deck meaning in presentation

What is a Slide Deck? Everything You Need to Know!

By: Author Shrot Katewa

In my personal experience alone, I’ve seen people use very many different words including the word “Slide Deck” for a presentation. I always wondered what is the meaning of Slide Deck, and how is it different from other words commonly used to describe a presentation. So, I did a little research, and here’s what I found out!

A Slide Deck is a term assigned to a group of slides that together form a complete presentation. A slide deck is usually created using a presentation design application. A slide deck is often used as an aid for storytelling or presenting information about a topic or an organization.

But, how is a slide deck different from a slide show or a PowerPoint? In this article, we will understand the nuances of the various presentation terminologies used. Plus, I will also help you understand why is a slide deck really called a slide deck!

So, let’s get started.

A Quick Note Before We Begin – if you want to make jaw-dropping presentations, I would recommend using one of these Presentation Designs . The best part is – it is only $16.5 a month, but you get to download and use as many presentation designs as you like! I personally use it from time-to-time, and it makes my task of making beautiful presentations really quick and easy!

What is a Slide Deck?

When it comes to describing a presentation, there are several words that are used. One word that is often used is a “Slide Deck”.

As mentioned above, a slide deck really is a collection of slides put together to form a presentation. A slide deck is used in many organizations to give an overview about their organization, to share strategies or plans, or showcase performance updates, or even just sharing a piece of interesting information about a topic. There are several use cases for a slide deck!

You may wonder, “Is slide deck not just the same as a presentation?”. If so, then why not just call it a presentation instead of a slide deck? Why use the term slide deck at all?

Pro Tip: All slide decks are presentations, but not all presentations can be classified as a slide deck!

A presentation is usually a much broader term. For instance, when you are displaying a physical product and verbally sharing nuggets of information about that product, it is still referred to as a presentation. More specifically, it is called a product presentation.

The key difference between a slide deck and presentation is that a presentation is an act of delivering information such as a speech or a talk. Whereas, a slide deck is the visual aid used while giving a presentation!

Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, a slide deck and a presentation are actually two different terms!

Why is a Slide Deck called a Slide Deck? A Brief History!

The term slide deck evolved from an old technology that was used for projecting the slides on the wall. A physical 35 mm slide was inserted into a carousel slide projector . All the slides that were used during a presentation were collectively known as a slide deck (as in a deck of cards).

The term “slide deck” stuck around and became synonymous with a presentation even after the technology evolved . Thus, even today, many people refer to a presentation as a slide deck.

If you are wondering how this projector really worked, then you would be amazed to know that each model came with slots for 40 or 80 slides that could be inserted at a time.

Each slide would be placed upside down and backward in terms of the chronological order so that the image projected is in the correct orientation and order. The slide themselves were usually photographs and not much could be done on the slide.

Difference Between Slide Deck and Slide Show?

Another term that people often use interchangeably is a slide deck and a slide show.

A slide deck is the group of slides used to create a presentation. However, when these slides are displayed or shown to an audience while giving a presentation, the process is known as a slide show.

In other words, a slide deck is usually a presentation file whereas a slide show is a process of showing the contents of that file to an audience.

Slide Deck vs PowerPoint: What’s the Difference?

I’ve also seen people get confused between a slide deck and PowerPoint. Again, these are also another set of terms that are used interchangeably. But, there is a difference.

As mentioned before, a slide deck is usually a group of slides collectively put together to give a presentation. The term slide deck has existed even years before PowerPoint was introduced. As we learned above, a slide deck was initially used to describe the batch of physical slides used in a projector.

PowerPoint, on the other hand, is a presentation design software. Unlike a slide or a presentation, PowerPoint is actually a program that is used for designing a slide or creating a presentation.

As the technology evolved and a computer started to have more computing power, complex applications were designed to enable the ease of leveraging technology.

Contrary to the common opinion, PowerPoint was not created by Microsoft. It was first released by Forethought Inc in 1987 initially only for Mac OS. However, Microsoft acquired PowerPoint 3 months after its initial release and rebranded it as Microsoft PowerPoint.

What is the Difference Between Slide Deck and a Pitch Deck?

Another term that you may hear often, especially in the more recent times, is a pitch deck. It is important to note that using the two interchangeably might not be the correct thing to do. Here’s why –

A slide deck is basically all the final slides put together to create a presentation. However, a pitch deck is a type of a slide deck created with a very specific purpose of pitching an idea or a business model to an investor with the intention of raising funds for implementing the idea.

In this era of start-ups and entrepreneurs, a pitch deck is quite common. In fact, every time an organization is looking to raise funds for the project or business, a pitch deck is required.

Simply put, a pitch deck can also be called a slide deck, but not all slide decks can be referred to as a pitch deck!

What is a PowerPoint Slide Deck?

There are multiple ways of creating a slide deck. As we learned earlier, traditionally a slide deck was created using actual physical slides.

As the technology evolved, sophisticated computer applications were used to create a slide deck. One such application is Microsoft PowerPoint.

A PowerPoint slide deck is a term used to describe a slide deck or a presentation that is created using Microsoft PowerPoint as the presentation design application. A PowerPoint slide deck usually consists of multiple slides put together to create a presentation.

That said, a PowerPoint slide deck is more commonly referred to as a “slide deck” or just “Presentation” as PowerPoint is not the only presentation design application available to a user.

What is a Slide Deck in Google Slides?

Although PowerPoint has been one of the most well-known and commonly used presentation design programs, another application that has been gaining in popularity amongst the users is Google Slides!

The idea of a slide deck in Google Slides is pretty much the same. When you put together all the final slides that are going to be used in a presentation using Google Slides, it is known as a slide deck in Google Slides.

If you are not sure what exactly is Google Slides and would like to understand this a bit more in detail, I’ve written a detailed post on this topic. Make sure you check it out! Click on the below link.

What is Google Slides? The ULTIMATE Guide!

How to Make a Slide Deck in PowerPoint?

If you are using PowerPoint, one of the things that you may often be asked to do at work is to make a slide deck in PowerPoint. But, how exactly do you do that? Let me try to answer this question.

Here’s how to make a slide deck in PowerPoint –

• Open a PowerPoint Presentation
• Create a structure for your content
• Create a Title Slide
• Design the Other Remaining Slides
• Use Images relevant to the content
• Add Animations and Transitions
• Create a Thank You Slide
• Save Your Slide Deck
• Share the File with your team

Honestly, this topic deserves a separate article in itself. Perhaps even a single article may not be complete enough to cover this topic.

How to Make a Good Slide Deck?

Let’s face it – most of us don’t want to come across as incompetent. Thus, making a good slide deck is almost always important. But, how exactly does one do that?

There are actually several things that you can do to make an attractive presentation. I actually wrote a detailed article on how to easily create a good slide deck. The tips that I share in that article are also relevant for beginners. So, make sure you check out that article as well! The link is mentioned below.

7 EASY tips that ALWAYS make your PPT presentation attractive (even for beginners)

More Helpful Resources –

• Should You Add Table of Contents in your Presentation?
• How to Give a Presentation When You Are Not Prepared?
• A Quick Guide to Using Animations and Transitions in PowerPoint

Image Credit for the Featured Image

The Difference Between Presentation Slides and a Deck

Just because we may use the same tools to accomplish the creation of both presentation slides and a deck does not mean that they are the same. 

However, most people will say that presentation slides and a deck are basically the same thing. 

In many ways, of course, they are very similar. You do use a “slide deck” during your presentation and, in the most basic sense, presentation slides and a deck are nearly the same.

However, in our humble opinion, it is worth drawing a line of distinction between the two.

The Differences Between Presentation Slides and a Deck

First off, presentation slides and a deck have very different end goals. 

If you are creating presentation slides, then you are (quite obviously) preparing materials that you will use as a visual aid during a presentation. Presentation slides should be visually stunning and minimalistic in their content. After all, if you are the one giving the presentation, you want all eyes on you, not your slides! 

If you are creating a deck, you very well may be creating a series of visual slides that are meant for someone to read on their own. This means that deck slides can be more information and can generally contain a lot more content. Since a deck is meant as something that should be read, you can utilize the format to communicate a lot of information quickly. 

Second, presentation slides are relatively fast to make whereas a deck may be significantly time consuming.

Assuming that you have a general outline of your speech, putting together the supporting slides should be relatively easy. You already know the main points that you want to make and you just need some great looking and simple slides to support your talking points.

There are lots of design tools out there that can help you develop engaging and beautiful graphics. If you are creating presentation slides, the best bet is to find some great looking, royalty free images on a website like Unsplash .

Creating all the content for a deck that is meant to be read can take a lot longer. The reason being that you need to be able to convey all the important information to a reader without the benefit of being able to fill in gaps with a voiceover.

Typically, this means that you will have to spend a bit more time creating the content. You have to be sure to triple check your grammar, all data points, and references. 

Finally, presentation slides are truly a one way street: they are meant to be presented and consumed in a very particular order. As the presentation creator, you will have an agenda and a series of slides that follow the main topics of the presentation. It would be very unnatural for you to hop around randomly throughout the presentation because you would lose the attention of your audience.

A deck will enable a reader to hop to any section that they like, which means it is more important to appropriately label everything in your content. You want to construct your report in a way where your reader can easily navigate through different parts of your deck, in whatever way makes the most sense for them. 

While they are very similar, and in many cases, built with the same tools, presentation slides and a deck can indeed be very different. We recommend thinking clearly about your use case and then building the appropriate content from there.

If you want to include Airtable visualizations or charts on Google Sheets data in your next deck or presentation, be sure to try Superchart for free.

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Home Blog Design How to Create a Slide Deck in PowerPoint

How to Create a Slide Deck in PowerPoint

A commonly used term when working with presentations is “slide deck,” but what exactly do we mean by that? Should you be familiar with some core terms before making your first presentation?

As we believe continuous education is key for presenters, regardless of their presentation skill level, today, we will talk about presentation deck meaning, how to build a presentation deck, and which elements define success in this process. Additionally, for a broader understanding and skill enhancement in making effective presentations, our section on how to make a presentation offers valuable insights and practical tips. Without further ado, let’s get started!

Table of Contents

What is a Slide?

What is a slide deck, what should be included in a powerpoint slide deck, recommended slide decks for any kind of presentation.

A PowerPoint slide can be defined as a digital canvas in which we organize information and ideas in a visual format, primarily oriented for professional settings like business presentations, conferences, or academic presentations. People instantly associate slides with PowerPoint due to Microsoft PowerPoint being the industry-leading software in presentation software, offering full compatibility format with free software options like Google Slides.

The starting point of any slide is a blank canvas to which you can add a title, and you’ve got plenty of space to insert images, draw shapes, add videos to your presentations, and more. PowerPoint has a standard layout for its blank slides, as shown below. This layout can be modified by accessing Slide Master in PowerPoint .

Each slide is a single page of a presentation and can be edited to meet the requirements of any presenter without meaning you alter the following slides. Remember, presentation software tends to work with destructive workflow methodologies – meaning the changes you make cannot be reverted if you save the file and try to access it later. If you want to test multiple design options on a single slide, we highly recommend you create individual slides for each design or even save them as different file names so you can revert to a previous stage without inconvenience.

A slide deck or PPT deck is a collection of slides curated for a sole purpose: serving as visual aids for a presentation topic. These slides can contain multiple tools like charts and graphs , placeholder text areas, icons, dashboard display, illustrations (in the format of vector images), and way more depending on three key elements:

• Build quality: How much effort the creator put into crafting the slides.
• Software: Although compatible, PowerPoint decks may offer some effects that aren’t available in Google Slides. For that reason, creators often flag animated slides or slide decks containing complex shadow effects as only PowerPoint-compatible.
• Topic: A presentation deck intended to present a marketing plan won’t contain the same elements as one intended to deliver a motivational talk. 

Before deciding how to start a presentation , select a slide deck compatible with the topic your presentation is geared toward.

We like to work with the method of using one topic per slide. This means not overpopulating your slides with content for the sake of showing content. Such practices affect readability and the overall understanding of your presentation.

Instead, we will teach you how to curate content in your slide decks by taking pitch deck templates as an example. 

Say we select the Executive Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template . This pitch deck is intended to introduce potential investors to what the business is about. 

Rather than filling all the data in just 2-3 slides, take it easy and work with the layout this template offers:

• Title Slide: Every single presentation should list a title slide, with quality graphics and the presentation title being clear enough. Additional information can include the presenter’s name, the company’s name, logo, etc.
• About Us Slide: In business environments, companies should always introduce themselves, highlighting key information like the industry they move in, significant milestones, etc. Remember, this is an introduction to the company as an entity, not a description of your team members.
• Best Services: Depending on your niche, take this as an opportunity to promote your core activities as a company.
• What We Do: This is complementary to “Best Services.” It is the section where you specify which areas your company covers and why your services stand out against competitors.
• Mission and Vision: Required for any pitch deck presentation.
• Meet the Team: This slide can either be an org chart or be presented through photos for the managers per department (the interaction points between stakeholders and management).
• Our Advantages: Ideal to complement slides 3 and 4, this expresses the competitive advantage of the company and marketing plan, and you should present your flagship product or service.
• Market Opportunity: What led your company to approach its niche, attending to customers’ pain points.
• Timeline: This slide serves to introduce significant milestones, projects, planned strategies, deadlines, etc.
• Market Size: When we have to answer the total addressable market (TAM), we can use a slide representing TAM, SAM, and SOM .
• Competitors: Two slides in this presentation deck talk about a company’s competitors and different approaches to representing that data with visual impact. 
• Data Chart: If you intend to discuss a KPI in particular, this chart slide can work to expand the talk over that point. 
• Product and Demo: This works either for e-commerce or physical products. Presenters can alter the slide to discuss services rather than products or just keep the “Best Services” slide.
• Pricing Slide: When discussing a business pitch, you must present your current pricing range to potential investors. In this case, the slide resembles the pricing tier format you can find on many websites.
• Thank You Slide: Knowing how to end a presentation with class is critical to securing a business deal. You can include a photo that resembles closing a business deal, a video that further expands your company’s history, products/services, and culture, or leave it with a minimalistic “thank you.”

