The introduction of your presentation is crucial to its success

29. November 202330. November 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

The introduction to your presentation is crucial for success

7 creative ideas for your presentation introduction

Reading time 4 minutes

Get your next presentation off to a flying start and make an exclamation mark right at the beginning. We’ll show you 7 creative ways to inspire your audience. This will ensure that everybody follows you from the very first slide. Because once your audience’s attention is lost, it’s difficult to regain it. This makes it all the more important to captivate, surprise, convince or entertain right from the start. Just as it suits your presentation, your target group and your topic. Let our ideas and suggestions inspire you and try out which presentation introduction works best for you.

Introduction with facts
The personal story
The question to the group
The inspiring quote
The topical reference
The multimedia element
Metaphors

1. Introduction with facts

Use well-researched facts for your presentation introduction and present them as visually appealing infographics. Even facts that your audience may already know can be brought back to mind. Use comprehensible and concrete formulations. Instead of “the proportion of newly registered electric cars is 32%”, write “every third newly registered car is an electric car”. Don’t forget to cite the sources of your facts.

By starting with facts, you are setting the tone for clear messages, verified information and credibility right from the start. This is an advantage for a technically or commercially interested audience.

2. The personal story

Start your presentation with a personal story that has a direct or indirect connection to your presentation topic or that is suitable as an analogy. Tell us what personal connection you have to the topic of your presentation or what your motivation is. Please note: stories with breaks and setbacks are more exciting than smooth success stories. Stay authentic, tell your story succinctly, but don’t exaggerate. This will win the sympathy of your audience.

A personal story is a good icebreaker if the audience doesn’t know you. An emotional introduction can also help with conflict-laden topics. Such an introduction is rather inappropriate for a tightly timed and decision-oriented audience.

3. The question to the group

Ask the audience a question. Simple questions that can be answered with a show of hands are suitable. Alternatively, you can use digital survey tools. Make sure that your question or survey is related to your topic. If you are giving a presentation on mobility, you can ask, for example, “Which of you traveled by public transport today?” Also respond directly to the answers you receive and use them to lead on to your topic.

Use a question and answer session to involve your audience in your presentation. This method is suitable for discussion-intensive topics, but also to skip the usual restless phase at the beginning of a presentation.

4. The inspiring quote

It is the classic presentation opener: a quote. Motivational sayings, words of wisdom and visions are usually formulated in general terms, making it easy to establish a connection to your presentation topic. Steve Jobs is certainly one of the most frequently quoted personalities in business presentations. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a quote from a famous person to open your presentation. A customer quote that formulates a need or a common problem will draw your audience into the topic very quickly and concretely.

Quotes are well suited as an introduction if you want to underline the relevance of your presentation topic or place it in a larger context of meaning, e.g. innovation, future, responsibility.

5. The topical reference

Link your topic to current events. A news report, a current survey or a headline can provide the perfect introduction. You can usually even find daily news on hot topics and trending topics.

A tip: if you regularly present on a certain topic, use tools such as Google Alerts to be automatically informed about news that you can spontaneously incorporate into your presentation.

The introduction with a topical reference is suitable for discursive topics and topics with social relevance. It emphasizes your expert knowledge and the importance of your presentation.

6. The multimedia element

You can liven up the start of your presentation with a film clip, a video or a small slide show. You are sure to get the attention of your audience. Anything is possible, from entertaining elements to mood videos that get people excited about big topics. However, make sure that a multimedia element at the beginning is only an “appetizer”. Prefer short formats.

Multimedia introductions are suitable for topics with a motivating character. Such an introduction raises the audience’s expectations. The presentation that follows should also be lively and visually appealing.

7. Metaphors

The metaphor method is a stylistic device that is suitable for the start of a presentation and beyond. Metaphors help to convey your messages and make your statements memorable. Metaphors can be used visually and in terms of content/text. Use simple symbols that match your main messages. If a metaphor runs through the entire presentation, a strong image will be anchored in the minds of your audience. Metaphors can come from a wide variety of areas. Metaphors from the fields of sport, nature/weather or travel are popular in business presentations.

Presentations on complex topics in particular benefit from metaphors, as they break down facts into simple symbols. You can read more about the use of visual metaphors here: Using Visual Metaphors to Enhance Your Storytelling in Presentations

10 characteristics of a professional presentation

16. October 202323. October 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

10 characteristics of a professional presentation

If you follow these points, your successful presentation will be assured

Reading time 8 minutes

Presentations are created for a wide variety of occasions. For the godfather’s milestone birthday as well as for the quarterly presentation in the executive board of a DAX company. What distinguishes occasional presentations from professional presentations in a business context and what should you pay attention to if you want to be perceived as a professional presenter. This blog article is about the most important 10 characteristics of professionally created presentations.

The golden thread
Corporate design
Relevance
Visualization
Clear messages
Involvement
Flexibility
Timing
Good conclusion
Practice, practice, practice

1. The golden thread

A really good presentation has a common thread. The messages and arguments build on each other coherently, the audience can easily follow the presentation, and the core message is clear and comprehensible for everyone.

In order to find the golden thread for your presentation, you should deal with these questions in advance:

Who is the target audience for my presentation? How relevant is the topic for my audience and how do I have to present it to make the relevance clear?
What is the goal of my presentation, what do I want to achieve with the audience? What benefit do I want the audience to derive from my presentation?
What is my core message? What is important and what is rather unimportant to convey this core message.

Now you can start building your presentation. Read more about the golden thread and the classic structure in introduction, main part, conclusion part in our blog articles.

The golden thread – How a well-structured presentation helps you hold your audience.

The three parts of a presentation: introduction, main part, conclusion

2. Corporate design

Professional presentations are important points of contact with customers, partners and stakeholders. They influence the brand impact of the sender. Inconsistent slides within a presentation with changing fonts and jumping spacing are inappropriate in business. But you should also avoid a uniform but incongruous design. For example, if you work for a technology company known for its minimalist design, crowded slides are a no-go.

Companies usually work with a PowerPoint master in which design defaults such as fonts, colors and spacing are preset. However, this does not mean that everyone takes these defaults to heart.

That’s why large and medium-sized companies that value a professional presentation appearance use PowerPoint add-ins such as QuickSlide, which provide brand-compliant templates for all common slide types and offer additional functions such as corporate design checks. With tools like these, everyone in the company is able to create professional presentations in corporate design.

Also read our blog article on the specifics of implementing your corporate design in PowerPoint. In another article, we will show you how a corporate design change in PowerPoint can be done easily with the help of QuickSlide.

