The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report

THE PRESENTATION GUILD 2018 ANNUAL SALARY SURVEY REPORT

June 2018 CONTENTS

Introduction 3 Our Presentationist Profile 4 Key Conclusions 5 Survey Results 6 Correlations 29 Objectives Based on Survey Results 34 Introduction Founded as an advocate for you, the presentation professional, the Presentation Guild is committed to supporting our industry. In our effort to give you a stronger voice and to establish benchmarks, last year we conducted the first-ever presentation professional salary survey. In late 2017, the Presentation Guild conducted the second annual salary survey. The survey consisted of 24 questions designed to reveal the compensation characteristics of the average presentation professional—or presentationist, as we like to say. This time we expanded our reach to include presentationists from around the globe. We received 204 responses, nearly double the number of responses in the benchmark survey. A big shout-out goes to those Guild members who volunteered countless hours to create and conduct the survey, aggregate the data, generate insights and write and design the report. Thanks also to those who completed the survey, contributing robust data that is the foundation of this report. We are grateful for your support of the presentation industry.

Onward and upward! The Presentation Guild Salary Survey Committee

Wait a minute. Presentationist? Where in the world are these companies? Tell me about the demographics of What is a presentationist, anyway? presentationists. Who are they? Most of us work in the UK, Canada, and the US, It’s us—people who create, support, and deliver with most of the US members located in California The majority of us are female, between the ages presentations in a professional capacity—204 of and New York. of 46 and 55, well-educated, with an average of whom responded to the 2017 survey. As a result 16.5 years of experience. of the survey, we learned that, no matter what What do presentationists earn? our job title, while we are 3.5 times more likely to And finally, what is a presentationist’s We typically earn $51,000–$75,000 USD design presentations in our jobs than other areas design tool of choice? annually. When we work for ourselves, we of concentration, presentation work is an adjunct typically charge $50–$150 USD/hour. We are three times more likely to use PowerPoint responsibility of our primary job. than any other presentation tool. Many of us even receive benefits from our Where do presentationists work? employer—unless we freelance, in which case We are slightly more likely to work for a we’re out of luck. corporation and twice as likely to work for a company that employs 100 or fewer people. A full third of us work for very small companies of 1–5 employees.

4 There is a lack of professional titles that relate We fall into two categories: independent Annual Salary Survey specifically to presentation work. For the majority specialists and those who work for a corporation. of us, presentation work is considered an adjunct Those of us working for corporations enjoy a responsibility and is not considered our primary number of benefits while our independent folks Key conclusions job even though a majority of our work hours are have few to no benefits. spent on presentations. Unlike general graphic design, where the median Compared to last year, slightly more of us work annual earnings for women are 20% lower than on presentation design and, although we are for men, gender has very little to no impact on well educated, we lack specialized training in presentationists’ annual earnings. graphic or multimedia design. We think this is a result of the absence of standardized training Compared to last year, even more of us (98%) options for the industry as well as the common use PowerPoint as our primary tool. While we myth that presentation work requires minimal saw a slight decline in our use of Prezi and specialized skills. Keynote, we can still assume that many of us use a variety of adjunct tools along with our primary Most of us work on the North American coasts, presentation software. but unlike last year, this year’s survey discovered larger pockets of presentation professionals in Colorado and the Midwest. The high concentration of business and industry on the US east and west coasts may drive the increased need for high-quality presentations and presentationists in these locations.

The majority of us beyond the US borders are working in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Much like the findings for the US coasts, this may be attributed to localized businesses needing world-class presentations.

For those of us working full time,* more than 36% of us earn $50,000–$75,000 USD annually. This is nearly three percentage points higher than last year’s US-only results, with business owners and freelancers edging out corporate salaries. Another 25% earns $75,000–$150,000 USD. This is five percentage points lower than last year’s benchmark survey. In general, corporate salaries are comparable to small business owners and freelancers.

