DON’T

SUCK!
HOW TO MAKE PRESENTATIONS ROCK

BY SLIDES THAT ROCK

CHAPTER 1

what’s the
POINT?
What’s the POINT?
In our experience, 95% of all presentations SUCK. The slides are ugly,
busy and do not communicate the message clearly.

DON’T SUCK!
At Slides That Rock, we have 20 years experience in slide design, and
we used to really suck too. After a while we got sick and tired of crappy
slides. Change was needed! We learned new cool tools from brilliant
people such as Steve Jobs, Nancy Duarte and Garr Reynolds.

This eBook has been created for people who want to make better
presentations. We will give you cool tools to create an exciting story and
design awesome slides that will make people go, “WOW”!

Why should YOU CARE?

Do you have a message? People doing presentations usually want to SELL

IDEAS
promote and sell their ideas. They want to influence the audience. They
want to change the world, or at least a small part of it.

If your presentation stinks, nobody is going to buy your ideas, except for
your mom. On the other hand, if your presentation is clear, visually
attractive and emotionally engaging, you will sell a lot more tickets.
Whether you are presenting at a business meeting, teaching a class or
promoting your latest invention, this eBook will help you do exactly that.

Why should you LISTEN TO US?

The good news is you don't have to. There are plenty of smart people

!
out there offering great books on how to do presentations. They have

CHANGE
inspired us. This eBook is a shorter but powerful alternative. We will give
you cool tools we use every day with our own clients.

We apply the design principle “Less is More”, and we design with an

THE WORLD
attitude. Think “Apple meets Linkin Park.” Slides That Rock is not for
everyone. Entrepreneurs, artists and change makers are naturally
attracted to our work. We have served a wide range of clients including
movie makers, real estate experts, inventors and even Harvard
University (after Zuckerberg left). Enough about us, the real question is...

ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?

“
Presentations have
the power to change
the world.
- Nancy Duarte
 1 STORY
exciting

2 STRUCTURE
solid
OUR
DESIGN 3 SLIDES
simple

TOOLS 4 COLORS
awesome

5 FONTS
cool

6 IMAGES
stunning
CHAPTER 2

exciting
STORY
It starts with YOUR STORY
speakers tell
Before you even begin to think about slide design, you need to create
the story. What is your message? How is it best communicated?

STORIES
Many people start their presentations by loading PowerPoint or Keynote
with data. They design slides without having a story to tell. Big mistake!

If you only have data, send the audience a report. Seriously! Seth Godin
said communication is the transfer of emotion. You want to engage their
hearts. Logic is not enough. Surprise, shock, make them laugh. When
the audience feels, they are much more likely to buy your idea.

Great speakers tell stories. Do your story first. Once you have the outline
of your story, you can design awesome slides that tell your story.

Who is your AUDIENCE?

Everything starts with your audience. Without them, you are NOTHING. WHAT’S YOUR
POINT?
Always remember your presentation is not for you. It’s for the people
listening to you. What can you do for them?

You need to understand your audience. Who are they? What do they
want? What keeps them awake at night? If you want them to buy your
ideas, you have to give them something they want.

So here is the deal. Before you write your story, you have to answer two
key questions:

What’s YOUR POINT?

?
What is your key message? We are bombarded with information
everyday, and we forget most of it. If your audience should remember
only ONE THING, what do you want it to be? What is the big take away?
FOCUS! Just ONE THING. WHY SHOULD
Why should THEY CARE?
You are now clear on your key message, but how is it relevant to the
audience? How is your idea, product or service going to help people?
THEY CARE
People want things that either help them solve a problem and/or give
them more pleasure. In other words, you have to give them either a
painkiller or a lollipop, or better yet, both.
“
Storytelling is by far the
most underrated skill in
business.
- Gary Vaynerchuk
Keynote Presentation - Press to open in web browser Keynote Presentation - Press to open in web browser

FONTS: HouseBrush & Tungsten FONTS: Reklame Script & Tungsten

COLORS: Retro colors to fit images COLORS: ‘New York taxi yellow’ on B&W
IMAGES: iStockphoto.com IMAGES: B&W Classic Comedies
“
Communication is the
transfer of emotion.
- Seth Godin
CHAPTER 3

solid
STRUCTURE
Twitter friendly HEADLINE
A story starts with a headline. How will people remember your talk?
Create a Twitter Friendly Headline. How can you describe your awesome twitter friendly
HEADLINE
idea or product in 140 characters or less? Your audience will remember
something short and catchy. The iPod was “1000 songs in your pocket”.

