You need a hero slide.
It's official.
Reporting season has kicked off.
But for many of you, the big day is still to come. Telstra only went yesterday - so there is plenty of time. But while you're getting ready you need to start getting your FY24 presentation deck together. Most investors won't read your annual report - but many will load the deck up.
And as you know, I love a good deck. I have reviewed hundreds publicly. Last October I did a whole month of decks, mostly annual report summary decks. Unfortunately the reality was - most of them sucked.
It wasn't that the results were bad. Or that I couldn't understand them. It is was they all assumed something big - they assumed I knew about their business. They assumed I remembered what they did to earn a dollar. They assumed I remembered who they were as people.
In short they all assumed I had something I didn't - context.
You have a scorecard.
The annual report is obviously about your results. What happened over the year, how you went against your forecasts or expectations, what moved in the right direction, and what didn't. It’s your scorecard as a listed business.
But - not everyone picking it up will know the core aspects of your business. They don’t know what you do, who your customer is, what your goals are, or even who is in charge.
Skipping over this means that anyone new misses out on key context, and anyone existing has to try and remember what you actually do while looking at your deck and scorecard.
Let’s not miss this chance to remind people who we are, what we’re doing, and why they should be shareholders.
Enter. the. hero. slide.
Ok - so what is a hero slide?It’s that one slide, that you can put at the start of the deck, which tells people:
- Who you are;
- What you do;
- Why that’s important;
- Where you operate, and
- What traction you have.
If you can fit more in, go for it, but you need to cover all of this off in 1 or 2 slides.
Really, you have two categories of decks, (1) general pitch decks, and (2) event-driven decks. Pitch decks are used on roadshows, conferences, etc. Event decks are for compelling updates - including financial reports.
Event decks usually go straight into the data without giving context - this is a mistake.
Event decks are the perfect opportunity to create a hero slide and jam it into the start as an easy way of giving context to the audience. A large percentage of your audience is reading this deck with fresh eyes, and for them, context matters.
Remember that whilst this might be your whole life, the reality is this is just one stock, in a portfolio of dozens, that they are managing in their spare time. Or hopefully a new stock they want to add to their portfolio - so for those investors giving them context is paramount. And for those that already know your business? It’s just one slide that they can skip: no harm done.
If you want to see some decks that already do this well, you can access them here. Otherwise, here are my takeaways from what makes a great hero slide:
Tips for your hero slide.
1) Use the biggest numbers you can.
The goal here is to either (a) generate initial interest, or (b) remind people why they’re here.
Going for a $20bn TAM? That’s the one.
Growing at 100% a year? Add it in.
Have 500k oz in the ground? Mention that.
In short give them a reason to keep reading.
2) Question everything.
This is likely going to be a busy slide, so remove EVERYTHING that isn’t needed.
I mean everything - footers, page numbers, logos. If it’s not essential, dump it. This will give you the space to add everything in, and give those numbers the space they need to shine.
3) Double-up.
We want to save words and space so we always look to kill two birds with one stone.
“Australia’s next lithium producer” is a great line used where each word adds value.
QML uses icons instead of dot points to convey more information. An icon of QLD with a red dot of Rockhampton says they’re based in QLD, without having to explain it in words.
4) Get started.
Don’t aim for perfect, just aim for better. Put one together today, send it over, and I’ll give you some feedback straight away.
So, if you haven’t got a hero slide, put one together and get it up before your results deck comes out!