Salesforce: Presentation training and best practices

A screenshot of the “how to” deck used to train Salesforce team members and external vendors on presentation design best practices.

During my nearly three years at Salesforce, a majority of my design focus was on creating, editing, and reviewing presentations for the company’s Customer Service Group (CSG). This was a very active responsibility, as CSG would generate hundreds of presentations yearly. These presentations were critical to supporting Salesforce’s existing client base—and, crucially, to educate new clients on the benefits of Salesforce’s higher-end services and products.

THE CHALLENGE: With so many presentations constantly being added and revised to the CSG library, keeping them brand compliant and standardized was a constant challenge. Salesforce branding was both specific and continually evolving, and many writers, editors, and outside vendors didn’t have the knowledge to make sure thier decks were both attractive and brand compliant.

THE PLAN: To assist Salesforce team members and external vendors in creating better presentations, I created an educational program that consisted of several elements: recurring video training sessions, instructional “how-to” decks, an evolving library of pre-made slides and design assets, and weekly office hours.

RESULTS: Armed with their new tools and knowledge, the team and vendors greatly improved the quality of decks they were creating. In addition to the improvements in branding and legibility, the training allowed decks to be created more efficiently, with significantly less time spent in editing and design review.