Introduction to Business Presentations
Why we wrote this guide
350 PowerPoint presentations are given per second. The
vast majority of them suck.
They are too long, too dull, too full of useless detail, too
generic. And these presentations matter a lot.
They are how we represent ourselves and our work to the
world, they are the culmination of our analysis and our
thinking. They are our value-add.
And they are terrible.
The disturbing challenge for many of us is that 'terrible'
simply isn't good enough. Our careers depend on our
business presentations not being terrible. We wrote this
guide in the hopes that, in our own way, we can have a
disproportionate impact on your success - your success in
presenting yourself, your ideas, and your value add. We
hope you find this guide useful.
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Michael Smith | www.slideheroes.com
Our goal was to create the most comprehensive online
guide to writing business presentations on the web. At over
10,000 words, we think it is safe to say - job done!
Here you'll find a business presentation writing resource
overflowing with value and depth. We are holding nothing
back. From presentation tools, to style guidelines and
formatting tips, all the way to sophisticated approaches to
structuring your logic, you'll learn how to execute every
effective presentation writing technique on the planet.
Who is this guide for?
If you need to write a business report, update a team,
complete a consulting assignment, or develop a sales pitch,
and you are not sure where to start, this guide is for you.
If you need to write a senior executive presentation and are
struggling to collect your thoughts, then this guide is for you.
If you are looking for tips, tools and resources to create your
presentations faster and make them better, you are going to
love this guide.
From PowerPoint newbie to strategy consulting veteran,
you'll definitely learn something new that you can use to
make your presentations sing.
How to use this Guide
If you feel that you have a handle on writing business
presentations - and just want to learn a new tip or two - then
jump to the relevant section of the guide and dive in! We’re
sure you'll find some new tricks and tips to add to your
arsenal.
If you have a basic grasp of writing business presentations,
but are looking to add a layer of depth to your knowledge then you should read the guide in order.
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Contents
Chapter 1: One of the Most Valuable Business Skills You Can Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
page 5
Chapter 2: The Many Schools of Business Presentation Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
page 8
Chapter 3: The Consulting School of Presentation Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
page 15
Chapter 4: The Five Disciplines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
page 19
Chapter 5: The Power of Logical Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21
Chapter 6: The Art of Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
page 29
Chapter 7: The Science of Fact-based Persuasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 34
Chapter 8: The Harmony of Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
page 43
Chapter 9: The Drama of Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 48
Chapter 10: The Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 51
Chapter 11: The Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
page 60
Chapter 12: Final Thoughts & Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 63
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Introduction
Becoming awesome is harder than most people realize
The ability to write clear and impactful PowerPoint
presentations is, for young and mid-level professionals, one
of the most valuable skills you can master.
Becoming exceptional at crafting board-level presentations
(presentations that kick ass) is tough. Much harder than
most people realize.
Here’s why:
Most of us initially dismiss the challenge as a PowerPoint
formatting challenge - a time consuming technical challenge
that should be delegated.
• PowerPoint (Keynote) is the de facto paradigm for internal
corporate communication today
• The ability to present ideas and results in an
understandable and compelling way can be a key
differentiator (frankly many people are simply not very
good at it)
In fact, crafting successful presentations is a multidisciplinary challenge that requires the mastery of a broad
SET of distinct skills:
• The ability to order ideas in a logical and structured way
• Strong communication skills make professionals more
effective – being understood the first time, saves time
• The skill to utilize words succinctly, powerfully, accurately
The problem many young professionals face is that unless
they luck out early in their career and learn the craft of
creating business presentations from someone pretty
exceptional – they probably suck at it.
• Taste - the appreciation for and ability to create
aesthetically pleasing design
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• Numeracy, and the ability to communicate data effectively
• Charisma and executive presence
Only some of these 'presentation skills' are taught in schools
or formally in organisations. Many from this list are either
very challenging to master, or are seen (by many) as simply
innate.
‘How to use PowerPoint’ courses do not teach these skills
either.
And to master all of them? Well, that is the challenge.
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Schools of Presentation Design
There are many, many different 'schools' of presentation
style. Different approaches to crafting and delivering a
business presentation.
Here are a few to give you a flavor:
Here is an example from the author Dan Pink of a Pecha
Kucha presentation.
Dan briefly explains the format and then goes on to give a
Pecha Kucha about a favorite topic of his. It is a pretty good
example. Unfortunately Dan messes up the pronounciation
of Pecha Kucha (lots of people do). If you are curious as to
how to pronounce Pecha Kucha, have a look at this video.