3. Relevance

The success of a presentation depends to a large extent on whether it succeeds in highlighting the relevance of the topic for the target group. If you don’t take into account the needs and requirements of your audience, you shouldn’t be surprised if your presentation is met with little interest and you don’t achieve your presentation goals. Rule number 1 is therefore to occupy oneself intensively with its target group: Who is in the audience? What are the requirements and challenges of the target group? What information is of interest to the audience and how should it be presented? Put yourself in the position of your target group, choose the right language and tone, create points of connection to your audience’s life and work, and develop a storyline that the audience will enjoy following.

It can be useful to structure and prepare a presentation on the same topic in different ways, depending on who is in the audience. To avoid having to start from scratch with this work, sales teams, for example, work with presentation kits. These contain slides and slide templates for different topics and different target groups, which can be combined to create a coherent overall presentation. This makes it easier to create presentations that are tailored to the target group. On our website you can read how sales teams benefit from presentation kits.

4. Visualization

You want your messages to reach your audience? Then use visual elements in addition to the spoken word and texts. They can underpin content, simplify complex issues, highlight important information. Visual elements often have a faster effect than formulated thoughts. They can therefore also contribute to the better comprehensibility of your content. There are different types of visualization: images, icons, maps, and data visualization with graphs and charts. Make absolutely sure that the elements you use match your company’s corporate design and create a consistent visual language. Many companies have their own image databases for this purpose. Of course, your company’s color and font specifications also apply to graphics and diagrams in PowerPoint. QuickSlide allows companies to provide templates for different graphic and visual presentation formats and to link media image databases directly. This makes it easy for users to create visually appealing presentations and immediately ensures that all presentations are in line with the brand identity.

Our pro tip for presentation creation: use visual metaphors to reinforce your messages. Check out our blog article on visual metaphors for valuable information on this.

5. Clear messages

In any case, it is important that you clearly express the messages you are conveying with your presentation. This includes the right amount of depth of information. Too little information makes your presentation appear superficial and less competent. Too much information, on the other hand, has a confusing effect and distracts from your objectives. The danger is great that your audience will drop out and your messages will be lost.

Exactly how much detail and information is right depends on your topic and your audience’s level of knowledge. If you can’t assess this in advance, we recommend moving information that you feel is downstream to slides in the appendix or hiding slides that you can select when needed. This way, you are well prepared for any queries. This method is also suitable if you are presenting data-based information. Focus on the most important key figures and put the associated tables in the appendix. This way, you can respond quickly when asked about the data base.
To learn how to present data in an appealing and quickly graspable way, read our blog article on data visualization in presentations.

To structure your presentation, please follow this rule of thumb: one thought per slide. The receptivity of your audience is limited. Do not demand that your audience reads and listens at the same time. Because that won’t work. Avoid overcrowded slides and instead focus attention on your presentation.

6. Involvement

When it comes to PowerPoint presentations, one first thinks of frontal lectures, where the audience is asked to ask questions at the end of the presentation at the most. This form of presentation is passive from the audience’s point of view. If the presentation topic and the presentation situation allow it, we advise you to involve your audience. This can be done by addressing them directly, using feedback slides, asking questions or using interactive elements such as surveys or workshop methods. The advantage is that you can get hints about the needs of your target group already during the presentation and adapt your presentation. You signal to your audience genuine interest in their requirements and also keep their attention high throughout the presentation. Prepare slides that you can fill in or add to together with the audience. There are many ways to engage the audience in your presentation without risking losing the thread of your presentation.

7. Flexibility

It’s good to have a clear schedule for a presentation in mind. However, new information, questions from the audience, or a current event may interfere with your plan. Then it is important to be able to react. Prepare for such situations. Put slides that you can show if needed in the appendix. Also, make sure you have other presentations or documents to refer back to where the issues coming up have already been dealt with. Don’t stonewall, but don’t let yourself completely lose your cool either. Sometimes it can be enough to refer back to the end of the presentation and pick up the issue there. Or you can change the order of your presentation, bring topics forward or skip slides. One way to prepare for such situations are feedback slides after each chapter. On these slides, you note topics and aspects that are important to the audience. At the end of the presentation, you can build on this and start a discussion.

8. Timing

Respect the time of your audience. It does not go down well with the audience if a presentation upsets their entire daily schedule or breaks are omitted. So stick to the agreed time and don’t overrun. This also means that you should build in buffers, e.g. for questions from the audience or the subsequent discussion. For example, if you have 30 minutes, you should allow about 20 minutes for content and 10 minutes for questions and discussion. For a rough guide, you should calculate two minutes per slide of pure presentation time. However, this value can vary greatly – even from slide to slide. It is best to do a test run and measure the time. Then you will know whether you need to cut back.

9. Good conclusion

Think carefully about how your presentation ends. The last slide can be crucial. Time and again, we see a presentation conclusion that doesn’t go beyond “Thank you for your attention.” This is a missed opportunity, because the closing slide is the segue to everything that comes after the presentation: a new business relationship, an important decision, the continuation of a project. Take the opportunity to initiate the next steps at the end of your presentation. Put your money where your mouth is by recording approvals on the last slide, agreeing on deadlines or defining to-dos and responsibilities. This will create commitment and ensure your presentation makes an impact.

Read more tips in our blog article on the final slide of presentations.

10. Practice

A deadline is approaching, the presentation is still not ready and in the end there is no time left to practice. Unfortunately, this happens again and again. But it is so important to rehearse a presentation in advance. Preferably in front of a test audience that can give you helpful feedback. For example, ask your colleagues if they are willing to do this. Even experienced presenters benefit from an “outside view.” It is important that you schedule the time you need for the test and for any adjustments from the outset. A test run is not only there to optimize the presentation, it also gives you confidence and thus ensures a convincing performance in front of an audience.

For more interesting information on creating presentations, check out these blog articles:

4 Steps to Successful Presentation Creation

Storytelling in presentations

How storyboards help in presentation creation

PowerPoint Title slide

25. September 20235. October 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

What belongs on the PowerPoint title slide?

Tips for getting your presentation off to the perfect start.

Reading time 6 minutes

Today we’re talking about a slide that, from our point of view, is all too often neglected: the title slide or cover page of PowerPoint presentations. This particular slide deserves to be taken seriously because it is usually visible for quite a long time – before the presentation begins, when the audience gathers, or as the cover page of print-outs. In both cases, it shapes the expectations of your target audience. Read about what to consider when building and designing the first slide and how to capture your audience’s attention from the first minute of your presentation.

The importance and impact of the PowerPoint title slide

Who is the PowerPoint title slide for?

What information belongs on the PowerPoint title slide?

