business presentation reddit

• Starting a Business

Our Top Picks

• Best Small Business Loans
• Best Business Internet Service
• Best Online Payroll Service
• Best Business Phone Systems

Our In-Depth Reviews

• OnPay Payroll Review
• ADP Payroll Review
• Ooma Office Review
• RingCentral Review

Explore More

• Business Solutions
• Entrepreneurship
• Franchising
• Best Accounting Software
• Best Merchant Services Providers
• Best Credit Card Processors
• Best Mobile Credit Card Processors
• Clover Review
• Merchant One Review
• QuickBooks Online Review
• Xero Accounting Review
• Financial Solutions

Human Resources

• Best Human Resources Outsourcing Services
• Best Time and Attendance Software
• Best PEO Services
• Best Business Employee Retirement Plans
• Bambee Review
• Rippling HR Software Review
• TriNet Review
• Gusto Payroll Review
• Best Text Message Marketing Services
• Best CRM Software
• Best Email Marketing Services
• Best Website Builders
• Textedly Review
• Salesforce Review
• EZ Texting Review
• Textline Review
• Business Intelligence
• Marketing Solutions
• Marketing Strategy
• Public Relations
• Social Media
• Best GPS Fleet Management Software
• Best POS Systems
• Best Employee Monitoring Software
• Best Document Management Software
• Verizon Connect Fleet GPS Review
• Zoom Review
• Samsara Review
• Zoho CRM Review
• Technology Solutions

Business Basics

• 4 Simple Steps to Valuing Your Small Business
• How to Write a Business Growth Plan
• 12 Business Skills You Need to Master
• How to Start a One-Person Business
• FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks Comparison
• Salesforce CRM vs. Zoho CRM
• RingCentral vs. Zoom Comparison
• 10 Ways to Generate More Sales Leads

Business.com aims to help business owners make informed decisions to support and grow their companies. We research and recommend products and services suitable for various business types, investing thousands of hours each year in this process.

As a business, we need to generate revenue to sustain our content. We have financial relationships with some companies we cover, earning commissions when readers purchase from our partners or share information about their needs. These relationships do not dictate our advice and recommendations. Our editorial team independently evaluates and recommends products and services based on their research and expertise. Learn more about our process and partners here .

13 Things to Include in Your Next PowerPoint Presentation

Maximize the impact of your visual presentations with these tips.

Table of Contents

A visual component is essential when you’re crafting a presentation for a big meeting. A well-designed PowerPoint presentation helps drive home crucial concepts with text, images, graphs, tables and other multimedia. A clear, organized slide deck is a valuable presentation anchor and a tool to keep your audience engaged. It can boost your confidence as a presenter, especially if public speaking isn’t your strength.

Developing an effective PowerPoint presentation requires careful planning. You must decide on the structure, design the navigation, and address the technical details. We’ll highlight 13 essential elements to include in your next PowerPoint presentation, along with key do’s and don’ts to ensure your presentation goes off without a hitch.

What to include in your PowerPoint presentation

A strong, effective PowerPoint presentation should include the following components.

1. Who you are

When you’re presenting to an unfamiliar audience — for example, if you’re speaking at an academic conference or presenting your idea to investors — it’s vital to introduce yourself. Establish credibility and trust by briefly discussing your line of work, past accomplishments or related projects.

2. Your logo

Although you may have included your logo on the introductory slide, you should also place it on each slide to reinforce brand recognition. This repetition helps your brand “stick” in the audience’s mind and is particularly effective when you’re presenting on behalf of your company.

3. An agenda

Next, write an agenda slide. This helps to set the audience’s expectations, guide the flow of the presentation, and keep you on track while drafting and presenting your information.

4. A clear road map

Include a clear road map for your presentation. This is especially important for longer PowerPoints with multiple sections. A presentation outline helps to break down complex content and allows you to return to the road map as needed to help your audience follow along more easily.