The ‘Pecha Kucha’ School
When to use Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha is a presentation style in which 20 slides are
shown for 20 seconds each (six minutes and 40 seconds in
total).
• Oral ‘stand-up’ presentations only, good for conference
presentations
It is a format designed to keep presentations concise and
fast-paced and is often adopted for multiple-speaker events
(PechaKucha Nights).
PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as
an event for young designers to meet, network, and show
their work in public.
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• When you only have 6 minutes and 40 seconds
• When a focus on fast-pace, conciseness and
entertainment are paramount
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The ‘TED Talk’ School
TED Talks are, quite simply, some of the most
fascinating talks you will ever hear. The power of
the ideas, and the skill of many of the presenters
in the delivery of these ideas, has popularized an
18 minute presentation format that emphasizes
story and big ideas.
Listen to Andrew Stanton from Pixar talk about
what makes a great story
When to use the ‘TED Talk’ style
• Oral ‘stand-up’ presentations only
• When you want to tell a story
• When the focus is on big ideas
• When you are presenting at TED (of course!)
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The Lessig School
Larry Lessig is a Harvard Law Professor, founding board
member of the Creative Commons, and an amazing speaker.
Lessig has, over the years, developed a very unique presentation
style:
• Many slides; pausing for only a moment between each
• Slides contain either a single, compelling image or simple text
• Talks built around compelling stories or anecdotes
• Variable speaking pace, with an almost preacher like cadence
• Passion (righteousness even)
• Strong narrative core - These are very well written talks
When to use the ‘Lessig’ style
• Oral ‘stand-up’ presentations only
• When story plays a major role in communicating your
message
• When the focus is on big ideas and themes
• When your narrative is where the power is coming from
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The Guy Kawasaki School
Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist at Apple
and a silicon valley venture capitalist, evangelizes
the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint presentations.
The rule states that a presentation should have
no more than 10 slides, take no longer than 20
minutes, a contain no font smaller than 30pt.
When to use the ‘Guy Kawasaki’ style
• When you are pitching to Guy Kawasaki (or
other VCs)
• When your audience already has a good
understanding of the content and likely
structure of what you will say (as Kawasaki's VCpitch examples illustrate in the video above)
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Sit-down style presentations
These types of meetings and presentations:
There are many other styles. You may have noticed that
these approaches to presentations have one thing in
common; these Schools are all oriented towards the ‘standup in front of a crowd and give a speech’ type of
presentation.
• Will be more detail oriented (performance to-date,
operational reviews, financial reviews, project-plan
updates, etc.)
When we say presentation, we often mentally picture
ourselves standing in front of a crowd. And this is a problem.
• Are more likely to result in discussion, going off on
tangents or drilling-deeper
The majority of business ‘presentations’ are not made
standing-up in front of a crowd. Instead, they are made
sitting down, around a table, updating a project team, or
presenting our thinking/ideas/suggestions to our boss.
• Likely have the participants holding a hard-copy of the
presentation in their hand, inches from their nose
The context of these types of ‘sit-down’ meetings has a
profound effect on the style of the presentation we need to
give.
• Consist of small groups, in a more intimate setting
Speeches, in this context, are, shall we say… inappropriate.
Yet the vast majority of the 'presentation training' literature is
focused on teaching what we should do when we are
standing up in front of our audience (to give a speech). Some
of it focuses on the creation of the presentation, but for
presentations in a forum type setting.
Learning to give a presentation is not the same as learning
to create a presentation.
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The Consulting School of Presentation Design
McKinsey & Co. are universally regarded as the gold
standard in strategy consulting. McKinsey's multi-million
dollar advice is delivered in a very specific way.
There are a number of factors that make the McKinsey (or
Consulting in general) style of presentation unique and
powerful:
• Clear, logical structure: The presentation takes you step by
step through an argument
• Logic is sound (bullet proof!), the argument is complete
• Strict, consistent slide format - minimalist in design
• Data intensive: Assertions are proven with facts; and facts
are data-driven whenever possible
• Quantitative data and other evidence is displayed and
structured in simple and clean charts
• Key messages are contained on the slides of the
presentation
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• Can be read in advance, forwarded to others without
losing meaning
This is not an exhaustive list of the characteristics of this style
of presentation, but these are perhaps the most material.
Hopefully you can see how they distinguish the consulting
business presentation style from other approaches.
Zen-style presentations popularized by Garr Reynolds, for
example, stand in stark contrast (reliance on imagery; focus
on conference-style presentations).
