are visual creatures! Hence, every business presentation involving data needs a slideshow.

Engaging your audience’s sense of sight, along with aural stimulation, is a twofold way to get your point across—especially if it involves data and figures.

Take a moment to think about math.

Most people can’t do a multi-step equation in their head. But, give them a piece of paper and a pencil and they’ll have no trouble working it out in short order.

The people viewing your business presentation may not have to solve any problems, but the concept is the same. Without visualization, it’s hard to come to a conclusion or contextualize data. Creating a visual makes it easier for the brain to digest information.

Take the following simple statement, for example:

“Customers were four times more likely to buy Product X than Product Y, and nine times more likely than Product Z.”

Hearing that statement might raise a few eyebrows, but it’s hard to visualize what that means in your head. Instead, attach those figures to pictures of the products or proportionate representations, and you’ve created context.

Suddenly, the data is about more than numbers—it’s about competition. It’s about market share. It’s about dominance.

Example: Visualizing the World’s Biggest Data Breaches

Here’s a great visualization of the world’s biggest data breaches:

As you can see, good data visualization connects figures to concepts in a way that provokes thought beyond the numbers.

Yes, simply saying “Anthem’s data breach affected 122% more people than Adobe but only 14% more than Target ,” provides important information that can be digested — however, proper visualization of the statement allows for the audience to pick up on trends and patterns more easily and quickly.

It gives meaning to the greater concept, reveals the cause behind the figures, and explains the dependency of the data, so people can make broader conclusions.

Data Visualization isn’t Always Easy

While data visualization is the key to getting your message across, creating it is easier said than done. It needs to walk the fine line of creativity, relevancy, and clarity, or people will miss the message entirely.

Keep this acronym in mind:

Clearly distinguish the data
Leverage powerful imagery
Explain the “in”
Allude to the bigger picture
Remove unnecessary elements

Remember that this is meant to make data appealing. Someone should be able to see the data, contextualize it, and connect it to a larger concept.

But more than that, data visualization should tell a story.

Let’s say you’re describing Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM) and Target Market (TM) in a pitch deck.

It’s one thing to say “our TAM is 80 million people, our SAM is 40 million people and our TM is 10 million people.” It may be true, but it’s uninspiring. It doesn’t tell the story of your product, brand or abilities. Instead, consider the power of data visualization:

Data visualization has levels, too.

In the above example, you might use your brand’s colors to delineate the different groups or arrange the icons in the shape of your logo. It’s subtle nuances like this that empower data visualization and drive the point home.

For most people at the helm of a business presentation, it’s hard to conceive these nuances when designing a slideshow.

Business professionals are intent on delivering the message—they’re not as engaged in how it’s delivered. Only someone with a background in graphic design or media analysis understands how important the little things are in data visualization.

And while almost everyone has access to PowerPoint, few people have the design chops and creative ability to execute exceptional data visualization.

PowerPoint is the Gold Standard for Data Visualization

Let’s make one thing clear: PowerPoint is the premier tool for data visualization.

We’ve all seen our fair share of bad PowerPoint presentations, but that’s not representative of how powerful this software truly is. In the right hands, PowerPoint is a game-changer for any business presentation.

PowerPoint offers numerous tools to make understanding facts and figures easier, particularly when it comes to data visualization. In-suite table and graph generation makes it easy to turn data sets into basic visuals—color-coded, labeled and in myriad styles.

Drag-and-drop, resize and stylistic tools also make it easy to insert prepared images into the presentation itself. Animation keeps audiences engaged! While we don’t recommend the star wipe for a formal presentation, dissolves, fades and curls are all great options.

For someone with a graphic design background, PowerPoint is a playground for making even the driest facts and figures interesting and exciting.

Data Demands a Visual Experience

It doesn’t matter how interesting or important your data is, it’s not going to have the effect you want it to without visualization to make it real.

For a business presentation to be successful, it takes emphasis on data visualization and the design elements that make important information pop off the page. If you’re going to give a business presentation with a visual element, make sure the visual is truly engaging. Dropping text into a PowerPoint isn’t enough. Adding colors and transitions might make it flashy, but they don’t inspire your audience.

To take your presentation to the next level and drive home a true understanding takes data visualization, done right.

Ready to take your presentation to the next level? Schedule a free presentation consultation now.

What Are Designers’ Go-To Fonts for PowerPoint Presentations?

