PowerPoint Deck Tip When Speaking Abroad

When speaking in another country, buy images of people who LOOK like the audience. It really does matter.

Recently, I conducted 2 presentations in India and needed 2 presentation decks.

I first considered doing what I usually do — updating the PowerPoints I had, change what needed adding, removing, or adjusting slides based on the customization talks.

But once the decks were complete, I realized I needed to do more, the images that didn’t sit well with me. While the people in the images were diverse, they didn’t look like the population I was going to be speaking to.

I knew my audience of advisors would be dressed in suites and pressed shirts. They would also be both men and women. However, I was invited to speak in a country where English was a 2nd language and where people sometimes dress differently.

While I always customize my talks, I needed to take customization to a new level:

1) Even though it was costlier and time-consuming, we took care to choose images that culturally looked like my audience.

2) Scenery images were of the two cities I’d be conducting the workshops.

3) I asked the events managers to check the slides’ words and images to make sure they were culturally OK.  I didn’t want to say something that would turn-off the audience.

IT WAS NOTICED

This extra customization was appreciated by the events managers who hired me.

But the audience noticed, too.

I was asked if one of the scenery images was of Mumbai. (It was.)

And on one of the Evaluation Forms, I found this note:

“It was wonderful attending a session on niche marketing. You have a deep understanding of the subject matter and advisory profession in general. Touched by the fact that you customize talks and presentations to the people in our country.”— Kshitija Shete, Gaining Ground Investment Services Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, India

Cultural customizations matter.  Add them to your deck when appropriate.