On the next page is a link to an example of this type of
presentation from Boston Consulting Group. We have
annotated it with comments on how it could be even better,
but, in general, it is a good example.
Below is an example of this type of presentation
from Boston Consulting Group. We have
annotated it with comments on how it could be
even better, but, in general, it is a good example.
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Fine, but does this approach work outside of consulting?
This approach to business presentation design applies
across a range of different business situations:
• Board meetings, senior executive meetings
• Solution selling
• Project updates / status meetings
• Start-up investment pitches
• Financial performance reviews etc. etc. etc.
If you are still in doubt as to when to use this style of
business presentation, here are a few tests to apply:
• Is it a business situation?
• Do you need to communicate information in some depth?
• Is it a ‘sit-down’ type setting (almost intimate)?
Have a look at the following presentation for an example of
why the first test above is important ;-)
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ART OF
STORYTELLING
THERE ARE 5 DISCIPLINES
ONE MUST MASTER
TO CREATE GREAT
PRESENTATIONS
The next 5 chapters of this ebook will
focus on each of them
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POWER OF
LOGICAL
STRUCTURE
DRAMA OF
PERFORMANCE
SCIENCE OF
FACT-BASED
PERSUASION
HARMONY OF
DESIGN
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Structure is a beautiful thing.
Group your ideas together to form an argument
It brings order, clarity. It enables understanding. We know it
when we see it (even if it is just subconsciously) because
comprehension immediately becomes easier. Our mind is
automatically sorting information into distinctive groups and
establishing hierarchies of relationships between these
groups (semantic network model) all the time.
Your mind is automatically imposing order on everything
around you, all the time. You are grouping, classifying and
imposing relationships on all the information your brain
processes.
Effective structure is the first commandment of presentation
creation.
But what is logical structure? How do you create a
presentation that has logical structure?
There are half a dozen or so tricks, which when employed
obsessively, can allow you to quickly cut through most of the
pitfalls (and fairly unhelpful theory of logic) to produce a
structure that works.
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The goal in crafting a presentation is to facilitate the mental
processing that is going on in the mind of your audience. To
make this processing as easy as possible.
We can do this in two ways:
1. Rule of 7 updated: limit the number of your groups to 4
George Miller, a Harvard psychologist, published a famous
study in 1957 entitled 'The Magic Number Seven, Plus Or
Minus Two'. This led to a well know rule of thumb that stated
people only had the capacity to process 7 chunks of
information at a time.
Further research has enabled us to refine our understanding
of how this rule changes depending on our definition of
'chunks' of information. More recent conclusions state that
people can really only process 4-5 concepts - and only one at
a time.
As a consequence, we should seek to structure our ideas
into groups of 4-5 or less.
Put simply - there is no such thing as 7 or 9 of anything. If
you have a list of 9 things, then you need to go up a level of
abstraction and group them into 3-4 buckets.
It is easy to take this insight too far. There is no magical
number of bullets per slide. Edward Tufte has some
interesting things to say about this here. At its core, this is
about a relatively self evident truth: Your audience will
struggle to process information. Help them out by being
aware of the number of discrete ideas you are sharing at any
one time.
2. MECE: Ensure your groups are mutually exclusive and
collectively exhaustive
MECE stands for mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive. It
is terminology that today is synonymous with McKinsey and
other top-tier consultancies.
The term refers to the idea of structuring lists of ideas in
ways where the list is:
• Collectively Exhaustive (collectively, the ideas in the list
cover all possible components of the idea)
• Mutually Exclusive (individually, each idea in the list is
distinct from each of the other ideas, there is no overlap
between ideas)
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The easiest way to get your head around these ideas is with
an example.
The following list of the 7 dwarves is not collectively
exhaustive
The following list of options for where to go for dinner is not
mutually exclusive:
• Restaurants East of our current location
• Italian restaurants
• Grumpy
• Restaurants with music
• Happy
• Restaurants South of our current location
• Sleepy
• Bashful
• Sneezy
• Dopey
We are missing Doc!
There is overlap within this list. There could be Italian
restaurants east of us. Some restaurants south of us could
have music.
This 'test' (is this list MECE?) is extremely powerful technique
in ensuring logical structure and improving the clarity of your
presentation.
You will be surprised at how many groups of ideas you will
create which will fail this test - and result in you thinking
about additional, great points and ideas that make you
argument even more powerful.
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Inductive vs deductive arguments
Deductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning starts out with a general statement, or
hypothesis, and examines the possibilities to reach a specific,
logical conclusion.
