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The importance of the corporate presentation’s visuals

The importance of the corporate presentation’s visuals

It’s like the packaging of any product: what wraps up the message is very important, and that doesn’t mean you can neglect the message. But a presentation can be a trigger to capture the audience’s attention, as well as to generate emotion, empathy, and to explain the brand’s personality. After all, we already know that people find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on listening to someone without grabbing their cell phone: what can we do then?

Besides being recommended to use original slides, forgetting templates and things already seen elsewhere, we have already talked about the rule of one idea per slide, so as not to disperse the listener, but this does not invalidate the use of an image or a certain color to offer an emotional experience to those listening to us. The non-verbal message and beauty matter a lot. “Eyes also eat”, isn’t that what they say at the table? Graphic elements are allies, that is, we can and should use boxes, balls, or other visual elements to highlight important information or key elements of a presentation. In this way we will be giving more importance to the contents that are inside these graphic elements, making them more memorable. Basically we are also signaling what we want the listener to register or at least not miss.

But images, photos or illustrations also play to our advantage in this game of attention and seduction, although care must be taken in the way they are presented, because the angle we choose, the alignment, the colors transmit something and can distract from the essential. In other words, the audience receives the information and defines the hierarchy of it. We have also seen in the past that in a presentation the slides must function as a cohesive visual unit with a set of graphic standards that coherently respond as a whole to the message. Regardless of language and language, the speaker’s verb or the image, message and visual presentation should be on the same page.

Colors should not be left to chance either, because they generate emotion, a fundamental weapon in these wanderings of communication. Examples? Red is passion, energy, and action; yellow is associated with happiness, confidence, optimism, and enthusiasm; green speaks of freshness, harmony, and security; black is about power, professionalism, elegance, mystery, and seriousness; purple is about royalty, luxury, and sophistication, as well as magic; white represents purity, innocence, simplicity, and elegance; brown is about nature, stability, and confidence; orange is about energy, fun, spontaneity, and warmth. In short, it is very important that the choice of colors coincides with the brand’s image.

All the choices above must be weighed carefully, because this results in micro-stories within the story. All the slides count, all the images, all the highlights, all speak of the brand image, of what we are and where we are going. A visual presentation, whether or not it actively assists the speaker, never ceases to be a storytelling of the company, as several side messages are conveyed to the main message. This also reveals the brand’s identity and personality.

We leave three key points for reflection that ideally go hand in hand and are key to an impactful visual presentation:

Storytelling: The speaker’s message is the most important thing, but a visual presentation can also tell a story, which can be more overt or more subtle. Seeing something helps to understand better, to compare, to make a metaphor, whether poetic or utilitarian; even some round number explaining why we are there, validating the idea or product. Creativity helps, humor in the right dose ditto, the goal is always to talk about a product or idea without making it seem like we are imposing (or actually selling) it.

Identity and personality: Everything in a slide, in a presentation, is a choice, and everything speaks. The detail should not be underestimated, because all the more or less obvious messages there speak about the brand, about who it is and what kind of energy or tone it emanates. Nothing should be left to chance, everything can be associated with the company’s image, it is the identity of our idea, product or brand that is at stake. Planning, coherence, and good taste are good ingredients for an effective visual presentation.

Emotions and attention: Storytelling usually takes care of this part, as it tries to wrap a story in a way that will generate feelings and empathy, but there are more strategies like using colors or images that will stir the listener’s memory. Emotions sell, fighting monotony is vital. A seductive presentation, in times when we are distracted by a hangnail in the wind, can be the ideal crutch to make ourselves heard better. Eyes eat too, remember?