Why two decks are better than one...

Creating a great deck is a horizon problem.

Every time you think you're close, you look up, and you realise there's always further you can go. It can be frustrating at times, but it's so important towards communicating your story that it's worth spending time on it. 

As a leader of a listed company, I'm sure you're many decks deep. Whether it's an ASX update, roadshow deck, conference presentation, internal update, board update, pitch meeting, and more - PowerPoint certainly gets a workout. 

And I've seen a lot of them because in my spare time, I review company decks - fun hobby right?

I love diving into a deck and trying to learn more about listed companies. Not only is it relevant to my role and business - I genuinely find it interesting to learn how people pitch and discover what defines a 'great' deck. 

What I've noticed is that a great listed business actually has two decks, the deck you publish and the deck you present.

The deck you publish to the market.

You're familiar with this one already. It's the deck that gets published to the market and investors read it to themselves. It needs to be self-sufficient because you're not there to add context, give colour, or show emphasis.

There's no "turn ahead to slide 4" or any other guidance for an investor when viewing this. You could add a video which would help but assuming you're not, this deck needs to stand alone. 

Here are two great finds that I've reviewed in the past that have executed this first deck really well.

• Market presentation from Soul Patts (ASX:SOL)
  They have always had great decks. They're a massive company and that runs the risk of their deck being super detailed and packed full of jargon, but they've actually put together a simple and informative deck that anyone could pick and read.
• Business overview from the ASX (ASX:ASX)
  If you've ever asked "what does the ASX actually do?" - this deck answers that question in detail. It's an appendix that's normally positioned at the back of a 100+ slide deck for the ASX so it doesn't get in the way of the story, but does a great job of breaking down the business for investors.

For some immediate takeaways, here's what every deck should try and do:

1. Move your disclosure slides to the end.
   Disclosures are gross and no one likes them. If Soul Patts can move their disclosures to the end of their deck, so can you.
   
2. Make the first two slides a one pager on the business.
   Make sure everyone gets (1) a refresher of the business and (2) an overview of the team that highlights experience and why you're the right people for the job. 

If I as an investor can see that your team has great experience and are the right people, my mindset as an investor shifts from needing to understand the business to believing that you understand it. That's an easier hurdle to jump - provided you have a good and relevant team and I believe you. 

So this is the first deck you're familiar with. The arms length, no need to be next to you, type deal. With plenty of words and explanation, that I can read by myself.

But what's the other type of deck?

The deck you present to an audience.

If you were to present your first deck to an audience, here's what typically happens.

People don't listen intently because they're jumping around the slides trying to read it all. You try and read off that information and it becomes a book reading and that's not going to drive investors to reach into their wallets. 

So what's the alternative? The second deck that's specifically for when you sit in front of someone, or stand in front an audience and present on the business. The presentation deck where we want 90% of the attention to be on you and what you're saying, not what's on the screen.

It's going to need a little more practice (because you can't just read it off a page) but it's worth it and I've seen it in action. Here's a great example of what your second deck should look like.  

Iggy Tan is the MD of Altech Batteries and Chair of Lithium Universe. Last year, he presented an extremely text-lite deck at RIU in Fremantle and I was there in the audience to watch it in-person. The room was packed and there was a lot interest in the pitch - it was engaging, informative, and I could see people genuinely getting excited.

You can watch the full recording here.

So there you have it. 

Two decks that'll get you in front of more investors and ready to conquer the world.

Well, until the deck needs an update.