The scientific method uses deduction to test hypotheses
and theories. The deductive argument presents ideas in
successive steps. An example of this type of argument is:
• John is ill
• If John is ill, he will be unable to attend work
Inductive arguments can take very wide ranging forms.
Inductive arguments might conclude with a claim that is only
based on a sample of information.
Here is an example of an inductive argument.
• Two independent witnesses claimed John committed the
murder.
• John’s fingerprints are the only ones on the murder
weapon.
• John confessed to the crime.
• So, John committed the murder.
Inductive reasoning
Generally, our advice is to construct inductive-based
arguments. They are easier for an audience to absorb
because they require less effort to understand.
Inductive reasoning (know also as induction or 'bottom-up'
logic), is a kind of reasoning that constructs general
arguments that are derived from specific examples.
The challenge is that our instinct when writing a presentation
is to present our thinking in the order we did the work, which
is usually a deductive process.
• Therefore, John will be unable to attend work
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Pay special attention to the Introduction
The start of a presentation requires special attention from a
structural point of view.
It contains many traps which can lead unsuspecting authors
astray. The purpose of the presentation is to address a
question in the mind of the audience. The objective of the
introduction is to establish the groundwork to plant this
question, so that the rest of our presentation can focus on
answering it.
The best approach for achieving this is Barbara Minto's SCQA
framework. Buy Barbara's exceptional book The Pyramid
Principle.
The Situation/Context or Starting Point is the background or
baseline that anchors the rest of the story that will
subsequently unfold. It is comprised of facts that the
audience would be aware of and agree with in advance of
reading the presentation. This helps to ground the
presentation and establish a common starting point.
Typical situations are “we took an action”, "performance was
good", "we have a problem".
Soon the audience will be asking themselves “I know this –
why are you telling me?”. This is where the complication
comes in.
Catalyst (or Complication): Something has changed…
Context (or Starting Point): Where are we now?
“A strategy for returning to growth has been proposed...”
“Financial performance last year was fantastic, but growth
has stalled in the first quarter…”
What happened next? The Complication creates tension in
the story you’re telling. The key objective of the complication
is to trigger the Question that your audience will ask in their
mind.
Begin at the beginning.
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Typical complications: “something is stopping us performing
the task”, “we know the solution to the problem”, “a solution
to the problem has been suggested” and “the action we took
did not work”.
Question: The question in the mind of the audience
“Is this the right strategy?”
The Question arises logically from the Complication and
leads into the Answer. It is not explicitly stated in the
introduction, it is implicit.
Typical questions: “what should we do?”, “how do we
implement the solution?”, “is it the right solution?” and “why
didn’t the action work?”
Answer (or Solution): Your answer to the question
“Yes, it will drive growth because…”
The Answer to the Question is the substance of presentation
and your main point.
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It is your recommendation. Summarize it first – completing
your introduction – then break it down into details and write
the main body of your presentations. This is where we
develop our inductive argument, deploying groups of MECE
ideas on the way to proving our point.
Call To Action (or Next Steps): What you want the audience to
do
“We need to do this next…”
The call to action is the list of next steps that you want your
audience to do.
You need next steps.
In fact, the next steps are the objective of your entire
presentation. You want to identify these next steps early in
the process of developing your presentation so that you can
be sure to design a presentation that drives your audience
to the action you desire.
Don’t leave the thinking around what the next steps are until
the end.
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The Art of Storytelling
Storytelling is a timeless human tradition.
Before the written word, people would memorize stories
that shaped cultures for generations. We are wired for
communicating through and learning from stories.
All presentations are, at their heart, a story.
Via storytelling techniques we can elevate our presentations
to something that moves people.
Sometimes, it is obvious that this is our goal. We are
presenting at TED. We are making a speech to our
employees about our new strategy. We are delivering our
first State of the Union address...
Often, it is not.
Our topic may feel mundane - lacking the grand themes that
great stories seem to require. When this happens, often our
mistake is in framing the objective of our presentation as an
exercise in conveying information - to update.
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Rather, the objective of our presentations should be to
persuade. To, in-fact, establish in the minds of the audience
an important question, and persuade that audience of the
validity of our answer.
When we need to update - we need to identify the question
the audience should have in their minds as a consequence
of the update. In many case it will be ‘what do I need to do
next’.
As a rule of thumb:
If you don't have something to say, why are you presenting? If
you are presenting, know what you have to say.
Why stories are effective
There are a couple of reasons why stories can be more
effective than fact-based arguments at persuading
audiences.
1. While some opinions people hold are rational and
thought-out, many others are emotional
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Your favorite sports
team?