*Full time respondents working 35+ hours per week

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 5 SURVEY RESULTS Only 28% of us have a title that includes the word significant portion of our work week is spent on What is your job title? presentation. Perhaps the result of a larger sample presentation-related activities. For example, group, this is a drop from the 39% of last year’s Managers / Owners are spending an average of survey. Management titles more than doubled 43% of their time working on presentations and from 17% to almost 37%, with 7% of those being folks in education average 35%. business owners. An opportunity exists to establish clear and The lack of standardized titles is likely the result of recognizable presentation job titles based on presentation work being relegated to an adjunct a certified skill set. responsibility for many of us—even though a

Accountant Director of Marketing IT Presentation Coach Researcher Adjunct Professor Director, Marketing & Sales Junior Designer Presentation Coach and Consultant Sales & Marketing Manager Administrative Assistant Director, Product Mgt Lead Analyst Presentation Consultant Self-proprietor Senior Design Consultant Common Job Titles Unique Job Titles Senior Associate Designer Senior Associate Designer Presentation 37.1% 61.9% Designer Senior Corporate Relations Analyst Agency Director Director, Visual Communications Learning And Performance Consultant Presentation Designer Senior Designer and Presentation Animated Video Ad Design Artist/ Distinguished Toastmaster Learning Consultant Presentation Designer - Freelance Specialist Founder Education Dept Lead, A/V Specialist Lecturer Presentation Designer And Owner Senior Graphic Designer Art Director Elearning Manager Management Consultant Presentation Designer, Manager Senior Multimedia Specialist Assistant Professor Executive Administrator Manager Presentation Director Senior Presentation Coach Associate Designer Executive Assistant Manager of Clinical Curriculum Presentation Graphics Designer Senior Presentation Designer Associate Director Field Support Supervisor Manager, Communications Presentation Operator Senior Presentation Specialist Asst. Manager - Visual Communications Financial Analyst Manager, Design and Microsoft Assets Presentation Services Manager Senior Production Specialist Author Financial Assistant Manager, Presentation Design Presentation Specialist Senior Training & Development Consultant Business Owner - Computer Training Founder and Creative Director Manager, Presentation Services Presentation Specialist / Senior Graphic SME / Developer CBRN Defense Officer Designer Freelance Powerpoint Specialist Managing Partner Sole Proprietor CEO Presentation Coach Freelance Presentation Specialist Marketing and Presentation Consultant Solutions Specialist Advisor Client Solutions Director Freelance Visual Designer / Trainer Presentations Expert – Adobe Creative Cloud Speaker/Author/Owner Commercial Manager General Accountant Marketing/Research/Web Design/ Presentation Design/Inhouse TV Design Presentations Manager Sr Instructional Technologist Communications Manager General Manager Middleweight Presentation Designer President Sr. Graphic Artist Communications Manager / Senior Graphic Designer Medical Editor Multimedia Designer Principal Sr. Presentation Designer Graphic Designer, Project Manager Community Relations Director Office Manager Principal / Owner Sr. Presentation Designer & Practice Lead Graphic Designer/Presentation Company Director Operational Analyst Principal Art Director Sr. Technical Trainer Graphic Operator Consultant Other Probation Officer Studio Manager Graphics Guru Consultant / Developer / Presentation Owner Product Commercialization Manager T&D Lead Graphics Specialist Designer Partner Product Manager Teacher Hardware System Architect Creative Director Powerpoint Designer Freelancer Professor at the Faculty of Technology Training Specialist Head of Department, Professor Creative Director, Owner Powerpoint Presentation Designer and Metallurgy Translator of English Independent Consultant Creative Services Associate Powerpoint Presentation Specialist Project Manager - Marketing Vice President Information Designer Communications Designer PPT Designer / Op Visual Communications Specialist Director Instructional Designer Project Manager, Marketing Visual Communicator Pre-media Manager Communications Director Data Instructional Designer Presentation & Pitch Specialist Psychologist Instructor

More than half of us design and create presentations as our primary job. The Design / Create Presentations 54.5% remaining 45.5% work in other areas of concentration, mostly Education / Training and Administration. Education/ Training 15.3%

Administration / Management 8.9%

Other 6.4%

Coaching / Consulting / Counseling 5.9%

Research / Analysis 3.0%

Development / Programming 2.5%

Graphic Effects / Multimedia 2.0%

Presenter / Presenting / Speaking 1.5%

8 How would you describe your main employer?

Consistent with last year’s findings, approximately 40% of us work for ourselves.

Business / 58.5% 24.5% Myself – Company / freelance Organization Main employer

17.0%

Myself – business owner who employs others

Slide design companies tend to be fairly small, and as indicated on the prior page, Large: about 40% of us are self-employed. These 53.5% Small: contribute to the large number of us working 1,001+ employees 30.5% 1–100 employees for small companies.

