5 Mistakes
to Avoid When Hiring
a PowerPoint
®
Design Resource
INTRODUCTION: Why Are PowerPoint Presentations So Bad?
(Surprise – it’s not your fault)
In business today, PowerPoint is a part of almost every meeting with investors, clients, analysts and employees. Electronic slides have become mandatory when we convey
information internally between departments or externally to the media or colleagues. Microsoft reports that PowerPoint is installed on more than one billion computers around the world. It has become a part of the language of business – one has to wonder what we would ever do without it; how would we communicate?
The program was developed by software engineers as a tool for creating visuals for their own internal meetings. For them, it was simply a clever hack intended to save time and money compared to making slides the old fashioned way. Once it hit the market, it was such a game-changer that it took on a life of its own – and presentations would never be the same.
In fact, PowerPoint could very well be one of the most powerful communication apps at your disposal. It is packed with tools that allow you to build visuals to support your information, and you don’t need a lot of special experience to use it – or do you?
Too often these tools and the promise of “easy-to-use” features put even high profile corporate executives in the hot-seat. They start building their own slides, but quickly reach a point where they’re in over their head, and facing an imminent deadline. In desperation, they outsource the production to the first able-body they come across or just give up and “do the best they can”. Clients have been lost, accounts closed, and careers ruined as a result of bad PowerPoint design. Microsoft provides help, online FAQs and even content “wizards” to assist users – but these are often not enough to save you from confusing, ineffective or just downright bad slides. The good news is that you are not doomed to failure; you just have to make the right decision when choosing a PowerPoint design resource – and to do that, you need to identify and avoid the 5 most common mistakes.
Communication Involves the Real Transfer of Emotion
Communication involves the transfer of information and emotion. It’s not only about delivering
content - it’s also about getting your audience to adopt your position, share your perspective, and ultimately to help them understand why you’re excited about your content, and why they should be too.
If your only goal is to compile a stream of facts and figures, then don’t bother with a
PowerPoint presentation. Send a report. A simple presentation may be able to display the data, but you likely won’t reach the level of connection and authentic communication with your audience that leads to an effective presentation.
This isn’t effective communication, and it’s not what PowerPoint was designed for.
PowerPoint provides nothing short of an amazing opportunity for you to use the screen to engage the emotional center of your audience’s mind, while your words engage the logic center. If you rely on the wrong resource for the type of PowerPoint design project you’re facing, that dual-channel communication won’t happen, and you could lose the opportunity.
The Mistakes that Cost Opportunities and Make PowerPoint Stressful
Imagine your boss surprises you with the task of preparing a budget presentation that must justify the funding for your division. It will be delivered to the top executives at your firm, and needs to explain everything you’ve done – and its ROI – over the last year. Emails from your colleagues start flying in, and soon your mailbox is full with a year’s worth of raw data and information to consolidate into a one hour meeting. Your job (and likely the jobs of those around you) depends on a successful presentation… and you have 2 days to get it done – in addition to your other duties.
This type of high-stress situation occurs constantly in the business world. The details change, but the result is the same: PowerPoint Pressure! The mad rush to deliver SOMETHING often leads to choosing the wrong resource for the project you’re facing.
#1: Do-it-Yourself (DIY) PowerPoint Design,
When You Have Other Critical Responsibilities
This occurs a lot with those who want to save money and just “get it done” on their own. You might be able to fit a few hours of slide development in at the end of your day, but often this means stealing time away from your other critical responsibilities. Of course those can’t really be rescheduled – so you end up working on your deck late at night, and “a few hours” quickly turns into an “all-nighter”.
This mistake can completely ruin a critical presentation. Rather than spending time thinking about your message, your content and how to explain it, you’re literally fighting with
PowerPoint. These days, presentations are more than just bullet points – they contain charts, tables, diagrams, animations and even video clips. Almost every executive who’s ever tried to do their own PowerPoint has felt the pain of “pasting in a few slides” and being horrified at the results – and been furious with the ensuing 3-hour marathon to make them look right.
It often takes 5 times as long to build a presentation yourself compared to working with a competent PowerPoint design company. And worse, the end result often looks home-made, and doesn’t do justice to the importance of your information or the opportunity that the meeting represents.
#2: Relying on the In-house Production Department,
When There’s No Time for Scheduling
If you have access to in-house design teams or a communications department, maybe you can ask them to handle your PowerPoint presentation… right?
Because they’re an internal resource, they probably won’t send you an invoice for their work – but your group will have to share in the cost to support their payroll, equipment, software, rent, etc. However, because they’re a shared resource, they’re probably booked-up with work for others in your company. Need a last minute presentation? Get in line.
They may be an excellent creative resource for work with longer deadlines – web banners, print ads, updating a brochure – but they’re often not built to handle the intensity of a PowerPoint project. They don’t only serve you; they have many other internal clients and a tight schedule to keep to meet their commitments. And when the slides hit the fan and your project details change, that schedule can be too rigid to allow them to save you. Add to that the fact that they don’t specialize in PowerPoint and you’re headed for another presentation
pressure-cooker.
In the end, whatever they have time to do for you may have to be “good enough”, even if it’s not what you’d envisioned, or if you have to try and make edits yourself at the last minute… assuming there’s time before your meeting.
#3: Working with PR or Advertising Agencies that “Do It All”
if You’re Facing Tight Deadlines
Your company may have a PR firm or Ad Agency on retainer to help with general design work, media buying or large-scale marketing initiatives. They may have terrific capabilities, but the special needs of PowerPoint design can frustrate even the best agency teams. As a favor, they may be willing to help with an occasional presentation – but this is not their area of expertise. The short-deadline nature of presentation projects is often “not a fit” with their workflow structure. It’s not unusual for a presentation to be due sooner than an agency can provide a cost estimate.
