Did you know that 75% of the human population fear presenting in public more than death itself? It sounds weird, right? But what if we tell you that a presentation designer can find an antidote to this fear?
Clearly, if we put this irrational fear into a diagnostic test, it’s the lack of preparation and confidence that triggers that fear. When you’re not confident with your spiel and presentation deck design, you set yourself up to fail.
So, how can a presentation designer help you prepare and boost your confidence for that upcoming presentation? Well, that’s what we will answer in this blog article.
What is a presentation designer?
Presentation designers are creative professionals who produce compelling design presentations for organizations to use. They have relevant experience and degrees in graphic design or a related visual communication field. Usually, they work in agencies that serve clients who need design services for corporate events.
Have you ever watched a TED talk before? Notice that most popular speakers attribute their successful presentations to effective slide decks. There was this TED talk facilitated by Shyam Sankar that became a hot topic at TEDGlobal in 2012. Most importantly, the presentation was so bold and engaging that TEDx even wrote an article about it.
Sankar used two characters—a robot and a human—to illustrate the rise of human-computer cooperation in tackling challenges like capturing terrorists.
You may ask, “Did he come up with that presentation all by himself?” Well, the answer is no. A former comic-book artist and presentation designer named Collin Roe-Raymond was the brain behind that presentation.
Of course, if there are presentations that exceed expectations, some also lull us into sleep.
Have you been to a conference where attendees seem to feel disinterested? It was something of a snoozefest while the speaker dragged his feet to make the presentation engaging. It may be hard to believe, but too often, it’s the presentation design that makes people lose interest.
Unfortunately, presentation designers are the ones who get the least credit. However, they can make or break someone’s credibility in just one slide. So, what else can a presentation designer do?
What does a presentation designer do?
To sum up, presentation designers are responsible for a variety of duties, including determining the length and style of a presentation and selecting fonts, images, and other visual aspects of decks or slides. In general, they help clients on how to make a good PowerPoint presentation design.
Frequently, the duties of a presentation designer and a graphic artist overlap. Although presentation designing is a subset of graphic designing, the former takes more than creativity. To succeed in presentation design, one must have the ability to match data with the correct visualization.
Here are some specific tasks that go into a day of a presentation designer if in case you’re wondering:
- Create simple and easy-to-understand data visualizations
- Transform data, concepts, and research into engaging educational materials
- Create PowerPoint presentation design templates that adhere to brand guidelines
- Finalize and implement sales collateral decks and slides across all media platforms
- Examine and assess existing presentations and make suggestions for improvements
Who needs to hire a presentation designer?
Essentially, anyone who wants to feel confident with their presentation needs to hire presentation designers. When you have a presentation slide with a professional look, it’s easy to deliver your lines with finishing touches.
Whether you’re in business or academia, you’ll have presentations that need to be memorable. Here are some people who would need the help of a presentation designer to stand out among their peers in their field.
1. Salespeople
If you’re a salesperson, you’re not a stranger to a sales pitch. But for those who haven’t heard this term, this is a sales presentation explaining the nature and benefits of a service or product in less than two minutes.
We all know how cutthroat the competition is in the sales industry. After getting an appointment with a prospect, half of the battle now lies on the sales presentation to close the deal.
However, some sales presentations don’t get a yes simply because the sales deck was all over the place. The presentation might be either too detailed or not engaging at all. Take note that most people tune out of a presentation after 10 minutes. So, if you have boring slides that you made the night before the presentation, you’re bound to fail a hundred percent.
If you’re on a losing streak while your colleagues are closing deals from time to time, maybe you need to change something. That is to say, it could be your slides that fail to get your message across.
Tumblr’s deck performs a superb job of visually demonstrating their new company offering rather than relying solely on text to sell it. For salespeople, what you can learn here is to focus more on succinct and simple language.
2. Managers
A huge part of a manager’s job is reporting KPIs and ensuring everyone in the team is on the same page. But do you know that many managers find report presentations tedious and uninspiring?
KPI report presentations are highly critical, especially for data-driven businesses. These reports enable managers to demonstrate how a company is achieving key business objectives.
There are many ways to present KPI reports. One of which is through slide presentations. To be effective, KPI reporting must avoid the usual mistake that everyone makes: relying just on numbers.
Do you want to impress your executives the next time you present your KPIs? Then, tell a story as to what’s working and what’s not in your strategy. According to 55% of people, a captivating story is what keeps their attention during a presentation. You can add depth and clarity to your presentation by focusing on visuals.
Essentially, it’s about presenting a visually appealing story. The goal here is to make your numbers speak like a storyteller. How can you do that? Well, by inserting animations and seamless transitions to your slides. And you know right from the start who can help you with that—presentation designers!
Slide Team’s KPI Sales Metrics Pipeline Powerpoint Presentation Slide
This is yet another example of an effective presentation design for KPI reporting. The online and in-store performance of the company’s goods was highlighted here. In addition, the top revenue products, incremental sales, and cost of goods sold were also provided.
3. Public Speakers
Did you know that 65.7 % of presenters prefer to create their own slide decks? These statistics speak volumes about public speakers who attend conferences and speaking engagements. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with DIY presentations. But it begs the question, “Does your presentation slide design make you credible enough?”
In public speaking, it’s not only the oral skills that gauge one’s credibility. You will also be criticized for the learning materials you present. On the other hand, if you keep everyone engaged with your presentation, chances are you get people to recommend you for more speaking engagements. Hence, the more engagements you have, the better you position yourself as a thought leader.
Moreover, attendees and organizations will probably ask for your PowerPoint presentations after the event. So, you might as well ensure that your PowerPoint slide is something to be proud of.
Remember that it takes more than an eloquent speech to become a successful presenter. You can have a commanding voice and still fall flat on your face with an underwhelming PowerPoint presentation design.
David Epstein’s Presentation at TED Conference 2014
David Epstein’s presentation uses beautiful data visualizations to give remarkable statistics and figures. He makes a visually stunning and appealing presentation by blending powerful sports images, striking colors, and a continuous design concept.
4. Academic Professionals
People in academia know that distance learning nowadays heavily relies on PowerPoint presentations. So if your slides do not facilitate effective learning, you’re doing an absolute disservice to learners in asynchronous classes.
Students these days study their lessons in a self-paced manner. It would be easier for them to digest topics if you present them in a concise, bite-sized fashion. Don’t follow what other instructors generally do—pasting a massive chunk of text on slides hoping it would stick like pasta on the wall. You may think of a better way to make your lessons engaging while capturing essential information that is easy to understand.
In addition, presentation designers can also be outsourced for poster presentations of research papers. Is there a research conference coming up, and you’ll be presenting your research paper? You can leave it to a presentation designer and let them create a well-designed research poster. This buys you a lot of time to prepare for your speech and anticipate questions from the research panel.
A Well-Designed Research Poster from the State University of New Jersey
The sample poster above is among the 2019 best poster winners at the 15th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Notice the consistent and clean layout and the effective use of graphics, color, and fonts.
Outsource Your Presentation Needs to KDCI
The quality of your presentation matters in the success of your business. Whether you’re introducing a new product or educating customers about your service, a good presentation design increases your chances of forming long-term relationships. If you’re seeking a service provider for your presentation needs, we’re here to help you!
Our company, KDCI, offers full-service, on-brand design solutions perfect for SMEs worldwide. We have vetted presentation designers ready to work on various types of presentation designs your organization may require. If you need assistance with your content, we also have writers onboard to fine-tune your content structure to the highest presentation standards.
Are you interested to know more about our services? Then, hop on a call with our client success manager by clicking the button below for a FREE consultation!