What is your one-liner? What is the line the audience will repeat after
they leave the room? It has to be catchy. Get the headline right and build
your presentation around it. Don’t Suck.

Highlight BENEFITS
Many speakers focus on the features of their idea, however, people
don’t really care about features. They care about themselves and how

HIGHLIGHT
your idea can potentially make their lives better. Apart from the
features, they really want to know the benefits of your idea.

So when you write your story, focus on the benefits. Let the audience

BENEFITS
know how your idea will help them.

Most people we work with have limited time. You want to make your

3
benefits attractive for people to stop and pay attention. Seriously! The
audience has many other things to do.

Use the RULE OF 3

The Rule of 3 suggests information presented in groups of three sticks in
heads better than other clusters of items. 3 is a magic number. Why 3? It
creates focus. Ready, Aim, Fire! Any more than 3 becomes a list, and
people don’t remember a list. So how does it work? When you introduce

RULE OF
a topic, apply the Rule of 3. Examples:

What are the 3 things that make your idea great?

What are 3 things you will do for your audience?
What are the 3 main features of your competition?

You might have a lot more than 3 things but limit it to the top 3. This
gives your talk focus and makes it more memorable.

If you want to see the Rule of 3 in action, go to YouTube and watch

Steve Jobs do a product launch. Steve was a master of the Rule of 3.
He applied it constantly because it works.
“
No one can remember
more than three points.
- Phil Crosby
HERO & VILLAIN

who is your
Any great story has a hero and a villain. So should your story. The
audience loves to be part of the hero’s journey as he fights the villain.
The hero might be your product and your competitor, the enemy. The

DARTH VADER?
villain could be a challenge you overcame. Whatever you present, you
need to have an enemy. We fight slides that suck!

So who is your Darth Vader?

Give your story STRUCTURE

Presentations have structure. We apply the Rule of 3 with a basic
structure of 3 parts. You want your presentation to have a beginning
(Part 1), middle (Part 2) and end (Part 3).

Part 1 is the opening and Part 3 the closing. Part 2 is the story. It usually
contributes 70-80% of the presentation. GIVE THE STORY
When you structure Part 2, divide it into 3 Acts. Think of any great
movie. Act 1 starts with an introduction to the hero and his world.
Usually, everything seems great in Act 1.
STRUCTURE
At the end of Act 1, something dramatic happens to the hero. His world
is turned upside down, and the struggle begins. Act 2 is the majority of
the movie, where you follow the hero fight the villain. In Act 3, the hero
overcomes the enemy and gets his life back. Maybe he even kisses the
girl and saves the world.

Using this structure helps you organize your story. The audience will find
it a lot easier to follow your presentation. Here are 3 different situations
and an example of what the 3 Acts could look like:

3 ACTS
The Classic Story: Situation, Complication, Resolution

The Journey: Past, Present, Future

The Recommendation: Problem, Solution, Recommendation

On the following pages, you will find an example of a structure for each
of these acts including all the components we have introduced. The Rule
of 3 has been applied consistently, even when expanding on a point.
Use this structure to ROCK!
STRUCTURE: THE CLASSIC STORY
Slide 1: Opening slide (Twitter Friendly Headline)

PART 1 Slide 2: What’s the POINT of this talk? Slide 1: Relevance 1

Slide 3: Why should THEY CARE? Slide 2: Relevance 2
Slide 3: Relevance 3

Slide 1: The hero is introduced Slide 1: Feature 1

Act 1 Slide 2: The world of the hero Slide 2: Feature 2

Slide 3: Feature 3
Slide 3: The villain appears

Slide 1: The hero suffers

PART 2 Act 2 Slide 2: The hero fights back Slide 1: Serious attack
Slide 3: The villain attacks Slide 2: One more attack
Slide 3: Will the hero make it?
Slide 1: The hero fights back

