Presentation Summit 2025: Conversation with Nolan Haims

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    Nolan Haims has over 20 years of experience in the fields of visual communications and presentation, having created every type of presentation from Fortune 500 CEO keynotes to TED talks to multi-million dollar agency pitches.

As Vice President and Director of Presentation for Edelman, the world’s largest PR firm, he created and ran a department dedicated to raising the agency’s bar on visual communication and created winning pitches worth millions.

He trains organizations to think visually, speaks at national conferences, and is a co-host of the long-running Presentation Podcast. As one of only 40 Microsoft PowerPoint MVPs in the world, he works with and advises the software development team. He runs his own visual communications consultancy in Montclair, NJ. He is the author of The Better Deck Deck.

In this conversation, Nolan talks about his participation at the upcoming Presentation Summit 2025, being held virtually from October 19 to 22, 2025.

Indezine.com is the official media partner for the Presentation Summit.

Geetesh: Nolan, you are delivering the Faster session at this year’s Presentation Summit. Will this session help presenters who work with high-volume slide production—like consultants or financial analysts? Or will this session be relevant for everyday PowerPoint users as well? Do share your thoughts.

Nolan: This is going to be a really practical session for all types of PowerPoint users. It’s going to be all about working faster and more efficiently in PowerPoint—no matter what you use it for. I’ll be showing a bunch of time-saving tips, shortcuts, and tricks for building slides that look great without all the usual frustration. It’s not about fancy design; it’s more about getting things done quicker and smarter. Whether someone uses PowerPoint every day or just now and then, they’ll walk away with stuff they can use right away to make their life easier.

Geetesh: You are also delivering the Beyond the Pie session that explores crafting unique, custom chart types. What do you say to people who feel stuck using only the default chart types—can they really go beyond them without expensive add-on tools?

Nolan: I totally understand getting stuck in a data viz rut and relying on the usual bars and pies and line charts. We use those because they are comfortable and familiar. They’re not always bad choices, but this session is all about getting more out of PowerPoint and Excel when it comes to charts—going way beyond the usual.

I’ll show how to create more effective, engaging visuals using just the tools built into Microsoft Office—no fancy add-ons or expensive software needed. It’s really about rethinking how we present data so it actually tells a story and makes an impact. If you’ve ever felt stuck using the same old charts, this session will open up a lot of new, practical possibilities.

Geetesh: Can you tell us a bit about your work at Nolan Haims Creative and how it influences the kind of practical, design-driven sessions you deliver at the Presentation Summit?

Nolan: I have always approached my own client work from a very practical and minimalist angle. Less really is more in my work, and not a day goes by when I don’t look to “take away” rather than add. And this is especially true with charts. You’re just not going to find 3D highly dimensional, overly designed data visualizations in my work. My primary goal always has been and always will be effective communication in both quantitative and qualitative presentation work. I firmly believe that if you achieve that, then the aesthetics will follow.

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