Turbocharging your Slides and the Five Rules of Presentations

​In previous posts you'll have seen me trying to turn you from the 'dark-side' (re-purposing dense text and marketing-speak heavy, corporate slide decks) to telling stories, using images and, especially, whiteboarding to communicate ideas in presentations and tech demonstrations. BUT slide decks aren't going away anytime soon, and are still the default communication tool for most people in corporate PreSales, Sales Consulting and Sales.

PowerPoint can be used for 'good'

PowerPoint, in the right hands, can be used for 'good', to create some truly astounding and memorable visuals and even 'Oscar'-standard movies and animations. Check-out or follow my good friends at Eyeful Presentations to see what I mean.
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The reason for this post, though, is to ask you to download and check out Duarte's latest free PowerPoint template; it's truly brilliant.

​I'm a big fan of Nancy Duarte's work. Her book, slide:ology is an absolute must for every PreSales professional's required reading list.
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As a summary, Duarte's five rules are:

1. Treat your audience as King,
2. Spread ideas and Move people,
3. Help them see what you are saying,
4. Practice design NOT decoration and
5. Cultivate healthy relationships.

Of course, if you have downloaded and run the PPT template (it's a self-running slide show), you'll want to know how it was done. So, check out this PCWorld article walk-through from JD Sartain (with lots of screenshots), it covers:

• how to set-up an automatic, self-running slide show (for kiosks, trade shows and maybe marketing purposes),
• how to create custom slide sizes,
• how to zoom in on important elements; very useful if you have to use static UI screenshots (maybe 'cause the product your demoing doesn't exist yet!) and
• animations and motion paths.

...it practically researches and designs best practice slides itself..

As a complete Google 'fanboy' (G Suite, Pixel & Nexus phones, Chromebooks, Eddystone beacons & Chromecasts), I can't talk about slide presentations without mentioning Google Slides. OK, it isn't anywhere near as functional as PowerPoint, but check out its new 'Explore' functionality...it practically researches and designs best practice slides itself (See the 3 minute video below). As some of my American colleagues might say, 'it's awwwwwesome'.

​Don is the Founder of Winning Skills Ltd. Talk to Don about building Presales organisations, best-practice PreSales skills and processes and how to build the perfect 'Wow' demo. Let's connect on LinkedIn or talk at don@winningskills.co.uk