5. Information not on your slides

Your PowerPoint slide deck is designed to supplement and enhance your oral presentation, not to replace it. Ensure that your verbally presented information adds value by including information that is not on your slides. Minimize written text; focus on key phrases and main ideas. You can expand on these concepts in greater detail as you present.

6. Engaging visuals

The primary benefit of using PowerPoint for presentations is the ability to add engaging visuals, such as graphs and infographics. Relying less on text keeps the focus on the presenter while effectively illustrating your key takeaways.

“Images, infographics and charts should drive home key points, not overwhelm your audience,” said Smita D Jain, a personal empowerment life coach and TEDx speaker. “For complex data or statistics, keep it simple by using clear, easy-to-read charts. Focus on the most impactful data that supports your narrative, and avoid cluttering slides with excessive figures.”

7. Updated data

There’s nothing wrong with reusing or repurposing a slide deck you’ve already created, as long as you keep it current. If your PowerPoint includes statistics, industry trends , information on your business or other data, check the numbers and update them as necessary before you present.

8. The answer to “So what?”

Even if the information in your presentation is clear and compelling, it won’t make an impact if your audience doesn’t understand the bigger picture. Aim to become a business storyteller by answering the unspoken question, “So what?” Clearly explain why your message is crucial and relevant to your listeners.

Jain said preparing your presentation as a story with a clear arc can naturally lead to your “So what?” answer. “Build your presentation around a narrative,” Jain advised. “Start with an engaging hook, build momentum with well-organized points, and finish with a strong call to action. The story should guide the visuals, not the other way around.”

Ashwin Ramesh, a TEDx speaker and CEO of branding and customer acquisition company Synup, advises presenters to use slides to create a story arc with a beginning, challenges, and a conclusion leading to a solution. “Storytelling leaves the listener remembering your message long after you have finished speaking,” Ramesh said. “Using facts and figures is great, but it’s always the stories that resonate most with people.”

9. Key takeaways

Highlight your main points at the end of your PowerPoint ― or, for longer presentations, at the end of each section ― to help your audience remember them. Generating key takeaways in the outlining stage can also help you structure your slide content.

10. Backup slides

Because a presentation is designed to be clear and concise, you may not always have the time to discuss specific topics or audience questions in depth. Having backup slides with additional information can encourage further audience understanding without letting the presentation veer off track or run too long.

11. An objection slide

Depending on your presentation topic, your audience may have objections. Address these objections head-on by dedicating a slide to potential concerns. Give people the opportunity to ask questions, raise concerns, and address known or anticipated issues directly. This tactic is also a great way to demonstrate business transparency .

12. A call-to-action slide

Consider what you want your audience to do after listening to your presentation. Are there specific actions to take, ideas to consider or a person to contact? Use a call-to-action slide to present this request.

13. Contact information

Display your contact information on the last slide to encourage your audience to reach out. They will likely appreciate the opportunity to discuss the presentation’s topics further. Additionally, you may make valuable business connections and strategic partnerships by keeping the lines of communication open post-presentation. 

Do’s and don’ts of PowerPoint presentations

If you’re planning to use PowerPoint as a business tool, here are some key do’s and don’ts to keep in mind.

Do tell a story and be relatable.

As Jain and Ramesh explained, an excellent PowerPoint presentation includes a narrative arc, which makes the experience compelling and helps presenters connect with their audience. A personal story can also accomplish this goal. “Including a brief story or experience that connects with your audience will make your presentation more engaging and humanize the content,” Jain said.

Ramesh noted that the words presenters use can enhance this connection. “I [have] found that using personal and relatable language — like ‘you,’ ‘we,’ ‘imagine’ and ‘picture this’ — can be a great way to engage your audience,” Ramesh said. “In terms of connecting with emotions, I prefer using words like ‘overwhelming,’ ‘terrific’ and ‘excited,’ to name a few.”

Do use speaker notes to your advantage.

Although your slides should be clean and light on text, you can include speaker notes that are visible only to you. Use this section at the bottom of the page to include facts, examples or questions you want to highlight in the presentation.

