I’ve seen advice given to founders when preparing their pitch decks for investors that they should include the following information on their title slide:
- Company name
- Logo
- Tagline
- Your name
- Complete contact information
Presenters are then advised that “The audience can read this slide.”
Presenters do NOT want the audience reading slides, especially at the most important part of the presentation, the first 15 seconds when everyone forms their first impression, like it or not. The tile slide should have only company name, logo, and tagline, if there is one. Frankly no one cares about the name of the presenter. The audience focus and attention should be on the presenter, not on the contact info for the venture. And the presenter needs to say something captivating (which is not their name)!
Contact information, including the name of the presenter, should be left for the last slide in the deck. After all, the goal of the deck is to get investors to contact the presenter for a full presentation. You don’t want them busy writing down contact information just when you are starting your pitch! When you are done you can leave your contact info and a final “sell line” slide up on screen. The audience will then have the time to take down your contact info, without trying to listen to you at the same time.
One of the most common problems in presentations is thinking that the audience can multi-task: read a slide while listening to the presenter at the same time. They can not! You have to be very careful that your slides are not competing for attention with what you say, and vice versa. That’s why visual, graphic slides are far preferable to text-laden slides. And when you do need to use text, keep it short and simple. AND BY NO MEANS USE ALL CAPS! All caps are good for street signs, like STOP. Otherwise they just slow the reader down. Slides need to complement your words, not compete with them.
Remember, all presentations should be done backwards: start with the 3 to 5 key points – no more! – that you want your audience to take away from your presentation. Then build the presentation to convey those points clearly, effectively, and engagingly
You can read more about delivering pitches in the Pitching category on Mentorphile.
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