The 5 biggest slide design fails consultants commit (and how to recover)
I get it. Presentation slides aren’t supposed to win design awards.
But let’s be honest; many look like an hazmat site of information rather than a well-constructed story.
A lousy deck won’t just bore your audience, it will work against you, potentially leaving money on the table.
So, let’s talk about the five biggest design fails consultants make and how to rescue your presentation.
1. The ‘Wall of text’ tragedy
The fail
You’ve packed your slide with so much text that it could double as a legal contract.
Your audience is squinting, their eyes glazing over, and someone in the back is considering a career change.
The recovery
Remember the job of the slide show is to support your presentation, not act as a transcript of it.
Keep it simple.
Give each slide one key idea.
Use short, punchy text, and for the love of clarity, embrace white space.
If you need a magnifying glass to read it, you’re doing it wrong.
2. Charts that require a PhD to decode
The fail
Your chart has 27 colours, an axis with 20 points and more labels than a Fashion Week runway.
Nobody knows what’s going on.
The recovery
Keep charts simple.
Highlight the key data point.
Use clear labels, remove unnecessary gridlines, and never use 3D charts (seriously, why do those still exist?).
3. The ‘Frankenstein’ slide deck
The fail
Every slide looks like it was designed by a different person on a different day in a different decade.
Fonts are all over the place, colours don’t match and some images look like they fell straight out of corporate stock photo land.
The recovery
Stick to a consistent style.
Use your firm’s brand colours, a clean font and a structured layout.
Image quality and consistency is a must.
If you don’t have a template, get one or call a designer and avoid an identity crisis.
4. The ‘Where am I supposed to look?’ disaster
The fail
Everything on your slide is screaming for attention, and now your audience is staring at the wrong thing.
The audience is fixated on a minor footnote while your billion-dollar insight gets ignored.
The recovery
Guide the eye.
Use bold headlines, logical spacing and callouts for key points. If it’s important, make it stand out.
If it’s not, make it smaller.
Or better yet, delete it.
5. Death by PowerPoint animation
The fail
Text flying in from all directions, fading, spinning and bouncing like it’s auditioning for a Broadway show.
Cool in theory.
Distracting in reality.
The recovery
Keep it classy.
Simple fades or slides? Fine.
But if your deck looks like a karaoke video, it’s time for an intervention.
Final words of wisdom
A consulting pitch deck isn’t just a formality, it’s a tool of persuasion.
Done well, it makes you look sharp, credible and worth every dollar of your fees.
Done badly?
It makes people toil to understand your story.
Need a consulting slide make-over?
Let’s chat before your next big pitch leaves your prospects cold.