You cannot change an emotionally charged opinion with a
rational argument, but you can get your audience to
empathize with a hero in a story and thereby affect the
emotions they have connected to that subject.
Presenting a rational argument immediately activates the
audience's critical mind, inviting him or her to analyze and
counter-argue. By immersing your audience in a story, you
bypass that resistance.
2. Stories are memorable and as a consequence are easier
to repeat later
As we have discussed, our brains think in terms of stories.
We find it easier and more efficient to process stories. In fact,
we have a pronounced bias towards stories.
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As a consequence your audience is much more likely to
remember the stories you tell them (and the messages
those stories contain) and more likely to repeat them to
others.
What makes a great story?
As a primer, have a listen to Academy award nominated
documentary film maker Ken Burns (The Civil War, Jazz) talk
about story (especially the fist half). In the video linked to on
the next page Burns explores what makes a great story. The
'3' Burns references is what we are seeking to capture in any
great presentation.
On the next page Nancy Duarte does a fantastic job of
exploring how story is critical to the creation of a great
presentation.
In this video, Nancy makes the point that stories and reports
occupy opposite ends of a spectrum and that to convey the
meaning behind your report, you need to introduce
elements of story.
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The Bare Assertion
CEO: So you are saying that I need to invest $100 million now
or we will go out of business?
Presenter: Yes.
CEO: And why is that again?
Presenter: Because I said so…?
To convince and persuade in today’s corporate world
business people must construct evidence-based arguments.
They must demonstrate, not simply assert.
Edward Tufte makes a great case for what he calls
informational depth.
“Executives are not dumb. When you are presenting to them
they need informational depth. When people are presenting
to you, you need to figure out what their story is, but also
need to decide whether you can believe them. Are they
competent? … Detail helps credibility.”
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This, unfortunately, requires significant effort, work, and
thinking to pull-off.
The effort required to do this is also a key reason why so
many poor presentations lack a fact-based approach to
persuasion. There are no short cuts. This is where real effort
pays off with discriminating audiences.
Often discriminating audiences (senior executives, investors,
advisers, challenging customers) will see their role being a
‘stress-tester’. They will test your assertions. Challenge your
data. Poke, probe and dissect your analysis.
Your audience does this because they suspect what you are
saying is important. And if they act on what you are saying,
and it turns out you were wrong… well this would reflect
negatively on them. So, in a way, receiving the third-degree in
a presentation can be a good sign.
If you pass the test.
It is for situations like this that you need data, facts and
proof. You will be eaten alive if you simply assert.
But your data, facts and proof should be in support of your
structure, your story. The goal is not to squeeze in all the
analysis you have done. Inevitably much of your analysis will
not be required to make your central argument. Be equally
ruthless in sorting and prioritizing what analysis is required
to make your point.
There are four uses of data for which a table is a good
option:
Tables and Graphs
• Present both summary and detail values
They are fundamentally different.
See the example on the next page:
When you have data that you would like to present, resist the
urge to throw it into the sexiest 3D pie chart you can create.
Instead, think first about how you intend to use the data and
what point you are trying to make with the data.
Graphs and tables excel at different things and depending
on your purpose, one will be a better choice than another.
Tables
The primary benefit of a table is that it makes it easy to look
up individual values.
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• Look-up individual values
• Compare individual values (but not entire series of values)
• Present precise values, and
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Graphs
Graphs, on the other hand, present the overall shape of the
data. Graphs are used to display relationships among and
between sets of quantitative values by giving them shape.
Use graphs when:
• The message / story is contained in the shape of the data
• The display will be used to reveal relationships among
whole sets of values
Common Graphs
Quantitative values can be represented in graphs through:
• Points
• Bars
• Lines
• Boxes
• Shapes with varying 2D areas
• Shapes with varying color intensity
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When determining what type of graph to select, it is absolutely critical that you first consider what you are trying to
assay with the data. The data on the page exists to support the message you have in your headline. You will have a
very specific message you will want the data to convey. You will have a specific relationship that you will want to
represent.
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And here are what graphs are best to
illustrate each type of data relationship:
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Some people don't see the same way you do
Some people's visual processing thought routines are more
word oriented, others are more visually oriented.
Visual thinking is the phenomenon of thinking through visual
processing - it has been described as seeing words as a
series of pictures.
Research by child development theorist Linda Kreger
Silverman suggests that about 30% of the population
strongly uses visual/spatial thinking, another 45% uses both
visual/spatial thinking and thinking in the form of words, and
25% thinks exclusively in words.
