Persuasion Tactics For Your PowerPoint Presentation Design

Published on
May 24, 2016
Aristotle once said, "All speaking is persuasive speaking." What did he mean by that?

Well, to put it simply, when someone speaks, not only is he selling his ideas across, but he is selling his credibility and value. Even if his ideas are brilliant, you will only accept them if he is trustworthy. Unfortunately most times, PowerPoint presenters think they are only exposing information. They don’t focus on their persuasion tactics during the PowerPoint presentation design process, which is why there are so few good PowerPoint presentation speakers in the world today. There are thousands of presenters, but only a handful who are good and persuasive. So, if you have a PowerPoint presentation to design coming up and are looking to hone your skills, the following steps should help with your game.

Make your PowerPoint presentation logical

Persuasion is not all about the person who is presenting but it also lies in the intensity of the content. As human beings, we like to create links between information and we like to find some logic behind a given data. That’s how our brains are wired. We also remember information that is weaved nicely. If it is all over the place, with no connection, our brain will reject that information. So, to enter the minds of your audience, make sure that the ideas you are sharing with them follow a sequence and are logical.

Put emotions into your presentation

Corporate PowerPoint presentations are not courtroom drama movies, we know that. But to connect with the audience at an emotional level, you should hit the heart and the gut. We are not asking you to share emotional stories, unless you have a relevant one. But based on the demographic of your audience, choose an incident that they can relate to, which will strengthen your ideas, and share it with the audience. Your goal is to create a need in the minds of your audience. Then, share with them how that need can be met. If the need is not met, enlighten them on the pain they will face.

Gain credibility

As soon as you can gain the trust of your audience, they will believe everything that you have to say. On the other hand, if they don’t find you credible, no matter how brilliant your ideas may be, you will face rejection. So, how do you build this credibility factor, especially if you are someone who is new to the industry? First and foremost, you should share your bio data with your audience. This data can be shared with your audience in the form of a profile. You can distribute your printed material and your profile, so that the audience can read about you before your presentation begins. Once the audience knows who you are and how you relate to the industry, they will give more importance to your words. 

Speak passionately

Sister Christine Leyser in Guelph 2009
‍GUELPH, ON. February 12, 2009 – Sister Christine Leyser talks about poverty in Guelph and Wellington during a Poverty Symposium at St. Georges Church Thursday morning. (Guelph Mercury/Ryan Pfeiffer) SEE STORY BY: JOANNE

Last but not the least, you should speak passionately about the subject matter you are presenting on. Passion is something that comes from within, so there is no way that you can pretend to speak passionately. Your audience is smart and they know when a speaker is passionate or not. When you are really keen on a topic, you will speak convincingly and your body language will emphasize your drive and passion. Always remember that there are no boring topics, there are only boring speakers.

Now that you have learnt the four key persuasion tactics, it is time to put them to the test. So, for your next presentation, try implementing our guidelines, one at the time, and see the difference with your own eyes. Keep these tactics in mind during your next PowerPoint presentation design and work it into your slides.

Frequently Asked Questions

Working with Stinson: The Presentation Agency

What exactly do presentation agencies do?

We provide all the help you may need to design presentations that achieve your goals. This can include content consulting, presentation slide design, custom icons and illustrations, and presentation handouts—ultimately, our team of PowerPoint designers and consultants develop a comprehensive presentation solution that meets your specific needs.

Why do companies work with presentation agencies?

Consider how much time you (or your team) spend making PowerPoint presentations for meetings. Think about the back and forth over which fonts, colors, icons, and images to use. Is it okay to use bullet points? Did you use the right brand colors? Does the slide look too crowded and busy? Or does it look too plain? How do you create the look and feel that you're picturing? After the design is done, do you have enough time to practice presenting?

As presentation experts, it is our second nature to understand your goals and work with you to create the professional PowerPoint deck that you envisioned. You can learn more about our 3-phase process here.

By leaving the presentation design to an agency like Stinson, you save yourself the time and worry over the look, feel, and progression of your presentation—we make your PowerPoint presentation-ready so that you can focus on the presentation delivery.

Which presentation design service will I need?

As a presentation company, we offer every service you may need to develop your you may need to develop your PowerPoint—however, it's tough to say exactly which services of ours would benefit you the most without having chatted about your company, industry, and presentation uses.

We've generalized the scenarios that we regularly see and help our clients with. If your situation is similar to any of the below, then rest assured that our presentation experts have proven success in developing solutions.

  • You have an upcoming presentation with investors or clients. You feel your slide deck looks outdated or dull, and you don't know how to help it. You're also not sure if the content in your presentation conveys your value. View our case study where our presentation development and content consulting services helped our client achieve their investor funding goals.
  • Your company has regular internal department presentations. Everyone works on their respective slides, which are then combined into one presentation deck. The resulting PowerPoint does not have a cohesive look and somehow, there are five new shades of your corporate colors. We can help you identify your common slide layouts and design easy-to-use custom PowerPoint templates so your team members can create seamless, unified slides.
  • Your company has a great PowerPoint template that strongly reflects your branding, but your team tends to include too much text and irrelevant images on their slides. During the presentation, key messages are lost. We offer presentation training for exactly this—we'll train your team to create better slides more efficiently.

