What are some of the common challenges and pitfalls of presentation design?

In my experience there are 4 common challenges I have come across: 1. Cramming too many points onto a single slide can be overwhelming. 2. Overuse of graphics, fonts, and colors can create a distracting presentation. 3. Failing to create a narrative can make the presentation boring. 4. Not tailoring the content to the specific audience's needs and interests.

Tailor your pitch deck to your audience, whether angel investors focused on disruptive tech or venture capitalists in specific industries. Different investors prioritize varied aspects, so research them beforehand. Examine their portfolio and past investments to align your startup with their interests. Customize your pitch to highlight relevant features, adjusting language for diverse professional backgrounds. Impress investors by showcasing a strategy tailored to what matters most to them.

Lack of Clarity and Focus: Presentations that try to convey too much information without a clear focus can overwhelm the audience, making it difficult for them to grasp the key message. Poor Design Choices: Overuse of fonts, colors, animations, and cluttered slides can detract from the content and make the presentation look unprofessional. Ignoring Audience Engagement: Not designing with the audience in mind can lead to disinterest or disengagement. It's crucial to create a narrative and use visual elements that resonate with and keep the audience invested.

Start with a story structure: Hook, Meat, and Payoff. The Hook grabs the audience's attention and makes them want to keep listening. The Meat is where you'll share the bulk of your information. The Payoff is the action you want the audience to take. With this structure, you can write slides that support these 3 sections.

Creating an outline can not only help bring clarity to my ideas, but it begins wrapping my mind into the visual expression of the message. It's an often overlooked hack because it's disguised as additional work!

I always try to build my presentation on paper first. I start with a white board to brainstorm on the topic and add everything I can think off. I then start working through the items, see if they work together of things need to be included or removed. Once I have an idea what I will cover, I will literally take a stack of paper, each page representing one slide. And transcribe my brainstorm onto the pages. Add the text I need, scribble any outline of images, graphs etc. Then I start working the pages and see what is the order, how will my story be brought best to life. I often do this over several days to make sure I am happy before I build the presentation.

Being a designer and leading a team of presentation designers, I put more emphasis on the Visual Design of Presentation. Out of the three core components (Content, Design, Delivery), the Design part generally involves more technical challenges. People sometimes do not know where to get the right templates and how to design a persuasive and compelling presentation. Also, this is the easiest part to get the help for. You would easily find a (presentation) designer to help you with the visual design. Finding the right consultant/coach for Content and Delivery is comparatively tough. For Design, you can get help for AI tools (like Pitch.com, Gamma), Canva, PowerPoint Templates etc to get started.

I see designers often tend to create perfect symmetry slides. Yes, symmetry is often associated with beauty and balance, but asymmetrical design can create more dynamic and visually interesting slides. It adds an element of surprise and draw attention more effectively. Also knowing how to bring the big guns "photoshop/illustrator" can really help in creating complex and unique elements that can make the slides stand out.

Practice is critical, even if you can talk about a paper bag and hold the audience for thirty minutes. An incredible presentation engineered to deliver results will boost any presenter’s confidence, design it well, or get some help. Be yourself; your flaws may just be endearing. We all do it differently, and that’s a positive thing. Model your delivery after presenters that you admire, but do it differently; do it like YOU would. You’ve got something to share, and we want to hear it.

Practice is the key to deliver your presentation in effective way and make it memorable for your audience. Your presentation will become more confident and effective as you practice and refine these elements.

Information overload is one of the biggest pitfalls when presenting ideas. We get lost in the research, number crunching, and idea generation. Only to be left with a deck full of great content but no clear way of navigating it. Talking about not seeing the forest for the trees… That's why finding an anchor to your presentation storytelling is so important. Identifying the intersection of story FUNCTION, AUDIENCE, STRUCTURE, and DELIVERY will help you find a clear direction. It lets you filter out information overload and focus on the core story crafted for the intended audience and simplify.

When possible, once you feel that your presentation design is close to being finalized, it can be very helpful to show it to a person that wasn’t at all involved its creation or development. Show it to them without giving too much context. If your presentation is at all confusing or fails to clearly tell exactly the story you want to tell, they can help to quickly identify areas that need refinement.

Good design is not just about making your slides look pretty; it's about creating a visual narrative that complements and enhances your message. By using a combination of text, images, charts, and multimedia, you can engage different types of learners, reinforce key points, and make complex information more digestible. While presentation design can be a powerful tool for communication, it also comes with its own set of challenges. Some common pitfalls to avoid include->Overloading slides with text, Lack of consistency, Ignoring the audience's needs, Neglecting practice, Poor Time Management etc. Overcoming these presentation design requires careful attention to details.