The importance and impact of the PowerPoint title slide

Imagine the following situation: You are attending a presentation on the topic of sustainability. You neither know the speaker nor exactly what to expect. You take your seat and still have a few minutes until the presentation begins.

The following title appears on the screen:

Now imagine the same situation again.

But now the following title slide appears on the screen:

This example illustrates well how the title slide of a presentation can influence the expectations of the audience:

In the first case, one expects a frontal lecture with a lot of scientific findings, data and diagrams, aimed at an expert audience. The role of the viewer/listener is passive.
The second title promises a generally understandable presentation of the contents and a joint elaboration of solutions. The audience is in an active role.

So although the presentation has not even started yet, the presentation participants already have a picture in their minds of what to expect. And they adjust to it. If you convey the wrong image at this point, it will be difficult to get your audience on the new track. Perhaps your audience has already tuned out because they’ve lost interest in the topic or because they think the presentation was intended for a different audience. In any case, avoid such frustration. Make sure that the title slide already fits your presentation and does not create false expectations.

Who is the PowerPoint title slide for?

The PowerPoint title slide usually has a double task. It helps the person who creates the presentation to file his presentations. That’s why we very often find information on PowerPoint titles that is not meant for the audience at all, for example, the location of the presentation. The audience knows where they are, but for the presenter this information is important in order to better relate the presentation.

The second task is, in our opinion, the much more important one. The title page gives the audience orientation and answers some important questions:

What exactly is the topic of the presentation?
What is the relevance of the topic?
Who is presenting?
What kind of presentation can I expect?

Answers to these questions are already sought by the audience on the first slide of a presentation. It gives you confidence to know that the presentation is suitable for you and addresses your needs. And that the time they invest is time well spent.

When building the title slide, take your audience’s perspective and provide exactly the information they need to feel comfortable.

What information belongs on the PowerPoint title slide?

The title slide sets the tone of your presentation. If you overwhelm your target group with the title, this will probably continue throughout your entire presentation. Therefore, make sure that the title contains only as much information as necessary. Not all formal information is necessary in every case. The following list is therefore only a guide. As the presenter, you know best which information is really relevant for your audience.

The type of presentation:

It can be helpful to let the audience know what type of presentation it is. Is it a lecture, seminar, webinar, workshop, or keynote speech? Is there a setting that needs to be mentioned: a meeting, a conference, a trade show, etc.? Often it is not necessary to mention the type of presentation because the audience has registered and knows what it is about. But if, for example, at a professional conference there are many presentations in succession and the nature of your presentation is different from the others, this is an important clue.

The subject of your presentation:

The title or topic of your presentation should be more than a description of your presentation content. Also, refrain from using generic titles such as “Product Presentation” or “Company Presentation.” A well-written title should be short and memorable. And it should express the relevance of the topic to the audience. You can work with direct address, formulate questions or even use provocative theses. Keep your audience in mind: what interests them most, how can you arouse their curiosity, and what language and stylistic devices are appropriate and fit your presentation.

The name of the presenter/sender of the presentation:

Naturally, the audience wants to know who is speaking to them and in what capacity or on what behalf they are giving the presentation. If the presenter is not known to the audience, this information belongs on the title as well as the company logo of the organization on whose behalf the presenter is presenting. If there are several presenters, the sender logo is usually sufficient. If several companies have joined forces, it should be considered whether the introduction of all participants should be part of the introduction and the title page kept neutral.

The date/location:

It is common to write the date of the presentation on the title. And often you can also find the indication of the place. Both info are not very relevant for the moment of the presentation and for the audience. For your documentation, however, the date and location can be important. Likewise for the case that the slides are sent afterwards. So think carefully about whether you really need this information on the title. Of course, if you include date and location, this information must be up-to-date in any case. Anything else will look sloppy.

Brand elements:

Invest in the design of your title page and make sure that it is already brand-compliant here, in line with your company’s corporate design. This will convey professionalism right from the start. Important brand elements are logo, fonts, colors and typical graphic elements such as icons or shapes that distinguish your brand presence. Pay attention to an appealing overall image and refrain from superfluous effects. “Less is more” also applies to the title slide of your presentation, as it does to so many things.

Images:

If you want to rely on visual elements in your presentation, images on the cover page can make a strong statement. However, when choosing images, make sure that they are in line with your company’s branding and that they fit the theme of your presentation and the nature of your talk. You should avoid images that serve only as eye-catchers.

An effective method of using images in presentations is visual metaphors. These are images or representations from an area that is symbolically related to your topic. In another blog article, we will give you valuable tips on how to use visual metaphors to achieve your goals.

What comes after the title slide?

A good title slide is the beginning of a successful presentation, but it is no substitute for getting into the topic in terms of content. By formulating your presentation topic, you have already made a decision. You now need to continue the language and tone of the title slide. We have summarized for you how to structure the introduction, the main part and the concluding part of your presentation in a target-oriented way in these two blog articles.

Creating successful presentations: The right structure

Structure of presentations in 3 parts

We would also like to recommend our information on the PowerPoint conclusion slide. Like the title slide, the conclusion slide is vitally important to your presentation – and yet it’s all too often neglected. Read how to use an effective PowerPoint conclusion slide to support your presentation goal.

Interview with Achim Sztuka about the further development of QuickSlide

24. August 202312. September 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

The new QuickSlide as a cloud solution

We talk to Achim Sztuka, CEO of Strategy Compass, about the background and advantages of the development of the new QuickSlide.

Reading time 5 minutes

Hi Achim, we’d like to talk to you today about the new QuickSlide. But first, how do you feel after such an intense development phase?

Achim (laughs): Thanks for asking. Yes, there’s quite a bit of work behind us and that was really challenging for everyone. But it was also fun, because we’ve built a solution that positions us very strongly for the future. We didn’t just enhance QuickSlide a bit further, we basically reinvented it. But the development phase is not over. On the contrary: The platform is ready, and new features are being added constantly.

Why was this leap in development necessary?

Achim: Of course, we’ve always been evolving QuickSlide further. However, a number of important things have changed in the technological environment in recent years: Microsoft has been promoting its web technology for Office add-ins for years, but for a long time did not provide the necessary API functionality to implement sophisticated solutions such as QuickSlide. However, a lot has happened on the API side in the last year. At the same time, there has been a clear shift on the part of our customers toward greater openness or even the explicit desire to move to a cloud solution. The advantages are obvious: installation and maintenance of the software become much easier, the increasing number of Mac users can be served, the solution also works with PowerPoint in the browser. For us, this was the tipping point we had been waiting for to switch QuickSlide to web technology.

