HOW TO CREATE A GREAT

PRESENTATION IN JUST
15 MINUTES
HOW TO CREATE A GREAT 

PRESENTATION IN JUST 15 MINUTES
Hi, I’m Dan Martell.
I coach high performing SaaS founders and I
love it!

Some would say that I am a serial entrepreneur.

Maybe that’s true, after all I exited three startups
and have invested into many more…

• clarity.fm (acquired by startups.co)

• Flowtown (acquired by Demandforce)
• Spheric Technologies (acquired by Function1)
PROFESSIONAL SPEAKERS ARE IN HIGH DEMAND

Did you know that the highest paid profession in

America is professional speaking?

Speakers can earn > $50,000 for a 20-minute keynote

presentation.
GET PAID TO SHARE YOUR MESSAGE

It’s the reason why great entrepreneurs know how to get

up and share their message.

They indirectly get “paid” by moving business people to

engage with their company in a way that goes far beyond
the financial upside.
HERE’S HOW TO CREATE
A GREAT PRESENTATION
IN JUST 15 MINUTES
Yes, 15-minutes sounds
ridiculous – but it’s true.

I can sit down, write out the

structure outlined ahead and
insert the missing elements.

From there, I can present for

20-60 minutes without
skipping a single beat.

Read on to learn how to do it

yourself.
1. HIGH-LEVEL OUTLINE
 Here’s a simple way to provide
yourself with a framework to
quickly create your next
presentation.

I call it the High Level Outline.

The following 7-steps outline

the basics of the High Level
Outline, so you can do the
same for your next
presentation.

Photo by Nick Morrison 

1 TITLE YOUR TALK
Want a simple trick to creating a catchy title?



Just use magazine covers.



Search online for a magazine in your industry and type in the words
“Magazine Cover”. Example: Forbes magazine cover.

You’ll see what headlines people in your industry like to click…

2 YOUR OPENER
The best way to open is to state your name and the title of the talk.

“The Art and Science of Growth Hacking”


@danmartell #growthhacking
 BE CASUAL …

It’s simple, it gets the

conversation going, and
people will know whether or
not they’re in the right room ;)

But if you want to be fancy,

here are a couple other ideas
…
 TELL A STORY
If you have a funny story about the city, venue or organizer, share it!

Keep it short, but funny - and it possible, relevant to the topic being
discussed.
ASK A QUESTION
Get people involved by asking “How many of you …?” or “How are you
doing?”

Either approach is fine and it gets the audience interacting early in your
talk to set the mood and to gain the audience participation.
 Photo by rawpixel on

SHOW GRATITUDE
One of the best ways to engage the audience is to thank them.

Doing this will leave them feeling a sense of respect for you because
you appreciated them.

There are two groups you’ll want to thank, and in this order …
 ATTENDEES
Thank them for coming out, for their time and participation.
Showing gratitude is important!
 Photo by Nicholas Green

ORANIZERS
Get the name of the organizers and a few major sponsors.

Thank them and then ask everyone to give them a big round of
applause.
4
Photo by Maxime Bhm

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME (WIIF)

No one goest to en event for the speaker, they go for themselves.

Tell them what they’ll get from your talk. This is referred to as the
“WIIFM” or “What’s In It For Me?” asked from the attendees point of
view.
5 EARN THE RIGHT
Never assume anyone knows who you are.
Instead, explain to the audience why they should listen to you.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Give Your Own Bio


Nobody knows you like you.

Share Accomplishments
Tie it into the topic. Don’t be
afraid to brag (a little).

Share Your Why


What’s your purpose in life?

How is that coming along?
6 TEACHING(S)
The best way to fill an hour talk:

Break things up into 10 minute stories or 10 minute teachings.

It makes approaching a big presentation so much more doable. This

also works for making a talk much shorter, just distill in 10 minute
increments.
FOR EACH TEACHING…

Decide on the best way to

frame it, the story you feel
best demonstrates the lesson
and how you want to end.

Photo by pine watt

 THE OPENING
This is usually the point you want
to talk about – the lesson
learned, trend or belief that you
would like to teach.

If you have any powerful stats or

examples to reinforce this, then
lead with that.

One of my favorite openings I’ve

heard recently came from an HR
startup: “People don’t quit their
companies. They quit their
boss.”
 STORIES SELL
I personally like to share stories
about my experiences that help
reinforce the topic. The key in
my mind is this: The more
vulnerable the story, the more
universal the appeal.

Regardless of the topic, everyone

likes a good story, so don’t bore
your audience with facts &
figures, instead, weave that
information into a relevant story.

Photo by Tyler Nix 

 THE ENDING
This is where many speakers
mess up a great story.

They don’t bring the story to a

resolution, or explain how the
lesson they learned helped
them achieve or avoid a similar
fate in the future.

It only takes a few seconds, but

it will help the audience stay
engaged.

Photo by Matt Botsford 

 THANKS!
Twitter/Instagram: @danmartell

dan@danmartell.com

7
www.danmartell.com/rocketdemo

CLOSING
At the end, I always like to quickly go over the topics I covered, then end
with either a “Call to Action” or a “Call to Purpose.”

Most of the time I give them a URL to download links so I can collect their
email and build a relationship.
 CALL TO PURPOSE
If the purpose of my talk was
more inspirational than teaching,
I’ll end with a call to purpose.

This is more of an “ask” to the

audience to live their life with
purpose.

I’ve sometimes asked, “Will you

make me a commitment to have
no small plans?”, or borrowed
from my friend Clay, “I have no
doubt you’ll all be successful,
but will you matter?”
 THE FIRST 7 MINUTES
Reduce the stress of an upcoming
talk by perfecting the first 7
minutes. That’s all you need.


If you’ve practiced the opening, all

the other elements written above,
and maybe the first topic, you’ll be
fine.

Remember, you’re human. You

already know how to tell a story so
the key is to remember how you
begin and end. The middle will fill
itself in.
2. CREATE YOUR SLIDES
 THE BEST SLIDES 

ARE NO SLIDES
If you’re an amazing story teller then
you should be able to get away with
no slides (in person, not for a
presentation like this). 



I’m not there, yet.

So in lieu of that, I continuously

reduce the amount of information on
a slide as well as the total number of
slides in my presentation.


Currently, I have the following slides
for my talks…
Photo by Cristina Gottardi 
 THE LIFE OF AN
INSTIGATOR
@danmartell #SaaStock

1 TITLE THE SLIDE

This slide has a strong image with the title of my talk, my Twitter
handle and the hashtag for the talk or event.
 CANADIAN. ENTREPRENEUR

2 EARN THE RIGHT (ETR)

This is a slide with a picture that represents who I am and allows me to
cover the ETR part of my talk.
 #motivationtrumpsknowledge

3 TEACHING #1
This slide has the topic, relevant image and that’s it. I repeat this format
for every 10 minute story I plan to share.
#willyoumatter 

#ThankYou
@danmartell

4 THE CLOSING
This is my thank you slide + CTA or call to purpose. It usually includes my
Twitter handle, even hashtag and maybe a URL.
EXAMPLE DECKS
Want to see some full examples of this in action?
Check out the following links below:

https://www.slideshare.net/flowtown/web-properties-that-convert-
dan-martell-mesh-marketing-102209

https://www.slideshare.net/UTR/dan-martell-the-art-and-science-of-
growth-hacking

https://www.slideshare.net/flowtown/hustlin-for-conversions
Thank You!

dan@danmartell.com
@danmartell
www.danmartell.com