This document provides tips from 31 experts on how to create an effective presentation. It discusses conducting research on the audience and topic, conceptualizing the presentation around a central message or story, structuring the content visually and in an outline, designing the presentation deck with visuals and formatting, and practicing the speech through multiple dry runs. The tips emphasize understanding the audience, defining the key takeaway, using storytelling principles, removing unnecessary content, and rehearsing frequently to improve delivery.

1. How to Cook Up
an Awesome Deck
Recipes by 31 Experts

2. Everything starts
with the idea.
— Aaron Friedman.

3. Ask yourself, “What am I going to talk
about?” and “Who is my audience?”
— Phil Fraser.

4. Ensure the audience walks
away with something
actionable, something they
can take back to the office.
— Stacey MacNaught.
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5. Creating a great, show-stopping
presentation is no easy task.
— Ned Poulter.

6. Define a learning outcome,
the core message you want
people to get.
— Nick Garner.
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7. How can You do it?
We asked 31 speakers and digital marketing experts

8. Presentation
Creation
SuccessYou Research Conception Structured
Content
Designing
the Deck
Practicing
the Speech

9. 1. Conducting Research
Brad
Geddes
Brian
Downard
Carolyn
Jones
Nichola
Stott

10. Start with
proper planning
What is the style of the session: workshop, how-
to, educational, high-level, problem-solving?
What is the length of time you have to speak?
What are the other presenters going to speak
about? (Either avoid overlap or have a nice
segue from one speaker to another.)

11. Know your audience
Audience size (determines how personal
your presentation style needs to be)
Audience education level based on subject
Audience corporate level (practitioners,
decision makers, CMOs, etc.)

12. Think over about outcomes
The audience outcome (What should they
do with the information?)
Business outcomes (What do I want out of it?)

13. Based on the Step-by-Step Research
you can decide how the session needs
to be laid out from introducing your-
self, opening statement, supporting
materials and then conclusion.
— Brad Geddes.

14. 5 More Insights
to Rock

15. Research other
popular presentations
that have a high share
count online.
(Topsy is a great tool
for this.)
— Brian Downard.
#1
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16. Find slides, videos or write-ups
of past talks to get an idea of what
has been presented before and
what has been well-received.
— Carolyn Jones.
#2

17. Have the main point
of your speech
written down
in one sentence.
— Carolyn Jones.
#3
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18. Define your business targets —
download the slides, visit any further
information or tools referenced.
— Nichola Stott.
#4

19. Let the idea sit
in your head
for a few days.
Consider the
audience, different
approaches, etc.,
until something
gels. Then move
to bullet points.
— Brad Geddes.
#5

20. 2. Defining Conception
Miles
Burke
Ben
Austin
Laura
Crimmons
Ned
Poulter
Neil
Eneix
Jono
Alderson
Kent
Lewis
Stephen
Kenwright
Lyena
Solomon
Ross
Simmonds
Justin
McGill
Tony
Dimmoсk

21. Without a clear outline
it can be tricky.
Here are a few reasons why…

22. Jumping straight into
PowerPoint will quite often
mean large structural
changes to the ordering
of the deck, right up until
the last minute!
— Jono Alderson.
#1

23. The hardest bit
is a message that ties
everything together…
individual slides are easy
because it’s just filling in time.
— Stephen Kenwright.
#2

24. 11 Amazing Tips to
Empower Your Presentation

25. Storytelling is a key point
of your presentation.
— Miles Burke.
#1
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26. Structure your
presentation
for a story (setup,
conflict and resolution).
— Laura Crimmons.
#2
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27. Set-up (introduction) prepares
listeners to hear the story.
— Lyena Solomon.
#3

28. Build the presentation
around that key takeaway
with a story line.
— Neil Eneix.
#4
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29. Create a mind-map
of all the topics and
elements you intend
to include.
— Tony Dimmock.
#5

30. A slideshow with great info but no story will
limit the decks ability to resonate with people
and be shared on a consistent basis.
— Ross Simmonds.
#6

31. Removal of “fluff” –
anything and everything
that sounds like “waffle”
is removed.
— Tony Dimmock.
#7

32. Use the presentation
for support, rather
than a crutch.
— Kent Lewis.
#8
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33. Use a real example
of someone or a company
that’s done a great job.
— Mel Carson.
#9
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34. Look for supporting data that proves the point.
This could be case studies, industry reports,
Analytics dashboards, test results, etc.
#10
— Leyna Solomon.

35. Try and find imagery
that supports each slide
or main point.
— Justin McGill.
#11

36. 3. Moving to Structured Content
Ali
White
Nichola
Stott
Brian
Downard
Illiy
Vjestica
Micah Fisher-
Kirshner
Matthew
Barby
Matt
Beswick
Carolyn
Jones
Lucasz
Zelezny
Simon
Penson
Ross
Simmonds
David
Bain
Stacey
MacNaught

37. Visualizing
Ideas
Moving to a
Structured Flow

38. Visualizing
Ideas
Moving to a
Structured Flow

39. Organize things visually to get
an idea of how things are going to flow.
— Carolyn Jones.

40. Draw out your ideas on sticky notes
and post them on the wall.
— Illiy Vjestica.

41. I use a Post-it note for each slide.
I move them around, remove some,
add new ones (a process that typically
takes hours!).
— Stacey MacNaught.
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42. I always sketch out some rough
ideas and concepts on a large A3
sheet to begin with.
— Matthew Barby.

