If I were writing the third edition of The Art of Client Service, I would stress the importance of visuals and the need for brevity in formulating presentations. Everything else that follows below remains reasonably relevant.
In my book, I give you some PowerPoint examples taken from a presentation I deliver on The Art of Client Service. But I also promised to provide an example of a presentation that stands on its own, in the absence of a presenter who delivers color commentary.
Here it is: a presentation given in 2006 to a company called Sling Media, written not for presentation—although we did hope to give one—but instead for a reader. It fills in the some of the blanks that you would typically find in a presentation that is led by a presenter.
The assignment was done in collaboration with two partners: Words & Pictures (which is now known as Womenkind) and Karen Harris Consulting. I of course was the Solomon Strategic part of the equation.
The only part not included is a section that comes after the schedule, entitled “What will this cost?” because that, frankly, is confidential. Everything else is here, and you will get a sense of what it mean to produce a presentation with a point of view and a series of recommendations, which explains, in part, why it runs to 55 pages.
Like letters of proposal, PowerPoint presentations come in all shapes and sizes. Content varies, as does visual presentation. I’m sure your approach is better than this one. But this at least will give you a sense of what it means to “fill in the blanks” for someone who reads, rather than listens, to your pitch.