With just 15 slides, you can create a powerful slide deck communicating your message to your target audience. Keeping a clean layout and following the 1 topic per slide rule ensures your presentation delivers a clean speech.

Now, we’ll move on to how to make a presentation deck from scratch. We recommend working with PowerPoint Templates , as design decisions are already taken for you (font pairing, color schemes, placeholder areas, balance between text and graphs).

Select a Slide Deck

By browsing professional PPT template creators’ websites like SlideModel, you can find a vast selection of products tailored to your needs. It is as easy as to browse for the topic you want via the search bar, locate a product you desire, and download it to your account. You can also explore the available products per category through menu elements.

Insert your Content

Every single presentation deck available at SlideModel.com is entirely customizable. We can add illustrations by going to Insert > Picture and selecting the origin from which you want to upload your image into the presentation.

Also, users can customize the template and replace the image in the placeholder area by right-clicking over it and selecting Change Picture .

Text content can be edited in the text placeholder areas by clicking over it. Charts and graphs may require some extra steps depending on how they were crafted. To replace the placeholder data, simply select the chart or graph element and click on the Filter option next to it. Seek the Select Data option at the end of the contextual menu.

Modify the data used as a sample in the chart with the information pertinent to your company or project. An MS Excel spreadsheet will open up to allow that procedure.

Other Customization Options for Slide Decks

Finally, we recommend you check the following articles to learn more about aspects to edit in slide decks:

• How to change fonts in Slide Decks .
• How to change the theme in Slide Decks .
• Which fonts will make your Slide Deck stand out .
• How to insert 3D models in Slide Decks .
• How to change slide layout in a Slide Deck .
• How to rotate a slide in PowerPoint .

What are the key elements of an effective slide deck?

A clear and cohesive theme, concise and impactful text, and high-quality graphics are all you need to create a powerful slide deck, as long as it follows a logical flow that guides the audience through the presentation.

Can I create a slide deck if I don’t have Microsoft PowerPoint?

Yes, our expertise in this field tells us there are no visible differences between working with PowerPoint and Google Slides or Apple Keynote to create a quality presentation, except for some curved text effects and complex animations.

What are some tips for choosing a theme or template for my slide deck?

• Select a theme or template that aligns with the presentation’s topic or audience.
• Consider the context and setting of the presentation.
• Opt for a clean and professional design that backs up your speech rather than add distracting elements.

How can I add and format text on my slides?

When working with presentation software, you can format text as you would work with any text editor. Remember to stick to concise and clear language, with no technical jargon. Huge “text walls” deter the audience from your talk, as there’s a natural impulse to read the content. Opt for legible fonts rather than complex script typefaces.

How can I ensure my slides are consistent regarding fonts, colors, and styles?

Using a consistent color scheme is the first step, which can be analogous (easier to work), complementary, or bolder options as long as you stick to recommended color pairings. Avoid harsh contrasts, as they make your slides less legible. Use a maximum of 3 different fonts in your slide, best if 2 only.

1. Innovative Business Presentation Template Slide Deck

Powerful graphics with contrasting tones that add a vibrant vibe to your presentation. This slide deck is ideal for startups, tech talks, or any presentation that wants to showcase a vanguard style in touch with the latest design trends.

Use This Template

2. PPT Slide Deck Template

A semi-formal slide deck that balances many visual aids and placeholder text areas while bearing a complementary color scheme. Ideal for team meetings, introducing your company to investors, or academic presentations.

3. Business Executive Presentation Deck for PowerPoint

Sleek, formal, and with plenty of tools to repurpose this slide deck for multiple presentation requirements. A fully editable PPT presentation deck that can accommodate an alternative theme to its distinctive cool blue executive tones.

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Design, Microsoft PowerPoint, Slides Filed under Design , PowerPoint Tutorials

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What is a Slide Deck: The Ultimate Guide to Captivating Presentations

In this blog entry, we'll explore the ins and outs of slide decks, from the basics to the advanced techniques that will transform you into a slide deck master.

So, buckle up and get ready to take your presentations to the next level!

What is a Slide Deck?

A slide deck (also known as a presentation deck, pitch deck, or PowerPoint slide deck) is a collection of slides that visually communicate your message in a business presentation or pitch.

The term "slide deck" harkens back to the days of old slide projectors, where presenters would have slides piled on top of one another with the rest transparent. The projector would shine light through the slides, displaying the entire image on a screen.

Today, we've come a long way from those old technology days. Modern slide decks are created using software like Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides, allowing for more dynamic and visually appealing presentations.

They can include text, images, charts, and even multimedia, providing a powerful visual aid for your audience.

What are the different types of slide decks?

There are several types of slide decks, each serving a specific purpose:

Pitch Deck : A pitch deck is a concise, persuasive presentation of a business idea to potential investors or clients. A startup pitch deck focuses on a startup's business pitch, telling the startup business story in a compelling way.

Presentation Deck : A presentation deck serves as a visual aid during a speech or presentation, providing additional information and visual interest to keep the audience engaged.

PowerPoint Slide Deck : A PowerPoint slide deck refers to a slide deck created using Microsoft PowerPoint software.

Creating a Captivating Slide Deck

To create a good slide deck, follow these slide design tips:

Focus on Your Audience : Always remember your audience when creating slides. What are their primary interests? What will keep them engaged? Make sure your content speaks directly to them.

Keep It Simple : Use as few words as possible on each slide. Too much text can be overwhelming and lead to a word presentation, causing you to lose people's interest.

Tell a Unified Story : Ensure your slides tell the same unified story. This means that all the slides should follow a consistent theme , style, and narrative.

High-Quality Images : Use high-quality images that complement your content and help convey your message.

Consistent Design : Stick to the same font, color, and design elements throughout your slide deck. A unified format helps keep your presentation looking professional and cohesive.

Slide Deck Templates

To save time and ensure consistency, consider using deck templates. These pre-designed templates provide a framework for your content, allowing you to focus on the substance of your presentation.

You can find a wide range of presentation deck templates and pitch deck templates online, catering to various industries and styles.

Some popular sources for presentation deck templates and pitch decks include:

Microsoft PowerPoint : Microsoft offers a variety of PowerPoint slide decks and pre-filled template slides for users of their software.

Google Slides : Google's presentation software has a selection of deck templates you can customize to suit your needs.

Third-Party Providers : Many websites offer great presentation and pitch deck templates that can be imported into your preferred presentation software.

To make the most out of these templates, consider the following tips:

Choose a Template That Fits Your Purpose : Ensure that the template you choose aligns with your business focus and the message you're trying to convey.

Customize the Template : While templates provide a solid foundation, you should still customize them to reflect your content and brand identity.

Don't Overuse Templates : Relying too heavily on templates can make your presentation look generic. Mix in some unique slides or design elements to make it stand out.

Presentation Tips

Once you've created your captivating slide deck, it's time to deliver your presentation. Here are some tips to help you make a powerful impact on your audience:

Know Your Content : Be familiar with your content and be prepared to discuss it in-depth with a knowledgeable group . This will help you talk business with confidence and credibility.

Engage Your Audience : Encourage audience engagement by asking questions, soliciting feedback, or incorporating interactive elements into your presentation.

Practice : Rehearse your presentation several times to ensure you're comfortable with the pacing, transitions, and delivery. This will help you avoid any awkward moments during the actual presentation.

With these tips in mind, you'll be well on your way to delivering more successful presentations and making lasting connections with your potential business partners and potential business contacts .

In conclusion, a slide deck is a superb tool for delivering information in a visually appealing, organized, and engaging manner.

By understanding the various types of slide decks, incorporating captivating design elements, and utilizing the right templates, you'll be well on your way to creating a powerful presentation that resonates with your audience.

So apply these tips and techniques, and make your next business presentation memorable!

Frequently Asked Questions About Slide Decks (FAQs)

What software can i use to create a slide deck.

Several software options for creating slide decks, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Apple Keynote, and web-based tools like Prezi and Canva.

Each software has its own features and capabilities, so choose one that best suits your needs and preferences.

How can I make my slide deck more visually appealing?

To make your slide deck visually appealing, use high-quality images, consistent design elements (like fonts, colors, and styles), and a clean layout.

Keep text minimal, use bullet points when possible, and ensure your multiple slides tell a unified story .

Should I use templates for my slide deck?

Templates can save you time and provide a consistent design for your next slide deck presentation. However, it's essential to customize the template to reflect your content and brand identity.

Don't rely solely on templates; they may make your next presentation look generic.

How can I improve my presentation skills when using a slide deck?

To improve your presentation skills, practice delivering your presentation several times, familiarize yourself with your content, and engage your audience through questions or interactive elements.

Ensure your presentation slides support your speech without dominating it.

Can I use animations and transitions in my pitch deck?

Yes, you can use animations and transitions in your slide deck. However, use them sparingly and purposefully. Excessive or flashy animations can be distracting and may detract from your message.

How many slides should I include in my presentation deck?

The number of slides in your slide deck depends on your presentation's length, the complexity of the PowerPoint presentation, and its purpose.

As a general rule, try to keep your slide count minimal, focusing on essential information and avoiding clutter.

Can I share my pit deck online?

Yes, you can share your slide deck online. Most presentation software allows you to export your slide deck as a PDF or shareable format.

You can also share a link to your slide deck using a cloud-based platform like Google Slides.

How can I make my slide deck accessible to people with disabilities?

To make your slide deck accessible, use clear and legible fonts, provide alternative text for images, use high-contrast colors, and avoid using color alone to convey information.

Additionally, provide an accessible version of your presentation in a different format, such as a Word document or accessible PDF.

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A guide to creating great decks and presentations

At some point in your creative career, chances are, you’ll have to make some kind of deck. Used as a key communication tool in many creative roles, decks convey ideas through a carefully selected sequence of words and images. A great deck can help you explain a brilliant idea, tell a powerful story, or sell your skills and experience in one neat little package. While it can seem like a lot to balance, the process of putting one together needn’t be tricky. We take you through all the steps to create a fail-proof one.

What’s the difference between a deck and presentation?

A deck is simply a set of digital slides containing images and words, used to get across an idea. You’ll often need to make a deck when you want to persuade someone to think about something in a certain way.

A presentation is a form of communication that tells a story or expresses an idea. A presentation can include a deck, but it can also be delivered as a video, audio file, or as a speech.

You can give a presentation without a deck (for example, a Ted Talk with no visuals) and you can send a deck without having to present it (for example, sending a PDF update of a project with written notes).

Typically, a deck is:

The visual component of a presentation, without any spoken dialogue

A digital file made using the software of your choice

Presented in landscape format

Decks can be designed for the following purposes:

To be presented in person, as part of a meeting – via a laptop or TV screen

To be presented virtually, for example via Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams

To be viewed in the form of a PDF sent over email, as a live link or a downloaded file

When will you need to make one?

Depending on where you’re at in your career, you might need to make decks for different purposes. These could include:

Creating a presentation as part of a job interview task

Pitching and presenting ideas in response to a brief

Creating briefs, treatments or presenting research

Informal purposes, such as to introduce yourself at a new job

What does a deck look like?

The work of deck-making is often done behind the scenes in a studio, and for copyright or competition-related reasons, creative development decks are often kept under lock and key. 🚨 This means that great examples of decks are not easy to find online!

That being said, as soon as you start working alongside other creative people on projects, you’ll likely have a chance to check out their approach. If you’re part of a studio, you can usually check out their previous decks. And if you’re a freelancer, you could ask more established freelancers to talk you through some of their decks – it never hurts to ask!

Ultimately, the look and feel of a deck will differ depending on what it’ll be used for. You can see great examples of presentations and decks during online or in-person talks; some good examples are Nicer Tuesdays or the First Round conference, in which creative leaders talk through their work-in-progress visual identity decks.

What goes into a deck?

The slides needed for a deck will differ depending on what it’ll be used for; you might need less for a short introductory talk about yourself, and more for an in-depth pitch to a client.

Generally speaking, most decks will include a combination of some (or all) of the following slides:

Contents page

Title pages to signpost different sections

Project slides to support different combinations of images, text or moving image

Conclusion page to detail any next steps

Final page with contact details

What makes a great deck?

In a nutshell, a great deck should be:

Clear, concise and cohesive

Specific to and engaging for your audience or reader

Supporting the story you want to tell

Carefully checked for accuracy, spelling and image quality

A lot of the things that make a deck successful also apply to making great portfolios. You can find all sorts of transferable learnings and relevant advice in our guide to creating your PDF portfolio .

Before you begin: Planning your presentation

Before you start choosing colour palettes and flicking through font choices, there are some essential considerations to keep in mind:

🤔 Who is your audience? What do they need to know?

Are you pitching new ideas to a client, or updating your co-workers on a project’s process? Knowing the purpose of your deck will inform your structure, design and layout. For example, a client pitch will require you to strike a different visual tone to a catch-up with your team.

Think about the size and location of your audience. How might your approach differ for a big or small group, or whether you’ll be presenting it online or IRL?

⏰ How long will you have to present?