So please describe what makes the QuickSlide cloud solution different?

Achim: I’ll start with the user perspective. The core is a web-based Template and Asset Library that can be used in PowerPoint regardless of location and device. This means that it can also be used by Apple users, a target group for which we previously had not been able to offer a solution. The Asset Library has several major advantages over the traditional QuickSlide. Users can find everything they need to create presentations in one place. They can conveniently insert or upload slides, images or icons while editing their presentation. The Search works across all asset types. With this, we’re responding to the desire of many users to also be able to find the right images and icons more easily.
Our customers can structure their Asset Library flexibly according to their needs – by asset type, by topic, by department, by project. This is an option that no other tool offers. We invested a lot of time in UX and usability testing during the development phase to achieve the best possible experience for users. It’s really rewarding that the feedback we’ve been getting so far has been so overwhelmingly positive.

So there’s a new product experience for users. What are the advantages for those who manage content in the company?

Achim: First of all, better usability is of course good for the entire company. If QuickSlide is used more and better, the overall quality of presentations and the efficiency of working with PowerPoint will increase. But we’ve also specifically simplified the content management processes. For example, while creating user groups in QuickSlide used to be a bit cumbersome, there’s now a simple web app that allows you to set up Shared Folders for your user groups with just a few clicks. You can easily assign the appropriate permissions for users to these Shared Folders via Azure Active Directory. Teams can thus set up their own private content areas without any intervention from IT. Sales, for instance, can manage its sales presentations autonomously.
Another important aspect is that we’ve improved how simultaneous uploads and changes done by multiple people are managed. You can now have as many content managers as you want, and all changes to the central content are immediately visible to all relevant users.

You talked about the new solution being easier to install and maintain. How exactly is that to be understood?

Achim: With the cloud version of QuickSlide, we’ve created a product that enables significantly shorter innovation intervals. All features related to the Template and Asset Library are continuously developed, and these updates are automatically available to our customers without having to install a new version on users’ computers. This relieves the burden on IT departments and at the same time brings product innovations to the user much faster.
By the way: This is also an important aspect for existing customers. The new Asset Library doesn’t yet have the full range of functionality of the classic QuickSlide. Nonetheless, it makes sense for many customers to switch to the new version already, because they will automatically receive all the updates over the coming months. And of course, we’re making the switch to the new version as resource-friendly as possible for our customers, including the migration of all existing content to Azure.

Talking about Azure, what do customers need to know about it?

Achim: Most of our customers already use Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform for various other applications, a lot has happened due to the widespread adoption of Microsoft 365. Thus, Azure has become the ideal place to host data for QuickSlide as well. We’ve now taken this step and built the new QuickSlide as a typical SaaS application–Both the web-based part of the add-in and the data are managed by us in a secure Azure environment. This means our customers don’t have to worry at all about how data is stored and backed up during operation; it simply happens in the background.
Speaking of data security, a decisive factor in the development of the new QuickSlide has been to offer a solution that meets the high security requirements of our large customers in sensitive industries. For example, as part of the new EU regulations on cybersecurity and the GDPR, the requirements have become much more extensive. Companies have to ensure security across their entire supply chain. Thanks to Azure’s high security standards, data hosting in Western Europe, data encryption and the complete separation of our backend from the public Internet, we have achieved a level of security that has already convinced our customers’ IT security teams as part of various certification processes. It also really helped that we had direct access to Microsoft’s architects during implementation, with whom we implemented best practices.

What about customers who don’t want to move to a cloud solution?

Achim: This is an important topic, thanks for bringing it up. QuickSlide as a pure VSTO solution is of course still available and developed further. Our customers don’t need to worry, we’re not imposing the cloud on anyone who doesn’t want it or can’t use it. However, we expect Microsoft to make the move to the cloud necessary sooner or later. You can see this already playing out when you look at the New Outlook: Contrary to earlier statements, the New Outlook no longer supports installed add-ins. In this respect, it’s not entirely far-fetched to assume that such a step will also take place in the other Office applications over the next years. We see this development positively, because it will simplify many things. For users, for companies, for IT–and ultimately also for ourselves. We’ve now taken a decisive step and are consistently thinking QuickSlide further.

Thank you, Achim, for this enlightening conversation. We’re thrilled about the transformative journey QuickSlide is on, and we can’t wait to see how it continues to revolutionize the way we work. Wishing you, your team, and all QuickSlide users continued innovation and success!

The 4 biggest time munchers in PowerPoint

27. July 202327. July 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

The 4 biggest time munchers in PowerPoint

Which tasks cost time and nerves in PowerPoint and what can you do about it?

Reading time 6 minutes

Are you working on a presentation right now? Are you sure that all your slides are up to date? Are you missing a slide that you’ve seen before in a colleague’s presentation but can’t find again? Have you formatted your slides yet? And what about the brand conformity of your presentation?

You probably ask yourself all these questions regularly when you work with PowerPoint. The fact is: the formal aspects of your presentation are time-consuming. And sometimes cost valuable resources that you actually wanted to put into the structure, argumentation and dramaturgy of your presentation. As a result, you may spend hours “tweaking” your presentation, but still not be satisfied with the presentation outcome.

We will track down the 4 biggest time wasters and give you valuable tips on how you can easily delegate some of the time-consuming work: for example, to a PowerPoint add-in that can do these jobs perfectly for you.

Time muncher no. 1: Looking for slides

Time muncher no. 2: Formatting slides

Time muncher no. 3: Finding the right presentation format

Time muncher no. 4: Adhering to the corporate design

Time muncher no. 1

Searching for slides

You’re not the first person in your company to create a presentation, and you’re probably not the first person on a particular topic. A majority of the slides that exist in a company are used recurrently. What this means for you is that you don’t have to start from scratch. You can at least take parts from other presentations. But where do you find these presentations? Now the big search begins.

Maybe you can find the most important presentations on the server or you ask your colleagues. Unfortunately, you then always do not know one hundred percent what exactly the last status is and whether all information, such as company data, is still valid. In many companies the following workflow has crept in: Employees overwrite a presentation that already exists and only change the slides that need to be updated or adjusted. One can well imagine that a lot of duplicate work is produced here and the error devil is often involved. Especially since inaccuracies creep in with presentations that are overwritten again and again, also at the expense of the uniform corporate design.

