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The Presentation Standards

A shared benchmark for presentation excellence.

What Are the Presentation Standards?

Presentations are a core communication tool in organizations of every size. Yet the skills required to design, build, and deliver them effectively are often invisible, inconsistent, or misunderstood.

The Presentation Industry Professional Standards provides a clear, industry-tested framework for what high-quality presentation work looks like. Built through collaboration with employers, subject-matter experts, and working professionals, these standards reflect the knowledge and capabilities that define our craft.

In total, the standards outline 298 distinct competencies that describe what presentation professionals should know, apply, and articulate at each stage of their career.

Download the standards

Why These Standards Exist

The Presentation Guild’s mission is to elevate presentation work as a recognized profession. To support that mission, we created standards that offer:

    1.
    A trusted reference point for hiring, evaluating, and training talent.
    2.
    A roadmap for professionals seeking to strengthen and broaden their skills.
    3.
    A foundation for meaningful, competency-based certification.

    The 9 Professional Standards Categories

    Audio / Video

    Audio/Video (A/V) is a digital recording of moving image(s) and/or sound(s). A/V may be a video file, audio file, and/or any type of object requiring playback.

    Branding

    Branding is the incorporation of distinctive characteristics associated with a product, company, person, etc. into a presentation. Branding may include color, typography, images, and/or any of the categories of expertise.

    Color

    Color is the appearance of objects characterized in terms of hue, brightness, contrast, luminosity, and/or saturation. It enables differentiation of otherwise identical objects.

    Data Visualization

    Data visualization improves the clarity of information by placing it in a visual context. Objects include charts, graphs, SmartArt, infographics, and tables. It is not restricted to numerical data.

    Functionality

    Functionality is the quality of usefulness for which a presentation is designed. It includes accessibility, integrity, interactivity, efficiency, effectiveness, versatility, and reliability.

    Images

    Images are visual representations such as raster and vector photos, pictures, drawings, or illustrations. Images are static, although motion can be applied.

    Layout

    Layout is the visual organization of objects using size, alignment, placement, consistency, and order. It includes slide layouts, content, masters, placeholders, guides, grids, z-order, ruler, and Designer.

    Motion

    Motion is the movement of an object or slide. It includes animations, transitions, animated GIFs, fades, wipes, pans, zooms, and morphs.

    Typography

    Typography is the style and arrangement of text, including fonts, formatting, spacing, alignment, bullets, grammar, and the use of text as an image.

    Interested in Certification?

    These standards form the backbone of the Presentation Guild Certification Program—the presentation industry’s only credential based on tested, validated competencies. If you're exploring certification for yourself or your team, this document provides an excellent starting point.

    Learn More