Knowing your exact timeframe will help you gauge the scale of your deck, how many slides you might need and how in-depth you can go with the details. While informal presentations to your co-workers may be more relaxed, running over with clients is not always an option, so be strict.

If you have a short amount of time, prioritise need-to-know info and get quickly into what you want feedback or input on. If you have more time, you can build your story gradually.

🤝 Are you working collaboratively or alone?

If you’re working on a deck as part of a team, you may want to delegate tasks. For example, one person could prepare the images while another writes the text. But remember: the text will always need to relate to the images (and vice versa) so make sure both collaborators cross-reference regularly.

If you’re presenting as a team, are you taking turns to speak? You’ll need to agree on who will be presenting each section. You can find more tips and tricks on preparing for presentations in our guide to public speaking .

How to create a structure that tells a story

Your deck needs to tell a story – whether that‘s guiding someone through different creative ideas, or taking a viewer on a journey from one point to another.

It’s vital to work out how you will explain and unpack your idea or project through your deck, as the right structure will ultimately determine how successfully your story comes across.

🕸️ Join the dots between your points

To start, write down everything you need to cover during the presentation. Create a list of talking points before beginning to build the slides or delving into image research.

Once you’ve worked out the key content to include, think about the best order in which to communicate this. Think of it as a linear process: you need to get from A to B in the clearest, most logical way.

🏁 Start and end well

The first slide of your deck should be as strong as the last. If you’re sending the deck by itself, ensure you summarise the contents at the start, and if you’re presenting, remind everyone of the purpose of the meeting so that your audience understands what you’re going to cover and what is being asked of them.

You might want to end the main section of your presentation with a memorable image, some well-chosen closing words, or a call to action inviting your audience to do something like approve a project budget, or select a creative idea for further development.

The final slides in your deck should include a short summary of what’s been covered and an outline of next steps. Don’t forget to include contact details in case the deck gets passed around.

Presenting a solution to a creative brief? This is one way of laying it out:

Title slide

Contents page: be sure to match your section titles to this

The brief or challenge: what is the specific request you’ve been asked to respond to, or what you were hoping to solve?

Starting points or initial inspiration

Your final idea(s), solutions or offerings: this can also include any alternatives

Timelines or additional information: this could include information regarding other collaborators or budgets

Conclusion or summary: a chance to reiterate the main points covered

Next steps or milestones in the process

If you’re attending a job interview or have been asked to prepare an introduction to your work – your deck structure might look like this:

• Title slide: this can include your name and role, along with a personalised greeting or message for your audience, like “Hi [name of studio], nice to meet you!”
• Contents page: you may want to skip this if you only have a few sections.
• Your background in a nutshell: this can be a short, personal statement that highlights your specific skills and interests. Don’t forget to inject some personality — this deck is meant to be about you, after all!
• Your work: only include projects that feel relevant to your audience. You might want to divide this section into several mini-sections if you have different types of work to showcase.
• Final page with contact details: let people know where they can reach you, whether that’s via email or on a social media platform.

How should you design a deck?

The way in which you combine visuals and text on slides can play a major role in how successfully you communicate your story. Remember, every image and word needs to earn the right to be included.

It can be useful to start by sketching out your rough layouts for your slides to visualise the main elements you need to cover.

🏡 Try out templates, or create your own

If you’re working in-house, there’ll likely already be set templates to follow or use as a starting point. Ask your colleagues to share different types of presentations, and familiarise yourself with the house style. If you’re a freelancer, it may be worth setting up a template using the same typefaces, layouts and colour palettes so that you can create some consistency across your decks. It will save you time in the future and bring a level of professionalism to your presentations.

Remember that a template should help you, not constrain you. Use one as an overall guide, but adjust according to the specific content you want to include — and give yourself room to play.

🔁 Consistency is key

Whether you’re following a preexisting template or setting up your own, consistency is key to putting together a cohesive deck. This is an opportunity to create system of rules that will provide you with a reliable and flexible structure, regardless of the kind of deck you need to put together.

Establishing a consistent visual language allows you to focus on telling the story at hand, rather than having to re-design your slides every time – and also helps an audience or viewer to follow your thought process. All your slides should feel like they belong to the same visual world. Here are a few key elements to consider:

• Grid, layout and treatment of images
• Colour palette
• Typefaces and treatment of text (choose one size for section headers, one for headlines, one for body copy or bullet points

💥 Create impact with your images

How might you create visual impact with your images? For example if there is a particularly strong visual that helps support the narrative of your presentation, why not make it full bleed to grab your viewer’s attention?

Or if you have a selection of images to share, think about what layout will help convey a variety of options without looking too cluttered. Remember that images should be captioned where necessary – describing to viewers what they’re seeing – without over-explaining.

Ensure your images have a high enough resolution that they look sharp, but not so large that they take ages to load! Exporting images as PNG files can be more reliable than JPEGs in terms of consistent quality.

👾 Know where it’s relevant to use GIFs

Videos or GIFs can be a great addition to a deck. If you have a shorter amount of time to present, a piece of moving image can quickly set the tone – whether poignant or humorous. They usually require less explanation than a still image, and the audience can watch clips and GIFs while the presenter is speaking.

In a longer presentation, you may be able to include a full-length video that will form a distinct chapter in the deck.

🔠 Be selective about how much text you include

The amount of text you use will depend on whether you’ll be talking through the deck, or sending it as a link or attachment for your audience to read in their own time. Think: how are you presenting?

As part of a meeting You may want to use less text in your slides (no one can read and listen at the same time). The fewer words on screen, the stronger the visual effect and overall impact.

Remember that if you’re presenting your deck to an audience, depending on the platform you use, you could always use speaker notes (additional details that no one else will see on screen) with additional information to elaborate on certain points or offer additional detail. This can also be a great tool to help you remember your cues.

Sending via email You might want to include more text on your slides so that the reader has all the information they need to understand the story without you there.

With all that said, be wary of where you place your text – avoid adding your copy over busy images or backgrounds to ensure everything is easily legible and to create maximum impact.

🌍 Opt for accessible typefaces

Choose a typeface that’s easy to read, and easily accessible – regardless of whether you’re presenting it from your laptop or sending it over email. You don’t want to spend hours designing your slides only for your text to appear in a default typeface later on. Have a look at our article to find a range of free fonts and typefaces for inspiration.

Once you’ve made your selection(s), ensure your text is large enough for people to read on a screen – whether in person or online.

🔺 Consider information hierarchy

A list may be easier to digest than a paragraph. Using a combination of the below can help make your content more digestible:

• Subheadings
• Bullet points
• Image captions

🚪 Use page furniture

This is information that consistently sits at the top or bottom of a slide. It can be a useful way of presenting information such as the date, project title, slide number and section title.

What can you use to actually build a deck?

How you make your deck depends on how your audience is going to receive it. Will you be presenting in person or online? Or do you need to send it via email?

There are a wide variety of deck-building platforms to choose from. Below are some of the main players. You can find more in our article on platforms and programs to make decks on .

Google Slides

Adobe InDesign (then export as a PDF)

Presented (service)

You could also use a mixture of these. If you’re creating your deck as a team effort, Google Slides or Pitch allows for seamless collaborative working and is easy to share as a link to a live file. Or you could use InDesign and then export the slides as a PDF, or individual jpegs to be dropped into another program.

You now have everything you need to go out and make amazing decks. Creating these takes practice, so don’t worry if you don’t nail it the first time. As you develop your deck-making skills, you’ll find a style you gravitate towards. Now go out there and dazzle the room with your sparkling slides!

With special thanks to Philippa Leguen de Lacroix, Director, Presented

Written by Creative Lives in Progress

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What is a PowerPoint Deck: A Complete Guide

A PowerPoint deck refers to a collection of slides that make up a presentation. It is created using Microsoft PowerPoint or alternative presentation software like Google Slides or Apple Keynote.

What is a Slide Deck?

A slide deck and a PowerPoint deck refer to the same thing – a group of slides that comprise a full presentation. The term “deck” comes from the old days when presentations were made using physical translucent slides that were literally stacked in a pile like a deck of cards.

Nowadays, slide decks are digital files, but the name has stuck around. Some key things to know:

• A PowerPoint slide deck is a set of slides organized together to tell a story or convey information.
• Each individual slide contains one key message, data point, or talking point.
• The slides build on each other to support the overarching narrative or message.

Key Components of a Slide Deck

An effective PowerPoint deck contains the following elements:

Consistent Branding and Design

• Use the same color scheme, font styles, logos throughout
• Create a cohesive look and feel

Limited Text

• Include only key phrases, statistics, quotes
• Avoid big blocks of text
• Use images alongside text

Quality Visuals

• Photographs, charts, graphs, illustrations
• Ensure high resolution with good color
• Credit sources

Clear Structure

• Organize content logically
• Use slide titles, transitions, animations judiciously

Concise Messaging

• Focus each slide around one key idea
• Summarize complex data

Types of Slide Decks

There are a few common types of PowerPoint decks, each serving a different purpose:

1. Business Pitch Decks

Pitch decks are used by startups and businesses to secure investments from venture capitalists and angel investors. They summarize the business model, product offering, team credentials, and growth potential.

Key Features:

• Typically 8-15 slides
• Catchy design
• Convincing data and financial projections
• Strong call to action

2. Internal Presentation Decks

These decks are used by managers and executives within a company to provide updates, share ideas and proposals, offer training, and more.

• More detailed than external decks
• Include organizational context
• Data-driven
• Visually straightforward

3. Sales/Marketing Decks

Sales and marketing teams use PowerPoint presentations to showcase products, explain services, build credibility, and persuade potential customers.

Key Features

• Highlight product benefits
• Use customer testimonials
• Clean, polished design
• Strong branding

How to Create a PowerPoint Presentation

Follow these steps to build an impactful PowerPoint deck:

1. Define your purpose

• Who is your target audience?
• What do you want them to think/feel/do after your presentation?

**2. Develop key messages **

• Limit to 3-5 main points
• Consider what will resonate most with your audience

3. Storyboard content

• Outline the narrative
• Identify data to support key messages

4. Design visually appealing slides

• Use slide templates
• Incorporate graphics
• Maintain clean style

5. Organize slides logically

• Lead with strongest messages
• Build momentum and interest across deck

6. Practice presentation

• Refine content, slides, delivery based on practice runs
• Time yourself

PowerPoint Presentation Tips

Here are some best practices to create compelling PowerPoint decks:

• Limit text – Use concise phrases instead of full sentences
• Prioritize visuals – Charts, images, graphics over walls of text
• Use slide templates – Professionally designed templates save time
• Maintain consistency – Stick to one or two font styles and color schemes
• Lead with key messages – Grab attention with most important points first
• Use slide numbers – Helps presenters and audience track progress
• Check accessibility features – Use tools to ensure inclusive design
• Practice with slides – Refine timing, delivery, and flow based on practice

A PowerPoint deck allows presenters to communicate ideas visually and persuasively to an audience. An effective slide deck is focused, cohesive, balanced, and designed effectively. Following PowerPoint best practices for content, structure, visual appeal, and public speaking delivery can elevate your next presentation. With compelling slides and confident delivery, you can convey key messages and make a lasting impact on any audience.

About The Author

Vegaslide staff, related posts.

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What is a PowerPoint Deck? An Ultimate Guide

Last updated on July 6th, 2023

Are you a businessman who needs a consistent flow of presentations for your everyday routine? Being a marketing specialist, an educationalist, and any other professional, you would always have used presentations in your life. The presentations help us convey our ideas more effectively by engaging the audience’s attention towards our main topic of discussion.

Slide decks are also presentations comprising multiple slides depicting various information and data like pictures, videos, charts, infographics, and more. One of the main objectives of the slide decks is that they break down the overall complex structure of the topic and turn it into easily understandable smaller parts. The quality of the data and information remains intact while the presenter is also facilitated due to the slide decks’ supportive interface and manageable structure.

PowerPoint Deck is a term people call a presentation or collection of PowerPoint slides . Even more, it is often used to call a collection of PowerPoint presentations. Instead of using the term presentation to refer to a .ppt file, sometimes the term PowerPoint deck is used, which stands more for the collection of PowerPoint slides rather than the presentation method using PowerPoint or the presenter standing up talking with the slides. Sometimes a deck is an unbound printout of the presentation given to the participants.

Also known as “slide deck” or just “PowerPoint deck”, the term means a presentation file or a series of presentations.

Difference between a Presentation and Slide Deck

While many of us confuse a presentation with the slide deck, there is a difference between both terms. Both terms are used interchangeably without knowing their context and meaning.

The major difference between a presentation and a slide deck is that a presentation is a process of conveying ideas, concepts, and messages through talks and speeches while the slide decks offer a visual aid to the presentations.

A slide deck is mainly used for representing organizations for sharing their projects, plans, and business strategies on various levels. Business professionals and marketers most of the time leverage the easy to manage and control process of developing and presenting slide decks.

Historical Perspective

Historically speaking, the slide decks have a very charming past as compared to other tools being used in the industry. Previously, an instrument named “Carousel Slide Projector” was used for presenting the slide show of the slides that were mainly put in the body of the projector in the form of photos and pictures.

With an amazing capacity to handle about 40 to 80 slides per show which was a great feature back then, Carousel Slide Projector was able to present a slide show in the given time according to the requirements of the presenter. However, there were some controllability issues but still, it was a great product back then and was mostly used by academics, researchers, and businessmen all over the world. The slides that were known collectively in the presentation were known as slide decks.

Are Slide Deck and Slideshow the same?

