I’m a marketing ideas guy, not a graphics design guy. I know my way around PowerPoint but am clueless about how to use a program like InDesign. When designing presentation slides I know enough to know fewer words and bigger pictures are better. And when delivering presentations I know to speak to my slides and not read from my slides.
So as a marketing ideas guy who designs and delivers presentations, I’m always looking to improve my game. That’s why I’ve read books on presentation design and delivery like the just-published slide:ology.
slide:ology does a brilliant job of explaining WHY simplicity matters, WHY slide design matters, and WHY storytelling matters. Unfortunately, the HOW is missing.
For example, we see many Before/After makeover slides throughout slide:ology. Here’s one:
The “Before” slide is somewhat satisfactory, but certainly boring. The “After” slide is so much more dynamic and interesting — it rocks! However, as a marketing ideas guy (and not a graphics design guy), I have no idea how to create such a killer graphic.
slide:ology tells me WHAT should be done but shares very little step-by-step direction on HOW to make a killer graphic like the one above. I want to know how to make that killer graphic without having to call on the services of a freelance graphics design guy.
I recommend reading slide:ology because it shares thought-provoking advice like … “The audience will either read your slides or listen to you. They will not do both. So, ask yourself this: is it more important that they listen, or more effective if they read?” … and … “It’s laziness on the presenter’s part to put everything on one slide.”
However, if you, like me, lack graphic design skills and rely on the capabilities of PowerPoint to craft presentations … I recommend you also read BEYOND BULLET POINTS from Cliff Atkinson.
What I appreciate about Cliff’s book is he gives step-by-step directions on how to create better looking and more effective PowerPoint slides. Cliff not only explains the WHAT, he also details the HOW. Now that rocks!
(Note: You can learn more about BEYOND BULLET POINTS from this vintage Brand Autopsy post.)
I struggle with this as well... Except my graphic design skills have improved over the years. :D
Rule #1: Slides are free. Use as many as you need to ward off clutter.
Rule #2: Bullets kill. Don't use them except at gunpoint.
In the end, a great deck is cool, but a great presenter trumps a great slideshow any day.
Posted by: olivier Blanchard | September 17, 2008 at 12:28 AM
Reflecting on your comment:
"I want to know how to make that killer graphic without having to call on the services of a freelance graphics [sic] design guy."
Graphic design is as much a profession as marketing is, and graphic designers should be as much measured by "knowing InDesign" than marketers be measured by their knowledge of Word.
Learning how to create captivating and goal-oriented visual communication cannot be learned in this kind of book for the same reason good storytelling isn't taught in those: it requires knowledge, practice and talent.
Given, budgets for slide presentation often forbid the use of a professional designer. In these case, you can find royalty-free material on various photo & illustration banks like Getty, Veer or the cheaper iStock Photo. No shame there, I've seen very good presentations using stock material. If you find those too pricey, try to evaluate the time it would take you to produce them. Even designers use them from time to time, because it would cost more if THEY—people who knows what they are doing—did it themselves.
If you'd rather have pinpoint visual that really sustains and represents your message, but still do not want to invest in professional expertise, learn the trade. I hate to break it, but there are no magic "slideshow graphic" how-to. There are a lot of books introducing non-designers to the techniques, and the web is full of tutorials of all sorts on the matter. It may take time, but remember that a professional will have taken even more time to be where he/she is.
I would like to reiterate the professional qualities of graphic designers and emphasize that we are not hobbyist. Visual communication designers will approach any project following a process including goal definition, message to be passed, audience, examination of previous work before striking any lines. A good designer will feel like a partner in your endeavours rather than a hired gun, and you will wonder how you have done without them in the past.
If you don't know where to start to find a professional designer and avoid doing business with a Photoshop technician, you might want to check with your local designer professional association (AIGA in the US; GDC, RGD, or SDGQ in Canada) to have a list of members in your area (tip: If your presentation involves a lot of graphs, you might want to look for designers specialized in information design). Review their portfolios and interview those with pieces you like to best make your choice.
I'm sorry if that comment feels like a rant. I know the intent of your text was not to denigrate graphic designers, but its matter-of-fact "there's a chapter missing on how to do killer graphics" tone denotes an all too frequent minding in the general business world that we are nothing but talented monkeys. I felt I needed to remind us that "killer graphics" requires a killer graphic designer.