Do keep your slide backgrounds subtle and consistent.

Selecting a background or color scheme that’s too bold or busy can strain the eyes and detract from your presentation. Ensure sufficient visual contrast between the background and text colors so your audience can easily follow along. Microsoft has developed several built-in themes with this visual contrast in mind, but you can also create your own template.

Jain stressed that consistency is key when you’re designing custom templates. “Maintain consistency in your design elements — fonts, color schemes and slide layouts,” Jain said. “It creates a professional, polished look and allows the audience to focus on the message rather than distractions.”

Do have a backup plan.

Technology can fail at the most inopportune times, so it’s wise to have a backup of your presentation on a memory stick or in the cloud. In the worst-case scenario, if the tech doesn’t work and you’re without visuals, take a deep breath and deliver your presentation with a focus on the core message.

Don’t read your PowerPoint word for word.

Your goal is to engage your audience and maintain their attention throughout the presentation. Reciting information verbatim from your slides can limit your connection with the audience and hurt your ability to “read the room.” Use the PowerPoint to guide and illustrate as needed, but let your verbal presentation be the focus. 

Don’t go too fast.

It’s understandable to feel like there’s a lot of content in your PowerPoint and that you must go through it as quickly as possible to cover everything. Resist the urge to speed up; it leads to rushed presentations that don’t give your audience enough time to absorb what you’re saying. Instead, speak at an average pace, especially if you often speak fast. Slowing down may feel unnatural at first, but it’s worth the effort because it will be easier for your audience to follow along.

Additionally, pause briefly between each slide. This gives your audience an extra moment to absorb your key takeaways before you move on to your next slide. The more space you provide for viewers to process your presentation, the more likely your points are to stick. 

Don’t go overboard on transitions and effects.

It can be tempting to add slide transitions and sound effects for some visual excitement. However, these special effects rarely enhance your message and can be distracting or gimmicky. Additionally, PowerPoint presentations with effects tend to run more slowly than those without them, particularly if you’re presenting on a different computer than the one used to create the slide deck.

Don’t include too many slides or too much information.

Your audience should not spend the entire presentation reading. If you include too much information, your audience will become overwhelmed and tune out. Limit the number of slides and the amount of text on each slide. Use your oral presentation to expand on key points and engage with your audience.

Ready, set, present

A PowerPoint presentation becomes impactful when you combine high-quality slides with effective public speaking tactics. A story, rather than just a set of facts, can truly take your presentation to the next level. Need inspiration for your own narrative? Watch some TEDx talks. If you master the art of presentation in the business world, you might be on the big stage before you know it.

Max Freedman contributed to this article.

Get Weekly 5-Minute Business Advice

B. newsletter is your digest of bite-sized news, thought & brand leadership, and entertainment. All in one email.

Our mission is to help you take your team, your business and your career to the next level. Whether you're here for product recommendations, research or career advice, we're happy you're here!

Home Blog Business Business Presentation: The Ultimate Guide to Making Powerful Presentations (+ Examples)

Business Presentation: The Ultimate Guide to Making Powerful Presentations (+ Examples)

A business presentation is a purpose-led summary of key information about your company’s plans, products, or practices, designed for either internal or external audiences. Project proposals, HR policy presentations, investors briefings are among the few common types of presentations. 

Compelling business presentations are key to communicating important ideas, persuading others, and introducing new offerings to the world. Hence, why business presentation design is one of the most universal skills for any professional. 

This guide teaches you how to design and deliver excellent business presentations. Plus, breaks down some best practices from business presentation examples by popular companies like Google, Pinterest, and Amazon among others! 

3 General Types of Business Presentations

A business presentation can be given for a number of reasons. Respectively, they differ a lot in terms of content and purpose. 

But overall, all types of business presentations can be classified as:

• Informative
• Persuasive 
• Supporting 

Informative Business Presentation 

As the name suggests, the purpose of an informative presentation is to discern the knowledge you have — explain what you know. It’s the most common type of business presentation out there. So you have probably prepared such at least several times. 

