We Performed a Corporate Deck as Shakespearean Theater (And It Actually Made More Sense)
ACT I, SCENE I: A modern boardroom.
The deck is 47 slides long. The audience is weary. The brand manager hath lost her will to present.
Enter: a presentation design agency with a flair for the dramatic.
At Ruby + Citrine, we offer corporate presentation services. But sometimes – when deadlines loom and formatting fails – you have to ask: What if this whole deck were a play?
And thus began our experiment: translating the noble (but neglected) slide deck into a Shakespearean production.
Dramatis personae (a.k.a. slide archetypes).
- Slide Master – The ghostly architect. Speaks in whispers. Haunts every slide.
- Chart of Confusion – A tragic figure, burdened by too much data and no clear title.
- Executive Summary – The wise narrator. Knows all, but speaks in monotone.
- Vision Slide – A wide-eyed optimist, usually ignored.
- The Budget Forecast – Prone to drama. Forecasts doom or glory. Often both.
- Slide 17 – Uninvited. Confusing. Possibly evil.
ACT II: The Deck Doth Falter.
Our heroine, a well-meaning marketing lead, doth present:
“This slide here – verily, it showeth engagement trends o’er time.”
Alas, her chart is unreadable. Her layout, misaligned. The audience stirreth.
CFO (aside):
“I understand it not. Bring forth more pie charts.”
Cue: slide transitions that jolt like a Shakespearean stage trap door. Fonts that switch mid-sentence, as though possessed by spirits.
Slide 17 enters without warning. It hath no title. No purpose. And yet, it lingers.
ACT III: A Presentation Reborn.
That’s when we stepped in.
As a corporate presentation services team, our role was not just to design – but to direct. We:
- Recast Slide Master with a fresh, branded template
- Gave each slide a defined role in the narrative arc
- Cut monologues (ahem, bullet dumps) down to single-line soliloquies
- Turned visual chaos into elegant blocking and pacing
Suddenly, the business review wasn’t a struggle. It was a story.
A few rules from the presentation stage.
1. Every slide must earn its place on stage.
If it doth not serve the message, strike it from the playbill.
2. Thou shalt not confuse thy audience.
If a chart requireth explanation, it requireth redesign.
3. A deck without structure is but noise.
Your narrative arc must build tension, deliver insight, and leave them wanting more.
4. Comic relief (tastefully done) hath its place.
A visual pun. A clever stat. Even Shakespeare had jesters.
Final curtain.
The lesson? A presentation is a performance.
And when you treat your slides like characters – each with a voice, a purpose, and a place in the plot – you don’t just get through the meeting. You move your audience.
So go forth. Edit bravely. Cut Slide 17. And let your next deck not just inform, but enthrall.
Exeunt.
If thou art yet unsated, turn thine eye to the writings hence.