Jean-Sebastien Dussault,
Visual Communication Designer
Posted by: Jean-Sébastien Dussault | September 17, 2008 at 02:23 AM
The answer is simple as in most cases : get a mac ! And use Keynote, which guides you much better in doing more than reasonable graphics and slides. You can store that in ppt-format , for the ones who are still behind you , and even better as pdf with a single click, if you want to be sure it looks as expected at your target audience.
Posted by: Reinhard Haberfellner | September 17, 2008 at 07:52 AM
I'm a marketing ideas guy too -- AND a graphics design guy. I work up and present new ideas on assignment for others, as well as polishing and presenting ideas which are supplied to me.
Half the battle with graphic design these days is dealing with clients (and bosses) who see themselves as 'ideas guys' and who expect the designers to simply behave as technically powerful, creative eunuchs. Burly eunuchs, sure-- but ultimately forbidden to suggest alternative communication solutions or creative improvements. The result is work which we designers sometimes refer to as corporate 'turd polishing'.
The secret to 'killer graphics' is the same as 'killer branding ideas' or 'killer business skills': dedicated and committed experience. Don't expect to replace experience with a handful of tricks.
The best clients value--and more importantly, they trust-- what an experienced designer brings to a communications project: a deep, developed grasp of business communication strategies, a map of the broader cultural contexts of the market itself, and the skill capacity to tap into that context to create novel solutions within time and budget parameters.
Of all the skill areas involved in developing and delivering great branding, graphic design is probably the main landing strip where ideas actually hit the tarmac-- or the printing press sheet, or the computer monitor, or the multitude of media in which we work.
The bulk of the branding production budget is piloted by graphic designer brains--and hands (and to be honest, in most cases, our hearts). That kind of responsibility is not taken lightly.
This might explain why we're feeling continually confounded by clients who refuse to include us in the early stages of planning. Including all-important business presentations.
If your ideas truly are brilliant and deserving to be presented in the most convincing manner you can find-- why not find it in a graphic designer?
And why take the risk of turning 'killer graphics' for your ideas into graphics that kill them?
Posted by: Bob Roach | September 17, 2008 at 09:44 AM
Jean-Sébastien Dussault ... wow, glad you found a place for your rant. Graphic designers rock. They do killer work. Because I understand composition and have a good eye, I am able to craft nice-looking presentations. Can't do killer charts like the one in the post though. A skilled graphics designer can though.
Reinhard Haberfellner ...yep, Keynote is a nice program. I use it on my MacBookPro. You can do lots of killer things with Keynote that you can't do using PowerPoint. Not sure you can make a killer chart like the one above using Keynote.
Bob Roach ... you make a compelling argument for working with a graphics designer on presentations.
Posted by: johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy) | September 17, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Somewhere back in time I learned that there are visual people and there are aural people. That is, people who learn easiest by SEEING something and people who learn easiest by HEARING something.
I dunno, I probably read it in a book on marketing when I was starting up my company.
Give the aural person a report (or a book) and they will flip through it, then turn to you and ask, "What's in it? I'll read it later".
Give a visual person the same report and they will ignore what you are saying while they flip through the pages, stopping here and there on anything that is vaguely interesting visually, even large or fancy type.
I have since added to that that there are word people, number people and picture people.
Myself, I am primarily a visual/picture person, that's why my business is graphic design.If I was a number person I would be rich by now, if a word person I would be famous by now. You play the hand you are dealt, right?
That still didn't deter me from writing marketing script for tv real estate advertising and other forms of writing, I just wouldn't depend on it to make a living.
In a pinch I can do it, but it's just not good business for me to waste my time hacking away at something a pro (writer, accountant, lawyer, web site coder) can do faster, better, cheaper (considering my time) and more effectively than I ever could.
Now, to the matter at hand: presentations.
If it's one-off thing needed for tomorrow morning, sure, do it yourself. Quick & Dirty rules.
However, if it's for the big boys, and especially if you will be bicycling it around the company (or the country), do it right: hire a graphic design pro.
Frankly, it will be one less thing for you to worry about.
In fact if this is a regular thing for you, get to know a pro graphic designer and send him/her work on a regular basis. You know the word: relationship.