43. Creating the basic
structure can be done
by simply scribbling
them on a piece
of paper and laying
them out in order,
one point per sheet.
— Simon Penson.

44. Visualizing
Ideas
Moving to a
Structured Flow

45. Wireframe structure of the deck —
just white backgrounds and black text —
to get an initial version of the slides in place.
— Matt Beswick.

46. Work schematically,
writing the key
message on each slide.
— Simon Penson.

47. Start with 5-to-6 overall concepts.
Structure things and decide on the
3 concepts that work together the best
— Matt Beswick.

48. List the main points, 3 or 4 — they become
the sections of the presentation. Break these
down further by listing 6 or 7 bullet points
for each section of the deck.
— David Bain.

49. Write bullet points. Based on bullet
points, prepare a Table of Content.
— Lucasz Zelezny.
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50. Your key points require multiple steps of review
from colleagues and friends to make sure
the points you’re trying to make come across well.
— Micah Fisher-Kirshner.

51. 4. Designing a Deck
Ali
White
Micah Fisher-
Kirshner
Simon
Penson
Brian
Downard
Geno
Prussakov
Kent
Lewis

52. I prefer to default to 1 background image
and no more than 3 bullet points in a callout box.
— Kent Lewis.

53. Make sure you use a high enough
resolution for all your images,
charts and other supporting materials.
— Ali White.

54. 5 more designing tips
to stay ahead of others!

55. Each topic/concept
in a presentation
may have 1-5
slides.
— Kent Lewis.
#1

56. Keep ideas
short and easy
to understand.
— Brian Downard.
#2

57. Arrange for effective
presentation via
animation and emphasis.
— Geno Prussakov.
#3

58. Try to keep
things as visual
as possible.
— Matthew Barby.
#4

59. Most people forget the value
of great design, it captures
attention and keeps it.
— Brian Downard.
#5

60. Use a general rule of one text-based
slide, followed by one image based
slide, followed by something that has
subtle humor within it.
— Matthew Barby.
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61. Run through your
slides with a timer.
— Ali White.
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62. Spot-check various grammar,
spelling and formatting
issues, and make sure your
information is matching
up to how you plan to speak
about it.
— Micah Fisher-Kirshner.

63. Written content should use a lot formatting tricks
to hold a user’s attention — once, a friend of mine
had a client tell him that his infographic couldn’t use
capital letters as their customers “didn’t use them.”
— Peter Campbell.

64. 5. Practicing your speech
Simon
Penson
Phil
Fraser
Peter
Campbell
Ben
Austin
Justin
McGill

65. Simply practice the
finalized deck 3 or 4
times in the 10 days
before the event.
— Simon Penson.

66. My practice normally entails standing
in the bedroom delivering the speech
to the dog and my wife!
— Phil Fraser.

67. Write a script,
and rehearse like
crazy.
— Peter Campbell.

68. Use a video to record yourself
practicing so you can see how you’re
doing.
— Justin McGill.
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69. Once I’m happy with my slides, I’ll do
a practice run in front of the office —
my toughest critics!
— Ben Austin.

70. Looking for more
information?
Follow our Experts on Twitter to Learn More!

71. Lukasz Zelezny
Matthew Barby
David Bain
Jono Alderson
Stephen Kenwright
Brad Geddes
@LukaszZelezny
@matthewbarby
@DavidBain
@jonoalderson
@stekenwright
@bgtheory

72. Matt Beswick
Pete Campbell
Simon Penson
Aaron Friedman
Ali White
Nichola Stott
@mattbeswick
@petecampbell
@simonpenson
@AaronFriedman
@AlistairWhite
@NicholaStott

73. Carolyn Jones
Brian Downard
Miles Burke
Neil Eneix
Stacey MacNaught
Ross Simmonds
@carolynlyn
@pocketyourshop
@milesb
@neileneix
@staceycav
@TheCoolestCool

74. Kent Lewis
Tony Dimmock
Justin McGill
Illiy Vjestica
Lyena Solomon
Ned Poulter
@kentjlewis
@Tony_DWM
@Jus10McGill
@illiyadesigns
@lyena
@NedPoulter

75. Nick Garner
Ben Austin
Michael Reynolds Mel Carson
@nickgarner
@absolutelyben
@michaelreynolds @MelCarson
Laura Crimmons Geno Prussakov
@lauracrimmons @ePrussakov

76. Also don’t forget to checkout our
SEMrush Blog to become a digital
marketing Ninja!