On the flip side, 30% of us work for very large companies. Company size

Midsize: 16.0% 101–1,000 employees

10 What industry best describes the Presentation Design & Production 16.4% work of your main employer? Other 14.9% The types of industries we work in are very diverse, with a slightly higher number of us working in presentation design and Professional Services/Consulting 13.4% production in general than in any specific industry. This is probably a reflection of the large number of survey respondents who are Education 10.0% either freelancers or work for a presentation design studio. Technology 8.0%

Finance 7.0%

Graphic Design 6.5%

Advertising/Marketing 6.5%

Healthcare 6.5%

Government 4.5%

Manufacturing 4.0%

Non-profit 1.5%

Transportation 0.5%

Energy & Utilities 0.5%

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 11 Those of us who work for companies receive a lot We need to explore opportunities to provide What benefits of benefits. Those of us who work for ourselves, employment benefit information for Guild do you receive from not so much. In fact, nearly a quarter of us members by finding and identifying resources your main employer? receive no benefits at all. that members can leverage. To encourage the continued growth of our (check all that apply) industry, this is an issue that must be addressed.

Myself – Business owner Business / Company / Organization who employs others Myself – Freelance

Paid Leave 46% 4% 0%

Medical Benefits 44% 3% 2%

Retirement Benefits 37% 2% 2%

Development / Educational 32% 5% 1%

Work/Life 27% 8% 3%

Health & Wellness 36% 2% 0%

Life & Disability 35% 2% 0%

Telework 15% 5% 1%

Profit Sharing / Stocks 14% 2% 0%

Expense account 11% 3% 1%

Liability 8% 0% 1%

Other 1% 3% 4%

Travel Stipend 7% 0% 0%

None 3% 5% 16%

12 Most of us work in a company office—even are on par with the national average of 43% of What is your work freelancers who most likely work on-site for teleworkers (Gallup 2015). This is a significant environment? assignments. increase from last year’s 25%. (check all that apply) We know that presentation work can be easily performed in a remote environment, and our Home Office and Airplane / Mobile numbers

Myself – Business owner Business / Company / Organization who employs others Myself – Freelance

Business/Company/Organization Office 49.5% 5.9% 60.8%

Home Office 12.7% 12.7% 47.1%

Airplane / Hotel (Mobile) 2.0% 1.0% 6.9%

Other 4.4% 1.0% 5.9%

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 13 Because most of us work in a company office, We also get projects from our website/blog/ How do you including freelancers who most likely work on- podcast and networking events. Social media receive/find your site for assignments, our work comes from those continues to play a role in bringing in work. we see as our bosses. work assignments? Other opportunities for a smaller number of us Our networks are very important; especially if include job boards, industry conferences, and (check all that apply) we freelance or own our own businesses, our recruiters. assignments come mostly from word-of-mouth.

Myself – Business owner Business / Company / Organization who employs others Myself – Freelance

My boss or others in my company assign it to me 48% 1% 1% Referral / word of mouth 7% 12% 21%

At a meet-up / networking event 8% 6% 6%

My website / blog / podcast etc. 1% 9% 7%

Other 8% 3% 4%

LinkedIn 2% 5% 6%

At an industry conference 2% 4% 5%

Job board 3% 1% 4%

Facebook 2% 2% 1%

Recruitment service 0% 1% 3%

Twitter 0% 0% 2%

Instagram 0% 1% 0%

14 How many hours do you work per week?

We are hard workers. Close to 40% of us work more than 40 hours per week. 50.5% Presentation work can be time-consuming depending on the design and content. Only 2% of us are unemployed.

34.3%

9.3%

3.4% 2.0% 0.5%

Hours per week 1–20 21–40 41–60 61–80 81–100 Unemployed

While presentation work may take up a 19.5% significant portion of our day, most of us have 18.0% other responsibilities. 48.5% of us spend more than half our day on presentations.

Up to ¼ ¼ to ½ ½ to ¾ ¾ to all of my time of my time of my time of my time Presentation work hours per week*

We work on presentations from a minimum of 10 hours per week to a maximum of 80 hours per week. We work an average of 30 hours per week on presentations.

10 30 80

Minimum hours Average hours Maximum hours

Full Time respondents working 35+ hours per week *Full time respondents working 35+ hours per week

16 How many years’ experience do you have working with presentations?

We have a wide spectrum of experience that spans from 1 year to 44 years, with 16.5 years being the average.

