SlideMagic Blog

I added the slide used in this tweet to the SlideMagic library. In SlideMagic it is super easy to quickly create a grid with lots of boxes. There is a lot of redundant information on the slide, but the repetition on the other hand serves a purpose here.

Search for “pitch” in the SlideMagic app and it will pop up for you to use (alongside some other investor and musical pitch related slides).

Over the past month or so I have been slightly ‘distracted’. My wife (a life science investor) and I are working on an exciting new business that can change the way the pharma industry works (and cure a lot of patients in the process).

It is amazing to see how quickly I can now put things together compared to when I started the work on SlideMagic 2.0. Product development and prototyping is now really fun, as you can try out different things, make 180 degree design changes overnight without the need to re-brief large development teams.

This new confidence, combined with taking a step back from everyday development on SlideMagic is sparking some ideas that could ultimately turn into SlideMagic 3.0. Unlike 2.0, ideas are no longer held back with my ability to implement them, which is an interesting freedom to experience.

The gradual SlideMagic development process might not be a textbook startup case, but I believe this tinkering is the only way to get to a credible alternative presentation design tool. I am convinced that it will get there slowly, and then suddenly.

Photo by Allec Gomes on Unsplash

It is tempting to show a live demo of your product in your pitch presentation: look, we have a real product, this is not just “slideware”.

There are downsides too though. Murphy’s law, if a technical issue could happen, it will happen, especially in important pitch presentations. Demoing a product involves all kind of time consuming steps that are not really adding to your pitch: log-in screens, clicking through various settings pages, loading dummy data. If you have only 20 minutes, each and every minute is very valuable. Fifteen minutes of demo might be too much.

So, what to do?

• Include a series of relevant screen shots in your pitch deck that show the key features of the product. The objective is not proof of technology, just educating the audience what it is that you actually try to build. Choose the screens wisely and put them in the right sequence. Add arrows and markups to make things clear if needed. (App screens are not presentation slides).
• If possible, have a live demo of your product running on your machine, and in that first 20 minute pitch, simply click through a few screens. The objective is not to use it to explain what you are trying to build, but proof that there is actual technology. “Look, here it is!”
• If the audience is interested, schedule a second meeting that is entirely dedicated to demoing your product, leaving sufficient time for solving technical glitches.

Photo by Rhett Noonan on Unsplash

The fifteen puzzle was a popular download on the legacy SlideMagic PowerPoint template store (RIP). It is easy to recreate in SlideMagic 2.0 and I have just added it to the library of slides. Search for something like “fifteen” or “block” in the app and it will show up. This slide can be tricky to make in traditional presentation software as you need to get 16 boxes to line up nicely in a square.

PS: This is probably the only slide in SlideMagic so far where you have to make an adjustment when you switch aspect ratio. A wider slide layout will stretch the square into a rectangle. I added 2 versions of the slide to the library.

Image by Micha L. Rieser

When I started making pitch decks 15 years ago, there were not many people who called themselves “presentation designer”. Now the world is flooded with them. But “designer” is a very broad term used by people with varying skills.

Most “before and after” examples on designer’s web pages are beautiful makeovers of slides. Better fonts, better colours, a nice image. It all looks a lot better. But makeovers are makeovers: the fundamental layout of the slide almost always stays the same, and the text always stays the same.

Maybe this is the question you should ask a potential presentation designer: do you rip up the slide, change the headlines, round up numbers, regroup boxes (these 4 points are actually 3), etc.

The text changer is a very different designer from the makeover artist. And very often the text changer might not be very good at design. (The SlideMagic bespoke design pitch was the unusual combination of skills in one pair of hands).

There are different types of designers, but there are also different type of projects, and different types of clients. I had clients who were not that happy that the first draft of their redesigned pitch deck had almost no resemblance to the original.

The SlideMagic presentation software is designed to reduce the dependence on a makeover designer. The average corporate presentation creator can focus on structuring her story, putting the right messages in, and slides will look pretty decent without the need for a drastic cosmetic overhaul.