A professional remedy is an Asset Library for PowerPoint. This is a central platform for the distribution and maintenance of all assets that are required in a company for the creation of presentations: Presentations, slides, templates, logos, icons, images, etc. Everyone has access to this Asset Library. The tedious search for slides and presentations is therefore a thing of the past. Another important advantage, is the centralized update possibility, which an Asset Library offers. Changes only have to be made in one place and are immediately available to everyone. Some Asset Libraries, such as QuickSlide’s Asset Library, immediately alert users to the availability of new stands when they open an older presentation, which can then be updated with one click. This gives users peace of mind.

Also read our blog post with examples of how slide libraries are used in companies.

Time muncher no. 2

Formatting slides

It’s work that drives some to despair when working with PowerPoint: Adjusting, checking and unifying fonts, font sizes, spacing, colors and positions. Only die-hard PowerPoint fans find this really easy, because every change results in new challenges such as unsightly wrapping, cut-off texts, space problems and much more. And with PowerPoint, unfortunately, any inaccuracy is immediately noticeable, such as when headings jump when you crossfade slides because the stands aren’t consistent. A good idea is to work consistently with your company’s master slides, which are usually stored in PowerPoint. Then you’ll have the basics right. However, master slides are limited and there are not user-friendly templates for all use cases. Users have to build the majority of the required slides themselves. In the process, formatting errors tend to creep in.

An intelligent solution is offered by PowerPoint add-ins such as QuickSlide, where formatting is predefined. These tools ensure that the fonts, font sizes and colors of the corporate design are used. They also make it possible to provide a large number of templates for almost any use case. These are pre-designed slides that can be filled individually. Users no longer need to worry about formatting when creating presentations. The PowerPoint add-in QuickSlide also offers a number of check functions such as the Consistency Check, which identifies inconsistent slides and “straightens” them with just one click, and the Corporate Design Check, which displays and corrects deviations from your company’s design specifications.

Time muncher no. 3

Finding the right form of presentation

You probably know this situation: You know exactly what information you want to put on a slide, but you have a hard time finding a presentation that the audience can quickly grasp and understand. This is probably why we see so many text slides or slides with bullet points in presentations. A well-made presentation works where possible with graphical representations, with pictures or visual elements. There are two questions for the person who prepares the presentation: how to find a suitable form of presentation and how to implement it in PowerPoint, even if you are not a PowerPoint expert and do not have basic graphic training.

PowerPoint add-ins offer the possibility to provide a large number of templates for specific presentations and presentation formats. Users can fill them directly with your content. You don’t need to worry about the design and formatting. A large selection of templates also invites users to get inspired. This gives users new ideas for visually implementing content. The quality of presentations increases.

The PowerPoint add-in QuickSlide goes beyond mere software. We support our customers in building a comprehensive template pool. We develop a template set for our customers that often includes more than 200 templates in the corporate design. Users can find these templates in QuickSlide’s Asset Library. Well structured and equipped with a comprehensive search function.

In our blog article on the types of templates companies need, you will get an overview of the most important display formats in presentations.

Time muncher no. 4

Adhering to the corporate design

PowerPoint is one of the most important tools in business communication. Companies rightly attach great importance to showing off their brand in PowerPoint. But not everyone who creates presentations knows the design rules and can apply them. So it happens again and again that presentations leave the house that do not meet the corporate design of the company.

There are solutions to this problem, too, such as the PowerPoint add-in QuickSlide, in which your company’s corporate design is preset. Users thus automatically work with the correct fonts, font sizes, colors, etc. The large selection of brand-compliant templates also helps them adhere to the corporate design. QuickSlide can be used to integrate the company’s own image databases, so that searching for brand-compliant and royalty-free images is also a thing of the past and users no longer have to go to the trouble of searching for your images on the internet. This also ensures consistent imagery in presentations.

If you want to counteract the biggest time wasters in PowerPoint in your company, you will find important tips for selecting a suitable PowerPoint add-in here.

Contact us if you want to learn more about QuickSlide. We will be happy to present our solution to you in an online demo.

The organization of training materials in PowerPoint

16. May 20231. August 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

5 Tips for Organizing Training Materials in PowerPoint

How to centrally manage presentations for training, seminars and courses with an asset library

Reading time 5 minutes

Employee training and development are more important today than ever before. Companies have their own training departments or use educational institutes to build up knowledge about new products or new technologies among employees as well as customers and partners. The material that is used for this is usually available in PowerPoint. PowerPoint is the most common presentation format and much of the content required by other departments, for example product information from product marketing, is already available in PowerPoint and can be easily reused for training purposes.

Even though Learn Management Systems are increasingly being used in companies, which enable new interactive learning experiences, especially in the area of e-learning, the question arises as to where the content comes from. And here, too, PowerPoint as a content platform provides good services. Provided you have the ability to professionally organize and manage content for training. In this article, we’ll give you 5 tips to keep in mind when managing training material in PowerPoint and show you how an Asset Library can help.

Update training material
Build good slides easily with templates
Branding training material
Customize training content efficiently
Organize training material

1. Update training material

Anyone responsible for managing training materials in a company or educational institute knows how time-consuming it is to keep all slides, content and illustrations up to date. When technical details, product views or legal guidelines change, this usually affects a great many slides, presentations and elements. Keeping track of this and carefully incorporating changes at all points is time-consuming and nerve-racking, and also very error-prone. However, up-to-dateness is one of the most important quality criteria of training courses, seminars and training sessions.

An asset library is a professional and efficient way to maintain and update training materials. An Asset Library is a central platform for all assets used in PowerPoint. These can be entire presentations, individual slides and templates, or graphic elements such as icons, logos, and so on. An asset library offers the great advantage that everything is centrally located in one place and can also be centrally maintained there. This means that everyone who creates presentations is always working with the latest version. An Asset Library, such as QuickSlide offers, also informs users when old presentations need to be updated and with just one click, outdated assets and slides can be replaced.

2. Build good slides easily with templates

The didactic quality of slides and presentations plays a decisive role in the training sector and wherever knowledge is to be imparted. Content should be presented clearly and in a way that is easy to understand. Text-heavy slides usually do not achieve this. However, the visual presentation of content, e.g. with the help of icons or diagrams, requires PowerPoint expert knowledge, which not everyone who creates presentations has comprehensively. Here, too, an asset library can help. In addition to ready-made slides and presentations, it also offers the possibility of providing templates for various presentation formats. These can be, for example, templates for argumentative presentations, diagrams, infographics, process representations, project plans, etc. Templates are usually sample slides that can be individually filled with content. In this way, anyone can easily and quickly create vivid and varied slides. This has a direct effect on the transfer of knowledge and thus on the success of training courses and seminars.

In another blog article, we will give you suggestions for the different types of templates that are needed for presentation creation.

