What are the best ways to design a pitch deck that captures your audience's attention?

Tailor content and visuals to resonate with project needs and preferences. For instance, if you're presenting to a tech-savvy investor, emphasize your product's innovative features. If it's a conservative bank, focus on financial stability. 1: Tech Startup Pitch In a pitch to a tech-savvy audience, we highlighted unique tech solutions, showed interactive demos, and used cutting-edge visuals to convey innovation. 2: Eco-Friendly Product Pitch When we pitch eco-friendly products to environmentally conscious consumers, stress sustainability, use earthy colors, and include data on your environmental impact. Understanding your audience is key to crafting a pitch deck that captures their attention and speaks to their interests.

I agree on "Know what your audience care about" I think this is the key You show them the matrices which they are interested in knowing, this builds the attention. Now you connect your next steps/roadmaps/help needed/ with those matrices how it's going to enhance them. This will bring in support from stakeholders for your mission. It works for me.

My go-to resources for knowing my audience are the Jobs To Be Done methods, as described by Anthony W. Ulwick, combined with a Value Proposition Canvas from Strategy. Using the in-depth canvas from Ulwick and the Lean approach from Strategyzer allows for zooming in, out and out until you can start to feel their pains, spot the gains, and create a narrative that will resonate.

Loving this - honestly I totally agree here! I would like to add don’t bombard people with all the information at once! Pace yourself and create a story around the visuals you have created and are trying to convey to the client. It’s easy to show off with a flashy images, but clients respond better to deep thought through concepts!

Figures should speak for themselves, but without a compelling narrative you could lose your audience. Most investors want to know the personalities behind the business and what drives them to propel the business forward. Investing in startups are about relationships and solid financials.

To begin with, focus on the most important aspect of your idea. Filter out the unnecessary details that don't contribute much to the main point you're trying to make. If you can effectively showcase the unique value and opportunity of your idea in the core 1% (elevator pitch) version, you'll easily grab the attention of your audience. This will give you ample time to explain the other details later.

True! Integrating a compelling story in your pitch deck is vital. It forges an emotional connection, sustains engagement, simplifies complex concepts, enhances memorability, and persuades your audience effectively. Structure your story with an engaging intro, a problem, your solution, market insights, competition, traction, your team, and a compelling call to action. An authentic story aligns with your brand and transforms an ordinary pitch into a memorable and persuasive experience.

Stick to one key point per slide. It can seem like a great idea to include every item that makes your product compelling. Take some time and identify the main points that “sell” your idea and feature those. Too much copy on any one slide will not be read.

A pitch deck serves as a visual aid to your spoken presentation, designed to amplify, not replace, your message. Opt for a clean layout with ample white space and grid alignment, and employ a consistent, brand-aligned color scheme with contrasting hues for emphasis. Stick to a maximum of two legible, professional fonts and use high-quality, relevant visuals that directly support your points. Minimize the use of animations, transitions, or videos, incorporating them only when they genuinely add value. Summarize key messages with bullet points or headlines, avoiding lengthy text that can overwhelm your audience. Less is more. Distill it down to a shot of awe.

While it can be painful to watch yourself, recording and watching your presentation like an athlete would watch game videos to see their performance from a coach's perspective is valuable. I also like to present my decks to a child and a Grandma when possible.

Narrative: the pitch deck is not about you, your company, or your product, it’s about how you can help solve your audience’s problems and make them the hero. Only use 10 slides Don’t talk longer than 20 minutes And try and use 30 point type Also, you should never read your slides, they are there to help support you. If you are reading the slides word for word then what is the point of having you there? You could have just emailed it and called it a day.

I will sometimes write my pitch deck up as an Amazon product listing with a great title, description, specs, and feedback ratings from 1 start to 5. This metaphorical process will help to identify the strengths and weaknesses by playing the role of buyer and seller of an idea or product. It is unconventional but true and tested in my work.