Presentation Designer

When to use

Triggers:

• "Build a deck for [purpose / audience]"
• "Pitch deck for [company / investor]"
• "Slides for [meeting / workshop / client]"
• "Board update presentation"
• "Keynote / workshop talk on [topic]"
• Existing deck for critique / rework

Don't fire for:

• Single-slide infographics (different format)
• Interactive data dashboards (BI tool territory)
• Corporate template compliance work (design-agency work)
• Whole brand design system (different scope — see brand-guidelines-manager)

The 6 presentation archetypes

Different presentations need different structures. Most AU SME decks fall in one of these.

1. Investor pitch deck (10–15 slides, 10–20 min + Q&A)

Purpose: raise money (seed, Series A, bridge, etc.) OR persuade strategic partners.

Structure (Sequoia-style, proven across thousands of raises):

1. Company purpose — one sentence
2. Problem — specific, quantified
3. Solution — your solution, what's unique
4. Why now — what's changed recently that makes this the moment
5. Market size — TAM / SAM / SOM, bottom-up
6. Competition — who + how you win
7. Product — demo-style, 2–3 slides
8. Business model — how you make money
9. Team — why this team can pull this off
10. Traction — numbers (revenue / users / growth)
11. Financials — 3-year projection, burn rate, milestones
12. The ask — how much, what it unlocks, terms expected

Time per slide: 60–90 seconds average.

AU-specific: raising from AU investors, expect deeper Q&A on unit economics and less pattern-matching to US growth metrics.

2. Sales pitch deck (8–12 slides, 20–45 min meeting)

Purpose: convince a specific prospect to buy.

Structure:

1. Who we are (brief — 30 sec, not 5 min)
2. What we understand about your situation (from discovery) — shows you listened
3. The specific problems you told us about
4. Our approach to solving those
5. Concrete outcomes you can expect
6. Case studies from similar customers (1–2 concrete ones)
7. How we'd deliver — phases + timeline
8. Investment
9. Why us / why not competitors (if asked)
10. Next steps

Customised per prospect. Don't reuse one deck across 30 prospects — it reads as generic.

3. Board / investor update (10–15 slides, async or 30 min)

Purpose: inform (not sell) — regular rhythm with board members / investors.

Structure:

1. Headline — one sentence on how the quarter went
2. Metrics dashboard — revenue, customers, cash, key ops metrics
3. What went well (3 specific things)
4. What didn't (3 specific things — don't hide)
5. What we're worried about (2–3 risks)
6. Key decisions we need input on (if any)
7. Quarter ahead — focus + milestones
8. Asks — if you need specific help from the board

Honesty > optimism. Boards see dozens of decks; they know when you're spinning.

4. Client workshop / training (20–40 slides, half-day to full-day)

Purpose: train or align a client team on something.

Structure:

1. Welcome + why we're here
2. Agenda + what they'll leave with
3. Content section 1 (concept + activity)
4. Content section 2 (concept + activity)
5. ... more sections ...
6. Synthesis — key takeaways
7. Commitments — what each person will do next
8. Resources + follow-up

Workshops are 60–70% discussion/activity, 30% slides. Don't over-slide.

5. Keynote / conference talk (15–25 slides, 20–40 min)

Purpose: deliver a specific insight or argument to a broader audience.

Structure:

1. Opening hook — story, question, surprising statistic
2. The argument (the one big claim)
3. Why this matters — stakes
4. Evidence — 2–4 supporting points, each with a concrete example
5. Counter-argument acknowledged + answered
6. Implication — what should change
7. Close — return to opening hook with resolution

Fewer slides, more story. If you're using 40 slides for a 20-min keynote, you're text-driving; if you're using 10 slides, you're narrative-driving.

6. Internal team presentation (10–20 slides, 30–60 min)

Purpose: inform / align / decide with your own team.

Structure varies wildly — project kickoff, strategy review, retrospective, roadmap. Less formal than external presentations; clarity still matters.

Rule: decide before the meeting whether this is inform, align, or decide. Structure accordingly.

Slide design principles

One idea per slide

If a slide has 3 ideas, it's actually 3 slides. Audiences read each slide once, then listen; multiple ideas compete for attention.