3. Branding training material

Another important aspect of creating training materials is maintaining a consistent design. Make sure your training materials are consistent with your brand identity. That way, you’ll convey a professional and authoritative impression. A presentation where every slide looks different, where fonts change and spacing jumps doesn’t look credible. An asset library can help with this challenge, too. This is because it can ensure that all the training material available is in the corporate design. We recommend paying attention to this aspect as well when selecting an asset library. There are special add-ins that combine the advantages of content organization in PowerPoint with special functions for brand management. In this case, a PowerPoint master with your corporate design specifications is stored in the system and fonts, colors and graphic specifications are preset. The advantage of such a solution is that everyone who creates new slides and presentations automatically works in the correct design. Some add-ins, such as QuickSlide, also offer check functions that display deviations from the corporate design and can be corrected with just one click. For users, i.e. anyone who creates training materials, this means that they can focus on the content and that corporate design compliance works for them automatically.

In another blog article, we’ll give you an overview of PowerPoint add-ins and helpful tips for choosing them.

4. Customize training content efficiently

In the training sector, documents not only have to be constantly updated, they also have to be adapted to the learning levels and learning requirements of different target groups.

Let’s take the following example: if a new product is introduced in a company and the different departments are trained on this product, then part of the training content is probably the same for everyone, e.g. the introduction with the brief presentation of the new product. But then the information varies. This is because the technical service department is primarily trained on the technical features of the new product. Marketing, on the other hand, mainly needs information on the benefits of the new product for the customer and how to differentiate it from the competition. The sales team is also interested in margins, pricing strategy, and so on. Content is therefore compiled individually for each target group.

An asset library is ideal for modular work when creating presentations. Trainers and instructors can compile presentations for different training groups from a set of slides and add new slides as needed. In other words, the asset library also functions like a construction kit that can be used to customize each training session. Click by click, new training materials are created with little effort. This makes the work of trainers and seminar leaders much easier.

5. Organize training material

Managing training materials usually involves high volumes of slides. Presentations on different topics and for different target groups quickly add up, and it’s hard to keep track of them all. In an asset library, you can create an organization system that meets your individual requirements. You can organize by seminar formats, seminar topics, target groups, trainers or training cycles. Most asset libraries also allow you to define user groups and access rights. In this way, you can also grant semi-participants direct access to the training materials. All of these organizing principles help users find exactly what they’re looking for in the asset library and see only what they need. When selecting an asset library, also look for an elaborate search function that ideally searches not only by slide title, but also at least by keywords or specific tags.

If you have any questions about choosing an asset library to manage your training materials or want to learn more about QuickSlide, we’re here to help. Feel free to contact us.

The 3 parts of a presentation: introduction, main part, conclusion

8. May 202310. May 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

The 3 parts of a presentation: introduction, main part, closing part

The task of each part for the presentation structure

Reading time 6 minutes

A successful business presentation requires careful planning and structuring. In this article, we will look at presentation structure, focusing on the three parts: Introduction, main body, and conclusion of a presentation. We will explore what each part does and specific tips to help structure these parts of the presentation in the best possible way.

The Agenda

Part 1: The introduction of a presentation

Part 2: The main part of a presentation

Part 3: The conclusion of a presentation

The Agenda

A successful presentation needs a well-structured agenda. It helps your audience to keep track and follow the content of the presentation. The agenda ensures that all important aspects of a topic are covered in the presentation.

An attractively designed and worded agenda can also help to capture the audience’s attention right from the start and get them excited about the presentation. For example, the agenda can be designed using images, language, or terminology that is specific to the audience’s goals and interests. In this way, the presenter signals that they value the audience’s time and interest and are tailoring their presentation to meet their needs.
Read more about the importance of the agenda in presentations and learn how to use action titles profitably as well.

Part 1: the introduction of a presentation

The introduction is the first part of your presentation. The introduction has a special significance, because the introduction has the task of captivating your audience from the very beginning. The very first slides determine whether you will succeed in arousing your audience’s interest. To do this, it is crucial to strike the right tone, convey the relevance of your topic and motivate the audience to follow your presentation. A poor or unmotivated introduction is difficult to compensate for, even with a perfect main part. This is because once your audience’s attention is gone, it is very difficult to get it back. The introduction should account for about 10% to 15% of the total duration of the presentation. These are our tips for the introduction:

1. Greeting:

With a friendly greeting, you create a positive atmosphere right from the start. You give the audience the opportunity to arrive, get quiet and collect themselves and signal that it’s about to start. This phase is important to establish the audience’s concentration.

2. Introduction:

Briefly introduce yourself and your organization. Give an overview of who you are and what your role is in your organization. By doing this, you will give your audience direction and reinforce your expertise and credibility at the very beginning of the presentation.

3. Objective:

Briefly outline the topic of your presentation and explain what you hope to accomplish with the presentation. Make sure the goal of the presentation is clear and concise.

4. Context:

Explain the context in which the presentation will take place. Why is the topic important? Why is it relevant to the audience? Here you should also make sure that you connect with the audience and tailor your presentation to their needs and interests.

After the introduction, you should have achieved the following with your audience:

The audience is focused
They know who you are and that you bring expertise to the topic
It knows what the presentation is about and why it is worth paying attention.

Part 2: the main part of a presentation

The main part is the most important part of your presentation from a content point of view. Here you present your information, argue for your position, try to convince the target audience or bring them to a decision. In short, the middle section is the heart of your presentation. It should be structured in a logical and comprehensible way and should be consistently oriented towards your presentation objective. The biggest challenge is to make the main part compact and not to ramble too much, but still not to make any jumps in content where you might lose your audience. Ideally, when building the main body, you follow the thought processes your audience might have and answer any questions that might pop into your target audience’s head. Of course, this requires a good knowledge of your target audience and also some experience. If you have given similar presentations before, you should take into account insights you can derive from audience reactions or questions, for example, when building your next presentation.

The main part should make up about 75% to 80% of the total duration of the presentation. These are our tips for the main body:

1. Precise headings:

Make sure the main body is clear and logical and use precise headings. They will ensure that your audience can follow your arguments. Headings that are to the point also help the speaker, for example, when you want to jump back and forth within the presentation.

2. Key messages:

Present your core messages and arguments in a logical order. Make sure to support your arguments with examples and facts to strengthen your position. Report from the field to show that you understand the needs of your target audience.

3. Visualization:

Make sure you make your information easy to grasp quickly. Whenever possible, you should make use of visualizations. Diagrams, icons, and images are quicker to grasp than columns of scrubs, and you’ll stick in their minds. Your audience is more likely to remember a good picture than the text on your slides.