These two terms usually resonate together in the readers’ minds. But there is a clear difference between Slide Deck and Slideshow. Both terms, Slide Deck and Slideshows, are used in the context of presentations, but a slight change in the keywords creates a significant difference in the themes and concepts of these words.

A slide deck is usually known as a collection of the slides in a presentation and a slide show is a process through which these slides are presented, or described to any audience.

Usually, a slideshow covers the whole of the screen and it is not as editable as a single slide of the slide deck. The slide show is usually exposed on an electronic device or projector through which a presenter effectively shares the visuals and graphics of his presentation with the audience sitting in front of him.

What is PowerPoint?

Slide decks existed in the form of physical slides being shown on a projector, way before the revolution of digital technology. But with the passage of time, the need for the latest technologies and tools became more common in the marketplaces and everyday life due to ever-increasing developments in the business and scientific world. Hence the PowerPoint-like software were introduced to effectively design and present presentations on various PC systems like Computer, Laptops, and even tablets, etc.

Initially, it was released by Forethought Inc in 1987 that was only available for Mac OS. Later on, the entire software system was purchased by Microsoft and was rebranded as Microsoft PowerPoint and it is still present in the ownership of Microsoft.

What is a PowerPoint Template?

A PowerPoint template is a presentation file that includes information about the layouts, color, and fonts, and you can use them as a starting point when preparing a new presentation. With so many options available, you can easily find a template matching your company’s branding or the specific look you’re seeking. PowerPoint Templates (PPT templates) also save you time by providing a pre-designed layout that you can simply fill in with your own content. Best of all, PowerPoint templates are easy to use and can be applied with just a few clicks.

Many sites are offering paid & free PowerPoint templates with different themes, styles, and designs. PowerPoint also has built-in PowerPoint templates that you can use in the PowerPoint editor when you start a new presentation. Other presentation providers, such as SlideModel, offer a vast catalog of presentation templates and PowerPoint slides with stunning infographics and visual designs that you can use to save time preparing your presentations.

So if you’re looking to add a little extra polish to your next presentation, be sure to check out some of the great PowerPoint templates available online.

Slide Deck and Pitch Deck

What is the slide deck meaning? Various forms of the presentation styles that have been introduced gradually have created some confusion in the minds of the readers regarding the basic terminologies of those types and their meanings. The same is the case for the Slide deck and Pitch deck where many people will confuse the terms as similar to each other.

In the digital boom of the business world, every startup and entrepreneur needs persuasive strategies to raise funds and gain more investments for their businesses. Pitch decks are one of the great ways to do that.

While slide decks are simply the collection of the slides , the pitch decks , on the other hand, represent the specific type of presentations that are mainly used for raising funding and grabbing investments for businesses and startups, or to present an idea to investors.

You can refer to a pitch deck as a slide deck but not all slide decks are pitch decks.

PowerPoint Slide Deck

There are a number of ways to create slide decks as they are one of the most commonly used words for developing presentations, even before the evolution of technological developments.

So, what is a slide deck? Slide decks were present in the form of physical slides being shown on a projector previously but when they are designed, structured, compiled, and presented through a software named PowerPoint, then they are known as PowerPoint slide decks. Being one of the most widely used software (almost 500 million users worldwide) PowerPoint presentations are one of the most easily manageable and customizable software.

Another great feature of PowerPoint templates is that they can be used to edit, and customize the pre-made templates of the presentations to save your time and resources being spent on the designing and developing of the presentations from scratch.

Websites like Free PowerPoint Templates can be used to download thousands of professionally crafted templates for free to be used in your every possible business, marketing, educational, or any other project.

Slide Decks in Google Slides

The Google Slides, another important and well-known presentation software, is also widely used by consumers who mostly prefer a web-based software to cater to their needs. Google Slides also offer a variety of options to its users to create engaging designs and themes incorporating diagrams, graphs, charts, tables, infographics, and various other visuals available to be used for your every need.

The slide decks that are being developed in the Google Slides Software are known as Google Slides’ decks.

How to Create a Slide Deck in PowerPoint?

By following these steps, you can easily develop your next great slide deck allowing you to create a slide deck in PowerPoint.

• Start and open the PowerPoint tool
• Plan the structure and hierarchy of your presentation
• Start by creating a title slide with a persuasive title for your topic
• Develop the remaining slides by giving the relevant title to each of the slides
• You can use images, videos, and infographics too according to your project’s needs
• There are also options to add animation and transitions. The design and visual appeal of the presentation can be effectively enhanced using those options.
• End your presentation with complimentary “Thanks” and “Any questions” slides
• Save your work and keep your presentation in either a hard disk or cloud-based storage network
• Present Your amazing presentation

3 Tips to Enhance your Slide Deck’s Productivity

Your next slide deck should be your flagship project as you know almost all the important factors and terminologies related to the slide deck. However, if you need some additional boats, there are some more techniques and tips to polish your slide deck more.

Tip #1. Add Visuals

Always add more visuals to your slide deck to make it more appealing to your listeners. The attention rate of the audience is always more towards visual representation as our brain processes visual data 60,000 times faster than contextual information. Hence incorporating a considerable amount of graphics and design elements in your presentation will not be a bad idea. You can add infographics, photos, charts, tables, and much more by using Different software tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides. PowerPoint features include the possibility to insert icons, images, videos or alternatively you can create your own infographics and visual slides in PowerPoint from scratch.

Tip #2. Write Less, Speak More

Your presentation should not be as long as a research report and also not as short as a highway billboard. There should be a balance between words and imagery. But it is always recommended by experts that presentations with fewer words and more visuals help the presenter to divert its attention more towards the audience, which elevates the overall focus of the audience that boosting the productivity of the presentation.

Tip #3. Develop a Consistent Design

The design of your presentation should be confident from the start to the end. The color strategy, the font style, the anthem, and the overall message of the presentation should be maintained throughout the course of delivering a presentation to increase the overall engagement rate of the audience.

Final Words

Slide decks deliver the message of a speaker more conveniently incorporating the visual and graphical elements in its core structure. The retention rate of the interest of the listeners can be enhanced significantly if the slide decks are designed by using the latest softwares like PowerPoint and Google Slides. The animations, transitions, tables, charts, engaging diagrams and other visuals all make the slide decks a number one choice for the marketers and businessmen to present their business plans, ideas, and future business strategies to their stakeholders effectively.

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10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea, from TED’s in-house expert

When your slides rock, your whole presentation pops to life. At TED2014, David Epstein created a clean, informative slide deck to support his talk on the changing bodies of athletes . Photo: James Duncan Davidson/TED

Aaron Weyenberg is the master of slide decks. Our UX Lead creates Keynote presentations that are both slick and charming—the kind that pull you in and keep you captivated, but in an understated way that helps you focus on what’s actually being said. He does this for his own presentations and for lots of other folks in the office. Yes, his coworkers ask him to design their slides, because he’s just that good.

We asked Aaron to bottle his Keynote mojo so that others could benefit from it. Here, 10 tips for making an effective slide deck, split into two parts: the big, overarching goals, and the little tips and tricks that make your presentation sing.

Aaron used this image of a New Zealand disaster to kick off a slide deck from TED’s tech team — all about how they prepares for worst-case scenarios. He asked for permission to use the image, and credited the photographer, Blair Harkness. View the whole slidedeck from this presentation.

The big picture…

• Think about your slides last . Building your slides should be the tail end of developing your presentation. Think about your main message, structure its supporting points, practice it and time it—and then start thinking about your slides. The presentation needs to stand on its own; the slides are just something you layer over it to enhance the listener experience. Too often, I see slide decks that feel more like presenter notes, but I think it’s far more effective when the slides are for the audience to give them a visual experience that adds to the words. .
• Create a consistent look and feel . In a good slide deck, each slide feels like part of the same story. That means using the same or related typography, colors and imagery across all your slides. Using pre-built master slides can be a good way to do that, but it can feel restrictive and lead to me-too decks. I like to create a few slides to hold sample graphic elements and type, then copy what I need from those slides as I go. .
• Think about topic transitions . It can be easy to go too far in the direction of consistency, though. You don’t want each slide to look exactly the same. I like to create one style for the slides that are the meat of what I’m saying, and then another style for the transitions between topics. For example, if my general slides have a dark background with light text, I’ll try transition slides that have a light background with dark text. That way they feel like part of the same family, but the presentation has texture—and the audience gets a visual cue that we’re moving onto a new topic. .
• With text, less is almost always more . One thing to avoid—slides with a lot of text, especially if it’s a repeat of what you’re saying out loud. It’s like if you give a paper handout in a meeting—everyone’s head goes down and they read, rather than staying heads-up and listening. If there are a lot of words on your slide, you’re asking your audience to split their attention between what they’re reading and what they’re hearing. That’s really hard for a brain to do, and it compromises the effectiveness of both your slide text and your spoken words. If you can’t avoid having text-y slides, try to progressively reveal text (like unveiling bullet points one by one) as you need it. .
• Use photos that enhance meaning . I love using simple, punchy photos in presentations, because they help what you’re saying resonate in your audience’s mind without pulling their attention from your spoken words. Look for photos that (1) speak strongly to the concept you’re talking about and (2) aren’t compositionally complex. Your photo could be a metaphor or something more literal, but it should be clear why the audience is looking at it, and why it’s paired with what you’re saying. For example, I recently used the image above—a photo of a container ship about to tip over (it eventually sank)—to lead off a co-worker’s deck about failure preparation. And below is another example of a photo I used in a deck to talk about the launch of the new TED.com . The point I was making was that a launch isn’t the end of a project—it’s the beginning of something new. We’ll learn, adapt, change and grow.

Here, a lovely image from a slidedeck Aaron created about the redesign of TED.com . View the whole deck from this presentation .

And now some tactical tips…

• Go easy on the effects and transitions . Keynote and Powerpoint come with a lot of effects and transitions. In my opinion, most of these don’t do much to enhance the audience experience. At worst, they subtly suggest that the content of your slides is so uninteresting that a page flip or droplet transition will snap the audience out of their lethargy. If you must use them, use the most subtle ones, and keep it consistent. .

• Try panning large images . Often, I want to show screen shot of an entire web page in my presentations. There’s a great Chrome extension to capture these—but these images are oftentimes much longer than the canvas size of the presentation. Rather than scaling the image to an illegible size, or cropping it, you can pan it vertically as you talk about it. In Keynote, this is done with a Move effect, which you can apply from an object’s action panel. .
• For video, don’t use autoplay . It’s super easy to insert video in Keynote and Powerpoint—you just drag a Quicktime file onto the slide. And when you advance the deck to the slide with the video that autoplays, sometimes it can take a moment for the machine to actually start playing it. So often I’ve seen presenters click again in an attempt to start the video during this delay, causing the deck to go to the next slide. Instead, set the video to click to play. That way you have more predictable control over the video start time, and even select a poster frame to show before starting. .

Lastly, I’d love to leave you with a couple book recommendations. The first is Resonate , by Nancy Duarte. It’s not so much about slides, but about public speaking in general – which is the foundation for any presentation, regardless of how great your slides are. In it, she breaks down the anatomy of what makes a great presentation, how to establish a central message and structure your talk, and more. (One of her case studies comes from Benjamin Zander’s charming TED Talk about classical music, a talk that captivated the audience from start to finish.) Think of this as prerequisite reading for my second recommendation, also by Duarte: Slide:ology . This is more focused on presentation visuals and slides.

Happy slide-making.

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WHITNEY D. WALTER

PowerPoint Vs. Slide Deck, Slide Deck Meaning & More Simple Terms

Whitney D. Walter

Introduction

The terms “PowerPoint” and “slide deck” are thrown around a lot in the business world. So much so that you might be wondering if they mean the same thing or if there is something inherently different between the two.

The most significant distinction between a PowerPoint and a deck is that a “deck” is simply a collection of slides, whereas the term “PowerPoint” often refers to the final presentation which may be delivered in the form of a speech, video, or other format.

Here are a few examples of how a PowerPoint presentation can be used:

How do you make a good slide deck in powerpoint, what is a slide deck called in google slides, what is microsoft powerpoint.

Let’s start with the basics. Microsoft PowerPoint is a digital presentation tool. It’s a software application that allows users to share information and ideas with others.

• Creating an informational slideshow to share with colleagues or clients. This might include information about a new product, project details, or company updates.
• Developing a presentation to deliver at a conference or other professional event. This could include sharing research findings, pitching a business idea, or promoting a new initiative.
• Creating an educational resource, such as a lesson plan or study guide. This might include slides with information about a topic, along with accompanying questions or activities.
• Designing a sales deck to use when meeting with potential customers or clients. This could include slides outlining the features and benefits of a product or service.

PowerPoint presentations can be created using a variety of methods, including importing images, adding text, and inserting multimedia content.

Anatomy of a PowerPoint

What is a PowerPoint presentation?

You can think of a PowerPoint presentation as a vehicle to share information with others. Some people refer to a presentation as the act of actually presenting a slide deck. This can be in the form of a recorded slideshow, speech, or another delivery method.

Others may refer to presentations simply as the completed Powerpoint deck.

A typical PowerPoint presentation consists of a series of slides, each of which can contain text , images, and other multimedia content. PowerPoint also offers a variety of features, such as animations and transitions, that can help to make your presentation more engaging.

What is a PowerPoint slide deck?

A slide deck is simply a collection of slides. It can be created using PowerPoint or any other presentation software application, like Google Slides.

However, a key difference between a PowerPoint presentation and a slide deck is that a slide deck is not necessarily intended to be presented in a linear fashion. Instead, a slide deck can be used as a reference tool or resource, or it can be presented in a non-linear fashion, such as through an interactive website or app.

