How it works
From the file you have to the deck you need
Nothing here is a secret method. A deck is laid out in a fixed order, from material that is settled before layout starts, against a running order you have agreed, with a fixed number of rounds of changes after it. This page is that order, written down.
What you can send
Anything in the lists below can be worked from. Send it as an attachment, or as a link with viewing access where the files are too large for a mailbox.
The deck itself
The file the slides are built in. PowerPoint is what the work is done in and what comes back.
- PowerPoint (.pptx, .ppt)
- Google Slides, shared as a link with viewing access
- A Keynote or Canva deck exported to .pptx or PDF before you send it
The words
Send them written and settled. Nothing here is rewritten, and a deck cannot be laid out around copy that is still moving.
- Word (.docx) or plain text
- A document shared as a link with viewing access
Charts and tables
Restyling a chart means taking one that already exists and bringing it into the deck’s colours, labels and type sizes.
- A chart already built in PowerPoint or Excel (.xlsx)
- A table already built in PowerPoint, Word or Excel
- A picture of a chart, where the figures on it are legible
Brand materials
Whatever you already hold. Nothing is bought on your behalf and no licence of anybody else’s is treated as though it came with the work.
- A logo as .svg, .ai, .eps or .png with a transparent background
- Brand guidelines as a PDF
- Font files you hold a licence for, where the deck is to use them
- Photographs as .jpg or .png at full size
What comes back
- An editable PowerPoint file (.pptx), built on slide masters so that later edits keep the style
- A PDF of the same deck, for sending on and for printing
- Both supplied by email, or by a link where the files are too large for a mailbox
The deck is built in PowerPoint. A Keynote or Canva original has to be exported before it is sent, and what comes back is a PowerPoint file and a PDF rather than the format it started in.
Where your brand uses a font you hold a licence for, send the files and the deck uses it. Where no licence can be used, a close substitute is proposed and agreed with you before layout starts, and the deck says which font it is built on.
A picture of a chart can be restyled only by rebuilding it, so the figures on it have to be legible. Where they are not, send the chart as a file instead.
What a request has to say
Four things. The form on the Contact page asks for them in this order and writes them out for you, but an email saying the same things works exactly as well.
How many slides
The number the finished deck should run to, as near as you know it. It is one of the two numbers the figure is worked out from.
The source file
The deck as it stands, or the document the deck is to be made from. A link with viewing access does the same job as an attachment.
Brand materials
Logo, colours, guidelines and any font you hold a licence for. Where there are none, say so and one consistent style is proposed instead.
When you need it
The date it has to be in your hands. Turnaround is counted in working days from the point the clock starts, so an early date is worth saying early.
The order it runs in
The agreement comes into being when the written confirmation goes out, and not before. Nothing on this website commits you to anything.
You send a brief
A form assembles one out of your answers and hands it to you to send. An email saying the same things works exactly as well. The form is on the Contact page.
The brief is read and answered in writing
The reply names the package your counts fall into, the figure for it, what it covers, what is needed from you, and how long the work takes from the point the clock starts. Where the counts fall outside the published packages, the reply is a written quotation for the deck in front of me instead.
You accept, and the confirmation goes out
The agreement comes into being when the written confirmation is sent, and not before. Nothing on this website commits you to anything.
The figure is paid
Payment answers to that confirmation and goes by the method it names. Before a penny is requested, the document restates the figure in full.
The running order is agreed, then the slides are laid out
The running order is settled first, in writing, because it is what the rounds of changes are measured against. Layout follows it.
You look at the draft and collect your changes
One collected set of corrections at a time. How many rounds are included is set by your package.
The deck is handed over
An editable PowerPoint file and a PDF of the same deck, by email or by a link where the files are too large for a mailbox.
Rounds of changes
What makes a round finish is you saying it is finished.
Ten Slide Refresh: one round of changes. Business Presentation: two rounds of changes. Extended Presentation: two rounds of changes. The second round belongs to the Business Presentation and the Extended Presentation, and further rounds beyond those included are quoted in writing before anything moves.
- A round of changes is one collected set of corrections, sent at once, measured against the running order agreed before layout started.
- Corrections sent one at a time over a fortnight are collected into the round they belong to. What makes a round finish is you saying it is finished.
- Moving type, colour, spacing, the order of slides and the wording already on a slide are all corrections, and they belong to the rounds your package includes.
- Adding slides past the count the figure was worked out from, adding charts past the number your package covers, or replacing the agreed running order with a different one is new work. Each is quoted in writing before anything moves.
- Want more rounds than the package carries? They can be arranged, priced in writing before anything moves.
One slide, laid out twice
The same again, with an argument instead of figures
Both slides in a pair are drawn from one set of words and one set of figures. Nothing is added on the right, nothing is dropped, and no number is recalculated: what changes is the arrangement.
As it arrives
The case for a fourth bench at Bristol
- The problem: Bristol turns away about 40 bookings a month
- The season: Bath and Bristol both run at capacity from March to September
- The room: The lease on Unit 7 runs to 2031 and the back bay is empty
- The ask: Approval to fit and staff a fourth bench before March
Decision wanted at this meeting, not the next one.
Sentences of roughly equal length, each behind a bullet of equal weight, with the request last and looking like an afterthought. The slide has an argument in it, but the argument is invisible at the back of a room.
Laid out
The case for a fourth bench at Bristol
Approval to fit and staff a fourth bench before March
The ask
- The problemBristol turns away about 40 bookings a month
- The seasonBath and Bristol both run at capacity from March to September
- The roomThe lease on Unit 7 runs to 2031 and the back bay is empty
Decision wanted at this meeting, not the next one.
The same sentences, in the same words. The request is set in display type because it is what the meeting has to answer; the ones that support it step down to reading size in the order the argument runs. Nothing has been added, removed or reworded.
What is not included
The same list is printed in the Terms of Service, out of the same file, because a service described two slightly different ways is a service nobody can tell the shape of. It applies at all three sizes.
Copywriting and work on the data behind a chart are both quoted separately in writing, before anything is done, and neither is started until you have agreed to it.
Request presentation design- Writing or rewriting your copy. The words are placed as supplied.
- Analysing your data, checking your figures or working out what they mean. A deck is laid out from conclusions you have already reached.
- Building a chart from raw numbers. Charts are restyled where they already exist, and where they do not, making one is quoted separately in writing.
- Translating or proofreading the text on the slides.
- Sourcing photographs or illustrations, or buying stock, font or template licences on your behalf.
- Animation, video editing, voice-over and anything that turns the deck into a film.
- Rehearsing, presenting or speaker coaching.
- Printing, binding and postage. Nothing is posted.