Posted on June 13, 2018May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Your performance as a speaker, with the effective integration of powerful visuals, makes a good presentation. If you want to get the branding right, you should balance these two in every pitch.

If you’re going to use a PowerPoint presentation for your pitch, the content of your deck should reflect your overall message.

One way to emphasize the content is through using the right fonts. This aspect of visual design is one of the most important choices you have to make. Arranging the text strategically can help you send a powerful message.

Getting a customized PowerPoint presentation? Here are a few things you should know about font styles:

Serif vs Sans Serif

These are font styles that you should familiarize yourself with. You can use these for various parts of the presentation, differentiating one part from another, or putting emphasis to retain information.

If you see small elements extending from the letters, these are called “serifs” and fonts with these are commonly used in magazines, books, or anything related to print. Sans serif lacks the projecting elements jutting from the edges. You can see this style dominating most web-based experiences.

To give you a visual representation of the two styles, take Garamond and Arial for example. Garamond is characterized by the small lines at the ends of its characters while Arial has none of these.

While on the topic of various font styles, fonts are categorized in five different ways: Geometric, Humanist, Old Style, Transitional, Modern, and Slab Serif.

Font Alternatives

Times New Roman had been the default font for Word Documents for decades, only to be replaced by Calibri in Office 2007. If you would like to veer from the norm, here are some fonts you can use as alternatives:

Libertad
Carrig
Helvetica
Raleway
Open Sans
Alégre Sans
Roboto
Futura
Lato
Centabel Book

Before you choose your font, however, here are factors you need to consider:

Theme

The font you choose should go well with the theme of your presentation. It should match the message you’re trying to convey because if it doesn’t complement the look and feel of your deck, it will be noticeable.

Demographics

Know your audience—their age range, their interests. It’s important that you engage them through things they understand and like. For example, if you’re presenting to a group of young people, make sure that you’re using a typeface that can be easily understood.

Legibility

To make sure you hold the readers’ attention, make sure the text is readable. Save the fancy-looking fonts for headlines and more prominent usages.

Mood

This is what you get when you combine the aesthetics of the typeface to the readability of the text. The font you choose evokes emotion, but its readability can take communication to a whole new level.

There are plenty of fonts to choose from, which is why you should stick to just one. Two to three types should suffice—no point in combining two fonts that look the same. Improve your design by combining the ones that complement each other and let your presentation stand out.

Are Visuals in Business Presentations Actually Helpful?

Posted on May 2, 2018May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Visual aids upgrade your speech, as the combination of content and design add flare to your presentation. These make your pitch more understandable and allow your audience to follow the discussion with their eyes.

Get hundreds of PowerPoint slides for free.

Sign up for your free account today.

Before making a customized PowerPoint presentation, your goals must be clear—you should be sure of the message you want to convey. When you have a plan, you’ll know what you have to work on to achieve your objectives.

So what exactly is so important about visual aids that it’s imperative that you prepare one for your business presentation?

It conveys the message loud and clear.

Visuals help you catch your audience’s attention and engage them throughout your presentation. With these, you can communicate complex ideas in an understandable way. Rather than “telling,” you’re “showing” the audience exactly what you want to say, allowing them to make connections on their own—given that the graphics you use are relevant to your discussion.

Approximately three-quarters of adults in America own a smartphone, making it one of the most quickly adopted consumer technologies to date. Apart from this, they spend almost five hours on their phones. Why is this number important?

As a presenter, you’d want to keep your audience’s eyes on you. So, to keep their attention off their phones, you have to make your visual aids appealing. Add graphics, images, and animations relevant to the topic at hand and you’re good to go.

It elicits emotions.

Images are highly subjective. That said, there are certain categories that are more likely to elicit strong emotional responses compared to others. Images can help establish a long-term connection with the hearts and minds of your audience.

Rather than using bullet points, images that resonate with the audience inspire them to act. Plus, this makes it easier for them to retain information for a longer period.

It saves processing time.

A picture paints a thousand words and it holds true to this day. Using visuals relevant to your presentation is less time-consuming compared to writing a few hundred words. Apart from that, you’d only need to make sure that what you say revolves around that.

In addition, because your audience’s brain works overtime to process all the information fed to them, visuals prove to be the most efficient way to make your discussion easier to understand.

Your visual aids shouldn’t distract your audience, but rather help them reach the core of your presentation. These can either make or break their first impression of what you are pitching and you as a presenter. Simplicity is key when it comes to customized PowerPoint presentations—the best way to keep your audience’s attention is by removing clutter.