Expectations when working with us

How does partnering with a PowerPoint designer work?

Once you contact us, we'll meet with you and ask for as much context as possible regarding the project: what materials you already have, who is presenting, who is the audience, and so on—this is our Discover phase. From there, we move onto Develop and Design where we start defining the narrative and visual characteristics of your new presentation. For more details, please read our process.

How long do projects take?

Our standard turnaround for presentation development is 2–4 weeks; for custom presentation templates, our typical turnaround is 3–6 weeks. We know this is a wide range, but due to the collaborative nature of our presentation design process (i.e. asking for and incorporating your feedback), our turnaround time also relies on your responsiveness and availability. We do offer a rush service if your timelines are short.

How much does a presentation design cost?

We price on a project-by-project basis, involving a number of key factors outlined in our pricing model. However, we do require a minimum project cost of $1,500.

We often see companies that do not have budget allocations for presentation design and are hesitant to make the initial investment. We understand—at first, it can be difficult to see the value and difference a well-designed, practical presentation can make. For our clients that started in this situation, we worked on a smaller pilot test project; when they saw the positive ROI of the presentation, they were able to secure larger budgets and found more presentations that needed our help.

What are the final files that I will receive?

All of our final PowerPoint (or other presentation software) deliverables are shared with you in its native, editable file format. We are also able to provide a PDF or video version of your presentation if you would like.

Any presentation collateral we design for your project is shared as a ready-to-print PDF, unless if you specify a different preference.

Have you worked with other clients in my industry? Can you share related samples?

Our list of clients spans a wide range of industries, some of which we hadn't known of prior to the client's project. Since our approach involves familiarizing ourselves with the client's business and industry, we've become a team of jacks-of-all-trades for industry knowledge.

We're able to share blinded, industry-specific samples of presentations that our clients have consented to. Contact us if you're interested!

Technology

Aside from PowerPoint, do you work in Google Slides? Keynote? Prezi?

Yes! While we prefer designing PowerPoint presentations due to its robust features that let us create advanced designs, we've created custom presentation designs in Google Slides and Keynote at our clients' request.

We generally do not design presentations in Prezi since it does not support the level of design customization that we need for our clients. Instead, we use PowerPoint to create the same animations and layouts that are characteristic of Prezi presentations—you can view examples in our portfolio.

Will we run into issues if we use Mac and/or Windows PC?

There are some differences in functionality between PowerPoint for Mac and PowerPoint for Windows—but these are not for your concern! We use both Mac and Windows computers at Stinson, so we're able to ensure cross-device compatibility with every PowerPoint presentation we design. During our initial call with you, we'll ask you for these tech specs so that we know to bear them in mind when working on your project.

Does it matter which version of PowerPoint we use?

Yes; the latest versions of PowerPoint have new functions and features that earlier versions of PowerPoint cannot load. We'll take note of your tech setup to ensure that our presentations for you run as intended.

Designing with branding

How are you able to design with our company's brand?

If you have any brand guidelines, we ask you to provide them early on in the process so that we can familiarize ourselves not only with your logos, colors, and fonts, but the overarching brand tone. Our collaborative process includes rounds of revision for you to provide your feedback on the presentation design.

Are you able to design within our very strict corporate brand guidelines?

Absolutely! Many of our clients are companies with well-established brand identities. We do our due diligence to maintain the integrity of their branding when designing their presentations and collateral.

Strict brand guidelines do not necessarily restrict the possibility of creating a sophisticated PowerPoint; our presentation designers thoughtfully use photos, animations, and other visuals to build the story.

We don't have concrete branding yet or we're in the process of updating our brand. Can you work without defined brand elements?

Yes! When we work with clients who are still ironing out the details of their branding, we ask them to provide us any materials they have already and to share their design inspirations. From there, we lay out moodboards of different tones and styles to see which resonates the most with what our client has in mind.

Security

We have highly sensitive information. Will my data remain confidential?

Absolutely—we respect the proprietary nature of businesses, and enforce a strict confidentiality policy company-wide. From the first point of contact with you, we assume a non-disclosure agreement (NDA); we are happy to sign your company's NDA as well.

Where do you store my files and data?

All of our files are stored securely in an industry-leading content server. The server exceeds regulatory standards and encrypts each file using AES 256-bit encryption in diverse locations.

Additionally, the Stinson team works completely in-house, so your files will not cross borders.

How secure is my data?

We take data security seriously. We enforce numerous internal policies and procedures to ensure that Stinson continues to meet compliance and security standards for data protection, including multi-factor authentication for all company accounts and access restrictions.

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