McKinsey Style Business Presentations – The Art of Effective PowerPoint Presentations

Life in the corporate world can be quite unfair. Some people get a lot of attention and recognition from management, while others, who eventually produce even better results, don’t. I’ve seen very bright people doing a lot of good work, who never got their ideas across the organization.

One of the main drivers of success in today’s organizations is the ability to present ideas and results in an understandable and compelling way. People who master this skill can be much more effective at work, as they save a lot of time to solve problems related to miscommunication or misunderstanding of colleagues, subordinates, managers and company leaders about their work.

Business presentations are crucial to success at work – for everyone!

Because of the importance of presentation skills in achieving a balanced work life, I decided to write a series of articles on this topic. As a management consultant, effective presentations are my bread and butter. I have used the McKinsey style for over a decade. Since then, I have had to do many management presentations that have made me refine my presentation style over time. I’ve learned that good preparation and an effective slide deck increase successful turnarounds dramatically.

15 learnings on how to develop effective PowerPoint presentations:

1. Be clear about your goal – don’t overload the presentation
2. Start with a communication strategy based on the knowledge of your audience
   • How much do they know before the presentation?
   • How do they consume information?
   • What do you want them to understand to achieve the goal?
   • What do they need to understand during this presentation?
   • What is the best timing of the messages?
3. Focus on your story instead of the content: Situation, Complication, So What, Solution, Call to Action
4. Use a message-driven page layout: Action Title, Subtitle, Slide Content
5. Apply the pyramid principle of Barbara Minto
6. Communicate the right level of detail
7. Use the language of the audience
8. Set the purpose of the presentation and the agenda before you begin
9. Communicate findings in advance. Provide executive summaries.
10. Keep slides clean and slim
11. Use active, action-focused writing
12. Be consistent in your writing
13. Apply clear logic, within slides and between slides
14. Use meaningful colors
15. Make it fun: break the rules

I found that a big part of my success at work was applying these principles every time I did any type of PowerPoint presentation. Every time I got it right, every time the message was clear to the audience, I got a big step closer to my goal. Try it, it really works!