Nothing else maximizes efficiency and effectiveness quite like professionally designed visual aids, but take note: you may have the best PowerPoint design, but its purpose is only to add interest and enhance the way you convey your message. You’re still the star of the show, which is why you still have to do well with your speech.

Download free PowerPoint templates now.

Get professionally designed PowerPoint slides weekly.

References:

Miltner, Olivia. “You’re Not Addicted to Your Smartphone – You Just Really Like People.” OZY. April 1, 2018. www.ozy.com/acumen/youre-not-addicted-to-your-smartphone-you-just-really-like-people/85737

Tierney, Leah. “6 Types of Images That Elicit an Emotional Response.” Shutterstock. May 5, 2017. www.shutterstock.com/blog/6-types-of-images-that-elicit-an-emotional-response

“Using Visual Aids.” University of Pittsburgh. www.speaking.pitt.edu/student/public-speaking/visualaids.html

Successfully Introducing Your Product in a Business Presentation

Posted on May 31, 2017May 3, 2023 by Rick E

When you launch a product for the first time, you’re automatically handed the responsibility of ensuring its success. The audience will look up to you for answers because you’re the expert in that particular setup. You’re expected to know more about your product than anyone else. Rightfully, you are also entitled to feel excited or overwhelmed. After all, you’re handling a do-or-die moment for your brand. The key to conquering this situation, of course, is to win your audience’s favor. Here are some tips to help you do just that.

Show, Don’t Tell

When introducing a new product, it’s not enough to simply tell your customers about it. You need to let them see it with their own eyes and test it with their own hands. Of course, before doing that, you should draw the audience’s attention and interest first. Make them want to experience your product and explore its features. You can do this by creating a point of comparison between your product and that of your competitors. Convince your audience that you are the right choice. Take note that your clients will form their opinion based on what you show them, so give it your best shot when showcasing your brand.

How to Launch Your Product in a Business Presentation

Build Enough Hype

Market your product without overselling it. You can use all kinds of platforms and outlets to let your target audience know about your business. Expand the reach of your market through print advertising and social media marketing. Give your potential clients something to anticipate. You can go on and highlight your product’s best features, but don’t promise something that you can’t deliver. Ultimately, you want the hype to be real.

Also, it’s important to seamlessly shift your presentation’s focus from the product to the audience. Don’t just proclaim how great your product is. Instead, tell your potential customers how it can make their lives better. That way, they’ll have more reason to look forward to its release.

Solidify Your Expertise

Credibility is crucial to any brand. When presenting your product for the first time, it’s important to impress as many prospects as possible. To do this, you need to demonstrate how knowledgeable and well-experienced you are in your industry. This is the time for you to flaunt your credentials. What has your business achieved so far? What projects are you working on now? Who are the experts who make up your team? What are your plans for the near future? All of this can give your audience a reason to trust in you and believe in your product.

Communicate Confidence

In a business presentation, it’s important to communicate just how much you believe in your brand. If you don’t trust your own product, no one else will. Confidence is a magnet that draws people in. Make sure you’re equipped with at least that before you step into the stage.

Your product launch doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You can make it exciting for yourself and your audience if you implement the aforementioned tips. With sufficient preparation, you can deliver a presentation that highlights your new product’s best features and places your brand under the limelight.

Resources:

Bly, Robert W. “How to Convince Customers to Buy from You and Not the Competition.” Entrepreneur. December 15, 2015. www.entrepreneur.com/article/252960

Shope, Kendrick. “How to Sell Something Without Being Sleazy.” Infusionsoft. February 29, 2016. learn.infusionsoft.com/sales/sales-process/how-to-sell-something-without-being-sleazy

Tallent, Barbara. “How to Create a Product Presentation.” Infrasystems. n.d. www.infrasystems.com/product-presentations.html

Watkis, Nicholas. “Is Credibility the Most Important Ingredient for Business Success?” My Customer. November 6, 2012. www.mycustomer.com/experience/loyalty/is-credibility-the-most-important-ingredient-for-business-success

