Pitching

When One Deck Won’t Cut It

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Your ability to present effectively can make or break your ability to persuade, inspire, or educate. But here’s the truth: sometimes one slide deck cannot do it all.

Your slides are not the star of the show—you are. Your visuals should support your message and make it easier for your audience to follow your story. Unfortunately, many corporate presentations end up overloaded with content, which leaves audiences confused, disengaged, or simply tuned out.

Why does this happen? Here are common reasons:

  • “I need the slides to remind me what to say.”
    That’s not what slides are for. Use slide notes to keep track of your talking points. And rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Confidence comes with preparation.
  • “The slides have to tell the whole story if I’m not there.”
    Then you’re creating a document or report, not a visual aid for a talk. Instead, create a separate, detailed document as a leave-behind. Presentations are for engaging your audience in real time—not for giving them a reading assignment.
  • “I have to send the slides as a pre-read.”
    Pre-reads are not presentations. Prepare a clean, concise summary document for pre-reading, so your presentation can focus on what matters most in the moment.
  • “I can’t leave out the data—my audience needs to see it all.”
    Your audience trusts you to curate and communicate the most relevant insights. Have backup data ready in case they ask for it, but don’t overwhelm them with everything up front.

The takeaway here is clear: one slide deck can rarely achieve all these goals. You may need multiple versions—a pared-down deck for your presentation, a pre-read document, and a more detailed summary for post-presentation follow-ups.

Is it more work? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Without a doubt.

Engaging presentations are about your audience, not you. Sure, you have goals for presenting, but if the audience can’t keep up or gets confused you’re not going to reach them.

Overloaded slides distract from your message and reduce your impact. If you want to inspire action and leave a lasting impression, focus on making your presentation clear, digestible, and memorable.

This article originally appeared at WeAreComvia.com and is reprinted here with permission.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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Conver-Speaking

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When I led a brand communication agency, I had to do a lot of pitches. In preparation for each pitch meeting, my team and I would craft a presentation that would tell the prospect a story that we thought would resonate with them. It would include an assessment of their situation, our proposed approach to solving their problem, and samples of previous work and the results they created. Then, I’d rehearse the presentation to death. I was always confident and ready to present it by meeting day.

80 percent of the time, I would not present it as planned — and that was by design. 

My goal when walking into the room was always to get my audience talking first. If I could do so, the meeting would naturally become a conversation — an opportunity to share experiences, pain points, and potential solutions as real people genuinely interested in collaborating. Would I use the slides we had prepared? In most cases, yes. But I would jump around and bring up examples as the conversation warranted. It all depended on how the conversation went. A few times, not a single slide was shown and we still won the work.

20% of the time, the people in the room needed to see the traditional pitch, and I would give it to them. Still, I would try to treat the presentation as a conversation, getting them involved along the way as much as possible, and trying to make it a two-way dialogue instead of a monologue.

Next time you need to present, think about your audience and what they need to hear from you — and also why you both are there. Then consider how to make it more of a conversation than a speech or presentation. It’s not always possible, but when it is, a two-way dialogue will make it easier for you to build a stronger relationship from the start.

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Pitch Follow-up Strategies

Falling Down on Follow-up

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I’ve coached a lot of professionals on pitching to clients, investors, and virtually every other type of stakeholder. Much of the time I spend with clients is on helping them tell a clear story — one that will resonate with their audience, and that will make a clear case for the investment opportunity at hand.

The Initial Pitch is Only the Beginning

When my clients pitch, they are fully prepared with a compelling presentation that looks great, and that they deliver with brilliance. 

But the fact is that you rarely get a “yes” from an investor the day that you pitch. You often hear, “Sounds great. Keep us updated…” or “Thanks for the presentation. We’ll be in touch.”

Staying in Touch

This is where a lot of people lose momentum with the pitch process. You must stay in touch. You can’t assume that your pitch presentation will be remembered three weeks from now. You also can’t assume that you persuaded the audience fully from that one meeting. You need to do the work to stay in front of them, and to ensure they understand that they are going to miss out if they don’t get to a “yes” soon.

The Art and Science of Follow-up

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to follow-up. However, you must ensure you’re not coming across as pushy or obnoxious. 

I believe your follow-up strategy needs to be customized to the individual, so you can develop a real relationship that they value. Doing so requires the right balance of frequency and content.

I can help.

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