Why is it called a slide deck?

At this point, you might be wondering “But why are PowerPoints called decks?”. The term “slide deck” is derived from the old days of presentations when slides were physical transparencies that were loaded into a carousel and projected onto a screen.

These physical slides would be shuffled around to create the presentation, much like a deck of cards. Thus, the term “slide deck” was born.

In modern times, slide decks are usually presented electronically, either as a PowerPoint presentation or as a PDF. However, the term slide deck has stuck and is still used to refer to a presentation, even though there may not be any physical slides involved.

Why should you use PowerPoint slide decks?

A slide deck is an important tool for any presenter. It allows you to organize your thoughts and present them in a visually appealing way.

A well-designed slide deck can engage your audience and help you deliver your message effectively.

Is a deck the same as a PowerPoint?

Honestly, you will hear the terms “deck”, “presentation”, and “PowerPoint” used interchangeably in business settings.

The key difference between a presentation and a deck is that a deck is a collection of slides and a PowerPoint presentation could be given in the form of a speech, video, or other formats.

What is a PowerPoint slide?

A PowerPoint slide is a digital version of a traditional slide that is used to convey information during a presentation.

Unlike a traditional slide, which is typically created using a physical projector and an overhead transparency, a PowerPoint slide is created using software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote. PowerPoint slides can be shared electronically with others via email or through

Simply put, consider each slide to be a digital page in your overall story.

What is the difference between a slide and a slide deck?

A slide is an individual page in a presentation deck while a slide deck is an entire presentation.

Each slide typically contains one main idea that contributes to the overall message presented with the slide deck.

At this point, you might be wondering how to make a good slide deck.

Here are a few quick tips:

• Start with a strong title slide that will grab attention and set the tone for the rest of the presentation.
• Be sure to include an agenda slide so your audience knows what to expect during the presentation. This helps with audience engagement.
• Use clean slide designs that are easy to read and understand.
• Try to limit each slide to one main point. Use images and graphics to support these points and tell the story.
• End with a strong conclusion that recaps what you covered, includes a call-to-action, provides relevant resources, and leaves your audience with a positive impression.

Creating a great slide deck takes time and effort, but it’s worth it. A well-designed slide deck can help you deliver a powerful presentation that will inform your audience and inspire them to take action.

Other Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between a slide deck and a slide show.

A slide deck is a collection of slides that are typically used to give a presentation, while a slide show is may include media like images and video instead of traditional slides.

Slide decks are often created using PowerPoint or other presentation software, while slide shows can be created using a multitude of other multimedia programs.

There are many similarities between slide decks and slide shows, but there are also some important differences.

One key difference between slide decks and slide shows is that slide decks are usually static, while slide shows are often dynamic.

This means that slide decks typically don’t change much from one presentation to the next, while slide shows can be changed or customized for each individual presentation.

Slide decks are also usually shorter than slide shows, and they typically only include the most important information.

What’s the difference between a slide deck and pitch deck?

As we discussed, a slide deck is a collection of slides. The topic of these slides can be nearly anything under the sun.

A pitch deck is also a collection of multiple slides but the main difference is that all the slides are meant to serve a very specific business-related purpose.

The main idea behind pitch decks is typically to gain interest from investors. This is done by showcasing the potential of your business idea and/or product.

So while a slide deck can be about anything, a pitch deck will always cover information that will be of interest to potential business stakeholders.

The term “slide deck” is also used in reference to other presentation software like Google Slides and Apple’s Keynote .

Now that you know the difference between a PowerPoint presentation and a slide deck, you know that they are powerful tools that can be used to deliver effective presentations and engage your audience.

What tips do you have for creating effective slide decks? How have you used slide decks in your own presentations or business communications? Leave a comment and let me know!

Whitney is a recognized Professional Development Expert, professional speaker, and the founder of Harness Your Power. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Florida State University and a Microsoft PowerPoint Specialist certification. She has been featured in Yahoo Finance, AOL, Authority Magazine, Business Insider, Fox and more. Read more.

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Wondering why PowerPoint presentations are called decks? (Now you know)

Hrideep barot.

• Presentation , Public Speaking

Why PowerPoint presentations are called decks , a question that lingered in my mind for a long time until I decided to jump on to finding out exactly why! And here I am to share all that I have learned about why PowerPoint presentations are called decks.

But before we dive deeper into understanding PowerPoint decks, it is very important to refresh our knowledge of some of the basics.

What are presentations?

Presentations are a way of conveying some information, idea, or opinion to your audience either with or without the use of visuals, in most cases PPTs .

While most of the time, we are bound to confuse presentations with PowerPoint presentations, they aren’t the same thing.

Presentations are a much wider spectrum that includes PowerPoint presentations as a part of it.

What are PowerPoint presentations?

PowerPoint presentations are slide decks created on the specific software called Microsoft PowerPoint that was released by Microsoft (duh!) in the year 1987 . PowerPoint helps create easy and effective digital slide decks; since it is so widely used, it has become synonymous with presentations at large.

It is similar to how we call photocopies Xerox!

(pst if you don’t understand the analogy, check out what we are trying to say here )

Why are PowerPoint presentations called decks?

Decks in presentations are a collection of slides (individual pages in PowerPoint) . And since PowerPoint presentations are nothing but a collection of well-laid-out slides, they are called decks.

Now to understand it better, let’s begin with the fundamental structure, shall we?

Assuming you go to PowerPoint right now, what is the first thing you’ll see?

A blank template that would prompt you to add text, right? That is a slide. As you keep adding slides to your PowerPoint, the collection of these slides, in the end, is what we call a deck.

But then again,

Why is it called a PowerPoint deck?

A PowerPoint deck is similar to a deck of cards. In a deck of cards, a deck is composed of 52 cards; Similarly, in PowerPoint, a deck or pile of slides is what is known as a PowerPoint deck.

So, does this mean that the presentation is important only in its entirety and not as individual slides?

Absolutely no!

Just like in a game of cards, the ace carries its importance and so does a card of jack; In PowerPoint decks too, each slide carries with it its unique importance . However, when separated the slides would lose their meaning.

Again, what would you do if you find a queen card lying on your room’s floor? slide it under the bed? I mean it would be ideal considering you don’t know where the rest of the cards are!

Similarly, individual slides gain their meaning when they are compiled with other slides.

This means each slide carries its own different set of information that helps in conveying an idea at the end .

When did PowerPoint presentations become decks?

PowerPoint presentations became decks on the day they came into being, that is in 1987.

Presentations had been made using stacks of papers or sheets filled with information even before digital presentations came into being.

As shocking as it may be, presentations already involved the use of decks in some form or the other from the very initial day of the specification building our communication skills.

While we started with rock paintings or carvings, we can include them as a form of presentation but not as decks.

Later came the use of sheets or paper to deliver information. This was done using flip paper cards .

There is evidence that presentations using flip charts became very common during the 1940s. These sheets or posters would be joined together with the help of metal fasteners. The speaker or presenter would then flip from one page to the other to share information.

Sounds very similar to our digital presentations, doesn’t it? Except we don’t have to tire our arms by flipping pages. We can simply click to move on to the next slide. How convenient!

Coming back to the last bit of our history of slide decks, somewhere in the 90s -2010’s PowerPoint as a software gained major attention from the public. The slide decks started to be created on PowerPoint exclusively and that is how we moved from saying slide decks to PowerPoint decks.

Going over it again

What is a slide deck in powerpoint.

A slide deck in PowerPoint is nothing but a collection of slides in Microsoft PowerPoint.

What is a PowerPoint slide deck?

It is just another way of saying Slide decks in PowerPoint!

Why are PowerPoint slides called decks??

Since PowerPoint gives you a collection of slides or a deck of slides, it is known as decks.

What is the purpose of a Slide deck in a presentation?

Slide decks help the presenter present his/her/their topic more effectively. It aids the presenter in giving the speech by providing prompts or hints to maintain a flow in their speech. On the other hand, it helps the audience visualize as they listen to the speaker.

Out of the many purposes that a slide deck can serve a presenter, here are a few that we would like to address in this article:

• To pitch new ideas or products
• To explain or introduce a concept
• To share one’s opinions or views

1. To pitch new ideas or products

Slide decks happen to be a very crucial part of making pitches to attract your clients, or to make them understand what your product/ services are all about and how they can be beneficial to them.

Some of the ways we can try to win over or convince the client/ customer to agree to your terms are by showing charts or graphs of your previous success rates or giving out statistics on the problem that your company or product provides a solution for.

2. To explain or introduce a concept

Slide decks being used to explain a concept is something that I believe we have all experienced in schools or colleges.

With smart classrooms, the blackboards have found their place in restaurants and cafes and presentations have made their way to now be a widely used way of delivering lectures.  

3. To share one’s opinions or views

Be it in conferences or competitions or even in your college when you are presenting on a topic, it is mostly with the purpose of sharing your opinions, views, or findings through slide decks.

How do you create a deck in PowerPoint?

When it comes to creating decks in PowerPoint, there are two things that we need to take a look into, the technical aspects and the aesthetic ones. 

When we talk about the technical aspect of creating a deck in PowerPoint, we mean ensuring that you have the software installed in your system, be it a laptop or even your phone.

Head to AppStore or play store and install it. 

Though we have been taught how to create PowerPoint presentations since very early days, we still suggest you take a minute and understand the various features offered by the software like the layouts, themes, and more. Having an understanding of some of the basic features can help you in creating a basic template easily!

If, however, you are looking for ways to create a slide deck other than on PowerPont, then head to some of the most resourceful sites that provide you with a number of templates!

A few such sites are Canva , Evanto , and more

Now when we talk about the Aesthetics of creating a PowerPoint, we first need to accept and appreciate the fact that the aesthetics or look of your presentation can add extra points to your entire presentation. 

We have a list of 5 tips for the same. And if you follow them, you will surely be able to find an answer to..

Why are PowerPoint presentations effective?

A few tips for creating presentations:

1. Less is more

We have all heard this one a gazillion times and more, especially when it comes to Powerpoint presentations, Less is more!

Provide very precise information in your PowerPoint. To make your points short. You can stick to using the 5 by 5 model . The model suggests that you must not add more than 5 points to a slide. And each point must contain no more than 5 words. 

If you still have no idea what you should add, try adding your headings and subheadings in your PowerPoint to make it more on point.

2. Quality over quantity 

Again, adding less content doesn’t mean that you compromise on the quality of information that you share through your presentation. Add short points that make sense and add value to your audience or help in putting your point across in the best way possible. 

3. Keep the curiosity alive

What does it mean when we say keep the curiosity alive? We mean, try not to share your entire slide to your audience in one go. Add effects or transitions to focus only on the point you are speaking on at that point. 

We can say the same in the case of adding too much information to your PowerPoint. Do not add big paragraphs as you shatter your viewer’s curiosity who thanks to you ar enow more engrossed in reading the slides than listening to your presentation. 

4. Neutralize your PowerPoint

By neutralizing we mean adding complementing slides to your PowerPoint decks. If you have selected a more dark theme, try neutralizing it with light-toned slides even if it is used as a transition slide. 

5. Add visuals as and when possible

Ask yourself, can the information that you have added in your PowerPoint presentation be presented in the form of a graph, a table, or a diagram? If yes, then always choose to do it. Switch to visuals as it not only makes your content crisper but also is more appealing to the viewers.

This brings us to our next point, 

Why PowerPoint presentations are not effective?

There are many reasons why PowerPoint can not be very effective. We have listed down about 3 reasons here. Go over them and try to not make the same blunders if you want to be an effective presenter!

1. Tons of Content

Adding more content to your slide may indeed help you remember the content better but it might bore the audience to death.

So just as we discussed, try to add content to your presentations in the form of short pointers. Or least try to make use of keywords and avoid writing entire paragraphs about your topic on the PowerPoint presentation.

An example of what simply copy-pasting a paragraph from your speech to PowerPoint could look like.

2. Poor color/ theme

The last thing we want is for the audience to struggle reading or seeing what we are trying to show them through the presentation. And this situation can possibly happen when there was little to no thought put into either selecting the right theme or use of overlapping colors.

Check out the example below if you want to take a look at what we are talking about!

3. Poor font choice

Another way of making it difficult for your audience to understand your presentation is by using fonts like the one shown in the picture below. Such fonts may surely be a little different, and to some extent aesthetic but it requires lots of effort from the viewers to actually understand what is written on the slide!

Final words

Let us try to summarize the entire blog for you in a couple of lines.

So essentially call it decks, slide decks, or presentation decks, they all mean the same. It is simply a collection of slides. And when such a collection is made on Microsoft’s PowerPoint, what do we call it?

Yes! you guessed it right (Hopefully?)

It is called PowerPoint decks or slide decks on PowerPoint.

There are tons of ways of making a PowerPoint deck. However, focusing on the template, and theme, and adding precise and quality content can help you go a long way.

That’s about it for now! Check out Frantically Speaking for more information on similar topics.

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What is a Presentation Deck? Everything About Different Presentations

• By Aayush Jain
• Posted December 14, 2023
• in Presentations

Imagine walking into a room, ready to impress an audience with your ideas. That’s where a Presentation Deck comes in – it’s your secret weapon for storytelling and persuasion. Whether you’re pitching an idea, sharing insights, or educating a crowd, think of it as a collection of slides. There are a variety of presentation decks that cater to every scenario, from corporate pitches to educational lectures to creative showcases, all designed to engage, inform, and inspire. This is the world of presentation decks, where every slide has the potential to make a lasting impression!

What is a Presentation Deck?

