How to create the perfect pitch deck

Firstly, what is a pitch deck?

A pitch deck is a set of designed presentation slides used for the purposes of presenting information to an audience. Typically pitch decks are presented on platforms like Microsoft Powerpoint or Keynote by Apple. 

Who uses pitch decks?

Pitch decks can be used by all kinds of people for all kinds of purposes. If you have an important message that you need to get across to an audience then a pitch deck is where you need to start. This might be to propose a business plan or to pitch your services to a possible client.

Why is an effective Pitch Deck important?

While presenting an idea or service, it is not just the content of what you are saying that you will be judged on. Your audience will consider every part of your presentation, from how enthusiastic you are about what you are saying, to how confident you are in your pitching abilities, right through to how you are dressed and whether or not you make eye contact. Presenting the perfect pitch can be a minefield when it comes to ensuring you make the right impression, but by having a nicely designed and highly functional pitch deck to turn to, you can rest assured that you will be helped along the way. 

Pitch deck best practices

Don’t overload your slides

To win people over in a pitch you want your personality and enthusiasm to shine through. This isn’t going to happen if your audience is reading your slides rather than watching your Oscar winning performance. Your slides are there as a step-off point into the content or message that you are attempting to sell or convey. They are not there as a means of telling your audience the in’s and out’s of what you have to offer.

Don’t get bogged down in detail

Just as your pitch deck shouldn’t be overloaded with text, you should also avoid where possible too much detail. While you want to be specific and smart with what you are saying, you don’t want to be boring. Cutting out the unnecessary elements of your pitch deck will not only make it leaner and more efficient, it will save your audience from falling asleep in their notepads. Your pitch is there to be accurate, but also to inspire, the real detail can come in later. 

Be different

If there is a sure fire way to be forgotten as soon as you leave the room, it’s in not providing your audience with something different from what they have seen before. Now, you don’t have to put on a fire juggling act (although this might wake your audience up a bit), but what you should do is say something that excites your audience. Use your pitch deck to really get this difference or differential across to your audience. Use big bold visuals, take advantage of animated or video content, do something a little different with your design, surprise your audience!

Make it nice to look at 

You might have the best product or service in the world, you may be an exceptional presenter and thrive in the limelight of a presentation, but if your pitch deck looks like a dogs dinner then you’re unlikely to win over your audience. Now while, under exceptional circumstances you may be able to win over your audience in spite of your pitch deck, ultimately it is integral to your success, so ensuring that it is presented smartly is an absolute necessity. 

Now, following the first two points in this list can help a lot here. By ensuring you don’t overcrowd your pitch deck you’re already going some way to making your pitch deck design a little more pleasing on the eye. The next step is to think about how you visually present your ideas. Using well thought out images rather than words, for example, is one way you can both limit unnecessary text and make your pitch deck look great at the same time. 

Find out more

At Kaizen Print we have helped many many businesses from innovative start-ups to clients like Coca-Cola, Hellenic and Mirror Media Ireland with considered graphic design and engaging presentations. As part of our design process we seek to understand the real message you are attempting to communicate with your pitch deck, and then we go about creating beautiful looking pitch decks for you to wow your audience. If you’d like a printed version to hand out after your presentation, we can also provide an exceptionally high quality print service to support your digital presentation. To find out more you can visit our pitch deck design page, or get in touch via our contact form, or by calling 02890022474.

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