Does anyone have any tips on putting together presentation materials? I realize this is kind of a vague question but am looking for any insight that I can get on this.
I am the lone associate in my group (first year on the team) and am often asked to put together presentations for board meetings, weekly deal flow meetings and a variety of other ad-hoc tasks. The VP's on my team were operating without an associate before I joined and were not really using slide decks to help with presentations. This task has now been asked of me.
I think generally what I put together is solid and easy to follow but I am wondering if I can take this to another level. Are there any best practices or must have items for slide decks? Any helpful resources that anyone can send to me.
Look at as many companies' decks as you can get your hands on and take note of which, before you even start reading the content, are visually striking. You want them to be clean, clear, and direct. Long paragraphs and superfluous bullshit are big negatives that are all too common. Make the Executive Summary one of the, if not the, best thing in it.
Don't be afraid to ask for guidance on this one too. You don't want to work in a vacuum only to have the VPs not like what your produced.
Couple tips:
Think of every presentation to your execs of an opportunity to show you're the real effing deal.
Great answers above. I won't reiterate those, but here are a few things that (once you have all the content of the pres. squared away) can really bolster your efforts:
Find at least one way to invoke **humor **-- whether it be a funny picture or analogy or sarcasm. Of course, don't do this without it being additive to the message, but humor can be an effective way to get a point across and engage the audience. Find something ironic, at the very least. Irony is captivating.
Less text, more transitions and seamless segues (I feel like everyone knows this)
The slides should get the message through via images and anything else that is visually stimulating. So when it comes to the wordy part of the messaging, make a really good outline/script (for the presenter to follow). Make it synergistic with images and visual aides.
DO NOT include in the outline/script any verbatim copy of text on a slide that the audience reads. **You do not want people reading and hearing the same thing word for word **-- they'll notice!! It's just off-putting and lazy. There are exceptions though -- like a mantra or overarching message you are trying to deliver singularly; in that case hammer away at a phrase/saying both in the slides and in the script. But, keep it simple.
Hope this helps.
Quote Wolf of Wallstreet and mention quaaludes at least once to ensure you gain attention from the C-suite.
I'd say getting and incorporating feedback from your VPs (and most importantly appearing as a proactive go-getter) will go a long way. 80/20 is important here. It is easy to sink a ton of time into becoming a Powerpoint or Excel whiz, but after a certain point, you're really not going to see a lot of dividends from your efforts. Once you have good enough technical skills and are producing a serviceable work product, I think your time and efforts would be better spent trying to flex upwards a little bit in your job responsibilities. Just my 2c.
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