The demand for presentation design experts is growing significantly as the role becomes a critical part of an organization or team. Why? First impressions can mean the difference between the success and failure of a product. Today, presentations are a critical part of how we communicate our business messages.
A text-heavy slide that is hard to read is not going to win you any business. Would you want to buy anything from someone who used any of these slides?
But, you are swamped with multiple projects and you really don’t have the best PowerPoint skills. So, what do you do? Organizations are realizing that they need to work efficiently and use their resources wisely. This is a perfect reason to work with a presentation specialist who can help your presentations be that strong visual message needed to close that deal. It can be an internal resource, often found working in marketing and sales, or an external resource.
Presentation Specialists are in high-demand both internally and externally. According to Artisan Talent Agency, there is a growing demand for high-end presentation design skills by their corporate customers. It is a job position that they have a high demand for qualified candidates. 
“What is driving this increased demand for presentation specialists?”, I asked. She explained that for their agency, it is the emergence of the infographic as a key information tool that has really been a driving factor. Health-care and consulting firms are the sectors that seem to be driving the increased reach of infographics as a messaging tool. Did you know that in the last five years, the use of infographics has increased 800% per year? Google trends research concludes the demand for mobile and visual learning are key factors to the continued growth.
End of the year financial data projects has also become a perfect project for a specialist who can create an understandable way of presenting financial and other analytics. Here is one example of a bad data slide which also happens to be one of Nolan Haim’s favorite for “Worst Chart Slide”:
Nolan Haims did a wonderful PXpert webinar on how to tell the story of your data. It doesn’t have to be hard to understand or boring. He shows us how to design charts that are both clear and beautiful. Here are two examples of how to show the story of data:
Having the ability to see the story of the data and how to present it is an important skill to have.
Who are presentation designers?
They go by many names or classifications. They are called PowerPoint experts, PowerPoint designers, Presentation Experts, Presentation Specialist and more. There is now a wonderful trade association, Presentation Guild, that is a great resource for this role. I am proud to be a member. One of my favorite descriptions of this job is theirs. Their job title is “Presentationist”.
In their 2016, Presentation Guild Salary Survey Report, they offered a great profile of a presentationist. Let me share it with you.
Another interesting detail is that 39% of the participants in the survey have “presentation” as part of their job title which is great news for the industry and a show of respect for this role.
The Salary range in the Presentation Guild report was between $51K and $75K. This is consistent with other salary surveys for this role. Glassdoor.com, a job searching site, has the salary range between $43K and $69K with the national average being $57K. 
Indeed.com also offered salary ranges but at $20.70 per hour or $43.6K per year, their information seems too low.
To get more details on the information provided in the Presentation Guild Salary Survey Report, click here. It is free for members. You can join for $99 per year and get it free. Or buy it for $59. Guild membership is a worthwhile investment in yourself. It is a great resource and community.
Experts, Recruiters, and Agencies all seem to agree that a presentation specialist needs to be a good business communicator with a creative visual eye. They should be proficient in Microsoft PowerPoint and use graphic tools like Illustrator, InDesign, PhotoShop, and others. In addition to PowerPoint, presentation specialists should also be proficient in Keynote, Haiku, and/or Prezi.
Where do you fit into this world of presentations? I am curious. Email me.
