How can you create a visually appealing slide deck that supports your key messages?

An impactful presentation is tailored for the reader it is meant for (right level of data abstraction), carries the message in bare-metal simplicity (no fancy graphics) without beating around the bush (say what you have to say in as less slides as possible), and uses aesthetic monochromatic or at best dual-chromatic theme (don't make the reader cringe with neon-pastel-what-have-you colour schemes) .

Knowing your audience—whether readers or listeners—will help you determine what information to include in a document or presentation, as well as how to convey it most effectively. You should consider your audience when choosing your tone, content, and language—or else your message may seem unfocused or inappropriate. And there's ways to know your audience; Review any current data and analytics Look to previous successes among your audience Create buyer personas Conduct surveys Keep an eye on your competitors Monitor audience feedback, comments, and engagements Experiment with content and updates to your products and services

1. First one should check whether slides would work with the audience and the venue; else keep your points handy and speak without slides (if a white board works well with the venue and the audience, use it, without making a long speech) 2. If making slides; keep it short and simple 3. Follow best practices - use images and illustrations as opposed to text where possible 4. Text - keep bullet points short and effective in meaning 5. Review the content for any errors/faux pas 6. Keep it short and simple! Keep content that would be relevant to the audience as opposed to including 10 things you wanted to share

Aiming for an eye-catching slide deck involves envisioning it as an artistic canvas, where the fusion of imaginative design and concise information forms a compelling storyboard. Each slide becomes a brushstroke, harmonizing creativity and precision to captivate the audience’s attention.

Understanding your audience is imperative for the efficiency of your presentation deck. Key considerations include understanding the types of your audience (technical, business-oriented, mixed, etc.), their seniority level (notably, C-level executives are constrained by time and typically focus on aspects such as cost, risk, or growth opportunities), as well as internal alignment and other important factors. When confronted with a mixed audience, a strategic approach is essential to address their diverse priorities without falling to an excessively lengthy slide deck that risks disengagement.

A key to a simple and consistent layout is to have one or max two key messages per slide. This will help avoid cluttering on the slide. The focus remains on the key messages. Sometimes I have faced the need to include a lot of information on a slide - performance KPIs / Trends etc. In such scenarios it helps to use grids to logically group related information. While presenting the slide the presenter and the audience can then focus on the grid that is being discussed currently. Using less text and more visual indicators is also an efficient way of reducing the clutter on the slides. Alignment of the objects also helps in making the slide look organized and professional.

1. Simple and uncluttered visual messages on slide 2. Develop a logical and consistent narrative using Rudyard Kipling’s six serving men : what, why, when, where, how and who 3. Less is better as audience would like to hear you 4. The slide deck is the aide, You are the ?? of the presentation 5. When in doubt, be honest and ensure to revert asap with accuracy

Purchasing intent is greatly affected by colors due to?their effect on how a brand is perceived; colors influence how customers view the “personality” of the brand in question. And while certain colors do broadly align with specific traits (e.g., brown with ruggedness), nearly every academic study on colors and branding will tell you that it’s far more important for colors to support the personality you want to portray instead of trying to align with stereotypical color associations. Using your colors and image strategically can help you to make your slide deck more attractive and memorable

As far as possible stick to your company’s template and brand palette for visuals, graphs and text. When presenting to a client or partner, you can meaningfully incorporate their brand logo and colours. Ensure visuals are audience appropriate. If the visuals tell a compelling story keep the text to a minimum, especially if there is an opportunity to provide a voiceover.

When designing your dashboards and visualizations, there are certain principles or tips you should keep in mind to achieve this efficacy. These will enhance the value and effectiveness of your visualisations. They are:? Know your audience and your objective. Choose the right types of visualizations. Make them organized, consistent and intuitive. Give context. Less is more. Use colors wisely.

Add the key highlights in a text box, accompanying the graphs. The first time you use a certain set of charts/ graphs, spend some time explaining the data representation to your audience, why that is important to the business/ discussion topic, and what insights/ actionables it throws up. This helps establish a baseline of how to view the data meaningfully. Subsequent conversations with updated data and trends on the same graphs will focus on the learnings and action items.

In my experience, keep the animations (very) simple - which allows your content to flow in as you tell your story. Avoid complex animations that distract from the message. Interactivity goes a long way. Depending on the size of the group you’re presenting to, choose an appropriate medium.

3 quick tips: 1. Decide if you want focus on slides (more text less visuals) or on you (less text more visuals)… 2. Decide on strategy for engagement (eg, starting with provocative question, stats, or mystery setting)… 3. Consider using the incredibly effective rule of threes - which is not only great for memory but also a good for simplification and an effective strategy for driving decision making… Hope these help

Keep it mysterious - have very minimal text and only what’s absolutely necessary on the page Cover your message through presentation and effective story telling Slide(s) will act only as an anchor to your messaging This way the audience will remember the uniqueness of your pages and the message in itself

I think it is important to as well remind ourselves that one deck might hide several ones. If you want to ensure your message is clear and can be re access anytime, have some supporting documents that can be shared further to the audience If you want to make sure that you do not forget anything, have a complementary deck under your arm to support you. At the end we always want to share more content than we can or that our audience can absorb, so cutting it in different bites and different format might help you keep your presentation deck focused, clear and inspiring.

Use clean, consistent design, limit text to key points, incorporate visuals, and maintain a cohesive color scheme for a visually appealing slide deck that supports your key messages effectively.

Clear titles that convey the one message you want to deliver is one key to attract audience to your presentation. If your title doesn’t convey a specific message, you lose some focus from the audience. In addition, dot not place any statement or figures that you can’t explain even they are in the foot note - you can always guarantee there’s someone in the audience who has very high observation skills and will pop a question about it.