Agencies typically have a “gatekeeper” structure: you speak with your rep and they relay your request to the resources that actually execute the work. The high-pressure deadlines, constant updates and frequent direction changes that come with PowerPoint work are often more than a single rep can take… which means your urgent calls go to voicemail, and you’re biting your nails until they call back.
Unfortunately there’s another problem – Mac vs. PC. Due to the creative nature of their work, agencies are typically “Mac shops” and use special design programs like Adobe InDesign or
#4: Using Freelance Graphic Artists When You Have Many Slides or Authors
These days, anyone with a computer can claim to be able to “do PowerPoint”. At first glance they may appear competent and have low hourly rates, but will they come through for you and your critical project? There are some great freelance resources out there, but they’re very hard to find – especially for PowerPoint. When you work with a freelance graphic artist it’s luck-of-the-draw, and like a night at the casino the odds are stacked against you.
Freelance graphics artists typically require a lot of time to get projects done because they’re just one person, so urgent requests have to be handled one-at-a-time. Also, you may need to invest a lot of your time just to get them ready to start work – they need a building pass, a workstation, access to files and email. If this is the first time they are working for you, you will need to spend more time explaining your processes and all the details of the job.
Freelancers also provide little insurance against the unexpected twists that come with presentation projects. Submissions arrive late, authors rethink large chunks of their “final” material, and light input from colleagues turns into a blood-bath of red marks. But freelancers have other jobs scheduled and they can’t be in two places at once. If at the last minute you need them to stay late, they might be available, or they might have another commitment. If at that point you need to find yet another freelancer, or if the one you hired fails to deliver, you’ll probably be left holding the bag.
If you’re on a tight deadline though, you’re more than likely out of time, out of options and out of luck. If the freelancer you’ve hired isn’t an expert in presentation graphics, it can lead to a high-stress nightmare.
#5: Hiring the First “Slide Shop” You Find Without Checking References
These days, you can find a slew of PowerPoint production companies online with a quick web search. Some boast the lowest price, others tout fast turnarounds – but often what you get is the old “bait-and-switch”. Many of these companies are merely middle-men; reselling services of freelancers they hire on an as-needed basis (see mistake #1).
Often, these companies are really just teams of salesmen that play the role of project managers or account reps. You’re never permitted to speak directly to the person actually working on your project, because they might be in a different time zone or a different country. This type of “gatekeeper” arrangement quickly turns into a communication barrier – and if the results aren’t what you wanted, you can pay again to have it redone… if you have the time and the budget.
The other serious issue with these outsourcing arrangements is confidentiality. Presentations often contain a corporations’ most proprietary information. Earnings data, new product details, research study results – all of these are contained within harmless-seeming PowerPoint slide decks. Too many companies have trusted a vendor with highly sensitive information, and only later learned the project was outsourced to workers subject to very different copyright and intellectual property laws.
There are good production companies out there, but unfortunately they are vastly
outnumbered by the “bait-and-switchers”. Don’t just go with the first one you find – do a little research, ask for references, and find one that you can trust with your most sensitive
information for your most critical meetings.
Avoiding the Mistakes
Each of these mistakes has a high potential for leading to bad slides, blown budgets, wasted time and failed communication. In order to get the presentation results you need, it’s critical to find and select the right presentation support resource.
The solution is simple – when you’re working with a team that understands and specializes in PowerPoint presentation design, it becomes much easier to produce a great presentation. And when you’re equipped with a great presentation, you’re more able to be clear, confident and actually connect with your audience.
When you make that connection, real communication occurs, and you’re more likely to make an impact and get what you’re after – all because you chose the right tool for the job, and selected the right resource for your critical PowerPoint development.
Finding the Right Professional Presentation Resource
The most compelling and professionally designed PowerPoint presentations will move your audience to action. Creating your presentation requires more than dropping bullets on a few slides and adding pretty pictures. It means finding a way to showcase your information to best effect, so you connect with your audience and make an impact on them.
At eSlide, we eat, sleep and breathe PowerPoint. Our company was built from the ground up to meet the unique challenges of presentation projects. Our dedicated staff of PowerPoint designers have years of experience creating presentations for high-level executives facing high-stakes, high-pressure meetings.
We respond quickly, pay attention to the details, and turn your pre-presentation chaos into calm. eSlide is the expert in creating PowerPoint Presentations…presentations that serve as the connection between you and your audience, and get you the results you need.
Major Meeting Types We Support:
► New Product Launches
► Sales Pitches
► Consulting and Analysis Results
► Keynote/Conference Presentations
► Trade Shows
How eSlide Deletes Stress from Presentation Development
Proprietary systems, processes and tools – We've developed unique best practices and
project management tools that are custom-built to handle presentation projects.
We adopt your stress – We have such extensive experience in creating presentations that we
take your presentation production responsibilities and make them our own.
We involve you appropriately – Thanks to our many years of experience, we don't need
hand-holding, and we don't waste your time with unnecessary questions. We communicate with you efficiently and we treat your time as a valuable commodity.
We add valuable ideas – We help identify rough spots in your slides, where content could be
communicated more clearly. We might give you two versions of the same slide to compare for effectiveness. Keep what you like and delete the other and your presentation is ready to use.
Your "Fire and Forget" solution – Repeat clients often simply send us an email with their
slides and say “Please fix!” They trust that we’ll know what to do, take care of it promptly, and contact them with appropriate questions.
The perfect balance of words and graphics – eSlide finds the right way to display your
message clearly so your audience doesn’t just hear it, but sees it, gets it and takes action.
With 9,000+ successful PowerPoint projects under our belt, our team of presentation designers have created powerful and effective presentations for almost every type of high-stakes meeting and conference. When you need high quality presentation design without the stress, you need eSlide!
