Why move at all
A presentation for a formal negotiation is read differently from a marketing film. The audience is sceptical, senior and looking for reasons to discount what it sees. Motion can help: a slow transition gives a room time to absorb a difficult figure, and a well-judged opening sets a tone of seriousness. It can also do harm, by making a proposition look more settled than it is.
Coherence before spectacle
Viewers notice physical errors even when they cannot name them. An aircraft that stays fixed while the horizon drifts reads as false. Water that shimmers without wind reads as decoration. A loop whose last frame does not meet its first produces a small jolt that undermines everything around it. The craft is in making movement obey the world it depicts: aircraft and horizon move together, flags respond to a believable breeze, light stays constant across a cut.
Restraint is visible
In a negotiation setting, movement should be perceptible but calm. Six seconds of near-stillness, with one element doing one thing well, carries more authority than a sequence of effects. Openings may establish atmosphere. Closings should suggest onward direction without implying that the journey has already been made.
Never animate a conclusion that has not been reached
The most important rule is substantive, not aesthetic. A finished-looking animation of a branded aircraft taking off, or a ribbon being cut at a terminal, tells the audience that the deal is done. If it is not, the presentation has made a claim the sponsor cannot support, and the audience will remember it. Motion should serve the argument on the page. Where the argument is conditional, the imagery should be too.
Content stays primary
Every animated slide should still work as a still. If removing the motion removes the meaning, the slide was carried by effect rather than content. We design the still first, then decide whether movement earns its place.