Act 3 Slide 2: The hero wins and gets the girl Slide 1: Point 1
Slide 3: The POINT of the story Slide 2: Point 2
Slide 3: Point 3

Slide 1: Relate the story to the AUDIENCE Slide 1: Benefit 1

PART 3 Slide 2: Summarize the BENEFITS Slide 2: Benefit 2

Slide 3: Benefit 3
Slide 3: Call to action
STRUCTURE: THE JOURNEY
Slide 1: Opening slide (Twitter Friendly Headline)

PART 1 Slide 2: What’s the POINT of this talk? Slide 1: Relevance 1

Slide 3: Why should THEY CARE? Slide 2: Relevance 2
Slide 3: Relevance 3

Past: Why we are here? Slide 1: Milestone 1

Act 1 Past: Milestones Slide 2: Milestone 2

Slide 3: Milestone 3
Past: Achievements

Present: What is happening? Slide 1: Priority 1

PART 2 Act 2 Present: Our priorities Slide 2: Priority 2

Slide 3: Priority 3
Present: Our challenges

Future: What are we suggesting? Slide 1: Reasons

Act 3 Future: Why? Slide 2: Benefits

Slide 3: If we don’t do it...
Future: Next Steps ($, Time, Resources)

Slide 1: Relate the story the AUDIENCE Slide 1: Benefit 1

PART 3 Slide 2: Summarize the BENEFITS Slide 2: Benefit 2

Slide 3: Benefit 3
Slide 3: Call to action
STRUCTURE: THE RECOMMENDATION
Slide 1: Opening slide (Twitter Friendly Headline)

PART 1 Slide 2: What’s the POINT of this talk? Slide 1: Relevance 1

Slide 3: Why should THEY CARE? Slide 2: Relevance 2
Slide 3: Relevance 3

Slide 1: Problem 1 Slide 1: Reason 1

Act 1 Slide 2: Problem 2 Slide 2: Reason 2

Slide 3: Reason 3
Slide 3: Problem 3

Slide 1: Solution 1

PART 2 Act 2 Slide 2: Solution 2

Slide 3: Solution 3
Slide 1: Reason 1
Slide 1: Recommendation 1 Slide 2: Reason 2

Act 3 Slide 2: Recommendation 2 Slide 3: Reason 3

Slide 3: Recommendation 3

Slide 1: Relate the story the AUDIENCE Slide 1: Benefit 1

PART 3 Slide 2: Summarize the BENEFITS Slide 2: Benefit 2

Slide 3: Benefit 3
Slide 3: Call to action
BONUS!
HOW TO PITCH
Dave McClure
10 SLIDES TO AN AWESOME PITCH!
Teaser slide
goes here
1 Elevator Pitch 6 Proprietary Tech
2 The PROBLEM 7 Competition
3 The Solution DEMO
8 Marketing Plan
goes here
4 Market Size 9 Team
5 Business Model 10 Money
Original Pitch Deck - Press to open in web browser

FONTS: League Gothic and Myriad Pro

COLORS: Blue, Grey, Black and White
IMAGES: shutterstock.com
CHAPTER 4

simple
SLIDES
1 Slide, 1 Message

1MESSAGE
Most slides are overloaded with words and data. Speakers are trying to

slide
communicate too much on 1 slide. You want to make it really simple.
Communicate just 1 message per slide. That allows you to talk about 1
thing at a time. The audience will be focused on you rather than reading
all the stuff on your slide while you talk. They are listening to you.

So how does that impact your design? If you currently have 1 slide with
4 bullet points, in the future, you will have 4 individual slides. Each slide
will represent 1 of the previous bullets (unless you further simplify your
message).

Applying that principle means a 20 slide presentation done in the “old

way” might turn into more than 50 slides. Yes, you will spend more time
on design, but now you can focus on one message at a time. This tells
your story as it should be told. That Rocks!

What about bullets? We don’t like them and many experts will say no to
bullets. Steve Jobs never used bullets. But then we have reality! If you
(or your boss) insist on using bullets, limit it to 3 bullets (Rule of 3) per THINK
slide.