1 16.5 44

Minimum years Average years Maximum years

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 17 In the United States, presentation professionals We are mostly in New York or California. This Where is your work where the largest numbers of presentations year, we saw a significant increase in survey work location? are likely to be shown. submissions from the Midwest and Colorado. The Pacific Northwest, Southern Central, and Southeast are relatively evenly distributed.

Note: darker values represent a denser presentationist population.

18 We were pleased to include our international colleagues in our survey this year. The majority of us from outside the US are from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

Note: darker values represent a denser presentationist respondent population.

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 19 With which gender do you most identify? Worldwide, 55% of us are female and 41% Prefer not to answer are male. That puts us right in line with the US design industry as a whole, where 54% of designers are women. (2011 NEA) 4.0%

A similar study by the Design Council found that, in the UK, only 40% of designers are women.

Male 41.3% 54.7% Female

20 What is your age?

This year we saw the bell curve for age skew a bit younger. While we are happy to see the ranks of our younger presentation professionals expanding, more than 56% of us are between the ages of 36 and 55.

32.8%

23.7% 21.7%

16.7%

2.5% 2.5%

18 to 25 26 to 35 36 to 45 46 to 55 56 to 65 66 to 75

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 21 What is your annual income For those of us working full time,* almost 34% of The Guild will continue support the industry us earn $50,000–$75,000 USD annually. This by establishing standards and certification to (salary) in US dollars? is nearly identical to last year’s US-only results, enable all of us to deliver our best work with with business owners and freelancers edging out effective and efficient use of presentation tools. corporate salaries.

Overall, 31% of us earn $75,000–$150,000 USD. This figure is also nearly the same as last year’s US-only benchmark results.

33.8%

18.8%

13.8% 13.1%

9.4%

3.1% 2.5% 2.5% 1.3% 1.3% 0.6%

$1‒25,000 $25,001‒ $50,001‒ $75,001‒ $100,001‒ $125,001‒ $150,001‒ $175,001‒ $200,001‒ $225,001‒ >$250,001 50,000 75,000 100,000 125,000 150,000 175,000 200,000 225,000 250,000

*Full time respondents working 35+ hours per week. Percentages may not sum to total because of rounding.

22 For those of us who are self-employed full If applicable, what is time,* our hourly rate is widely distributed your hourly rate in US between $1 and $350 USD per hour with dollars for presentation- most falling in the $50–$149 range. It’s a bit of a secret that the presentation related work? industry pays a comfortable living wage— perhaps a secret we don’t want revealed.

30.4%

26.1% 23.9%

15.2%

2.2% 2.2% 0%

$1‒49 $50‒99 $100‒149 $150‒199 $200‒249 $250‒299 $300‒349

*Full time respondents working 35+ hours per week

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 23 We’re well educated, which is not surprising since What is the highest our work requires us to interpret a lot of different level of education kinds of information and solve a number of issues you have completed? both technical and aesthetic. Three-quarters of us have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

43.8%

26.9%

12.4%

6.0% 5.5% 4.5% 1.0%

Some High school Some college Associate Bachelor’s Master’s Doctoral high school diploma or or technical degree degree degree degree equivalent school

24 What type of presentation-related training have you had? (check all that apply) Articles / Tutorials 68.8%

While three-quarters of us have a bachelor’s Online videos 60.4% degree or higher, few of us have received formal presentation design training. Webinar 47.0% Most of us get our presentation training online from articles/tutorials, videos, and webinars. Conference 37.1%

Workshop 36.6%

On-site Training 30.7%

Seminar 29.7%

Classroom 24.8%

Other 11.9%

College Course 10.9%

None 8.9%

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 25 Do you have a formal education in graphic Do you have a formal design or multimedia education in graphic design? design/production?

One-quarter of us has received formal training in either graphic or multimedia design. This formal training has increased Yes 26.9% 73.1% No significantly from last year’s 7.5%. Perhaps traditional designers are beginning to see the opportunity available as a presentation professional.

Do you have a formal education in multimedia design / production?

