🖥️ My favorite presentation tools for pitching programs

👋🏾 Welcome to The Program Playground newsletter!

I’m Jara, a Senior Program Manager. I created The Program Playground to help you go from an idea to a ready-to-launch program. In this newsletter, you'll find tips, tricks, and best practices to help you build programs, and maximize your impact on your audience.

Here’s this week’s TL;DR

• Check out my preferred tools for building very cute and professional pitch decks

• What can the TV show LOST teach you about being a program manager? 🤔 

Presentation tools I’m using

I know a slide deck hates to see me coming!!

On average, I make one deck a week, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. All of my deck-building experience has helped me narrow down three areas that make the best presentation tools: ease of use, customization, and nudging (adjusting the placement of an object by a pixel). Below, you’ll see my most frequently used tools and their ratings.

Google Slides

We all love company tools that we’re forced to use 🙃.

This is probably the most accessible presentation tool as it doesn’t require much design knowledge, and a full deck can be built in minutes. On the flip side, it is a little ~sterile~ and if your company doesn’t already have built-in, formatted templates, you’re stuck building from scratch.

Have no fear! If you don’t know where to start with building your pitch deck, use my Slides template!

Anyway, here’s my Google Slides ranking:

• Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Customization: ⭐⭐⭐

• Nudging: ⭐⭐

Canva

Canva helps the non-designers feel like they created top-of-the-line designs. By far, Canva has the most templates I’ve seen a tool have and they’re all decently/expertly made. I know this post is about presentations, but Canva has a template for a range of visual assets like social posts, flyers, and banners. I haven’t seen this used much in corporate settings, it’s great for those who run agencies and small businesses.

While it’s not a deck, here’s an example graphic I made in Canva. Template is on the left, final design on the right. This took about 30 minutes, but it probably could’ve taken half as much time if I didn’t overthink the #nudging.

Ranking

• Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Customization: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Nudging: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Figma Slides

Figma Slides recently launched at Figma’s annual conference in June. It’s built for designers and their teams to collaborate and present on the work they’ve built in Figma Design. There is a ramp up, and the tools is easiest for those who already familiar with Figma’s UI, but if you’re curious you should still give it a whirl.

You can learn more about Slides and its origins by reading the Twitter thread from Mihika Kapoor, the founding Product Manager.

Ranking

• Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐

• Customization: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Nudging: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I would be remiss if I didn’t say: while the tool is important, make sure the content and visuals are handled with care. Maybe I’ll make a post about presentation design soon…🤔 .

LOST 🤝 program management

Today, 8/15, is National LOST day. 🔙 🛩️ 🖐️ 🏝️ 🐻‍❄️ ⛺️🐔 🛶 🐗 

Here’s what three characters from LOST can teach you about mistakes to avoid as a program manager:

😤 The My Way or the Highway Program Manager

Jack Shephard almost immediately fell into the “I’m the only one who knows what I’m doing” trap. He convinced himself that the survivors couldn’t exist without him, his ideas, and his plans to get off the island. This resulted in an constant loop of demands and judgment that led to factions and lots of eye rolls. You might be a good idea machine, but you aren’t the only one. Your program doesn’t operate in a vacuum; it involves stakeholders, teammates, and customers who all interact with what you’re building. Listen to them and approach your ideas with an open mind and empathy.

🙅‍♀ The Crush as You Climb Program Manager

Benjamin Linus had one goal: his own. He manipulated everyone into working on his personal projects. It took a while for people to catch on, but by the third self-serving initiative, no one trusted him. Your program shouldn’t be a personal career crusade at the expense of everyone else involved.

🍅 The Kate Austen Program Manager

If Kate Austen has no haters, I am six feet under.

Kate is a masterclass in being the worst teammate. Don’t go rogue, don’t make last-minute decisions that snowball into ruining everyone else’s, don’t distract people with unnecessary drama, and definitely don’t run up a tree when things get tough and watch everyone else clean up your mess.

Cheers to twenty years of LOST!

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