You also want to have the bullets appear one at a time. That again will
BILLBOARD
allow you to speak to each point without the audience reading the next
bullet and getting ahead of you. But remember... Bullets do kill!

Think BILLBOARD
You want your audience to quickly understand your message. People
should get your slide in less than 3 seconds. Think about billboards.
They are large signs with simple messages. They are designed for you to
get the message quickly while you are driving your car. We suggest you
use a similar philosophy when designing your slides. put details in
HANDOUT
Using the billboard philosophy, you will have less text on each slide.
What is the core message you want to deliver? Think headlines. Some of
you might have lots of details for the audience. If that’s the case, keep
your presentation simple. Give the audience a handout with the details.
Your presentation should be a presentation, not a document. Handouts
are great.
K.I.S.S.
KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!
Keynote Presentation - Press to open in web browser Keynote Presentation - Press to open in web browser

FONTS: RPM 45 FONTS: Bitter

COLORS: B&W COLORS: Santana (Retro Reggae)
IMAGES: shutterstock.com IMAGES: iStockphoto.com
CHAPTER 5

awesome
COLORS
Use a COLOR SCHEME

USE
A standard presentation with black text on a white background is simple
and clean. Bummer is, it can be really boring. It doesn’t enrich the

COLORS
experience, either. Colors do!

Choose a color scheme that supports your message and your brand. In
this book, we have used a black and white color scheme with a strong
yellow. Why? We are big fans of New York’s yellow cabs. We also love
black and white photography. So how about combining the two? The
image on the next page is a perfect illustration of this color scheme. The
yellow cabs in a black and white Manhattan. How cool is that?

What are your dominant colors? If you are Lady Gaga, you would
probably go for pink and purple or gold and black. The point is it has to
fit you and your message.

A great resource for colors is colourlovers.com where you will find a

world of color schemes and patterns. Everything you need! We have
created a “How To” guide on page 24. DARKER
Darker BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Most people still use white as the background color. A white background
makes colorful images stand out. It’s elegant and neutral. Great but...

White is a challenge as it screams! It’s very bright. When you deliver a

presentation, it’s harder on the eyes, and it can take the attention away
from you. We suggest you explore other colors. While Apple has shown
us the power of white in their products and commercials, Steve Jobs
used a dark background for his keynotes. Darker colors such as blue
and black are awesome background colors. Find a color scheme and

GO URBAN
experiment. Mix it up!

Go URBAN
Color schemes are everywhere, and we encourage you to look at the
world around you and find colors that inspire you. We do. NEW YORK CITY
Go URBAN and look at the city. Street signs, billboards, shops, cafes,
graffiti, buildings, and products. Look in magazines, check cool websites
and just get curious about colors. Pick something you like and
incorporate the colors in your presentation. Urban unique!
Keynote Presentation - Press to open in web browser
CHAPTER 6

cool
FONTS
Standard fonts are BORING

STANDARD
Listen to any expert on slide design, and they will tell you the standard
fonts on your computer are boring. We agree! Most of the fonts such as
Times New Roman, Calibri and Arial are boring and overused. There are
much cooler fonts out there.
FONTS ARE
BORING
However, again we face reality. Most people are not experts in
typography, and they will never be. They have more important things to
do. Furthermore, if you are in an environment where you need your
presentation to work on several computers, it’s makes little sense to use
a unique and sexy font. It will only show up on your own computer
unless you share the font file with everyone else. So what do you do?

Most of our clients ask us to use the standard PowerPoint and Keynote
fonts. Doing that will ensure your presentation looks the same every time

GO PLAY!
you show it no matter what computer you use.

While the standard fonts fail to excite, you don’t have to use them in a
boring way. Dare to be different! On the next page, you will see Arial in
action. Arial is considered very standard and very boring, but you can
make it look cooler if you put your design hat on. Use colors, bold,
italics and change the font size. While standard fonts are not the most
exciting, you can definitely make them sexy! Go play!

If you are ready to break the rules and go beyond standard fonts, the big
world of fonts is ready to be explored. One of our favorite sources of free
fonts is fontsquirrel.com. They have an awesome collection of cool fonts
ready to be downloaded and used by YOU.

