Clients say they get this feedback after giving a pitch. The initial reaction to this would be:
- Cut slides from the deck
- Take the specifics out of your text, make it shorter and more high level
- Combine multiple slides into one
The danger of this is that you end up with a few slides of highly generic and dense bullet points. Remember:
- Slide count does not equal time spent presenting them
- Smacking someone with the solution in their face instantly takes away the opportunity to lead them by the hand in an interesting story that covers the problem you are trying to solve.
- The best way to sell the solution is to sell the problem
Here is what I do:
- Create a super short intro slide that explains the audience what you solve and what you do. So they can stop guessing about the point you are trying to get to.
- Now, lead people through a sequence of visual slides that highlight the problem, slowing down sufficiently to make sure that the audience “feels” the issue. “Production cost is too high” is too generic. Why is it so expensive, and why could no one do it cheaper until today?
- Then, present your solution and use the framework of the problem you set up in the previous section to mirror your product against markets that are out there in the market today
Image by David Felstead on Flickr