This presentation tool is not a presentation tool

PowerPoint, Google Slides are presentation tools that most of the time are actually not used as presentation tools. Rather people use them as a visual collaboration tool. The organization chart that needs to go into the deck forces the issue: it is time to agree on where the boxes sit and which lines (dotted or straight) go between them. The tiny footnote is essential to agree the strategy for the North America entry strategy etc.

The visual character of these programs makes them more useful to do this than word processors. Online collaboration adds another option to manage multiple pens in one document. Comments give a system to manage todo lists.

SlideMagic on the other hand is a presentation tool.

Image credit: Jay Cross on Flickr

Final final final final versions

Unlike in the case of a printed book, digital documents are never finished or final (despite being called “final version v3 - final”). Instead they have “committed versions” like programmers use when working with git to manage iterations of code. For most presentations these committed versions are documents you deemed good enough to share with someone at some stage in the project. That’s why the email sent box is becoming the new file archiving system. (Where is that document I sent out last week?). Sent it, or it did not happen.

Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

Red flags

This blog is read by many fellow presentation designers. Here are some of my clues that warn me when a potential project could be difficult to get right. 

• The CEO (or anyone else who actually has to give the presentation) is not involved enough in the process, so you do not hear first hand what the person actually wants to say
• The potential client says "we just need a polish" of existing slides, because 1) she wants to negotiate the project budget and/or 2) [worse] she thinks that after all the work the company invested in the slides it is not possible for an outsider to turn things upside down and start fresh, better.
• The project deadline moves forward to a few days from now leaving no time for creativity
• The project deadline moves backward
• Every change, edit, discussion requires a full in-person meeting with many people in the room, including small punctuation edits in slide headlines
• There are conflicting story lines: 1) multiple messages for multiple audiences, or 2) "this is what we want to say, but we cannot really say it"
• "We want a presentation like this" (with an attachment of a poorly designed presentation)
• We give you total creative freedom except for a), b), c), d), and e)
• Any question re the content of the presentation gets avoided, with "just let us know the cost and the time it will take you"

Designers should look out for these warning signs and people tendering project should look in the mirror.

---

Image by Joe Christiansen on Flickr