Use Sans Serif

There are many different font types. It’s a jungle out there. Not all of
USE

SANS SERIF
them are equally good for presentations. Within the world of fonts, there
are different font families. In our opinion, the best one for presentation
design is the Sans Serif family of fonts. Sans Serif fonts have become
standard for text on-screen, especially online. It’s clean and easier to
read. FONT
The Sans Serif family includes standard fonts such as Arial, Gill Sans,
Tahoma, Futura, Calibri, Helvetica, Trebuchet MS, Univers and Verdana.
And you can find a lot more on Font Squirrel. Enough to get you started.
arial can look
SANS SERIF
AWESOME!
FONTS
ALWAYS ROCK!

BIG LESS IS
or small font
MORE
BECREATIVE
CHAPTER 7

stunning
IMAGES
Only HI QUALITY
A stunning image speaks a thousand words. The right image evokes

USE AWESOME
emotion. When you pick images that stand out, your audience will
remember them. Aim to convert your text slides to slides with images

IMAGES
that speak.

It takes time to find the right images. We spend scads of time searching
for the right ones, but it’s worth it. Where do we find them?

For FREE photos, we love compfight.com. Compfight is a search engine

that gives you the best Flickr photos. You can find amazing images on
Flickr. Most people now upload their photos in high resolution. Check
out the “How To” guide on page 32. Cool!

For professional royalty free images, we use shutterstock.com, which

SCREEN
has a great selection at reasonable prices. All the stock images in this
eBook are from shutterstock.

FULL
Go FULL SCREEN
Great images should be seen and enjoyed. To do that, we recommend
you use the FULL SCREEN to present your image. Don’t place it in the
middle or to one side on the slide. Use the whole slide for maximum
impact. Use quality images with high resolution. No pixelated images! A
pixelated image upsets the whole presentation. Use as little text as
possible. Make the image speak.

If you do chose to use less than full screen, we suggest you give your
image a proper frame. Make it look good! Just placing an image on a
colored background looks cheap. Don’t be cheap! Don’t Suck!

You want your presentation to look like a million dollars. You want
people to go, “WOW”! Look at how the big companies do their ads. Be

NO CLIP ART
inspired! Learn from them. On the next page you will find some really
cool ads. A lot more image and a lot less text.

NO CLIP ART
Clip art is so yesterday. It’s out! It belongs in the past. We know
Microsoft offers free Clip Art. Many websites are dedicated to Clip Art,
but we have moved on to different, more creative, times. Don’t even
consider it. Use high quality images. NO CLIP ART! It really SUCKS!
Keynote Presentation - Press to open in web browser
CHAPTER 8

now go
ROCK!
 1 STORY
exciting

2 STRUCTURE
solid
OUR
DESIGN 3 SLIDES
simple

TOOLS 4 COLORS
awesome

5 FONTS
cool

6 IMAGES
stunning
 FUN!
Ready to ROCK?

MAKE IT
In this book we have given you some really cool tools to help you create
much better presentations. We use these tools every day, and you can
see them applied throughout this book.

If you decide to use these tools, you will rock! You will stand out. If you
are curious and want to know more, there is a big world to be explored.
We have added additional resources at the back of this book. There are
many others on imagery, fonts and colors. The list is very long.

This eBook was never intended to be comprehensive. We wanted it to

be simple, practical and used by people! We applied the 80/20 rule
realizing most people are very busy. How could we give you the most
awesome tools in a quick and efficient manner? This eBook is a “Quick
Reference Guide”. We hope it will inspire you to take your presentations
to the next level. MAKE IT FUN!

It’s YOUR VOICE IT’S YOUR

VOICE
The tools in this book will be even more powerful when you speak in
your own voice. You are not us and we are not you. You might not be
inspired by rock music or Harley Davidson but Beethoven and yellow
cupcakes. So when you create your presentation, include YOU. When
you pick the colors and images, use stuff that speaks to you. By doing
so, you will show up in a more authentic way, and people will more
easily connect with you. They want to see a real person!

