By Emily Branch, Head of Design at Prezent, winners of Best SaaS Product for PR, Brand Management or Stakeholder Engagement category, and finalists in the Best SaaS for Improved Productivity (USA) and Best SaaS Product With 1,000+ Licensed Users categories at The SaaS Awards 2023

The Struggle of Inefficient Presentation Preparation

“We knew what we wanted to say but it would take us longer to put it in slides.”

Senior Director – Customer Experience, at a leading multinational digital communications technology organization

The organization’s Global Enablement and Development team was spending too much time designing presentation slides, rather than focusing on their message and storyline.

To help alleviate this time crunch, the businesses reached out to third-party agencies for support, but their services were not cost effective. They then attempted to download slide templates from content sites, but this proved to be ineffective.

“I found myself spending as much time pursuing those sites, and not finding what I needed, than I did actually creating. And when I thought I did find some slide templates I could use, I ended up with a bunch of independently-themed slides that we would still need to modify, update, and format into our company standard.”

“Presentations that are not on-brand are a legal risk. Last month we paid $300k in fines and legal fees.”

Head – Brand and Design at a Fortune 500 tech firm

The head of the Brand team in a Fortune 500 technology firm, is positioned at the heart of their company’s visual and communicative identity. Their role is pivotal, ensuring all external and internal materials echo the brand’s unique style, voice, and values.

However, they are increasingly faced with a persistent issue – the quality of presentations within the organization is falling short of the mark. Time and again, they come across presentations that are not aligned with the company’s brand guidelines. These crucial directives, carefully designed to reflect the firm’s image and ethos, seem to be bypassed or overlooked.

Embracing a Thriving Future

In the realm of presentation creation, PowerPoint and Keynote have long reigned as the go-to tools, commanding their position through sheer market dominance. Microsoft’s bundling of Office with Windows editions alone has resulted in over 1 billion installs and 500 million users for PowerPoint.  However, the status quo has not deterred ambitious startups from attempting to revolutionize the landscape. Notably, analyst reports indicate that the number of employees in Fortune 1000 companies engaged in creating presentations exceeds 16 million.

According to a recent market report the Presentation Software market is on a trajectory of unprecedented expansion. Over the forecast period from 2023 to 2028, the market size is projected to witness a remarkable increase of USD 14.8 billion, with an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3%. In a testament to its current vitality, the market’s value already stands at a substantial USD 3.6 billion.

This surge in the market is fueled by a myriad of factors, driven by the ever-growing demand for innovative presentation software solutions. Organizations across industries are recognizing the indispensable role of effective communication and captivating visual storytelling in their success. As a result, they are turning to advanced presentation software to elevate their messaging, streamline their processes, and create visually stunning presentations that captivate audiences.

The report’s inclusion of historical market data from 2017 to 2022 further solidifies the industry’s potential for exponential growth. The figures indicate a clear upward trajectory, suggesting a rising tide of adoption for presentation software by enterprises of all sizes.

As digitization continues to revolutionize business operations and remote work becomes the norm, the need for cutting-edge presentation software is more pronounced than ever before. The market report underscores the immense opportunities and untapped potential within the presentation software industry, signaling a transformative journey for businesses and professionals alike.

As the Presentation Software market surges forward, it invites us to embark on a journey of boundless opportunities, where seamless communication and captivating presentations fuel success in every endeavor.

The Cost of Consultation

“Our consulting firm and AOR (agency on record) were expensive and inflexible. My team just needed a helping hand.”

Vice President Commercial, Fortune 500 Biotech company

In the post-COVID business landscape, presentations have surged by a staggering 170%, becoming a pressing concern for large corporations.

The hybrid work model intensifies this issue. Middle managers can now spend up to 6 to 10 hours weekly crafting presentations, grappling with the complexity of maintaining a cohesive company message amidst remote work.

Executives often have to invest a significant amount of money in workshops or training sessions with management consulting firms to learn structured storytelling techniques. These workshops can cost $50,000 or more, depending on the reputation and expertise of the consulting firm.

Similarly, elite design agencies are known to charge substantial fees for creating a single presentation. Prices can range from $20,000 and beyond, depending on the complexity and customization required.

It can be difficult to ensure that everyone in the company adheres to brand guidelines and uses on-brand assets in their presentations, potentially resulting in additional costs associated with reviewing and revising presentations to meet brand standards.

Mastering the Four-Step Journey to Stellar Business Communication

To truly excel in presentations and broader business communications, one must triumph over four crucial steps – Creation, Education, Transformation, and Enablement.

Creation: The journey towards a great presentation starts with creating your content. This step requires you to transform your message into an easily understandable, crisp, and captivating format that resonates with your audience. Choosing the right words, incorporating engaging visuals, and employing relevant data become paramount in this process. It’s not just about reflecting your brand identity, but also capturing the essence of your message in a compelling manner. Paying attention to the overall structure of your presentation is crucial. Each slide should follow a logical sequence and create a continuous narrative that keeps your audience engaged throughout the presentation. It’s about intertwining your story with the details, connecting the dots, and making the complex simple and the simple compelling.

Education: Mastering presentations is not a one-time effort but a continuous learning process. As a communicator, it is crucial to keep learning about your audience’s changing preferences, needs, and reactions to your content. What are the elements that strike a chord with them? What are the parts that fail to make an impact? These insights offer a goldmine of information that can be used to refine and perfect your presentation strategy. Additionally, staying updated with industry trends, the latest technological innovations in communication, and evolving presentation techniques is pivotal. These resources equip you with modern tools, such as multimedia elements, interactive features, or emerging presentation formats, which can take your presentations to new heights.