But, if you are looking for “presentation designer”: know what type of client you are, know what type of project you have, know what type of designer you need.

Getty Images who is in the business of licensing photographs to professional media is acquiring Unsplash, the open source image library (which is also powering the image search on SlideMagic). I remember how Getty acquired iStock as well back in 2006. With VC investors coming on board in the Unsplash Series B financing an exit would eventually happen.

The press release states that Unsplash will remain an independent unit inside Getty. Only the future will tell how this pans out. It would be a shame to see “suggested” (maybe more cliche) Getty or iStock premium images alongside Unsplash search results. Or open source photographers being lured in some sort of licensing-only revenue model.

Two things make me optimistic:

• The current photographers on Unsplash submitted their images under an understanding about how they are allowed to be used, it is not possible I think to change that across the board retrospectively
• Now in 2021, it is very easy for “another Unsplash” to pop up if the culture and spirit of the current site changes.

But some well-known photographers on Unsplash think differently:

Let’s see what happens.

I just returned from a short Passover holiday, a first in a year. (Hotels, restaurants, here in Israel are now completely open while virus cases continue to fall towards zero).

During the break I watched a Master Class series by Alicia Keys about “producing yourself”. In music production there are usually 2 roles: the creative contribution of the artist, and the editing and arranging part by a producer. They usually happen in 2 spaces, the artist is in the recording part of the studio, the producer sits on the other side of the glass in the control room.

There is an interesting parallel to presentation design: I think most presentation designers are producing themselves, doing both the creative and the editorial part, pretty much like Alicia does.

At least, they are supposed to do so. In practice, when it comes to presentations, people are more arrangers than creators.

How does Alicia go about balancing both side of the process?

• She creates to completely different mindsets, amplified by the different locations: the vocal booth, the control room
• In creative mode she lets herself go completely, mistakes are OK, crazy things are OK (similar philosophy to corporate brainstorming sessions)
• But, she actually prefers to be totally alone, in order to “embarrass” herself freely, and to avoid being put in the position of an artist who has to entertain and perform (completely the opposite of a corporate brainstorming session).
• She records and captures everything, if you want to capture a creative idea in the flow / moment, you are too late. (As opposed to the brainstorm flip chart where someone else tries to capture and rephrase ideas that multiple people are “shouting” out).
• After all this, she takes a break, goes to the control room, and listens back with a completely different mindset.

Spreadsheets and databases need table headings. Humans not always. Look at the two slides below

We know how to recognise car brands, colors. Pretty much every car has 4 wheels. Think of replacing the boring tables with cards or labels, making the slide easier to read, and creating more space for information that is more important to show.

Photo by Valdemaras Januška on Unsplash

So you got some feedback on your pitch deck: “You need to ‘hit them hard’ with your strongest points early in the presentation”

Ok, bring this to the front, bring that to the front, this the front as well. Hmmm, now we have a lot of pages at the front, maybe summarize all of these messages on the first page, then we get to all of them really early.

The result: a dense, boring bullet point page. And it will take you 20 minutes to go through it, since it contains the entire presentation.

Most investment ideas have very few ideas that are truly distinctive, or better phrased: ideas that do not sound like all the other pitches an investor listens to. Be very honest and selective. Often, you might have to deal with an “elephant in the room” early in the presentation. Addressing competition from Google if you are building an internet search engine on page 27 is not a smart idea.

Photo by Georgi Kalaydzhiev on Unsplash

Paintings and other piece of art affect your mood. Happy, depressing, scary, cute, funny. Often you cannot pinpoint why, but it happens.

The same is true with photographs. When selecting images for your presentation, go beyond the functional specs of the photo: it needs to contain a self driving car, a person on a mobile phone, a clock.

How does the picture make you feel? Colors, perspective, proportions. Pictures can be beautiful and depressing at the same time. When given a choice, maybe the slightly less pretty but more uplifting image is the one to go for.