You use a Presentation Deck to share information, ideas, or data visually. It’s a digital storytelling tool you use in the workplace and in school. Using this deck, complex information becomes easier to understand because every slide works together to form a cohesive narrative.

Significance of a Presentation Deck

An effective presentation deck transforms concepts into visuals. It’s not just about displaying data, it’s about telling a story that connects with people. A well-crafted deck can make presentations more effective by highlighting key points, supporting spoken words with visual aids, and keeping the audience engaged.

The Role of a Presentation Deck in Business Communication

You can use a presentation deck to pitch ideas to investors, share annual reports with stakeholders, train employees, or share strategies with your team. The deck is crucial for communicating business goals and strategies clearly and persuasively, so it’s an important tool for making decisions, sharing info, and influencing people.

Difference Between a Pitch Deck and an Investor Deck

• Pitch Deck: This is your business’s first impression. It’s a concise, engaging presentation used primarily for initial meetings. Rather than focusing on the nitty-gritty details of your business model or product, you should focus on capturing attention and creating excitement.
• Investor Deck: The investor deck comes after you’ve captured investors’ interest. It’s a detailed presentation that goes over the details of your business plan. It’s got financials, market analysis, growth strategy, and a long-term vision for your company. Using it, you’ll give potential investors a complete picture of your business, so they’ll be able to make informed decisions.

Features of a Pitch Deck

A pitch deck is a concise presentation used by entrepreneurs to provide their audience, typically potential investors, with a quick overview of their business plan. Here are the key features that should be included in a pitch deck:

Engaging and Story-driven

Your pitch deck should not just present facts but tell a compelling story about your business. This involves weaving a narrative that covers where your business started, where it is now, and where you see it going.The story should be relatable, capturing the struggles, successes, and aspirations of your business. This approach helps create an emotional connection with your audience, making them more invested in your idea.

Simple and Clear

Clarity is crucial in a pitch deck. The information should be presented in a straightforward and easily digestible manner. Avoid industry jargon or overly technical language unless necessary. Each slide should focus on one main idea, ensuring that your audience can quickly grasp your points without feeling overwhelmed.

Attractive Visuals

The design of your pitch deck plays a significant role in maintaining the audience’s attention. Use high-quality visuals and ensure that the design is consistent throughout the deck. This includes using a harmonious color scheme, readable fonts, and clear, impactful images or graphics. The visual elements should complement and reinforce the narrative, not distract from it.

Solution-Focused

Clearly articulate the problem your business aims to solve and why this problem is significant. Then, demonstrate how your product or service provides a unique and effective solution. This section should highlight the benefits and value your business brings, making it clear why your solution stands out in the market.

Highlighting Key Business Aspects

Your pitch deck should succinctly cover critical aspects of your business. This includes:

• Business Model : Explain how your business makes money. Include your pricing strategy, revenue streams, and any unique aspects of your business operations.
• Target Market: Define your target audience. Include demographics, psychographics, and any relevant behaviors or trends that make them an ideal customer for your product or service.
• Competitive Advantage: Discuss what sets your business apart from competitors. This could be your technology, team expertise, partnerships, proprietary data, or any other unique strengths.

Financial Projections

Present realistic financial projections that show potential growth and profitability. If you’re seeking funding, be clear about how much you need, what you will use it for, and what investors will get in return.

Call to Action

End with a clear call to action. Whether you’re seeking funding, partnerships, or just looking to build connections, be explicit about what you want from your audience following the presentation.

What Makes an Investor Deck Stand Out?

An outstanding Investor Deck not only informs but also impresses potential investors by demonstrating a deep understanding of your business and its place in the market. Here’s a look at the elements that make an Investor Deck stand out:

Detailed Financials

• Present comprehensive financial data, including historical revenues, profits, and cash flow if applicable.
• Include detailed projections for the next 3-5 years, showing expected growth and scalability.
• Break down your use of funds, specifying how you plan to allocate investment capital.
• Financial metrics should be realistic, well-researched, and based on sound assumptions.

Market Analysis:

• Conduct an in-depth analysis of your target market, including size, growth rate, demographics, and behavior patterns.
• Discuss market trends, and how your business is positioned to capitalize on these trends.
• Perform a thorough competitive analysis, showcasing your understanding of your competitors and your business’s unique positioning.
• Highlight any market research or validation that supports your business model.

Growth Strategy:

• Clearly articulate your strategy for growth, explaining how you plan to acquire and retain customers .
• Detail your roadmap for scaling operations, including any expansions into new markets or product lines.
• Discuss marketing strategies and sales channels you’ll use to drive growth.
• Show how your growth strategy aligns with industry trends and market demands.

Team Profiles:

• Introduce key team members, emphasizing their relevant experience, expertise, and accomplishments.
• Highlight how each team member’s skills contribute to the success of the business.
• If there are gaps in your team, acknowledge them and discuss plans for future hires or how you will fill these gaps.
• Include advisors or mentors who add value to your business through their experience and network.

Risk Assessment:

• Identify potential risks that could impact your business, including market risks, competitive risks, operational risks, and financial risks.
• Present strategies for mitigating each identified risk, showing that you are prepared for various scenarios.
• Discuss the regulatory landscape, if relevant, and how you plan to navigate it.
• Include contingency plans for unforeseen events or challenges

Different Types of Presentation Decks

Report presentation decks.

Report Presentation Decks are integral in academic, corporate, or organizational environments, primarily used for conveying detailed results, findings, or updates. As a result of their structured, formal format, these decks can provide complex information in an easy-to-understand manner. Charts and graphs are included to visually represent data, along with clear headings and subheadings that organize the content. These decks often encompass a comprehensive approach, including methodologies used, results obtained, and conclusions drawn, making them ideal for detailed reporting on research findings, project status updates, annual reports, or performance evaluations. They are commonly utilized in academic conferences, corporate board meetings, or situations requiring a systematic presentation of data and conclusions.

Product Presentation Decks

Product Presentation Decks are designed to introduce and highlight a new product to clients, investors, or internal teams. The focus of these decks is to showcase the product vividly and persuasively. They typically feature high-quality images or renderings of the product, clearly outlined key features, and details on market positioning and the target audience. An emphasis is placed on the benefits the product offers to customers. To add credibility, customer testimonials or case studies can be included. These decks are particularly useful for product launches, sales meetings, and marketing campaigns, as they provide a comprehensive overview of the product’s capabilities and market potential, tailored to engage and convince the target audience.

Business Stats Presentation Decks

Business Stats Presentation Decks are essential in making complex business data and statistics accessible and understandable. These decks are heavily data-driven, incorporating various forms of data visualization such as infographics, charts, and graphs to present data clearly and engagingly. They focus on delivering key business insights through a concise and uncluttered presentation of data, often including comparative analyses to highlight trends and patterns. These decks are beneficial for business strategy meetings, financial reviews, and market analyses, where it’s crucial to communicate data effectively to inform decision-making processes. They help in breaking down complex data into manageable insights, facilitating a better understanding of business performance and market dynamics.

Sales Pitch Decks

Sales Pitch Decks are a vital tool for sales teams, used in presenting a product or service to potential clients. The core objective of these decks is to persuade the client by showcasing how the product or service effectively meets their specific needs or solves their problems. The content is tailored to be persuasive, focusing on the benefits of the product/service rather than just its features. These decks often include real-world examples, case studies, or success stories to demonstrate the effectiveness of the offering. A clear call-to-action is an essential component, guiding potential clients toward the next steps in the sales process. Sales Pitch Decks are adaptable and can be customized for different client profiles or industries, making them a versatile tool in various sales scenarios.

Investor Pitch Decks

Investor Pitch Decks are crucial for startups and businesses seeking investment. They are crafted to convince investors of the business idea’s viability and growth potential. These decks narrate a compelling story about the company, highlighting its mission, vision, and unique value proposition. They provide a thorough market analysis, showcasing the business’s understanding of the market trends, competition, and growth potential. Details of the business model, revenue streams, and financial projections are presented to give investors a clear picture of the business’s financial health and prospects.

Additionally, these decks include information about the management team, emphasizing their expertise and ability to drive the business forward. Investor Pitch Decks are indispensable in scenarios like startup pitch events, meetings with venture capitalists, and discussions with potential investors, where attracting investment is the primary goal.

What is the Difference Between a Slide Deck and a Slideshow?

• Slide Deck: It refers to the collection of slides themselves, like a stack of cards. Each slide contains text, images, charts, and other elements. “Deck” refers to a presentation’s material and content, rather than a stack of slides.
• Slideshow: This is more about the presentation of the slide deck. It’s the act of displaying the slide deck, usually in a sequence, often with transitions and animations. If you hear ‘slideshow’, think of it as a dynamic, interactive presentation, presented in person or online.

In summary, the slide deck is what you prepare (the slides themselves), and the slideshow is how you present it to others.

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Frequently Asked Questions:

A deck presentation is a collection of slides used to visually communicate information, ideas, or data. Think of it as a digital flipbook, each slide being a page that helps tell a story or present an argument. It’s widely used in business, education, and various professional settings.

The term “deck” is a general term that refers to any slide presentation, regardless of the software used to create it. PowerPoint presentation, on the other hand, specifically refers to a deck created using Microsoft PowerPoint.

So, all PowerPoint presentations are decks, but not all decks are PowerPoint presentations (as they can be made with other software like Google Slides or Keynote).

• Keep it concise: Stick to key points and avoid cluttering slides with too much text.
• Use visuals: Incorporate images, graphs, and charts to make your points clearer and more engaging.
• Maintain consistency: Use a consistent color scheme, font style, and layout throughout the deck.
• Start strong: Begin with an engaging introduction to hook your audience.
• Tell a story: Structure your presentation in a way that logically flows from one point to the next.
• Practice delivery: A good deck also depends on how well it’s presented.

The number of slides in a deck varies depending on the content and purpose. Generally, a good rule is to keep it as short as possible while effectively conveying your message. For most presentations, 10 to 20 slides should be enough. Remember, it’s about quality, not quantity. Each slide should serve a purpose and add value to your presentation

A deck presentation is a collection of slides used to visually communicate information, ideas, or data. Think of it as a digital flipbook, each slide being a page that helps tell a story or present an argument. It’s widely used in business, education, and various professional settings.

The term “deck” is a general term that refers to any slide presentation, regardless of the software used to create it. PowerPoint presentation, on the other hand, specifically refers to a deck created using Microsoft PowerPoint.

• Practice delivery: A good deck also depends on how well it’s presented.

The number of slides in a deck varies depending on the content and purpose. Generally, a good rule is to keep it as short as possible while effectively conveying your message. For most presentations, 10 to 20 slides should be enough. Remember, it’s about quality, not quantity. Each slide should serve a purpose and add value to your presentation

Aayush Jain

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6 steps to creating an effective presentation or slide deck

Creating powerful presentations and supporting documents for clients is the heart and soul of everything we do at Presentation Studio. As part of this, we see the good, the bad and the downright ugly !

One of the most common mistakes people make is to confuse a presentation and a report. Quite often, they’ll try and present a report.

Difference between a presentation and report

A presentation  includes carefully constructed and designed slides that support what a speaker is presenting. So, like a billboard on a highway, you should be able to digest the content on each slide within a few seconds without causing a pileup of information.

Visuals, keywords, infographics and diagrams are used to explain or create an emotional connection with your audience, so you can help them remember your key points.

A  report  or slide deck , on the other hand, can be used as a stand-alone document that you handout before or after you present.

Slide decks are great when you have more information than you can put on screen. Like a magazine, they can be read on their own and don’t need the speaker to talk through them – in fact, that would make understanding them worse as you can’t read lots of information and listen at the same time.

You can do both in most presentation software, but a presentation and a slide deck have different purposes. Ideally, you would present and then follow up your presentation with a report/slide deck of the supporting information.

To help show the difference between the two, let’s look at how you might take a large chunk of text from a word document (like above) and turn it into a handout and then an effective presentation.

HANDOUT TOOL [REPORT] 

Step 1: Convert text into multiple columns

The human eye finds narrow columns easier to read than full-width pages. That is why newspapers and magazines split the information up with visuals and columns, and graphic designers use grid layouts when setting copy pages.

So your first step would be to convert blocks of text into multiple columns that automatically adjust. This makes it easier for your audience to scan read.

Step 2: Contrast fonts and font size to emphasize points

To help the ‘readability’ of your information, make the titles bold, use line spacing to tighten up blocks of text that are related to each other. You might also look at highlight quotes in different colors, fonts or font sizes, and add in bullet points where you can.

This makes the information far more natural to scan and digest. That’s a perfect handout for before or after you present.

PRESENTATION 

Step 3: Cut the clutter 

Once this is done, you can start thinking about thinking your text into a presentation. It’s more important than ever to cut out all the clutter from your presentation. What gets left out of your presentation is more important than what goes in.

Some of us are apparently better at this than others. Many of us believe that sharing everything and blinding our audience with data is the best way to create a connection – that couldn’t be further from the truth! This will only put the people you are trying to engage off and make them lose interest faster.

You need to identify the main points that your audience can act on and display these in a way that they can immediately understand. Strip out all the other background content.

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Step 4: Spread out your slides 

Step 5: Represent data as diagrams 

Step 6: Create visuals, icons and images 

Images create an emotional connection to what you are saying, which helps your audience remember it. Think of the meaning or the feeling you are trying to evoke and represent that. Avoid hand-shaking figures, smiling suited people, little vector people standing on arrows and graphs, and predictable and boring stock images that have been used a hundred times before. Cheesy stock photos have the opposite effect than the one you want – they turn your audience off. This is your chance to get creative! Using these visual references helps create clarity and a much stronger emotional connection with your audience. It’s these kinds of emotions and visuals that they will remember long after your presentation has ended.