After the main part, you should have achieved the following with your audience:

The audience has understood your information and your arguments
You have answered or anticipated your audience’s most important questions and objections
The audience has recognized the relevance of the topic for their own needs and requirements
The audience is ready to take the next step toward your goal.

Part 3: The conclusion of a presentation

The closing section is the last part of your presentation and gives you the opportunity to emphasize your message once again. It’s not just about leaving a strong impression. The conclusion of your presentation determines whether you have achieved your presentation goal. Were you able to find supporters for your topic? Were you able to bring about a decision? Were you able to win a new customer? In order to be able to measure the achievement of your objectives, it is important to be specific at the end of your presentation. Depending on the goal, you can give an outlook here, agree on next steps or deadlines, or already distribute tasks. Use all possibilities for a binding exit and a concrete connection. Make sure that your topic is thought about further, a project is pursued or a collaboration is started. Otherwise, unfortunately, your presentation will be forgotten very quickly or other topics will push in front of it.

The conclusion of your presentation should be about 10% to 15% of the total duration of the presentation and include the following elements:

1. Summary

Summarize the most important points of your presentation again in a short and concise way. This will remind the audience of the key messages and strengthen your overall impression.

2. Call-to-action

Conclude your presentation with a call-to-action that fits your presentation objective. Ask the audience to make a decision, buy a product, or schedule a follow-up appointment with you. This will create commitment and ensure that your presentation objective is achieved.

3. Outlook

Give an outlook on future developments or projects. Show the next steps or point out follow-up topics. By doing so, you show that you know the processes and are also an expert for the next steps and implementation.

4. Thank you

Conclude your presentation by thanking the audience. Show your appreciation for the interest and time the audience invested in your presentation. You can also include your contact information and offer to answer questions or provide further information. The thank you note should come from you in person; you don’t need a slide for that. Also read our tips for PowerPoint closing slides.

After the main part, you should have achieved the following with your audience:

The audience follows your recommendation.
It acts in the sense of your presentation goal.
Your presentation is remembered and you are set with the audience as an expert on the presentation topic.

You can find many more very helpful tips on presentation structure in our blog articles on the golden thread of your presentation and presentation structure.

Storytelling in presentations

1. May 20231. August 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

Using Storytelling in Presentations to Excite Audiences

Communicating content through stories

Reading time 5 minutes

Even back in the day, our ancestors would sit around campfires telling stories to share experiences, pass on knowledge, and set standards. Storytelling was their method of choice. Because people love stories. Stories are emotive, they provide excitement, and they enthrall listeners. Content wrapped up as stories is attention-grabbing and memorable.

Storytelling has already been hugely popular in marketing, advertising, and corporate communications for many years now. Because it’s also a good way of standing out from competitors and adding an emotional charge to products and services.

You can utilize this effect in presentations too. Adding a storytelling element to your presentations will allow you to create an emotional link with your audience. Use this method to attract your listeners’ attention, enthrall them, and convince them.

The impact of storytelling

Storytelling in presentations

What makes a good presentation story

The hero’s journey: An example of a classic storyline

Applying the hero’s journey to a presentation

The impact of storytelling

Our brain is not solely programmed for logic. With every learning process, it also absorbs emotional information. Studies have shown that this additional information is actually what enables us to remember knowledge in the first place. So we learn better when we have emotional context. Fairytales, myths, and legends passed down over centuries have used this precise principle, applying fantasy-filled narratives to communicate often very profound topics.

In strategic storytelling, the method is used to allow business ideas and visions to be experienced and understood at an emotional level. Steve Jobs was an exceptionally gifted storyteller who used exciting stories in his presentations to present new products as life-changing technologies. He didn’t focus on the technical facts, but rather on the emotional user experience. He conveyed an attitude toward life that each listener could interpret in their own subjective way. And that is another great advantage of storytelling: stories provide space for our own realizations. People see themselves in the stories and develop their own personal takes.

Storytelling in presentations

So storytelling is a powerful way of communicating messages in an emotive, attention-grabbing manner, making it ideal for presentations:

Through storytelling, you will attract your target audience’s attention
You will add an emotional charge to your arguments
You will give your listeners space for their own realizations and personal takes
You will enhance learning

To many people, it may sound odd that a presentation needs a story, particularly as the term “story” implies something fictional. That’s why it’s important to ensure your presentation story is authentic.

But how do you find the right story for your presentation? Firstly: The storytelling should always revolve around people. In other words, storytelling often requires a pivot in thinking. So, in a product presentation, don’t focus on the product, but rather on the people who use the product. Don’t list the product’s features; show what users can do with the product and how they benefit from this. This simple shift in perspective will already elevate your presentation story to the next level.
In another blog article, you can read how to use visual metaphors to support the storytelling element of your presentation.

What makes a good presentation

A good story generates images in the listener’s mind. It sparks feelings and memories. To do this, it needs a clear storyline. So a good story also needs to reduce things to the absolutely essential, without overloading on data and facts. This is precisely what distinguishes it from classic presentations that often have overfilled slides.

The ingredients for a good story are generally a person, a problematic situation, and the desire or urgent need to get out of it. The plot consists of three parts: An initial situation, a complication, and the resolution. The core message of your presentation will lie somewhere between the complication and resolution. This is where you describe the path that takes the person out of their problematic situation. It’s where you show the impact of your proposal, idea, or product.
You can find out what else you need to take into account when structuring a presentation by reading our blog article on important steps for creating successful presentations and our insight on structuring presentations.

The hero’s journey: An example of a classic storyline

The hero’s journey is a universal story found in many myths and fairytales, and which always has a similar structure. It describes the path of a hero faced with challenges, who has to pass certain tests, and who eventually emerges from the journey stronger. Homer’s Odyssey is the archetypical hero’s journey in literature. It follows a prototypical 12-step pattern.

The hero living in their normal world.
An adventure/challenge that tears the hero away from their normal world.
The hero initially rejecting the challenge.
Faced with no other option, they decide to take on the challenge.
They need to pass various tests.
The hero recognizing that they are capable of tackling these tests.
A final challenge that once again requires the hero to give everything they have.
The hero returning to their normal world as a new, experienced person

Applying the hero’s journey to a business presentation

The hero’s journey provides a good framework for a presentation story. It can be further simplified depending on what’s required. In our example, we tell the story of the hero’s journey in five phases. Using a marketing presentation to roll out a new corporate design in PowerPoint, we’ll show you how to structure the script.

The initial situation

A company’s strategic refocus is being reflecting in new branding. Its website, ads, and trade-fair presentations will be featuring a new corporate design.