The Book That Never Was

This book was never meant to happen. In 2011, we created a Keynote
presentation with our design principles for SlideShare.net. We have often
been asked to write a normal book, but that never inspired us. Slides

GO ROCK!
That Rock does presentations! However, when Apple launched the
multi-touch eBook, we saw a format that spoke to us. We got very
excited! We wrote our first book and it was published on iTunes in June
2012. This is the PDF version of the eBook, which will give more people
access to the goodies! Going global!

In the last chapter, we have included the Keynote that started it all. You
will recognize the principles explained in this book. Scrap those ugly
slides now!

DON’T SUCK! GO ROCK!

“
Treat presentations as
infotainment. Your
audience wants to be
educated and entertained.
Have fun. It will show.
- Carmine Gallo
CHAPTER 9

more
STUFF
Keynote Presentation - Press to open in web browser

FONTS: Lobster Two & Bebas Neue (Free fonts on fontsquirrel.com)

COLORS: Harley Davidson
IMAGES: shutterstock.com
RESOURCES THAT ROCK!
These are the main resources we use when we design presentations. The companies don’t pay us to include
their names. They don’t even know. They are just great resources we use every day.

Compfight.com
www.compfight.com
www.slideshare.net Great FREE images! Compfight rocks. The search
SlideShare is the “YouTube for presentations”. Be engine that picks the best from Flickr. Remember to
inspired by others and upload your own. Fantastic give people credit when you use their photos.
site, and it’s FREE.

www.colourlovers.com
Welcome to the world of colors. If you are into colors
or want to know more, this is the site. Thousands of
color schemes and patterns. It’s FREE.
www.shutterstock.com
Royalty-free photos. Great collection at a reasonable
price. This is where we buy most of our stock photos.

www.fontsquirrel.com
If you want to go beyond the standard fonts, go to
Font Squirrel. Fantastic selection of cool fonts that are
all FREE. This is where we found “Lobster Two” and
“Bebas Neue.”
www.istockphoto.com
Royalty-free photos. A bigger collection than
shutterstock with some really unique and awesome
photos but it’s also more expensive than shutterstock.
PEOPLE WHO INSPIRED US!
These are some of the amazing people and companies
that inspire us to do better presentations.

AUTHORS OTHERS

Carmine Gallo Jesse Desjardins MyFonts

www.slideshare.net/jessedee
www.carminegallo.com www.myfonts.com

Emiland De Cubber
www.slideshare.net/EmilandDC
Nancy Duarte Lost Type Co-Op
www.duarte.com Empowered Presentations www.losttype.com
www.slideshare.net/mrcoryjim

Ethos3 Note & Point

Garr Reynolds www.slideshare.net/ethos3
www.noteandpoint.com
www.garrreynolds.com
David Crandall
www.slideshare.net/davidcrandall
The Noun Project
Alexei Kapterev Eugene Cheng www.thenounproject.com
www.kapterev.com www.slideshare.net/itseugene

Alex Rister
www.slideshare.net/alexrister1

Chiara Ojeda
www.slideshare.net/ohmgrrl
PHOTO CREDITS
All images in this eBook are from Shutterstock.com with the
following exceptions:

Page 9: “What’s Your Story?” / istockphoto.com

Page 9: “How to Successfully Connect With Your Audience” /

The images are wallpapers sourced from the web. We have
been unable to locate the original photographers/owners. We
honor and respect the unknown photographers and the
amazing actors.

Page 35: All ads sourced from the WEB

OTHER PHOTO CREDITS:

Page 27: emin kuliyev / Shutterstock.com

Page 32, Image #2: ARENA Creative / Shutterstock.com

Page 32, Image #5: SeanPavonePhoto / Shutterstock.com

Page 32, Image #7: ValeStock / Shutterstock.com

COVERING OUR BUTTS: We do not want the FBI or

Hells Angels to show up at our house. If we have
messed up your life by using your photo and/or not
given you credit, let us know. Respect!
DON’T SUCK!
HOW TO MAKE PRESENTATIONS ROCK
© 2013 Slides That Rock Limited

SLIDES THAT ROCK

www.SlidesThatRock.com
@SlidesThatRock

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