PowerPoint Presentation 10/20/30 Guidelines
10 slides
20 minutes
30 point font size
- Death by PowerPoint (and how to fight it) – Alexei Kapterev
- How to Avoid Making PowerPoint Your Enemy: Tips for Your Pitch Deck – Read Write Web
When giving a pitch, your slide deck should include the following information:
- Summary (This could echo your elevator pitch)
- Who’s on Your Team
- The Problem
- Your Solution
- Your Technology
- Your Business Model
- Your Marketing Plans
- Who’s Your Competition, but Why You’re Better
- Current Status/Key Milestones
- Financing Goals and Amounts
Remember the difference between print and presentation. Your slides should be visual. If there is extra textual information you need to convey, include it in the notes.
Presentations and pitches are not simply about the visuals you project onto a screen. Even the most exciting slide deck can fall flat if you don’t convey energy and passion in your pitch. Don’t simply read the slides. Although you do want your slides to be engaging, you and your company should be the focus. You want your presentation to help tell a convincing story to your audience.
And finally, while a nice clear screenshot can make a good slide, a demo of your product will convey information better than any PowerPoint presentation could.
Management guru, Tom Peters, for example, says that “presentation skills are worthy of extreme obsessive study.”
For professionals today, presentation and public-speaking skills are more important than ever. Strong presentation skills and the ability to engage and connect can truly set you apart from the crowd.
