Troubleshooting

How important is it to have the company logo on each visual?

In the past, when presentation visuals were mainly prepared by outside services, some slides and transparencies would get "mixed up" among clients . Sometimes this happened during the mounting of slides or during the printing and collating of the transparencies . Putting the company logo on each individual slide or transparency decreased the likelihood of this production process mistake. However, for electronic images there is no need to identify each image with the company for the purpose of keeping the presentation visuals intact. Basically, a filename and a storage location are all you need to know in order to identify the owner of the visuals. So one approach to this is to decide if your visual content is "hard" (slides, overheads, print materials, flip charts ) or "soft" (electronic images, videotapes, Web sites, software applications). If it's hard, put the logo on each component that can be separated from another component, such as each page of a multi-page handout. If the content is "soft," then the logo makes sense on the first visual or at the very beginning of the electronic event.

Some argue that the company logo on every visual acts as a reminder to the audience. Put it this way: If your audience doesn't know what company you're with by the fourth visual, the logo isn't going to save you! The rule is that anything on a visual that doesn't add to its value is a distraction. Some say that after a while the audience doesn't notice the logo. Then that proves it's not necessary. Think about watching TV. How do you feel when the little transparent logo of the TV station stays on the screen, down in the right corner? Annoying? Enough said.

I know PowerPoint comes with so many presentation designs and templates, so why would I ever create my own?

Hey, I'm the first to tell you that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Many of the designs and templates shipped with PowerPoint can serve your purposes for multiple presentations. In fact, you may decide to use an existing template and then modify it slightly to suit your needs. There is no reason to always start from scratch.

But for many organizations, the desire to create a unique look and feel to each presentation usually requires a "from-the-ground-up" process. Some organizations will not invest in off-the-shelf clip art because the same artwork might be used by a competitor which would reduce the chance of presenting a one-of-kind image. In fact, some companies create "standard" templates and designs for use within the company and they sometimes specify a group of images to be associated with certain presentations. For example, a sales presentation may require a certain template plus five or six visuals containing company information.

Because electronic presentations can be reproduced in other forms such as print or even publishing to a Web site, companies need to maintain a consistency across different media. So the use of predesigned templates may or may not be the choice of every company, depending on how unique they want their presentations to look.