5 Key Attributes in Every Great Presentation

In Bob Bly’s 2013 The Business-to-Business Marketing Handbook, he introduced The Four Cs Formula: Creating Clear, Concise, Compelling and Credible Copy. He posited that an adoption of this formula would lead to consistent easy-to-read copy that would drive engagement. And it did. It wasn’t revolutionary—though some of the most clever innovations are also the simplest—and good copy existed before Mr. Bly, but it made sense and was easy to follow, so it spread.

And it’s the subject of our post today (or at least 80% of it). The best sales presentations, board presentations and pitch decks leverage the Four Cs Formula but given their visual cues, they have a fifth C. They’re Clean.

The content and narrative strategy is the most fundamental driver of a presentation’s strength and don’t worry, we have a blog article on that as well, but once you’ve dialed in your narrative strategy, the rest is very important packaging.

Here are five Cs found in every great presentation:

1.  Clean

   A clean presentation makes good use of space. It isn’t weighed down with too much information—either in text, and/or messaging. Trying to convey too many points on one slide bogs down the audience, and risks losing them altogether.

2. Clear

   Who you are, what you do, how you do it and even why we’ (the audience) are here should be abundantly clear. And plain language always conveys more meaning more meaningfully than jargon. If it’s a pitch deck, you don’t need to use terms like “moat”, “beachhead”, “pivot”, “democratization”. Most audiences have neither the interest nor attention span for convoluted messaging.

3. Concise

   Never say in more words what you could easily say in fewer. A lot of decks meander with answers to questions nobody is asking (yet). Sales decks should be built on a structure that shows: “We understand your problem, we have the means to solve it and generate value. Here is what it would look like to get started and how to get started”. If it’s a pitch deck it should reiterate the message that you’re “seeking money to support the launch of initiatives which will create value for an audience that leads to returns over time”. There are icons, graphics and infographics, but the narratives and exposition should be lean.

4. Credible

   Wherever you can, use objective data/metrics to support your narrative. The best data is thoroughly researched, recently published, and comes from multiple agreeing, and reputable sources. Do the best you can to hit as many of those as possible to help differentiate your speculation from objective facts (and use footnotes – no sense doing all the research work and not getting the credit for it (or giving others credit where credit is due)!

5. Compelling

   Your deck should answer Why It? Why Us? Why Now? A compelling business (1) creates a unique/differentiated value, (2) is born out of a market that can substantiate its growth, (3) has an easy-to-understand-and-execute business model; (4) proven (or soon to be proven) validation/traction, (5) and is led by a team who can capably execute, and a compelling presentation shows this, all while instilling a sense of urgency for the audience — or a fear of missing out.

When building your next presentation, consider Bob Bly’s advice and get your point across more quickly and more simply. Doing so may just help you close the deal, or win the pitch contest, or raise the capital.