Quick summary

Before your next presentation, the following will help you create a powerful and pleasing slide deck:

• Covert text-heavy information into multiple columns
• Contrast font and font sizes to emphasize points, highlight headings with color
• Reduce the clutter
• Spread out your slides
• Represent data as diagrams
• Create visuals, icons and images
• Use a PowerPoint theme to make your presentations visually uniform and consistent

About the author

As the founder and CEO of Presentation Studio, Emma leads the team to create presentations that are influential, memorable and successful. Emma and her team can help you stand out so that your audience understands your message. She can help your presentations have impact and influence. This means the right messages are more memorable for your audience. Emma achieves this through content writing, visual communication, and strong presentation delivery.

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Crafting Compelling Slide Decks: A Comprehensive Guide to Presentation Excellence

Home / Interact Studio Stories & Articles / Crafting Compelling Slide Decks: A Comprehensive Guide to Presentation Excellence

In the digital age, crafting compelling slide decks and mastering the art of presentation is paramount. From understanding the essence of slide decks to navigating challenges and implementing effective strategies, the journey to presentation mastery is both an art and a science. Non-verbal cues, such as body language and voice modulation, are pivotal in amplifying your slides’ impact. The path to excellence is paved with dedication, continuous learning, and a genuine passion for connecting with audiences.

Presenters have become a cornerstone of effective communication in today’s digital age. Whether you’re pitching a business idea, conducting a workshop, or delivering a keynote, the power of your slide deck can make or break your message. At Interact Studio, we understand the nuances of crafting slide decks that resonate, captivate, and inspire.

The Essence of Slide Decks in Modern Communication

Challenges in slide deck creation.

• The Reality of Limited Resources: Whether you’re a startup pitching to investors or a teacher preparing for a class, budget constraints are a common hurdle. Professional design software, high-quality images, and designer hiring can strain limited resources.
• Balancing Quality and Cost: While opting for free or cheaper alternatives is tempting, there’s often a trade-off regarding quality. The challenge lies in finding a balance that upholds the integrity and effectiveness of the presentation.
• Creative Solutions: Budget limitations can be a catalyst for creativity. It pushes presenters to think outside the box, utilize available resources innovatively, and even explore DIY design solutions.
• No One-size-fits-all Approach: Every topic, audience, and presenter is unique. This diversity means that a template or design that works for one presentation might not suit another.
• Staying Authentic: While it’s easy to get inspired by popular slide decks or trending designs, ensuring the plan aligns with the presenter’s identity and the message’s essence is crucial.
• Continuous Evolution: As with all forms of art and communication, design trends evolve. Staying updated and adapting to these changes while maintaining a distinct voice is a continuous challenge.
• The Clock is Ticking: There’s a strict time limit, especially in formal settings like conferences or business pitches. This constraint means that every slide, every word, and every visual must be purposeful.
• Trimming the Excess: One of the most challenging tasks is deciding what to cut. Every piece of information might seem essential, but prioritizing key messages is crucial to staying within time limits.
• Rehearsal is Key: Beyond designing the slide deck, presenters must rehearse to ensure they can deliver their content effectively within the allotted time. This often means refining slides based on rehearsal feedback to optimize flow and timing.
• Slide decks are the backbone of modern communication .
• Budgetary constraints , diversity in design , and time limitations are common challenges.
• Custom backgrounds , font selection , and tasteful animations enhance slide engagement.
• Every slide should focus on one idea for clarity.
• High-quality images elevate presentation aesthetics.
• Non-verbal cues , like eye contact and posture, amplify message impact.
• Rehearsing and feedback are crucial for presentation refinement.
• Authentic connections with the audience enhance relatability.
• Self-reflection and goal-setting guide growth.
• Resources and tools aid in honing presentation skills.

Strategies for Crafting Engaging Slides

• Stand Out from the Crowd: Using stock backgrounds can lead to presentations that look generic. A custom background sets your slide deck apart, giving it a unique identity.
• Align with Your Message: The background should resonate with the theme of your presentation. Whether it’s a corporate pitch or a creative workshop, the backdrop should enhance, not distract.
• Sources and Inspiration: Beyond stock photo sites, consider using abstract art, digital patterns, or even your photography. Tools like Canva or Adobe Spark can help create bespoke backgrounds tailored to your needs.
• First Impressions Count: Your chosen font can evoke emotions and set the tone. A playful font might not be suitable for a severe business presentation, just as a formal font might seem out of place in a children’s workshop.
• Readability is Key: While decorative fonts might look appealing, they can be hard to read, especially from a distance. Ensure your font is legible on all devices and screen sizes.
• Consistency Across Slides: Too many fonts can make your presentation look disjointed. Stick to a primary font for headings and a secondary one for content, ensuring harmony throughout.
• Subtlety Over Spectacle: While it’s tempting to use flashy animations, they can often distract from the message. Opt for subtle transitions that complement the flow of your content.
• Purposeful Movement: Every animation should have a purpose, whether to emphasize a point, guide the viewer’s eye, or indicate a transition to a new topic.
• Test and Refine: What looks smooth on one device might be jarring on another. Test your animations on multiple platforms and adjust based on feedback.
• Clarity and Focus: Bombarding your audience with multiple ideas on one slide can lead to confusion. Dedicating each slide to a single concept allows for clear comprehension and retention.
• Narrative Flow: This approach also aids in storytelling. As you move from slide to slide, you’re taking your audience on a journey, building your narrative one idea at a time.
• Visual Breathing Space: A cluttered slide can be visually overwhelming. By focusing on one idea, you can use visuals, whitespace, and layout more effectively, making the slide aesthetically pleasing.
• Rights and Permissions: Always ensure you have the right to use an image. Platforms like Unsplash or Pexels offer high-quality, royalty-free images suitable for presentations.
• Relevance is Crucial: An image should enhance or illustrate your point, not just fill space. Choose images that resonate with your content and audience.
• Optimization and Presentation: High-resolution images can make your presentation file bulky and slow to load. Optimize images for the best balance between quality and file size. Also, consider the placement, cropping, and overlays or filters to ensure the image integrates seamlessly with your slide’s design.

The Power of Non-verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication is a silent orchestra that plays a pivotal role in presentations. It’s not just what you say but how you present yourself.

• Building Trust: Maintaining eye contact with your audience establishes a connection and builds trust. It shows you’re engaged, confident, and genuinely interested in conveying your message.
• Guiding Attention: Your eyes can guide your audience’s attention. You can subtly emphasize points or direct focus by looking at the screen, a particular slide, or a specific audience member.
• Conveying Confidence: Standing tall with shoulders back exudes confidence and authority. It tells your audience that you believe in what you’re saying.
• Purposeful Movement: Pacing can emphasize points, but it should be intentional. Aimless wandering can be distracting. Using the stage area effectively can help in storytelling and transitioning between ideas.
• Enhancing Expression: Hand gestures can amplify your words, visually representing your thoughts. They can emphasize, explain, or even contradict what’s being said verbally.
• Avoiding Overuse: While gestures are powerful, overusing or relying on repetitive movements can dilute their impact. It’s essential to be natural and varied in your gestures.
• Reflecting Emotions: Your face mirrors your emotions. A smile can convey warmth and approachability, while a frown can emphasize a serious point. Being aware of your facial expressions ensures they align with your message.
• Engaging the Audience: Expressive faces are more engaging. They draw the audience in, making your presentation more memorable.
• Variety in Tone: A monotone voice can be monotonous for listeners. Varying your pitch, speed, and volume can make your delivery more dynamic and engaging.
• Pauses for Emphasis: Strategic breaks can give weight to specific points, allow the audience to absorb information, and give you moments to breathe and gather your thoughts.

Incorporating these non-verbal cues effectively can elevate your presentation, making it more impactful and memorable. Remember, it’s a dance between the spoken and the unspoken, and mastering this balance can set you apart as a presenter.

The Journey to Presentation Mastery

• Adapting to Trends: The world of presentations is ever-evolving. New technologies, design trends, and audience preferences emerge regularly. Staying updated and being open to change is crucial.
• Feedback is Gold: Constructive criticism is a presenter’s best friend. Whether from colleagues, mentors, or audience members, feedback provides insights into areas of improvement and strengths.
• Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse: Familiarity with content boosts confidence. Rehearsing multiple times ensures smooth delivery, helps in time management, and reduces the chances of unexpected hiccups.
• Diverse Audiences: Practicing in front of different groups, be it friends, family, or colleagues, can offer varied feedback and prepare you for various audience reactions.
• Know Your Audience: Understanding who you’re presenting to allows you to tailor your content, tone, and delivery style. It fosters a connection, making your presentation more relatable and impactful.
• Engage and Interact: Presentations are not monologues. Encouraging questions, discussions, or polls can make your session interactive and memorable.
• Assessing Strengths and Weaknesses: Regularly evaluating your presentation skills helps recognize areas you excel in and aspects that need attention.
• Setting Goals: Whether improving slide design, mastering voice modulation, or enhancing audience engagement, setting specific goals can guide your growth journey.
• Stay Equipped: From advanced presentation software to workshops and courses, numerous resources can aid in honing your skills.
• Joining Communities: Presentation-focused communities, both online and offline, offer platforms for knowledge exchange, networking, and staying updated with the latest trends.

The path to presentation mastery is paved with dedication, continuous learning, and a genuine passion for connecting with audiences. At Interact Studio, our commitment is to guide, support, and empower you on this fulfilling journey, ensuring that every presentation you deliver resonates, captivates, and inspires.

Crafting a compelling slide deck is both an art and a science. By understanding the core principles, addressing challenges, and implementing effective strategies, you set the stage for presentation success. At Interact Studio, we’re committed to empowering you with the tools and insights needed to shine in every presentation.

How Interact Studio Can Assist:

• Executive Communications Coaching: Tailored sessions to refine your presentation style, ensuring you convey authority and authenticity.
• Team Presentation Coaching: Collaborative workshops to harmonize team presentations, ensuring a unified and impactful delivery.
• Custom Solutions: Bespoke coaching solutions tailored to unique presentation challenges and industries.
• Authentic Speaking Workshops: Master the art of genuine communication, resonating deeply with your audience.
• Continuous Learning Resources: Access many articles, tools, and resources to aid your presentation mastery journey.

Ready to transform your presentations from mundane to mesmerizing? 

Dive into a journey of authentic speaking and impactful delivery with Interact Studio. Elevate your skills, captivate your audience, and make every presentation memorable. 

Reach out to Interact Studio today and unlock your true presentation potential!

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10 Corporate Deck Examples & Templates (That Stand Out)

Get tips for creating an impressive corporate pitch deck, see high-performing corporate slide deck examples, and grab a battle-tested corporate deck template.

8 minute read

helped business professionals at:

Short answer

What does a corporate deck include.

A typical corporate deck includes the following elements:

• Introduction (UVP + hook)
• Problem (your market segment has)
• Solution (you have that no one can copy)
• Market size and opportunity
• Business and revenue model
• Traction and validation
• Marketing/growth strategy
• Team (authority & experience)
• Investment and use of funds

Without an outstanding deck, you won't get funded.

The highly competitive business landscape makes it challenging to impress investors with your pitch. Countless hours spent crafting the perfect pitch may not be enough.

If you don't have a well-crafted corporate deck, you risk losing investors and missing out on the funding your business needs to succeed.

Read on to learn the key components of a winning corporate deck and get insights from templated corporate deck examples that have successfully secured funding for other companies. Let’s go!

What is a corporate deck?

A corporate deck, or corporate pitch deck, is a presentation designed to convey the essential aspects of a business to potential investors, partners, or stakeholders. A corporate deck includes slides that outline the company's business model, products or services, target market, competition, team, financials, and growth strategy.

What is the goal of a corporate deck?

The goal of a corporate deck is to secure their investment, partnership, or stakeholder buy-in. To achieve this objective, corporate pitch decks should be heavily focused on showing the impact of the product, service or initiative on market-share, growth, and revenue.

If you're looking for other types of business presentations, check out our dedicated guides:

• Make a Sales Pitch Deck That Turns ‘Maybe’ to ‘Yes!’
• Create a Sales One-Pager (Examples, Writing Tips, Templates)
• Make a Winning Business Proposal Presentation in 12 Steps
• How to Create a Marketing Deck (Strategy, Tips & Templates)

Why most corporate decks fail (and how to avoid it)

The hard truth is that 99% of corporate decks fail to impress investors. That's a staggering statistic, but it's not surprising given the common pitfalls that many companies fall into when creating their presentations.

Here are the reasons why corporate decks fail and how to avoid these mistakes:

1. They use static slides that kill engagement

Static slides are engagement killers - there’s no option to visualize your data, include an actionable CTA, or deliver a pleasant reader experience on a mobile device.

Reengage your audience by incorporating interactive elements into your deck. Things such as videos, animations, clickable charts, or interactive ROI calculators.

Interactive content allows investors to explore the data on their own at their preferred pace. And when you allow investors to interact with your presentation, you’re increasing the chances of them reading it in full by 41% .

2. They offer facts rather than tell a story

Corporate slide decks that rely too heavily on listing out facts and figures are dry and tiring.

Instead of spouting facts, structure your deck around a compelling narrative that captures investors' attention and makes them care about your mission and vision.

If you’re not sure how to get started, here’s a video on how to improve storytelling in a pitch deck:

3. They are generic and fail to personalize

Investors are swamped with corporate decks on a daily basis, and they can smell generic from a mile away.

