As presentation design techniques advance, novice presenters can quickly become overwhelmed by how to keep up. Before you go saving every dime you can to spend on presentation designers and consultants, know that creating an impressive presentation doesn’t have to cost a lot of cash. With a little creativity, effort and free labor, you can produce a presentation that will make you and your company checkbook happy.
Retro Presenting
The word “presentation” has become synonymous with “PowerPoint,” but presentation simply means “an act of presenting.” So forget the PowerPoint and return to the basics. There was a time when the world (gasp!) didn’t have PowerPoint or Keynote. It’s true! Whatever did we do back then? Well, we created visual aids with flip charts and markers. If you don’t have professional-grade presentation software or just don’t know how to use it, create an old school presentation with paper and pens. If you’re skeptical of this technique, read Dan Roam’s new book, The Back of the Napkin. It will convince you that this means of presenting is entirely relevant and effective (maybe even more so than PowerPoint) in today’s world.
Online Tutoring
If you’re not well versed in the ways of presentation software, you needn’t hire a training professional to teach you how to master it. There are so many free online tutorials out there (insert shameless plug for SlideMagnet’s own “How To” video section here) that you could go from presentation beginner to genius in a matter of no time. Spending some time learning on your own will give you the power to create masterpieces without having to invest anything more than the few hours you would have spent watching “Lost” reruns.
Student Wages
However, time does equal money, so you might not want to spend too many hours studying the finer details of PowerPoint and graphic design. College and graduate students are an over-looked source of amazingly cheap labor. Since most schools will allow students to earn course credit for a corporate internship, you might not have to pay your student interns anything. If you need a designer, advertise your project at the nearest graphic design school. Check out other colleges too, as English and marketing majors can prove exceptionally helpful with storyboarding and copywriting. If you’re project is at all compelling, you should be able to get some talented up-and-comers to design a stellar presentation for you for free. At the very most, you’ll have to pay them with cheap beer.
A Picture’s Worth 1,000 Words, Not Dollars
If a picture really is worth all of those words, it certainly makes sense to insert a nice photo into a slide. Finding good images to illustrate your points requires some searching, but it won’t necessarily take any money. There are some great sites that offer free stock images with relatively few licensing restrictions. Freepixels and Stock.xchng are two good examples. So go to town and find that free image that’ll make your presentation look like a million bucks.
