“A well-made slide is the single biggest con of consulting.” — said a director at a consulting firm.
It was my first week in consulting and I laughed when I heard this. I soon realised that this was a commonplace perspective.
Where, people spend incredible hours, trying to design better, choose better colours, format text, better fonts, etc. They hope that this will dazzle the client.
And then, they come up with taglines like “The Uncategorised category is the biggest category accounting for x% of the spend”.
I decided not to listen to that advice and lean into my own experience.
In 25 years of working and making PPTs, I have realised that all great ideas are simple.
So if you want your PPTs to have greatness. It won’t just come from fancy designs, fonts, colours or aesthetics. It’s based on how easy it is for your prospect to make a decision.
Most people complicate their presentations by adding too much data, using jazzy graphics, templates,, too much text and dropping all their thoughts as insights leading to decision paralysis.
The classic example of decision paralysis is when you go to a high-end ice cream parlour and are bombarded with 50 different types of ice creams.
You: I would like a Vanilla ice cream please.
Seller: Which type of Vanilla Ice cream would you like sir? We have French Vanilla, Lactose Free Vanilla, Vanilla bean, Natural Vanilla….
You: 😶
In this scenario, any ice cream you choose will leave you unsatisfied.
On the other hand, if you go to a normal ice cream shop. You will be offered classic flavours like — Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, and Mango.
You will instantly know what you want to buy and you will be satisfied with your decision.
The same principle applies to PPTs. If you can deliver one or two crucial insights that makes it easier for your client to make a decision and simultaneously feel confident about it, you have nailed it!
The design, the colours, and the use of white space then just become the icing on the cake that reassures them of the quality of your work.
Sometimes clients want more information because they think more is better. But the more information you provide, the more you risk creating an information bias that clouds their judgement instead of bringing clarity.
So the key to a powerful presentation is — Simplicity of the message.
Less is more!
Give your clients, customers, stakeholders the confidence that they are making the right decision.