If you truly want to stand out from the crowd, you need to do your research ahead of time to understand the specific needs of your target audience.

By understanding what matters most to them, you can create a presentation that speaks directly to their concerns and demonstrates how your company can deliver value. Personalization gets 68% more people to read your deck in full .

4. They fail to use behavior data to continually optimize

Make sure you’re making data-driven decks instead of flying blind. If you’re sending out PDFs or PowerPoints that collect zero data about how readers engage with your deck there’s no way you’ll ever achieve a top performing deck.

The good news is that Storydoc decks collect insight on how your audience interacts with your deck, down to the slide and even button level. Where they skip, where they linger and when they share it with other decision-makers. Imagine what you could do with this info!

Corporate deck examples that stand out

A beautiful corporate presentation deck is a basic requirement - it’s not gonna make you stand out.

To create a deck that drives real results you’ll wanna take a close look at our list of the top corporate deck examples.

These corporate deck samples were all created using Storydoc and have been optimized for high engagement.

And the best part? All the examples are templated, which means you can use any of them to create your best-performing corporate deck in minutes!

Jump ahead to each example:

Startup pitch deck

What makes this deck great:

• The cover slide video enhances interaction, increasing engagement by up to 32% . This boosts the chances of potential investors reading the deck in its entirety and taking the desired action at the end.
• The roadmap slide offers a clear and concise presentation of your start-up’s journey. Meanwhile, various data visualization elements are perfect for demonstrating financial projections, proving that your business is making progress.
• The calendar integration on the final slide simplifies the process for investors to schedule the next meeting immediately after going through your corporate deck.

Light mode invest pitch deck

• The minimalist design makes your deck easy to follow even for those unfamiliar with the industry.
• With image and video placeholders , showcasing your solution and how it solves problems is effortless, without relying on complicated terminology.
• The interactive slides showcase the team behind your solution, illustrating their capability to steer it towards success.

Light mode product pitch deck

• The powerful personalization features enable you to produce an infinite number of versions of your deck in just a few clicks, resulting in 68% more people reading it entirely .
• The AI assistant lets you create relevant visuals or copy for the corporate pitch deck in just a few clicks.
• The intuitive editor automatically extracts the essential visuals of your company, ensuring that your deck maintains its brand consistency.

Investor pitch deck

• The fresh, contemporary design is sure to capture the attention of potential investors, particularly in trend-led industries.
• The perfect balance of text-based slides and engaging visuals enables you to present your key metrics while providing necessary context.
• The scroll-based interactive design facilitates explaining your solution to potential investors and guides them through a compelling narrative.

Pitch deck essentials

• The compact design makes it easy to communicate essential information in fewer slides, saving the investors' time.
• Various interactive slides provide potential investors with all the critical insights at first glance. By clicking through tabs, they can discover more about your solution, enhancing their engagement.
• The smart CTAs allow you to incorporate a live chat widget or calendar, smoothly directing potential investors to the next step.

Product pitch deck

• The combination of visual slides is ideal for presenting the product's primary features and use cases without overloading investors with walls of text.
• Videos that can be embedded and played directly from the deck allow you to include case studies from past customers to legitimize your product.
• An easy, intuitive editor ensures complete control over your presentation. If you release a new product version or make a typo in the specs, you can quickly make the necessary tweaks at any time, even after sending your deck.
• Powerful interactive design that doesn't detract from the main message. By using our running numbers slides and data visualization elements, you can present key metrics or financial projections to potential investors in an eye-catching, easy-to-understand format.
• Several data visualization elements that can be customized to your specific use case. You can also add real-time variables to your charts.
• The dynamic content allows your audience to interact with the deck. For example, you can embed an interactive ROI calculator that they can fill out to determine if they're getting their money's worth.

General invest pitch deck

• The versatile components make it suitable for pre-seed, seed, or series A funding. It includes all the necessary corporate deck elements that you can use to create a master deck.
• The ability to add customizable fields that can be filled in within seconds, making it possible to personalize your corporate deck at scale.
• The intuitive, user-friendly editor ensures that anything you add automatically adjusts to the overall deck layout. This means you don't have to worry about breaking the design.

Creative pitch deck

• The attention-grabbing design , featuring vibrant colors and animated elements, can convert casual scrollers into engaged readers.
• The fully interactive layout of this corporate deck increases interaction and extends the average reading time.
• The combination of visual and data visualization slides enables you to showcase snippets of your portfolio while emphasizing the most crucial metrics.

Bonus: successful corporate deck example by a Storydoc client

Finally, we left the best for last - a real-life corporate deck example created for one of our clients operating in the medical cannabis industry. It has been designed according to the best practices for creating a powerful corporate deck and delivered outstanding results.

• The running numbers slides enable readers to quickly and easily access the most critical metrics.
• The roadmap slide provides a clear and concise visualization of the company's current growth and significant milestones.
• The narrator slide simplifies complex financial metrics by directing the reader's attention to the exact numbers they should be focusing on at any given time.

How to create a corporate deck that stands out?

Putting together a corporate deck that leaves an impression and gets buy-in takes a lot of time and effort (and know-how) to get right.

But the truth is this task does not have to be so daunting. You can dramatically cut down the time and effort involved by leveraging corporate deck templates .

We have some tried and tested corporate pitch deck templates for you that are optimized for engagement and designed for making a lasting impression.

Make your best deck ever.

How to measure the effectiveness of a corporate deck.

To create a highly performing deck in the top 1%, it’s critical to measure performance, identify problems, and fix them.

Key corporate deck performance metrics to measure and optimize:

• Open rate: Measure the percentage of investors who open your corporate deck to understand how effective your deck is at generating initial interest.
• Reading time: Measure the total amount of time viewers spend reading your deck to gauge their level of interest.
• Engagement: Track how long viewers stay on each slide, how often they interact with the deck, or where they drop off to determine which parts of your corporate deck are most captivating and identify areas for improvement.
• CTA conversion rate: Measure the percentage of investors who take the desired action, such as scheduling a meeting, after viewing your corporate deck.

Here's a short video explaining how to get started with our analytics panel:

What is the best tool for making a corporate deck?

The best tool for making a corporate deck is intuitive, has lots of ready-made templates, and provides an outcome that stands out.

There are 2 types of tools on the market, legacy tools and next-generation tools, but only the next-gen tools will help you stand out.

Legacy tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides, Canva, and Visme will make same-old decks. But our own next-gen corporate deck creator makes interactive content experiences that make an impression.

Grab a template and see for yourself -

Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

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What is a Pitch Deck Presentation? and how to create one

A beginner’s guide to the pitch deck meaning

This article will guide you through understanding what is a pitch deck presentation, and empower you to create a compelling one that aligns with your company goals.

What is pitch deck?

A pitch deck is a 10-20 slide business presentation designed to give a short summary of your company, your business model, your traction, and your startup vision. A pitch deck can be used for several purposes, from trying to get a meeting with an investor, to presenting in front of an audience during a demo day.

Different scenarios and time constraints allow adding more or less information, but the basic structure remains similar. The pitch deck definition can be summarized as the following: the story of a startup, its milestones, and its ability for exponential growth.

The story of a startup, its milestones, and its ability for exponential growth.

When do you need a pitch presentation?

A pitch deck is usually needed at several stages of a startup’s life. Most US accelerator programs will require you to submit a pitch deck of your company as part of the initial screening process. If you’re admitted to one of these programs, they will also have what is called “pitch practice” that basically consists of pitching sessions where the founders of each startup take turns and rehearse presenting their deck out loud. These sessions are meant to prepare founders for the accelerator demo day, where all companies from the batch present in front of an audience of stakeholders including investors and program managers.

The most common use of a presentation deck, however, is when companies decide to raise venture capital from investors. It has become an industry standard to use a pitch deck when having interactions with investors, whether as a send-out document that is shared prior to meeting in person or to go over your value proposition if you get an actual meeting with them. This deck presentation serves a dual purpose: it allows investors to quickly go over your business proposal in a way that’s easier for them to assess the investment opportunity, but it also forces you to think about the building blocks of your company and pen down key pieces of information about your startup.

What should be in a Pitch Deck Presentation?

A number of authors, venture capitalists, startup founders and evangelists have created different versions of what they consider required elements to successful pitching presentations. Most of them agree on the following:

Pitch Deck Structure:

• Product/Features
• Market Size
• Business Model
• Competition
• Go-To-Market
• Traction / Milestones
• Fundraising/Use of Funds‍

These core sections actually follow a deliberate structure that goes from general to specific, from providing the context for the business opportunity to explaining why this company can fill in a market gap.

If you’re looking for pitch deck examples you can check out our curated gallery of pitch deck templates here .

While this structure is pretty much a common denominator in the startup ecosystem, it is worth noting that companies at different stages will adapt their storytelling to better fit their strengths. Because they have little to no traction, early-stage startups usually rely more heavily on the problem-solution sections, the market opportunity, and being first-to-market. Later-stage companies on the other hand bet more aggressively on showcasing their revenue traction, their financials, and the ability to grow the business if more capital is injected into the business.

Regardless of the size of the company or the milestones to date, the ultimate goal of a pitch deck presentation is to provide a blueprint for how the startup works, its strengths, and future growth opportunities.

The ultimate goal of a pitch deck presentation is to provide a blueprint for how the startup works, its strengths, and future growth opportunities.

Are there different types of pitch decks?

More than different pitch decks per se, there are different types of pitching needs or scenarios, and so the basic narrative is adapted to fit different time constraints and content requirements. There’s no universal rulebook when it comes to pitch deck types, but here are some of the most common pitch deck types:

• Elevator pitch deck: a super summarized version of your pitch deck. As the name suggests, the idea is that this pitch should be delivered during an elevator ride with an investor. While this is obviously figuratively speaking, elevator pitches are usually covered in 2-3 minutes, they should leave out any granularity, and they should focus on the most essential pieces of information.
• Demo day pitch deck: typically a little longer than an elevator pitch, but similarly falling under the short-ish side of the spectrum. Demo days usually jam together entire batches of startups and thus constrain each founder to keep their presentation under 5 minutes or so. They are usually presented in large auditoriums so they should have as little text as possible and make things more visually appealing by means of photos/images.
• Full investor deck: This is what you would normally find when looking for whats a pitch deck. This is the archetypical pitch deck , and the most widely used. It is a full-length presentation that showcases your company for an investor to review and assess your fundability. This is a more in-depth look at all the aspects of your startup, from business model and go-to-market strategy to financial projections and fundraising needs. These decks usually range from 15-20 slides, and they provide a full picture of your business. These decks are sometimes shared so people can review them without a presenter, so they allow the addition of more information. They can also be used to guide an in-person meeting and help the founder highlight traction data that would otherwise be trickier to explain verbally. ‍
• Investor data room: An investor data room is a digital compilation of all the due diligence of a startup as the closing of an investment approaches It extends beyond the pitch deck and covers other important documents that validate your company’s credibility and support the information shared throughout the deck. When an enterprise wants to buy a company, this information helps investors ensure everything is in order. In the investor data room, investors check that everything you pitch is real: your legal structure, your contracts, stock vesting agreements, trademarks, and financial data. For more information on this topic, you can check this article .

What makes a good pitch deck?

A good pitch deck successfully combines these key ingredients:

• Good story structure - storytelling arch: When it comes to pitch decks, the order in which you present your information is almost as important as the actual information on the slides. The information should follow a sequence that makes sense to grasp the full scope of your business. Most, if not all of the storytelling best practices for public speaking apply to the context of telling business stories. ‍
• Easily understandable: Closely related to the previous point, the information on the slides should be easy to understand and follow. This means the information should be phrased in a way that even someone who’s not familiar with your industry can still understand the value proposition. A lot of tech companies fall into the trap of including technical jargon in order to sound more knowledgeable or gain credibility, but this usually backfires in making the information less accessible. Keep things simple and don’t overcomplicate your message. ‍
• Human-centered & relatable: It’s tempting to focus too much on the solution you created and give lengthy explanations of your product’s features and capabilities. The reality is that the best product is meaningless if it doesn’t solve a real human problem. Make things relatable by providing proof of the user pain points, and how your solution improves their lives. If your audience can’t relate to the problem, it’s going to be hard to convince them of your solution. ‍
• Compelling visual resources: While the content of the presentation is important, it is also critical to pair up this information with visually appealing imagery in order to make the slides more engaging. People get bored easily and a graphically rich presentation can help the viewers make a better connection with the information that is being delivered. We process images faster and easier than text, which is an abstract form of communication. Leverage this in your favor by making striking slides that elevate the content in them. ‍
• Traction-oriented slides: The best pitch decks bet on traction more heavily than any other content on the deck. This is because nothing provides more credibility to a business than showing the data of actual paying customers. ‍
• A healthy, exponentially growing business: The simplest (but hardest) truth about making a pitch deck is that the best ones usually depend on a company’s performance. A revenue-generating business, a low-churn product, a company with exponential growth and healthy engagement with its users… these are the things that spark investor interest. The hard truth about the startup world is that investors want to 10x their investment, and despite having a reputation for being risk-takers, their real expectation is to have returns on their investment.

A pitching presentation is a great tool for both founders and investors to evaluate business opportunities together. It forces you to tell the story of your company in a comprehensive way, and it allows potential investors to learn about your startup in a framework that they’re familiar with.

It lets you convey the market opportunities you’re business has found, and provides the medium to explain how your product and business model are the key to unlocking massive scale and ROI.

I hope this article has been able to answer what is a deck in business. Feel free to check out other articles in our blog that cover pitch deck basics.

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