Yes 22.4% 77.6% No

26 Which presentation software do you use? (check all that apply) PowerPoint 97.5%

This year, even more of us use PowerPoint (90% last year vs. nearly 98% this year), Keynote 32.7% with Keynote and Prezi slightly decreasing in use. Unlike last year, more of us are Prezi branching out in our tools, using products 20.8% like Google Slides, Canva, Sway, and Haiku Deck. Google Slides 15.3%

Other 13.4%

Canva 7.4%

Sway 3.5%

Powtoon 2.0%

Haiku Deck 1.0%

SlideDog 0.5%

Slide Bean 0.5%

Clear Slide (Slide Rocket) 0.5%

When we do share presentations, 32% Office 365 / SharePoint 32.2% of us use Office 365 / SharePoint with approximately 25% using Google Docs and OneDrive each. Nearly 30% of us don’t use None 29.7% sharing sites at all. Google Docs 26.2%

OneDrive 24.3%

SlideShare 18.3%

Other 12.4%

Prezi 11.4%

BrainShark 2.0%

PresentationFX 1.5%

SpeakerDeck 1.0%

SlideOnline 1.0%

Slide Rocket 1.0%

PowerShow 1.0%

authorStream 0.5%

28 CORRELATIONS Unlike general graphic design as an industry— Correlation: where the median annual income of women salary and gender is 20% lower than men (2011 NEA)—gender has very little to no impact on presentationists’ Reported in US dollars annual earnings.

Female Male Prefer not to answer

$1‒25,000 1.2% 6.2% 1.2%

$25,001‒50,000 4.9% 2.5%

$50,001‒75,000 25.9% 12.3% 1.2%

$75,001‒100,000 11.1% 6.2% 1.2%

$100,001‒125,000 6.2% 6.2%

$125,001‒150,000 2.6% 1.2%

$150,001‒175,000 2.5% 1.2%

$175,001‒200,000 3.7%

$200,001‒225,000

$225,001‒250,000 1.2%

>$250,000 1.2%

30 While gender does not impact the salaries of Correlation: presentation professionals, a higher education salary and education does have a clear impact. A majority of us with a bachelor’s degree or higher earn from $50,000 Reported in US dollars to more than $250,000 USD per year.

Some college High school diploma or technical Associate degree Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree Doctoral degree

$1‒25,000 1.3% 1.3% 4.4% 3.8% 1.9%

$25,001‒50,000 1.3% 5.0% 1.3% 5.0% 2.5%

$50,001‒75,000 3.8% 3.8% 2.5% 14.5% 8.2% 0.6%

$75,001‒100,000 0.6% 0.6% 10.1% 5.7% 1.3%

$100,001‒125,000 1.9% 0.6% 3.8% 2.5% 0.6%

$125,001‒150,000 2.5% 0.6%

$150,001‒175,000 2.5%

$175,001‒200,000 0.6% 0.6% 1.3%

$200,001‒225,000 0.6%

$225,001‒250,000 1.3%

>$250,000 0.6% 0.6%

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 31 When looking at annual income by location, Correlation: regional it is important to consider the cost of living and salary averages spending power for that location. North America has the highest average income, but this may be Reported in US dollars due to the majority of us working in the high-cost states of California and New York.

Average Annual Region Full Time Salary North America $114,167 Oceania $95,085 South America $60,000 Europe $50,608 South & South East Asia $20,428 West & Central Asia $15,600 Sub-Saharan Africa $13,272 Overall Average $89,384

32 Neither years of experience nor age has an Correlation: impact on annual income. The presentation experience and age industry is very egalitarian. If you are highly skilled at presentation design, you can make a Reported in US dollars good living regardless of age, experience, or gender.

$300,000 $300,000

$250,000 $250,000

$200,000 $200,000

$150,000 $150,000

$100,000 $100,000

$50,000 $50,000

$- $- 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Years of experience Age

The Presentation Guild 2018 Annual Salary Survey Report I © 2018 Presentation Guild 33 The Presentation Guild While our industry continues to evolve, Continue to work with vendors to advance and the Guild is proud of that forward development of industry tools. has embraced several motion, we still have work to do. The Provide employment benefit information by objectives based on Guild has embraced the following action finding and identifying resources that Guild members can leverage. these results items based on the survey results: Implement the standards-based PowerPoint Survey those who hire presentationists so we can certification program which is currently under be better armed, better trained, and ready to development. deliver more value. Develop standards-based certification programs Continue to grow the Guild and to capture robust for other presentation tools, including Prezi and data that generates and supports reports Keynote. like this. Establish clear and recognizable job titles. Continue to advocate for the presentation industry. Continue to promote the value of presentation skills.