This research has a profound impact on how we need to
think about communicating our ideas. It is the principle
reason (although most people don't really recognize it) why
there has been a shift from the vertical memorandum
(written in word, exclusively text), to the horizontal
PowerPoint presentation (written in PowerPoint, containing
text and visuals) - modern presentations are easier to
understand!
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It demands of us as presentation creators to continually
think about how our ideas and concepts can be represented
both verbally, but also visually.
Design is important, but can be challenging
Design, for many, is a challenge. Many attempt to solve this
problem by hiring an agency to design a PowerPoint
template for them. Or outsourcing the entire presentation
design.
We recommend a different approach, one rooted in
investing a bit of effort and in applying a good understanding
of the type of design that works best for presentations.
Invest the time to make the presentation look decent
If you can't be bothered to spend the time to make your
presentation look professional, why do you think I am going
to give you the time of day? It is about credibility.
Spend the effort to make the presentation look good.
Download our free template to get you started:
FREE PRESENTATION TEMPLATE
FREE PowerPoint Template
Over 1,000 professionally designed slides
All fully customizable
Download Template
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Practice a simplicity design ethos – not simple thinking
Rules of Thumb (applied aggressively, obsessively)
The very basics of slide design are not difficult to master
because, in general, less is always more.
1. Adopt a message driven slide layout
The very best presentation design eliminates the excess. It is
a minimalist strategy to focus on only what matters, and to
avoid distracting the reader away from the central point.
• Put this main idea in your headline that spans the top of
the page
This minimalist design approach is not an aesthetic
preference. It is a design strategy to support our
presentation goal - the communication of our message. The
design of our presentation, of each slide, should be solely
focused on supporting that goal.
• Put content in the main body of the slide that contains the
proof of the main assertion / idea that is in the headline
Focus on what your point is, and the key evidence required
to prove that point - design around this.
• Have a single, primary idea per slide
• Make your headline no more than two lines long
2. Align all elements on each page neatly
• Make sure the position of the headline on each slide is in
the exact same spot on every slide
You do not need to be a graphics designer to create very
effectively designed presentation slides.
• When you flip through your slides (like with those old
picture books that created moving images when you
flipped through them) the position of the headline should
not move, the font size should not change
Here are some basic design rules of thumb to get you
started:
• This also goes for other common design elements on
each slide (logo, copyright notice, page number etc.)
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3. In many instances a picture is worth significantly more than
1000 words
• Ways to create contrast include using contrasting colors,
sizes, shapes, locations, or relationships
• Use powerful, relevant images
6. Don't use crazy animations, 3D, or random special effects
• Do NOT use stock photography
• Just don't. Emulate modern 'flat' design style (think Metro
interface, google design refresh etc.)
• Do NOT use clip art
• Use images judiciously, don’t go over board
4. Colors should be muted; brighter colors used for emphasis
• Don't use bright colors like red, orange or yellow, except to
highlight an important point
• Use a tool like Adobe Kuler to design an attractive color
scheme that won't give your audience a headache
• The wow of you presentation comes from the power of
your ideas. Spiral animation entrances won’t help
7. Don't use pie charts
• This is a pet peeve of mine, but pie charts are visually
difficult to interpret - other chart types (bar charts) are
significantly more effective
5. Use whitespace, use contrast
• Serious presenters know this and don't use them - when
you do it makes you look like an amateur
• Be careful to use enough spacing – whitespace between
lines and paragraphs is good
8. Use Typography
• Whitespace improves legibility, increases comprehension,
increases emphasis, and creates the right one
• Custom fonts give your presentation a nice distinctive look
that allows it to stand out in a sea of Arial
• Use contrast to emphasize difference
• Great custom fonts are available for free - check out
Google Fonts, download and use within PowerPoint
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The presentation has been written. The work has been put
in. It is time to start thinking about the act of delivering the
presentation.
Our view is that ‘winging it’ tends to not be a good strategy.
Preparation
Preparation, once the deck has been written, means
practice.
We suggest the following approach:
1. Develop a script
Write down a formal voice-over script of what you will say.
Write this down in advance.
Adopt simplified language. You want to be interpreting the
content on the slide, not reading it!
2. Memorize the script
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Rehearse until you have memorized your script. We know
this is boring. Try speaking the script out loud. In our
experience tit is very difficult to memorize a script simply
reading it to yourself.
3. Finally, abandon the script
Once you have spent enough time memorizing the script
you will start to feel comfortable deviating and embellishing.