Minimum text

Target: <30 words per slide. Fewer words = more attention on you speaking.

Exception: handout decks (you send it, no one presents) need more text because the deck has to carry alone. If you're building a handout deck, use the document pattern instead (more like a memo with visuals).

Supporting visual

Every slide should have something visual — a diagram, a chart, an image, a quote, a number in big type. A slide that's pure bullet points is usually a sign the slide hasn't been thought through.

Title tells the story

A title-only read-through of your deck should convey the argument. If someone reads just your slide titles and says "I get the gist", you've done it right.

Minimum: 24pt text

Text under 24pt on a projected screen is too small for the back row. Use this as a forcing function — if it doesn't fit at 24pt, cut words.

One CTA per deck

At the end, one thing the audience should do. Not three.

Pre-presentation work

Know the audience

• Who specifically is in the room?
• What do they already know about this topic?
• What do they care about (not what you want to tell them)?
• What's their decision-making authority?
• Time constraints they're under?

Know the outcome

One sentence on what you want to happen at the end. "Investor decides to take a follow-up meeting." "Client signs the proposal." "Team commits to this year's Q3 focus."

Know the objections

What are the 2–3 hardest questions / objections they'll raise? Have answers ready — in the deck, or in a backup appendix.

Speaker notes

Each slide should have notes covering:

• What you'll say out loud (not verbatim — bullet points)
• Transitions to the next slide
• Anticipated questions + where you have the answer slide
• Timing check — "You should be here at 10 min in"

Speaker notes let you rehearse, catch pacing issues, and help a colleague deliver if needed.

Tools

For building decks

• Google Slides — collaborative, free, works on anything. Default for most AU SMEs.
• Keynote — best rendering quality; Mac-only; for high-stakes keynote presentations
• PowerPoint — corporate-compatible; required in some enterprise contexts
• Pitch.com — beautiful templates, collaborative, slightly heavier learning curve
• Canva Presentations — if you're already in Canva
• Gamma — AI-first deck building; useful for drafts

For visuals

• Noun Project — icon library
• Unsplash / Pexels — free photos
• Excalidraw / Whimsical — sketches + diagrams
• DataWrapper / Flourish — charts beyond standard spreadsheet charts

Claude + deck building

• Draft the narrative in markdown, then convert to slides — structure often clearer before visual design
• Claude's strength: narrative arc + slide titles + speaker notes
• Claude's weakness: can't render actual designs; use for content, handle visuals separately

Common deck mistakes

• Wall of text slides — the audience reads, you lose them
• Too many slides — 60-slide deck for 20 minutes = 20 sec per slide; audience can't track
• Lift-and-shift from old decks — generic content shows
• Stock photos of diverse people in meetings — nobody believes them
• 3-D charts, excessive animations — distract from content
• Inconsistent fonts / colours — unpolished
• "Thank you" as the last slide — wasted real estate; put the CTA + contact info here
• Reading slides to the audience — they can read

Output format

Per request:

1. Deck outline — slide-by-slide with title + 1-sentence content summary
2. Suggested visuals — per slide, what image/diagram/chart supports it
3. Speaker notes — key talking points per slide, timing markers
4. Q&A prep — 5–8 anticipated questions with your prepared answers
5. One-page handout — condensed version to leave behind if appropriate

What this skill does NOT do

• Generate images or diagrams. Use design tools for visuals.
• Apply a specific corporate template. If you have a brand-mandated template, the content maps into it.
• Replace rehearsal. A great deck with no rehearsal delivers worse than a mediocre deck with 3 rehearsals.
• Handle interactive demos. If your pitch includes a live product demo, that's a separate preparation skill.

Tier access

Base. Universal business need. Pro-tier adds a rehearsal-review cycle with a THL advisor.

Related skills

• client-intake-to-proposal-pro-services — the deck often follows a proposal
• pricing-packaging-professional-services — the investment slide uses this logic
• customer-persona-builder — audience-of-one thinking applies to decks too
• business-plan-writer-au — decks are a plan expressed visually

References

• Sequoia Capital — Pitch deck template
• Guy Kawasaki — 10-20-30 rule
• Nancy Duarte — Slideology / Resonate
• Pitch.com — gallery of real pitch decks