Transformation: This stage is all about leveraging the knowledge and feedback you’ve gained to grow and change. It’s about continuously improving your presentations by refining your style, adjusting your content, or redesigning your visuals based on the reactions and feedback from your audience. Being open to change and adapting to new insights are key aspects of this phase. It demands flexibility, agility, and a commitment to keep pushing the boundaries of your communication effectiveness.

Empowerment: The final step in this journey isn’t solely about your own success. It’s also about empowering others. It involves sharing your acquired expertise and insights with your team and broader organization, fostering a culture of powerful, effective communication. This involves coaching team members, conducting workshops, or creating resources aimed at enhancing presentation skills within the organization. When you empower others, you not only maximize the reach of your own skills but also cultivate a culture where clear, compelling communication is the norm. This shared commitment to excellence can elevate the entire organization’s communication effectiveness.

Visioning a Future Defined by Democratized Communications

Unleashing Hyper-Personalization: Tailoring Unique Communication Experiences

In the realm of business communication, the dream of personalization often appears out of reach. But this narrative is shifting. The traditional approach of giving an identical pitch to varied audiences or using the same slides for diverse executive teams is being replaced by tools that enable professionals to comprehend the distinctive preferences of groups and individuals. These solutions make it possible to craft customized, personalized communication experiences on a large scale. The future lies in technology that can encapsulate empathy and organizational tribal knowledge, thus ushering in a new era of hyper-personalization.

Embracing Generative AI: Merging Efficiency with Creativity

Creating presentations has historically been a time-consuming and underappreciated task that distracts professionals from their main responsibilities, often affecting their work-life balance. However, the advent of generative AI in business communication tools is changing the game. These solutions allow professionals to transform ideas into presentations within seconds, eradicating tedious formatting chores, enabling effortless tone adjustments, and offering immediate personalization capabilities. They free up professionals to concentrate on their core tasks while boosting their creativity and efficiency.

Maintaining Brand Compliance: Nurturing Creativity Within Boundaries

Ensuring brand compliance in presentations has traditionally posed a significant challenge, often leading to the unauthorized use of images or legal and copyright issues. However, modern platforms now empower professionals to express their creativity while adhering to brand guidelines. These innovative tools automate brand compliance and revisions, allowing professionals to focus on their creative expression. Updating thousands of non-compliant slides becomes a task as simple as clicking a button, assuring a cohesive and compliant brand experience.

Catalyzing Transformation Through Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge and insights are the cornerstone of any organization, and having access to industry-wide best practices and sharing internal knowledge are vital for driving transformation. Emerging platforms offer professionals instant access to industry best practices, tailored to their specific needs. These tools expedite the sharing of internal knowledge and incorporation of external perspectives, thus accelerating organizational growth. Gone are the days of siloed corporate strategies and initiatives; these new tools guarantee that valuable insights are disseminated efficiently across the organization.

Providing a Communication Expert for Everyone: Harnessing the Power of Trusted Guidance

Communication experts play an essential role in critical situations, assisting organizations in making informed decisions and achieving their goals. Traditional models of engagement with consultancies and agencies have often been slow, rigid, and costly. However, advanced platforms are reshaping this landscape by offering a user-friendly interface to connect professionals with a diverse array of communication experts. With these platforms, you can search, select, and schedule sessions with experts who possess deep contextual understanding. By streamlining the engagement process and offering competitively priced communication packages, these tools bring trusted expertise within reach, propelling your journey towards success.

Prezent’s Success Stories with Alteryx and Arcellx

Alteryx: Efficiency in Communication

Alteryx, a global leader in analytic automation, faced a bottleneck in creating visually engaging, impactful presentations to effectively communicate their strategic initiatives. Only a few within the organization had the skill to develop persuasive presentations, leading to inefficiencies and delays.

Prezent’s solution emerged as a game-changer. Its AI-driven platform enabled Alteryx to create personalized, brand-compliant, and captivating presentations within minutes. The company was particularly impressed by Prezent’s ‘Fingerprint’ feature, which tailors presentations to specific audience preferences.

The platform’s extensive library of key business storylines, frameworks, and brand-approved templates significantly enhanced the consistency and quality of Alteryx’s presentations. As a result, Alteryx expanded its engagement with Prezent, acquiring an enterprise-wide license agreement for three years. The impact was significant, with team members saving approximately 50-60% of their time per presentation, translating into cost savings of $10,000–$20,000 per user.

Arcellx: Revolutionizing Presentations in Biotechnology

Arcellx, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, found it challenging to communicate their complex information in an appealing and memorable manner. They often relied on external agencies to enhance their presentations, leading to additional costs and lengthy turnaround times.

Prezent’s platform and Overnight Services offered a viable solution, enabling Arcellx’s marketing team to efficiently create compelling presentations. The use of Prezent’s pre-formatted on-brand templates and the availability of collective knowledge within the platform led to substantial improvements in Arcellx’s presentation design process.

As more team members began using Prezent, the creation of templates and the onboarding process became seamless, leading to increased efficiency. With Prezent, Arcellx’s marketing team can now focus on communicating their critical message, leaving the burdensome aspects of presentation design behind.