Use your script as a road-map during delivery, rather than a
crutch. It is you safety net.
This robust approach takes time and, to be honest, may only
be appropriate for the most important of meetings. But it
works.
Deliver with Conviction, Passion and Drama
Conviction
You must believe in your material for others to believe in
you.
A fact-based approach to persuasion, and logical structure
are techniques that, when applied, position you to have a
very high degree of confidence in your material.
The standards are high (and sometimes unforgiving). By
meeting them in advance, you can enter the room with a
high level of confidence in your material.
Passion
Enthusiasm is contagious.
Show your passion for the material. If the topic is as dull as
dishwater, show passion for the elegance of your thinking
and the power of your recommendations. This is killer.
Drama
A little drama (mixed in with some storytelling) can really
elevate a presentation.
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This drama can be inherent in the complication/catalyst. It is
also embedded in the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). Play this
up and occasionally reference the implications of what you
are saying to this.
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What follows is a step-by-step list of what you need to do to
create a killer presentation. The SlideHeroes course includes
an interactive checklist that allows you to keep track of each
step as you progress.
Imagine: your meeting has been cancelled, but you manage
to catch your audience in the elevator on the way out of the
building. You have 1 minute – what do you want to say?
Before you start, determine where in the thinking process
you are.
Often we are better at ‘getting to the point’ orally. As soon as
we start thinking in terms of a presentation, we can
sometimes lose the plot. This exercise will help you capture
the main thrust of what your presentation is meant to
convey early on in the process.
Ask yourself the following key question:
A. Apply our 'Who, Why, What, How’ Process
Have you finished your analysis, and are now embarking on
the final phase of summarizing your findings? Or are you still
trying to figure out the question your should be answering?
Begin the process of writing a business presentation by
reviewing our 4-step process. This process is your roadmap
of what you need to do. Briefly review what you need to do
at each step:
The Start
Often people will turn to PowerPoint long before they have
completed their thinking – try to resist this urge, use paper
instead.
Once you are finally ready to write your presentation - stop.
Consider crafting your elevator pitch instead.
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• Identify WHO your audience is
• Determine WHY you are speaking with them
• Determine WHAT your answer is to your audience's
question
• Decide HOW to best communicate that answer
The WHO
Once you have taken stock, determined where you are in
your thought process, and are ready to proceed.
The first major step is to identify WHO our audience is.
This sounds easy. But there are critical nuances that you
need to be aware of which we will explore.
B. Identify WHO your audience is
Determine who the hero of your presentation is (hint it is not
you - it is your audience).
A nuance to be aware of is that sometimes the true target of
your presentation may not be obvious. You may be speaking
to a group you don’t know well and, as a consequence, may
not have a full understanding of the political dynamics at
play. Who are the true decision makers? Who can truly help
you progress to the next step?
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During this step we need to take the time to identify who
within your audience you are truly speaking to – who
matters.
C. Profile your Audience
Once you have identified your Audience, spend some time
profiling them.
Ask yourself the following questions about your audience:
• How much will the audience know about the
situation/topic before we start the presentation?
• How do they prefer to consume information?
• Visual bias? Numerical bias?
• Pre-read in advance?
• What is the best timing of messages?
The WHY
The second major step in our process is determining WHY
you are presenting and your goal for the meeting.
What led us to do the analysis or work to answer your
question?
F. Determine the Question
D. Determine the Context of the Presentation
Determine the question you are there to answer.
The next three tasks in our process are focused on building
our Introduction and isolating the question we are
answering for our Audience.
Most questions will fall into one of these 4 types:
The reason we are creating a presentation, is always to
answer a question that is in the mind of our audience.
3. I have a problem, someone has suggested a solution:
Should we adopt that solution?
The context is the background to the presentation. It
contains information the audience already knows.
4. I have a problem, someone has suggested a solution:
How should we implement this solution?
E. Identify the catalyst of the presentation or meeting
G. Determine your objective / next step for the meeting
The Catalyst is the complication in the story that has resulted
in the problem we are here to answer.
You need next steps. You need a call to action. The objective
of your presentation should be for your audience to DO
SOMETHING as a result of you presenting your material.
What happened, changed or was realized that is causing us
to meet today?
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1. I have a problem: Why did it happen? or,
2. I have a problem: What should we do?
What do you want your audience to do? What do you need
your audience to understand to achieve the meeting’s goal?
The WHAT
The third major step is to determine and write WHAT your
answer is to your audience’s question.
The Power of Logical Structure
H. Gather existing work, develop new thinking
Do the work.
