A successful financial presentation can make or break a business deal. And if you want to make a powerful impression on potential investors or future clients, follow these five slide deck design tips for creating a winning business presentation!
When it comes to presentations, first impressions matter. And while some topics are naturally interesting, once you start talking about crunching numbers and making sense of big data, a financial presentation can quickly become overwhelming, boring, and even dull. But use visual elements and slide deck design to your advantage, and you can transform even the most complex financial information into an inspiring, interesting, and memorable business presentation.
1: Presenting A Problem & Solution
Rather than starting with a long and boring history of who you are, what you’ve been analyzing, and what you’re about to present, shake things up by opening with a problem that resonates with your audience. Then, introduce your solution as the answer to that problem. This immediately establishes relevancy, and it sets the tone for the rest of the business presentation. This short and straight-to-the-point slide deck design introduction can also save precious time and help you to ooze confidence, especially if you’re a bit nervous about presenting in the first place.
2: Using Psychology & Color
Color combinations can be used in slide deck design to add a professional look and feel to a business presentation but also draw attention to key figures. Suppose you want to highlight data that presents a prime opportunity for business growth. Green is a great color to use and will subconsciously tell your audience that this is a good thing. Yellow, on the other hand, can be used to highlight cautionary data or trends to keep an eye on. When used correctly, color can be a powerful tool to help you make a strong financial presentation. You can also take this a step further by turning complex data, facts, and figures into infographics that are much easier to explain and for viewers to understand.
3: Video Snippets To Make Sense Of Data
Rather than show numerical values and graphs and spend time talking about what this data means, incorporate video snippets into your financial presentation. Let’s say you want to show data that reflect customer behavior. Consider adding in video clips that reinforce the points you’re trying to make. If you have time, use customer testimonials or quick industry overviews that help keep viewers engaged. Don’t shy away from humor too. There is nothing wrong with adding in a funny meme that your audience will find relatable, funny, and ‘out of the box’. In fact, this actually helps viewers to digest the data and recall what you’ve presented at a later stage.
4: Audience Participation
Never underestimate the power of asking your viewers a direct question or calling on people for their opinion. Not only does this keep everyone on their toes, naturally, nobody wants to look as though they’re falling asleep, but it also shows that you value their input. Financial presentations can often be quite dry, so adding in a bit of audience participation will help to break the ice, add a human element and keep people engaged. This can be done by adding in a graphical element that reminds you to ask a question or alerts viewers that you are going to ask for their help.
5: The Art of Storytelling
Last but not least, remember that a business presentation is an opportunity to tell a story. Financial data and numbers are important, but they should be used to support the story you’re trying to tell. After all, stories are much more memorable than data sets, and if you can find ways to make your financial presentation relatable and interesting, you’re more likely to make a lasting impression.
For help, support, and powerful slide deck designs that will transform the way you present facts, figures, and key data, contact me now.