In this episode with him, we talk about the true value of a great presentation and the hidden cost of bad ones. We discuss presentation design, presentations in the context of marketing, why the presentation industry is flourishing, and why storytelling is so essential.

Damon shared that he has a background in marketing. He had gotten his ideal job at a large education company after graduating from university, but nevertheless, had been miserable several months into it. Following that, he began taking classes in graphic design, marketing, and psychology, all of which he found intriguing.

In the graphic design course, Damon noticed the professor’s simple presentations, how there was minimum text and only subtle animations. Which blew his mind because everything else he had seen, up until then, had been the plain white slides filled with bullet points and images squeezed in every corner. He went ahead and asked his professor what software he was using for his presentations, expecting an app like Photoshop, and then the professor showed PowerPoint in all its glory.

Later on, he created a presentation, which he shared on SlideShare, and it got him thousands of views. After some weeks and months, people started reaching out to him to ask for his services from all over the world.

Damon expressed his amazement at how presentations still get the backseat when it comes to marketing. It is not usually something you spend a lot of money on, at least in the past. And it’s amusing because looking at the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on marketing and the results compared to a sales pitch or an investor pitch is just staggering.

And that misallocation of the budget is surprising him still. Because when it comes to sales presentations, investor pitches, and conference keynotes, if you don’t do a good job presenting your idea, you do not get a second chance. That’s it. That is all there is to it. If you run a digital marketing or outdoor campaign and the results aren’t what you expected, you can always alter it and run it again. Still, people continue to do not get the importance of presentations.

Companies have recently realized, however, that a good presentation has a huge return on investment. Whether it’s a sales presentation or an internal presentation, the influence a good presentation can have is well worth the effort.

According to Damon, trying to use one presentation for different purposes is a huge mistake. And it is something that we see every week.

He shared that the first question his agency asks is what the purpose of a presentation and the client often wants to pitch it to a live audience, to be able to send it out as a PDF, and to be able to upload it to a website to stand on its own. In this situation, you need three presentations, not just one. The purpose is different in a live pitch in front of an audience – to inspire and not give all the details, to make the audience ask for more.

Whereas the purpose of a PDF to send out is to give more information like a brochure. And when you try to use one document to fill all those different purposes, you are doing yourself a disservice. Instead of being optimized for a specific purpose, it becomes an average document.

And if you can send your presentation out later, for example, it isn’t a presentation, it’s a document, because why would people need you if they can understand it without you?

Damon believes that price in the presenting business is a topic that isn’t discussed enough. People have a hard time comprehending spending thousands of dollars for a PowerPoint presentation, but when was the last time someone said that about a TV commercial? It’s not about the format; it’s about the value it adds to your company.

When we talk about the cost of a good presentation, we can put into relation the cost of bad presentations. What is the cost of bad presentations? It is the cost of any lost opportunity if you, for example, go and pitch for a lot of money, and you lose that pitch because of a crappy presentation.

In Damon’s words, storytelling has become kind of a buzzword lately when it comes to presentation, but the essence of storytelling is something you should understand and use. Depending on who you are presenting to, your story will need to look different, and you have to understand that. There will be a gap between what you want to convey and what your audience cares about if you don’t.

People hear facts, but they experience stories, Damon said. Data satisfies your left brain, but you need storytelling to stimulate both sides of your brain. When both sides of the brain are activated, the magic happens, and people are inspired to take action.