SlideStore: An Entrepreneur’s Portal to Presentations

Posted on January 16, 2017May 3, 2023 by Sharon Tingson

PowerPoint has clearly established its reputation as the go-to medium for presentations. Boasting a billion installations worldwide in its three-decade existence, the slideshow software is undoubtedly a popular tool for business and educational communication.
Although many similar applications have emerged in the past, many still choose PowerPoint because of its familiarity and simplicity. With it, users can intuitively add multimedia to boost the visual impact of their decks. Aside from that, it’s easier to simplify complex ideas in a slideshow tool that encourages minimal use of text.
Knowing the broad reach of PowerPoint, you’d think that most people have already mastered it inside and out. However, it doesn’t come as a surprise that many still fail to tame this presentation giant. After all, mastering PowerPoint takes advanced design skills and not just a mere penchant toward decorating. It takes a true artist with a keen eye for design to craft a beautiful PowerPoint presentation.
That’s precisely why you need SlideStore to handle your design needs.

Introducing SlideStore

SlideStore is the brainchild of SlideGenius, a presentation design agency from San Diego, California. It’s ideal for people—entrepreneurs, particularly—with minimal design skills and little time to create a competent pitch deck. SlideStore provides free PowerPoint templates that you can customize to your liking. Whether you’re looking for a business presentation template or a PowerPoint that will engage new clients, SlideStore has the right deck for you.
Every PowerPoint template provided by SlideStore is crafted with passion and commitment, so you can expect top-notch slides that look, feel, and are pretty impressive. Still, if you want to take your presentation to the next level, you can opt for SlideGenius’ design services. That way, the company can create customized slides that match your needs and preferences.

What’s in Store for You

SlideStore’s premium services are anchored on the fact that everyone’s design requirements are unique. If you want your design ideas to come to life, let SlideStore do the work for you. Sit back and watch as your business sees an upsurge in conversion rates, sales volume, and brand credibility. Because believe it or not, a successfully laid out deck can have that effect on your business.
If you want to swing by just to scoop up some knowledge about design, that’s well and good, too. We’ll post design tips, PowerPoint hacks, and presentation techniques here on the SlideStore blog, so be sure to tune in regularly. After all, what harm is there in expanding your knowledge in PowerPoint design?
Welcome and have fun browsing SlideStore!

Resource:

Gaskins, Robert. “Sweating Bullets: Notes about Inventing PowerPoint.” Robert Gaskins. 2012. www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/sweating-bullets/gaskins-sweating-bullets-webpdf-isbn-9780985142414.pdf

Are We There Yet?: How to Measure Marketing Success

Posted on October 5, 2016May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Triumph may seem easy enough to identify, but there are actually different measures and indicators of marketing success.

Don’t compare yourself to bigger and more established organizations’ achievements if you’re still starting out. Good marketing strategies take plenty of time to enact. Ultimately, they depend on the goals you’ve set and how long you’ve been going.

But how do you really know if you’ve made it big? Here are three ways to make it easier to find out:

Set a Goal and a Timeline

Like we’ve said, different businesses peak at different points. You can’t say you’re progressing or declining without definite proof.

If you want to measure how well you’re doing your job, look at your goals. Maximizer.com recommends you think of them as the Key Performance Indicators of an effective marketing campaign.

Some of the common KPIs to watch out for, according to Carolyn Edgecomb of Impact Branding and Design, are sales revenue, customer value, and conversion rate. But remember to measure your objectives alongside a specific timeline.

How much return on investment do you expect after three months? After five years? Visualizing your goals this way makes it easier for you to track your improvement.

Don’t expect to achieve everything overnight. You need to invest in your goals, and that effort takes time.

Know Where You Stand

One way to avoid unrealistic expectations is to know where you are in your marketing campaign.

Looking at your target beside your current position makes it more realistic. That’s where your timeline comes in handy.

At the end of every mark, see if you’ve reached the goal you set out with. This will let you know if you’ve attained a definite amount of success.

But remember that progress is continuous. You have to strive for further growth once you’ve gotten to where you want to be. One success should only generate more ambitious pursuits.

Create new marketing strategies to address these. Development should only challenge you to keep on top of the competition.

End Action Rate

One way to avoid unrealistic expectations is to know where you are in your marketing campaign.

Looking at your target beside your current position makes it more realistic. That’s where your timeline comes in handy.

At the end of every mark, see if you’ve reached the goal you set out with. This will let you know if you’ve attained a definite amount of success.

But remember that progress is continuous. You have to strive for further growth once you’ve gotten to where you want to be. One success should only generate more ambitious pursuits.

Create new marketing strategies to address these. Development should only challenge you to keep on top of the competition.