The challenge

But what about the business communications? The Marketing department must ensure all documents used at the company comply with the new design specifications, which is why new masters and templates have been introduced.

The complications that arise

But old documents continue to circulate around the company—especially presentations. The time and effort involved with recording and converting all the slides seems to be almost endless. The company-wide roll-out of the new corporate design in 1-to-1 communications cannot be achieved with the Marketing department’s resources alone.

The breakthrough with the solution

There is software that automates the process of converting to the new corporate design in PowerPoint. QuickSlide automatically creates presentations in the right corporate design, enabling old presentations to be converted with a single click. A Corporate Design Check verifies that all slides comply with branding specifications, and rectifies any discrepancies

A better target situation

Thanks to QuickSlide, all employees are able to create presentations complying with branding specifications. This elevates the quality of both visuals and content, because everyone has access to a wide range of templates. PowerPoint is easier and better to work with in general.

When structuring your presentation story, there’s a method originating in the film industry that can help you: storyboarding. Read our blog article to find out how storyboards for creating presentations can help you.

Managing sales presentations

18. April 202328. April 2023 Marion Sztuka Uncategorized

More active selling time, less effort spent on preparing pitches

Professional presentation management for more client time

Reading time 5 minutes

You work in sales and know how important sales-pitch time is. It’s active selling time, and determines whether the sale is successful or not. So your goal is to invest as many of your precious resources as possible into establishing personal contact with your clients. Unfortunately, however, everyday sales work also involves administrative tasks that equally require your attention. We want to help you save time when it comes to preparing your sales pitches. Professional presentation management is the faster, easier and indeed better way to create sales presentations.

Stop falling into the time trap when using PowerPoint

Step one: Create accountability

Clarification: Who’s delivering what?

Content: Defining standards

Pro tools: The sales kit

QuickSlide, the ideal software solution

Stop falling into the time trap when using PowerPoint

In sales, half the battle is won with good PowerPoint presentations. They give the salesperson confidence, ensure arguments are well structured, provide visual backing for messaging, and get audiences more involved. So it’s no wonder PowerPoint is the tool of choice when it comes to supporting sales pitches. But there’s unfortunately another side to PowerPoint too: the time invested in creating the sales documentation. Looking for existing presentations and latest standings, formatting slides, and upholding corporate design are all challenges that have exasperated many an experienced sales pro. But PowerPoint isn’t a time trap per se. The problems tend to arise when the processes associated with PowerPoint have little to no structure—which is sadly the case at many companies. Why? The answer is very simple: There is no main person in charge for PowerPoint, and hence nobody to tackle the problem. PowerPoint sits somewhere between marketing, sales, and corporate communications.
This is particularly detrimental to sales, because it’s an area where presentations are used prevalently, and where standards for quality and relevance are suitably high.

We recommend professional presentation management, ideally at a company-wide level. But a team-specific solution is of course also particularly worthwhile for sales, with its very specific presentation requirements.

Step one: Create accountability

Our very first recommendation for anyone wanting to improve the way they use PowerPoint in sales is simple but crucial. Find someone to take charge of the matter, or take charge of it yourself. It will be the PowerPoint officer’s job to collate the sales team’s requirements for PowerPoint and presentation management and make contact with other departments involved, such as marketing and IT. Don’t worry; once the process for optimizing PowerPoint use is underway, not much further effort is necessary. There will, however, still need to be someone who acts as the driving force and contact person.

Since responsibility for presentations is a key problem, we’ve dedicated a separate blog post to it.

Clarification: Who’s delivering what?

Even though the sales department will be the one getting most benefit from presentation management, there are other departments for which this is also relevant, and which you should liaise with early on—especially if you want to opt for the ideal solution of using a software tool. This will definitely affect your marketing team and IT department. The marketing department is responsible for the PowerPoint master. This .potx file provides users with the most important design specifications, such as colors, fonts, text levels, and type area. The PowerPoint master is also very important in cases where software is used. It ensures your sales presentations all look consistent and uniform. Your IT department, meanwhile, will be the port of call when it comes to choosing a software-solution provider, and of course for any technical queries or issues relating to IT infrastructure. Involve these staff members in your considerations and work with them to explore the company-wide benefit of central presentation and slide management. Perhaps the sales department can be the pilot for a subsequent roll-out.

Content: Defining standards

Sales presentations generally consist of basic information that always stays the same and customized information relevant to specific clients, client groups, or industries.
Consult your coworkers and collectively consider which parts of the presentation you can standardize. Adopt a modular approach here, so think in terms of individual slides rather than finished presentations. Which of these are used constantly, which get adjusted, and which are so specific that only the display format is the same and the content itself changes with each presentation. It can be helpful to gear your approach around sales phases: Which slides do you need for the initial sales talks, and which are necessary for the product demo or final talks? If you look at your presentation content with a modular mindset, you’ll probably find lots of recurring content and display formats. And that’s good, because all these slides can be prepared in advance and thus save you time when creating your presentation. If you go with a software partner that offers good advice and a holistic approach, they will assist you with this step, and you’ll benefit from best sales practices.

These Are The PowerPoint Templates Your Employees Need – Read more about templates and setting up a slide set in this blog post.

Pro tools: A sales kit as a slide library

The standards you define will result in a set of slides and templates that can be used to create almost every sales presentation in a modular fashion. The aim is to prevent presentations from ever having to be created from scratch again, instead enabling every salesperson to access existing slides and content. This saves time when creating presentations. And, thanks to the modular system, client-specific adjustments can be made at any time.

You will ideally manage all presentations, slides, and templates in one central location that everyone in the team can access. A software-supported slide library offers crucial advantages here, as all the assets you need to create and edit presentations can be managed and updated centrally. This hugely reduces the administrative time and effort required, and also gives every employee the certainty of knowing they’re always working with the latest versions.

For more info on slide libraries and tips on how to choose them, read our blog post entitled Slide Libraries Are the Perfect Solution For Working Efficiently With PowerPoint.

QuickSlide, the ideal software solution

QuickSlide is our PowerPoint add-in that perfectly caters to sales teams’ requirements. QuickSlide provides an asset library for distributing and managing all the assets required when it comes to creating presentations, such as slides, templates, images, icons, logos etc. It also ensures consistent, uniform branding in PowerPoint, including a Corporate Design Check for your sales presentations. QuickSlide makes working with PowerPoint easier and more convenient in general. It will also allow you to benefit from our comprehensive service and consultancy when setting up your sales kit. In close consultation with your sales team, we’ll develop templates and adapt the content system to your sales processes.
Contact us if you’d like to know more about QuickSlide and our services.