Katie Dorn on 2023 Presentation Design Trends
“You have all the work that you’ve put into it. You have your expertise on display. Make sure that your presentation supports that. That’s what we are here for. We’re here to make you look good and give people an excellent experience.”
Q: FROM A CREATIVE STANDPOINT, WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR THE EVENTS INDUSTRY IN 2023?
A: Obviously, everyone’s excited to be back in-person and for live shows. For presentation design specifically, that’s a very exciting thing because when you’re presenting to your audience, the deck that you’re designing for has such a huge impact in-person.
Q: AS A DESIGNER, IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIFIC ABOUT PRESENTATION DESIGN YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST AND TRYING TO BRING INTO THE LIVE EVENT WORLD THIS YEAR?
A: We’re all excited to get back into scale. When you are designing for a screen, your typical PowerPoint stuff, you want to make sure everything looks streamlined. But the main thing is to make sure the information is conveyed clearly and directly. Especially when you are over a live stream.
When you’re in person, you get to have more of an impact and work with screens of different sizes, Just the sheer size of the screen means you can convey information differently. You can do more animations, and transitions, and work more with the speaker on their presentation notes. There can be less information on the slide because that is the person presenting. You can really focus on visuals and the big impact points that they want to say so that everyone is listening to the presentation, not just watching the points of view on the screen.
Q: HOW DO SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION DESIGNS AND MESSAGING TAKE AN EVENT TO NEW HEIGHTS?
A: Making sure that your presentation is ready for the big day is so important because again, especially with these live meetings you’re speaking to a large audience, you’re on this grand stage, and everybody is so excited and eager to hear what you have to say. You want to make sure your message is as concise and impactful as it can possibly be. Having your slides properly pair with what you’re speaking, that’s so important because you want your audience to listen to you. You don’t want them to read your slides, you want them to experience that presentation. So, when we take the design, we want to make sure that we know your message. What’s most important for you to talk about? The beats that you want to hit. And we want to make sure that everything is coordinated so that you can give your best presentation.
Q: IF YOU COULD ENCOURAGE A CLIENT TO FOCUS ON ONE ASPECT OF PRESENTATION DESIGN AND MESSAGING WHAT ONE THING WOULD IT BE?
A: One thing…reduce. Presenters want to make sure everything is there for the audience to see, so they will just put everything they can think of to cover that topic on the slide. That’s not what your audience wants to see. You are the subject matter expert. They want to hear what you have to say. The slides are there to support you, not do your job for you. So, if I can tell presenters to do one thing, it is to get to that core message. What’s the most important thing? What’s the message? What’s the end goal? What’s the “so what” point of everything you’re saying? That’s what goes on your slide so that when you present, that’s the big point that audiences see to support you.
Q: CAN YOU EXPLAIN YOUR PROCESS KNOWING THE STORY IS AT THE FOREFRONT OF EVERY DESIGN DECISION?
A: Storytelling is at the core of everything we do with design. We have the tools to make something look aesthetically good, but that’s only half the picture. What’s important is knowing the core message behind something so we can tailor everything and craft it to be as impactful as possible. It’s really the marriage of those two things that make an impactful design. We’re trying to focus on how we make this exactly what they want to see and what the audience will respond to. We want that experience component, and that’s what sets it apart.
Q: WHAT KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM A LIVE EVENT WOULD YOU WANT THE AUDIENCE TO GAIN AND HOW CAN PRESENTATION DESIGN HELP WITH THIS?
A: Much like storytelling, the flip side of that is engagement. We want to tell a good story, so your audience engages with your presentation and comes away feeling like they’ve had an impactful experience, feeling like what they’ve heard makes sense to them, excites them, and gives them that next step. The action item of what you’re saying. We want this to be a back-and-forth between the presenter and the audience so when your audience walks away, they’re excited for the next steps.
Q: CENTRIFUGE MEDIA’S IN-PERSON EVENT CALENDAR IS FILLING UP QUICKLY FOR THE START OF 2023. WHAT CREATIVE NEEDS ARE YOU SEEING OR PREDICTING FOR EVENT SPACES?
A: We are seeing a lot more with using video content. Especially with these live sessions, we will have opening videos, closing statements, and supporting video content throughout the event. Whether that is produced on-site or beforehand, that really helps support the message we are trying to convey. When you are in-person, on these big screens, in these wonderfully crafted environments, anything that you can use to get your message across is well worth it.
Q: WE ARE SEEING THE NEED TO PUSH HIGH-QUALITY CONTENT AND VISUALS AFTER YEARS OF LOW-QUALITY ZOOM CALLS, AND WORKAROUNDS DUE TO COVID. WHAT SOLUTIONS DOES THE CREATIVE TEAM OFFER FOR QUALITY CONTENT AND HOW DO YOU FORESEE IT BEING USED?
A: Meetings are one big collaboration and it is important that we come at this from all points so everything is working together as seamlessly as it possibly can. Being able to focus on creating high-quality content from the start makes all the difference in the world. If we’re able to effectively work with the clients on the presentation and with the tech team on how it will be executed, we’re able to do things like use our team to help produce high-quality video, with crisp images and impactful video that we can use to support those messages.
Q: ANY FINAL LAST WORDS OR ADVICE FOR A SPEAKER PLANNING THEIR 2023 PRESENTATION?
A: Don’t discount presentation design. It’s like, “Oh, it’s PowerPoint, we all know what PowerPoint is.” But again, this is this is your moment. This is your time on the stage to really speak to your people, to show your message. You have all the work that you’ve put into it. You have your expertise on display. Make sure that your presentation supports that. That is what we are here for. We are here to make you look good and give people an excellent experience.