Conclusion

There are different indicators of a successful marketing campaign. It can be tricky to measure how well you’ve done with something that can seem so subjective.

However, this also means you get to move at your own pace. Work steadily and diligently through your goals.

Set a specific timeline that will help concretize your vision. What matters is that you prioritize your audience’s feedback to your promotions by monitoring their end action rate.

Need help with your business presentations? Contact our SlideGenius experts today and get a free quote!

References

Edgecomb, Carolyn. “The 10 Marketing KPIs You Should Be Tracking.” IMPACT Branding and Design. March 1, 2013. Accessed October 22, 2015. http://www.impactbnd.com/the-10-marketing-kpis-you-should-be-tracking

“End Action Rate.” Klipfolio. Accessed October 22, 2015. http://www.klipfolio.com/resources/kpi-examples/marketing/end-action-rate

“Key Performance Indicators For Marketing Professionals – Maximizer Blog.” Maximizer Blog Key Performance Indicators For Marketing Professionals Comments. June 24, 2015. Accessed October 22, 2015. http://www.maximizer.com/blog/key-performance-indicators-for-marketing-professionals/

Featured Image: “Success Key” by GotCredit on flickr.com

How to Open the .ODP Format Using PowerPoint 2013

Posted on July 20, 2016May 4, 2023 by Rick E

The OpenOffice program’s OpenDocument Presentation (.odp) format is mostly used by professionals as a “lighter” alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint. The free software suite is an open-source program used for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and other business endeavors, much like its paid counterpart. OpenOffice can also store lecture materials, documents, and business presentations.

While this may save costs for investing in the “heavier” Office Suite, the main issue is the .odp file format’s several incompatibilities with the Office Suite.

PowerPoint’s flexibility lets you open OpenDocument Presentation (.odp) files without a need to set up any tools or programs on your desktop or laptop. Just open the document as it is and view it from inside the program.

Some features of PowerPoint, such as SmartArt and transition sounds, aren’t supported by the OpenDocument Presentation format. So a PowerPoint user might have to make several accommodations for an OpenOffice user and vice versa, which takes time.

However, compatibility issues don’t make it impossible to open .odp in PowerPoint.

How to Open the .ODP Format Using PowerPoint 2013

1. Open Microsoft PowerPoint 2013.

2. Click the File tab and you’ll be taken to the Backstage view. Click on Open in the vertical ribbon.

3. Select the Computer icon and choose Browse. A dialog box named Open will appear.

4. Make it easier to find your file by filtering your documents to only show “.odp” files. You can do this by clicking on the dropdown menu named All PowerPoint Presentations in the bottom right corner of the dialog box named Open.

5. Select OpenDocument Presentation from the dropdown menu.

6. Now, open your OpenDocument Presentation file.

Important Information about the .ODP Format

Opening an OpenDocument Presentation might show up differently in PowerPoint 2013 because both programs don’t have all of each other’s supported features. Take a look at this list from Office.com to see which features of .odp are supported in PowerPoint.

Since compatibility is a major concern between the two programs, it’s best not to use advanced animations and complex transitions, especially those with sounds from PowerPoint. These won’t be able to show up in an OpenDocument Presentation.

Another step you should take is to check your .pptx file before forwarding it to your colleague or client. When you send the presentation as an .odp file, see if it looks the same when viewed in OpenOffice.

To make sure your formatted objects made from PowerPoint appear in OpenOffice, convert the formatted elements into an image in your PowerPoint file so that it can be viewed in an OpenOffice Presentation. Take note that when you save your charts or shapes as an image, you won’t be able to edit it afterwards.

Yes, PowerPoint Can Definitely Open .ODP!

Make sure to follow each step above to help you open this file format. Don’t forget to consult the list from Microsoft Office for concerns on compatibility.

To help you with your presentation needs, our PowerPoint professionals can help you out with a free quote!

References:

Bennet, Kirk. “How to Open .Odp Files on PowerPoint.” Business & Entrepreneurship. n.d. yourbusiness.azcentral.com/open-odp-files-powerpoint-4304.html
“Supported Features in OpenDocument Presentation (.odp) Format.” Office. n.d. support.office.com/en-us/article/Supported-features-in-OpenDocument-presentation-odp-format-f6d5b015-a417-4096-bf61-a5c3f58d125f
“Use PowerPoint to Open or save a Presentation in the OpenDocument Presentation (.odp) Format.” Office. n.d. support.office.com/en-us/article/Use-PowerPoint-to-open-or-save-a-presentation-in-the-OpenDocument-Presentation-odp-format-e32d52a1-a793-49a3-aa2a-6bb1420fab60

5 Types of Web Content to Boost Your Business Presentations

Posted on February 3, 2016January 20, 2020 by Rick E

Are you more of a fan of visually presented information? Just scroll down all the way to the bottom for an infographic version of this post!