Don't expect to get something for nothing. All designers have heard the proposition: "Give me a good price on this one because there's lot's more business down the road." The pro designer's response is, "Bring me that future business and we'll be glad to talk discounts, contra, whatever".
Key points:
- Don't waste YOUR time.
- Free your mind for the stuff you are good at: the marketing/sales proposition.
- Hire a graphic design pro.
- Establish an ongoing relationship, THEN ask for a discount.
You are probably great at drawing "aural pictures" with words.
A graphics pro will give you great "visual pictures" on the screen.
Great words + great graphics = a memorable presentation.
2 pros on your side are better than just 1.
rs
Posted by: R. Strong | September 17, 2008 at 01:03 PM
John, your take is so interesting, because it's in direct opposition to author Nancy Duarte's opinion. In an interview that Guy Kawasaki (How to Captivate an Audience) posted on the American Express Open Forum, Guy asked her to compare her book to Garr Reynolds' PresentationZen.
Duarte responds that, "It's an oversimplification, but PresentationZen explains the why and slide:ology explains the how. The two books empower the reader in different ways."
Posted by: Jay Ehret | September 17, 2008 at 01:29 PM
Jay ... I've read both books ... slide:ology goes into far more depth explaining design elements than does Presentation Zen. Maybe that's the "How" that Nancy Duarte is referring to. I consider those aspects to be more WHAT & WHY than HOW.
From reading both books, my take is this: Graphic Designers will benefit more from reading slide:ology while Business Management folks will benefit more from reading Presentation Zen.
Posted by: johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy) | September 17, 2008 at 01:54 PM
Hi
Just to let you know included 10 of your posts in spotlightideas.co.uk - Top 250 Blog Posts: Advertising, Marketing, Media & PR.
Included your posts in the following categories:
- Marketing / Branding - general
- Customers / Consumer Insight
Rgds
Posted by: Eamon | September 18, 2008 at 06:25 AM
I think like any product you produce, design is Key. I also believe in focusing on your strengths, if that's the ideas, focus on those then pay/hire a graphics/design expert to make sure your ideas 'pop' when you present them.
Posted by: Karim | September 19, 2008 at 05:58 AM
[sic] in blog comments aren't allowed on my blog. Reminds me too much of primary school.
Posted by: Gordon | September 19, 2008 at 10:52 PM
Rick's made some more 'compelling arguments' for hiring a pro. One refinement: establishing a relationship with a real professional graphic designer WILL take some time. But it's a short-term investment in long-term image quality and message delivery effectiveness. Your hired graphic pro will quickly develop a sense of what you're after and be able to help you in ways you probably haven't even thought about. Above all, we're great practical problem-solvers.
For instance? If you can't afford a designer to tweak every presentation, have her work out a range of easy-to-edit slide templates that will suit 90% of your show needs. Better to invest in great packaging that can be re-used than to pay for new wrapping each run.
With the money you'd save, diversify your presentation quality investment and consider vocal/speaking lessons to add more power to your speeches. A lot of people over-rely on the visual delivery--it's easy to forget the incredible, untapped power of masterful oration.
"Now either you're closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge..."
-'Professor' Harold Hill, The Music Man
Posted by: Bob Roach | September 23, 2008 at 10:08 AM
John,
I'm always struggling with making my slides better so I really enjoyed your comments. Like you, I'm a marketer and not a graphic designer. I've read Presentation Zen and loved it (though it's still not that easy to do what he recommends). Just bought slide: ology recently. The suggestion about hiring a pro to create easy-to-edit slides is excellent.
Posted by: Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book | September 23, 2008 at 08:34 PM
2nd comment. Where do you and your readers recommend we find a graphic design pro who understands presentations?
Posted by: Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book | September 23, 2008 at 08:36 PM
Wow, a blog post that inspires such passionate responses should be turned into a presentation and posted on Slideshare. I'm a graphic designer that has been creating custom presentations before PowerPoint hit our desktops. In R. Strong's comment above, stated so simply: Great words + great graphics = a memorable presentation. It's that easy. Visuals that compliment & validate the topic/company and crisp to-the-point copy are the foundation of any presentation. The presenter is the keystone and should bring it all together with knowledge & passion.
Posted by: Joann Sondy | September 25, 2008 at 12:51 PM