15 December,2010 05:56 AM IST | | Dhvani Solani
Give Abhisek Sarda of PPT salon 48 hours and he'll turn your staid Powerpoint presentation into one that will make your clients sit up and take notice
For Abhisek Sarda, life and everything that comes with it is about going beyond the default template. The 26 year-old, who has attended precisely three days of college for a Bachelor's degree in a stream that he doesn't remember ("it was probably a BCom or a BBA or some such thing"), moved from Rajkot to Goa when he was 18 years old with no fixed plan in mind.
Today, he runs the three month-old venture called PPT Salon that runs on the guarantee to turn around staid slides into funky Powerpoint Presentations.
"You can either mail an existing presentation to us and we will make sure it looks good or provide us with an outline for what you want to say and we will work from scratch," says Abhisek.
Give these guys 48 hours (less, if it's a life-or-death situation, and more if it's not), to provide you with a polished PPT. You could even sign up for a corporate account for discounted rates, if your work demands the making of constant PPTs throughout the month. The guys at PPT Salon will even do the research and take photographs for you if the need arises.
"We look at each slide as a poster and think of how it can look good individually and in the larger context. We are allergic to template designs," says Abhisek.
PPT Salon has clients in eight countries that include Taj Hotels, Dr Reddy's, a US-based company that sources rubber slippers from Thailand, and even a filmmaker who sent his script as a PPT instead of a Word doc.
You can catch glimpses of Abhisek's creativity in images of his colourful kitschy office on the website that has a blue handpainted commode function as his CEO chair. His cluttered desk is where he claims he and his designer breathe life into ideas. "But," reads the cheeky caption of the photograph "our presentations are always clutter-free. Always."
More power to your presentation
Use headlines
Don't try to fit in every word you want to say on the slide. put a headline to emphasis the point.
Avoid templates
Treat each slide as a poster, and not a word document.
Aesthetics count
Choose a good typeface that suits the subject of your presentation. don't always opt for the default option.
Choose images that speak
Opt for images that are interesting, even shocking. don't use clich ufffdd visuals.
Have a focus
Say a few things, but say them powerfully, rather than rambling through 40 slides.
Log on to www.pptsalon.com
Call 0-9890926072
Prices start at Rs 8,999