Contrary to popular misconceptions, corporate pitches aren’t just cold, blank, and straightforward. When it comes to presentations, content and design should work together to supplement your pitch.

Whether you’re talking to a customer or an investor, all parts of your deck should aid you in engaging and grabbing the audience’s interest. To do that, you need relevant visuals that add to your ideas. This may mean images and animation, but it can also come in the form of live Web pages. Not only can embedded content give proof of your company’s achievements, but they also encourage clients to contact you.

Embedding Web Content into Your Business Presentations

For users familiar with the 2010 version of Microsoft Office, LiveWeb is a useful add-on for embedding Web content on your slides. It can also enhance your credibility in a pitch by providing a concrete look of your offerings. This gives you an opportunity to leverage them for your business.

The direct LiveWeb feature has been discontinued in recent versions of PowerPoint, but you can download a third party add-in to bring it back. There are also other add-ins which are available for PowerPoint 2013 onward that have the same functions as LiveWeb. One of these is PowerPoint’s Office Mix, which allows users to insert Web pages, apps, and even interactive quizzes into their slides.

Let’s take a look at which Web sites are ideal for embedding and how the content you use from them can contribute to your pitch:

1. YouTube

Compared to other learning styles, visual learning is the most common among a large group of people. Engage your audience visually to keep them hooked onto your pitch. Broadening the range of media you offer further supports and visualizes your main points, making it easier for viewers to digest.

For instance, videos can transform the way customers perceive your product. In an article on the effect of videos on its viewers, Invodo’s Claire Queally shows that buyers who view company videos are two to three times more likely to purchase something from the brand.

Take this marketing strategy from the Web to your own presentation by embedding YouTube videos into selected slides. Whether they’re product demos or AVPs about your company, this gives you an opportunity to both inform and impress them. Just make sure that your videos are relevant to your pitch and people’s current interests. At the very least, they should reflect the benefits your clients will be gaining from your products, as well as your advantages over the competition.

If you’re planning to deviate from the usual company video and simply insert a supplementary clip to entertain viewers, don’t stray too far from your core message. For example, a recorded speech from a keynote speaker related to your topic is acceptable, but a random cat video might miss your target audience and your point entirely, especially in a formal business setup.

2. Twitter

In the age of social media, influencers are more accessible than before. Most of these prominent figures are found on the net, where their followers can easily see them. However, keynote speaker Jay Baer differentiates influencers, who simply raise brand awareness, and brand advocates, who actually convince others to invest in you. These online reviews on brands can impact people’s perception of you, especially for millennials who are often tuned into digital media.

To gain a wider audience and increase the probability of lead conversion, show your tech-savvy prospects what others think about your brand. Display a live Twitter feed on your deck to access customer opinions in real-time. Doing this gives your clients the latest updates about your company. Convincing people to invest in you will be easier if you can show positive impressions from past clients and customers. At the same time, you won’t be able to show a Twitter feed without enough mentions.

Encourage customers who support your product to use hashtags and other social mentions on Twitter. Ride on the wave of trending topics and launch a marketing campaign or site content that users are currently into. The more positive feedback your brand receives, the better its image becomes in the market.

3. Facebook

This social media giant offers one of the best chances for generating leads with casual interactions. Like Twitter, Facebook is a place where users and influencers can interact and trade recommendations of their preferred brands. Boost your image even further by tapping into this established social media platform.

If you plan to show how popular or active you are with your online market, Facebook is your best bet. Being the most widely used social network, it contributes greatly to showing consumer opinions about your brand. Highlight your marketing efforts through Facebook’s built-in analytics tracker, which shows the number of likes, mentions, and even followers of your page. Outside your presentation, you can use the tracker to keep track of how many leads have interacted with your page.

As an embedded live page on your deck, showcase how actively you engage your consumer base. It will encourage past customers to repeat interaction with your page and inspire leads to start a transaction with you. Making use of Facebook analytics can establish your market dominance when you pitch to other clients because it’s an impressive aid for those who might want to see the statistics behind your claims.

