Here is a simple slide design tip. Look at this slide: The design looks a little odd. Look closely and you notice that the title (header) is weak. The lines 'One-stop destination..' is bigger than the title text. This is a mistake. On every slide, the title should always be the biggest. Not every slide needs a title, but if it has one.. it should be the biggest. Because, that tells the audience what is more important. What should they see first. This is a design principle.      The slide above also looks weak because of the same issue. The header text should be sizeably bigger. Let us do that and see how the new slide looks: A bigger and bolder headline text, makes your slide look great.  Here is one more example. Notice the big and bold title. Does it not feel eye-catchy and confident?  Source: Individual slides have been taken from their company's website. They are publicly available, as part of their investor presentation.

If I am making a sales presentation, this is my favourite storytelling template. If I am making an investor pitch, I still prefer this many times. This template works. What is the 'customer story' template? A real customer story is the base of this template. Pick a customer who has purchased your service. Build the story (and the pitch) around that company. Here is an example. Let us assume your company makes apps for schools. App which helps the school with its ERP and Accounts. This is how you can start your presentation: Elantris International is a school in Chennai which has 3,000 students across 2 campuses. They were having lots of problems when it came to ERP and Accounts. Fees reconciliation was a huge pain point. Collection, tally and reminders were manual. Even salary payments to teachers, drivers, staff and vendors was being handled manually. Overall, the school was wasting a lot of time and resources and was worried about wrong payments and delayed tuition fee receip...

Serif fonts are fonts which have 'serifs', the ticks on their ends. Sans serif fonts are sans (without) the ticks. Serif fonts like Garamond and Times New Roman are used in printing. Books, reports, leaflets and brochures are printed in serif fonts. Because it is easier to read serif fonts on paper. In my book, For Brand's Sake I had used Merriweather from Google. Sans serif fonts are easier to read on screens. That's why apps, websites and presentations use or should use sans serif fonts. This rule applies when there is a lot of text. When you have just a few words, the readability of both font types do not differ a lot. If you are making a presentation, do use sans serif fonts. You can download a good font from Google fonts . Try fonts like Rubik, Nunito Sans, Poppins or Roboto.

In the first episode of Physics Wallah on Amazon miniTV , Alakh Pandey goes to interview at an institute. He wants to teach Physics there. The interviewer asks him ten questions. Alakh looks startled. He does not answer immediately. We begin pondering, "Does he even know the answer to one of the ten questions?" Once the interviewer finishes reading his questions and assumes Alakh knows nothing, the scene gets dramatic. Alakh not only knows all the answers, he remembers each and every question. He gives correct answers, with explanation, to all the questions. The interviewer is stunned. He recognises that Alakh is a physics wizard. The audience is also impressed. This scene is amazing at establishing Alakh as a champion, a genius. That's why this scene comes in the first episode itself. One instance is enough to prove that Alakh is a Physics wizard. One example is enough to prove that your company is an expert at what it does. Instead of talking about too many client examp...

You are on a call, with a new prospect You introduce yourself, but they look suspect Are you the right vendor, they have a doubt Go ahead and build trust, that’s all this is about First tell them who you are What you do, not what makes you a star Before diving deep, let’s be clear Explain your products and services, my dear Focus on the benefits of working with you Show them proof, tangible and true What makes you special, what stands you out Let them know, without boast and shout Think about the pitch from their point of view Focus more on the prospect, less on you

In communication, we have an urge to tell our audience everything. If you are a management trainee and you have worked on a project for 2 months, you would want to say each and everything to your mentor in the final presentation. Even when we make presentations to our senior management, we have the urge to say a lot. We want to say, "Look we have worked hard on this and we know so much." But the problem - the senior manager does not have time for all this. Look at this print ad for example.  It came in the Times of India. What is this ad trying to communicate to us? The tea has 7 refreshing spices. So, it is tasty. There is a celebrity who endorses this tea. There is a container free with this tea. At the end of it all, nothing 'remains' with us. The brand has tried to say three things in one single ad. In the book Made to Stick, the authors Chip and Dan Heath say, "When you say three things, you say nothing." If we apply that here, the ad should have said O...