This is where your own domain expertise comes in. Suffice it
to say, you need to do the work, the analysis, the thinking to
answer the question.
• Gather existing content (improve on it)
• Conduct new analysis
• Conduct brainstorming sessions
I. Summarize and organize your ideas
• Organise your argument into logical groups
• Bucket arguments into MECE groups
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• Use visual thinking tools to capture and organize your
ideas
J. Determine whether you will make an inductive or
deductive argument
Choose between an inductive or deductive approach.
Create an argument map.
The Art of Storytelling
K. Storyboard the presentation
Storyboarding is a technique for writing that was first
developed by Walt Disney for use in the creation of animated
movies.
Have a listen to how Steve Jobs describes how storyboarding
is used at Pixar:
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The Harmony of Design
• Create the tables or charts
L. Develop a slide template
• Reduce and eliminate chart-junk
Use ours.
• Design tables and graphs to emphasize the key data
elements that support your story
(see next page)
The Drama of Performance
M. Develop content for each slide
O. Practice
• Write out each heading for each slide
• Write out each sub-heading for each supporting piece of
evidence/chart
• Design charts and supporting visuals
• Open PowerPoint!
• Populate slides with supporting evidence
The Science of Fact-based Persuasion
N. Develop graphs and tables for your data
• Determine what tables or chart types are best for the data
you wish to show
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Practice makes perfect. So practice.
• Do an initial run through of the presentation. Speak the
presentation out loud and improvise
• Write this version down as a formal script
• Run through the presentation two or three more times
working on length, simplifying language
• If the length needs editing, revise the presentation,
eliminating or combining slide ideas
• Present to someone else to solicit feedback and simulate
a ‘live’ presentation
• Run through the script a few more times and then park it
FREE PRESENTATION TEMPLATE
FREE PowerPoint Template
Over 1,000 professionally designed slides
All fully customizable
Download Template
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• Get a good night’s sleep; review the script once or twice
just before the presentation
P. Perform
• Conduct a pre-presentation flight-check to ensure you
have everything you need
• Deliver with conviction, passion and drama
• Focus on just a few things to ensure a great delivery:
1. Manage your stress - quite your mind, breathe, relax
2. Adopting the right ‘tone’ and approach
3. Being yourself. Relax!
4. Communicating both verbally and physically
(kinetically)
5. Answer your Audience’s questions
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Below are the set of presentation tools we recommend to
create fantastic business presentations.
Presentation Creation
PowerPoint
I know everyone rags on PowerPoint. It just isn’t PowerPoints
fault (link to in defense of PowerPoint blog post).
RAW (open source)
Similar to Plotly, RAW produces great looking charts. There is
a wide selection of chart types (you can also create your
own). Powerful.
Image Design
Web apps that help create fantastic graphics, easily.
It is still the best we have got.
Canva
Prezi
Image design tool. Very, very easy and quick. Pretty
Awesome.
Pretty cool 'zoom' transition effects. Kind of hard to use,
places huge emphasis on design skills.
Chart Design
We can do so much better than PowerPoint and Excel…
Poor man's Photoshop. Particularly good at retouching
photos.
Productivity
Plotly
Plotly charts look great. The interface is easy to use and
there is a good variety of chart types to select from.
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PicMonkey
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PowerPoint plugins that can turbo charge your productivity
ThinkCell
Plugin that enables you to quickly create complex Waterfalls,
Marimekkos, Gantts and Agendas within PowerPoint. A
favorite.
SlideProof
PowerPoint Add-In to improve visual quality and help with
proofing.
Presentation Distribution
SlideShare
The YouTube for presentations.
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If you have made it this far, well done! ;-)
Blogs
If you are still hungry for more here are some great books,
blogs and courses(!) that may pique your interest.
The following blogs are among our favorites:
Books
Storytelling with Data, Cole Nussbaumer
Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds
We recommend the following great books:
The Pyramid Principle, Barbara Minto
Slideology, Nancy Duarte
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte
Show Me the Numbers, Stephen Few
IdeaTransplant, now SlideMagic, Jan Schultink
Our Course
The SlideHeroes course takes the concepts covered in this
Advanced Guide to Writing McKinsey-Style Presentations
and drills deeper into each. In the course, video lessons and
PowerPoint slide examples allow you to fully explore all of
the many concepts discussed in this Guide.
Try our Free Trial to get a flavor of the course.
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SLIDEHEROES COURSE TRIAL
Online Course
We teach professionals to
create and present
exceptional business
presentations, investor
pitches and sales decks
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