4. LinkedIn

In a study conducted by public relations firm Weber Shandwick, the future of large corporations seems to be geared towards going digital. As we’ve already reiterated in the previous points, social media is a fast growing arena for customer and business interaction. It’s no wonder CEOs are turning to it for increased exposure.

Among all social media sites, LinkedIn remains the most popular for networking with other companies. In fact, it’s used by nearly 28% of CEOs from Fortune 500 companies in 2014 alone. If Twitter and Facebook can show proof of how effective you are with customers, LinkedIn operates within your circle and instead displays how well-connected your network is. Your business partnerships, as well as the people you’ve worked with, are essential in communicating how well you can swim with the big fish.

At the very least, an effective LinkedIn profile should contain relevant samples of your portfolio. It should also feature important connections with people and companies related to your line of work. All these can prove decisive in showing your effectiveness as a business partner. In addition to expanding your customer relations, make sure you take note of your company’s relationship with other businesses, too, because being associated with other trusted brands also improves your image.

As the old adage says: “Birds of the same feather flock together.”

5. Company Web Site

Some presenters will settle with screen caps of their company site, if they include it at all in their business presentation. Since most don’t, details about their Web site often simply remain as a tiny contact detail in their slides. However, that can easily be missed. Less meticulous audience members might not pay attention to the fine print and only retain the highlights of your pitch.

Let your prospects form their initial impression of your company site during your presentation itself by including it as one of the Web pages on your slides. Embedding your site as a live Web page shows your audience how to navigate around it, so walk your viewers through your page in real time by including it in your presentation. In case the previous platforms in the points above don’t work out well for you, you can always show the same statistics, testimonials, and even videos available on your site.

Aside from social media profiles, being active on your own site is important information for prospects. Other client interactions will come from your company’s page, so letting people know how consistent your online presence shows how dedicated you are as a business partner. As mPower Consulting founder Brian Hamlett states in his article, building up your site once isn’t enough to keep people interested. Show them that there’s something to look forward to every time they visit your page to ensure closing and repeating a transaction.

One Last Thing: Facts Establish Reputation

Credibility is crucial to presentations. Investors need to put their money into someone they can trust in order to grow their business. To establish this, improve your deck with various kinds of Web content. As with socialization, networking is now going digital, so catch up with the times to avoid being left behind.

With a large number of the population leaning towards visual, make your slides more interesting with images, but don’t stop there. Embed YouTube videos to inform them about how your company does business or how your products can help your clients.

Enumerating your advantages over the competition and showing these at work are great ways to sell yourself. You can also prove how popular you can be with customers and businesses through positive testimonials from social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. According to creativity mentor Luke Sullivan’s book, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This, these types of feedback serve as solid proof of your achievements. They can go a long way to convince both customers and partners that you’re the company they want to invest in.

Work your online presence into your deck for more convincing business presentations!

Check out and share this infographic!

5 Types of Web Content to Boost your Presentations from SlideGenius, Inc.

References:

Sullivan, Luke. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This a Guide to Creating Great Ads. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
Baer, Jay. “Social Media Influencers versus Brand Advocates Infographic.” Convince&Convert. www.convinceandconvert.com
Gross, Liz. “How to Add a Live Twitter Feed to Your PowerPoint Presentation.” Social Media Today. June 6, 2013. www.socialmediatoday.com
Hamlett, Brian. “The Importance of Consistently Updating Your Website.” MPower Consulting. www.mpoweringu.com
Knarr, Cat. “8 Secrets to Building a Stunning LinkedIn Profile.” The Huffington Post. February 3, 2014. www.huffingtonpost.com
Kushner, Daniel. “Best Practices for Successful Lead Generation Through Social Media.” Business 2 Community. June 29, 2015. www.business2community.com
Parsons, James. “How Do I Get Tracking on My Facebook Page?” Boostlikes. May 8, 2015. www.boostlikes.com
Queally, Claire “Top 5 Things to Know About eCommerce Video Viewers.” Invodo. November 17, 2015. Accessed August 27, 2015. www.invodo.com
“80% of CEOs from the World’s Top Companies Take to Social Media.” Weber and Shandwick. May 18, 2015. www.webershandwick.com
Office Mix. Accessed August 28, 2015. mix.office.com

SOS! Presentation Disasters and Survival [Infographic]

Posted on October 14, 2015April 27, 2020 by Rick E

Presentation disasters can happen to anyone.

No matter how much you prepare for your big day, there will always be a few obstacles that’ll appear, ones that you never expected would come up during your speech.

Unfortunately, nobody’s perfect, and even the best professional public speakers run into these occasional hitches.

What makes these people stay ahead of the competition is how they handle problems that suddenly happen without prior notice.

If you’re not careful, your discussions can turn into complete presentation disasters… even more so if you can’t handle unexpected events.

After all, Murphy’s Law became well-known because it’s been proven time and time again.

“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

You can’t anticipate these moments like a psychic, but you can always cope with sufficient preparation and a calm demeanor.

Preparing for Possible Presentation Disasters

What are some good tips on handling presentation disasters?

All you need to do is to implement some simple back-up plans in case something goes wrong.

Before anything else, keep calm.

As soon as you’ve assessed the situation, start planning your response to the emergency.

Make sure you have presence of mind and you’ll have no problem overcoming any possible hitches during your big moment.

Here’s a short infographic on applying disaster preparedness to problem-proof your presentation.

How to Survive Presentation Disasters? from SlideGenius, Inc.

Count from 6 to 10: A Quick Guide to Great Presentations

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Rick E

We’ve previously discussed how the numbers one to five can make your business presentations count. This was based off keynote speaker Stephen Boyd’s tips to create a presentation countdown. With our own take on it, let’s continue counting from number six to number ten.

6. Presenting after SIX o’clock P.M.

Business professionals work eight hours on a regular basis. After a long day, only a few stay later than six o’clock p.m. to polish their paperwork, web designs, PowerPoint slides, and the like. After all, we want to get back to our families and our lives, right?

Deliver your presentations as if you’re doing them after six in the evening. Embody the elements of fun, involvement, and learning to keep your audience awake. Treat your audience like close friends and family you’ve been longing to see. Sustain their interest from the beginning to end, no matter how late it is.

7. Seven Means Complete

According to the Bible, the number seven has three Hebrew roots: saba, shaba and sheba. These three biblical ideas are associated with oaths, perfection, and completeness. Whether you’re delivering a pitch to a potential client or discoursing a monthly report with co-workers, your PowerPoint presentation should contain complete data.

Providing evidence supports your argument or main idea. Maximize the use of graphs and charts, statistics, and other visuals for a more comprehensive discussion. Inevitably, your audience will have questions or clarifications which you can tackle in a Q&A session. However, it pays to address all of these possible questions from the beginning to make things easier for everyone.

8. Eight for Affinity

The number eight is drawn with two interconnecting circles. Lacking one circle, either at the top or at the bottom, means you have zero. Presentations are about making connections. Your business speech is useless without an audience.

Command interest by connecting with them on a personal level. You can best engage an audience by exuding a credible aura, by appealing to their emotions, or by challenging their intellect. Building networks after your business pitch is another way to solidify your core message, and get viable results as well.

9. Nine for Anticipation

Where there’s nine, an end is anticipated — nine is followed by ten, ninety-nine makes way for one hundred, and so on. Anticipating unforeseeable circumstances in your talk is a good presentation skill. Don’t make your audience tune out because you panicked or lost your train of thought. Always be prepared for whatever can go wrong in a speaking engagement.

Planning ahead increases your chances of foreseeing or dealing with such problems.

10. Perfect Ten

There’s no denying that the number ten connotes perfection. Ten is a rounded number, which is why our counting system is based on the power of ten. We rate things with one being the lowest and ten being the highest. Striving for perfection is the best mindset for succeeding in your business presentation.

Make sure that your PowerPoint design has the perfect font combo and title slide. Reinforce it with confident delivery and compelling content. Always aim for a deck that will get a perfect ten rating.

To Sum It Up

Use numbers six to ten as your guide for delivering fun, complete, engaging, planned, and perfect business presentations. Remember the importance of connecting to your audience, sharing complete and pertinent data, appealing to emotions, anticipating crises, and striving for perfection.

Need a PowerPoint deck to give you an edge? Check out our portfolio for inspiration, or contact our slide design experts for a free quote.

References

Boyd, Stephen. “Public Speaking By Numbers.” Speaking-Tips, August 17, 2011. Accessed June 10, 2015.
“Count from 1 to 5: A Quick Guide to Great Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. July 14, 2015. Accessed August 27, 2015.

-->