Examples of informative presentations:

• Team briefings presentation 
• Annual stakeholder report 
• Quarterly business reviews
• Business portfolio presentation
• Business plan presentation
• Project presentation

Helpful templates from SlideModel:

• Business plan PowerPoint template
• Business review PowerPoint template
• Project proposal PowerPoint template
• Corporate annual report template

Persuasive Business Presentation 

The goal of this type of presentation is to persuade your audience of your point of view — convince them of what you believe is right. Developing business presentations of this caliber requires a bit more copywriting mastery, as well as expertise in public speaking . Unlike an informative business presentation, your goal here is to sway the audience’s opinions and prompt them towards the desired action. 

Examples of persuasive presentations:

• Pitch deck/investor presentations
• Sales presentation  
• Business case presentation 
• Free business proposal presentation
• Business proposal PowerPoint template
• Pitch deck PowerPoint template
• Account Plan PowerPoint template

Supporting Business Presentation 

This category of business PowerPoint presentations is meant to facilitate decision-making — explain how we can get something done. The underlying purpose here is to communicate the general “action plan”. Then break down the necessary next steps for bringing it to life. 

Examples of supporting presentations:

• Roadmap presentation
• Project vision presentation 
• After Action Review presentation 
• Standard operating procedure (SOP) PowerPoint template 
• Strategy map PowerPoint template 
• After action review (ARR) PowerPoint template 

What Should Be Included in a Business Presentation?

Overall, the content of your business presentation will differ depending on its purpose and type. However, at the very minimum, all business presentations should include:

• Introductory slide 
• Agenda/purpose slide
• Main information or Content slides
• Key Takeaways slides
• Call-to-action/next steps slides

We further distill business presentation design and writing best practices in the next section (plus, provide several actionable business PowerPoint presentation examples !). 

How to Make a Business Presentation: Actionable Tips

A business presentation consists of two parts — a slide deck and a verbal speech. In this section, we provide tips and strategies for nailing your deck design. 

1. Get Your Presentation Opening Right 

The first slides of your presentation make or break your success. Why? By failing to frame the narrative and set the scene for the audience from the very beginning, you will struggle to keep their interest throughout the presentation. 

You have several ways of how to start a business presentation:

• Use a general informative opening — a summative slide, sharing the agenda and main points of the discussion. 
• Go for a story opening — a more creative, personal opening, aimed at pulling the audience into your story. 
• Try a dramatic opening — a less apparent and attention-grabbing opening technique, meant to pique the audience’s interest. 

Standard Informative Opening 

Most business presentation examples you see start with a general, informative slide such as an Agenda, Problem Statement, or Company Introduction. That’s the “classic” approach. 

To manage the audience’s expectations and prepare them for what’s coming next, you can open your presentation with one or two slides stating:

• The topic of your presentation — a one-sentence overview is enough. 
• Persuasive hook, suggesting what’s in it for the audience and why they should pay attention. 
• Your authority — the best technique to establish your credibility in a business presentation is to share your qualifications and experience upfront to highlight why you are worth listening to. 

Opening best suited for: Formal business presentations such as annual reports and supporting presentations to your team/business stakeholders. 

Story Opening 

Did you ever notice that most TED talks start with a quick personal story? The benefit of this presenting technique is that it enables speakers to establish quick rapport and hold the listener’s attention. 

Here’s how Nancy Duarte, author of “Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations” book and TED presenter, recommends opening a presentation: 

You know, here’s the status quo, here’s what’s going on. And then you need to compare that to what could be. You need to make that gap as big as possible, because there is this commonplace of the status quo, and you need to contrast that with the loftiness of your idea. 

Storytelling , like no other tool, helps transpose the audience into the right mindset and get concentrated on the subject you are about to discuss. A story also elicits emotions, which can be a powerful ally when giving persuasive presentations. In the article how to start a presentation , we explore this in more detail.

Opening best suited for: Personal and business pitches, sales presentations, other types of persuasive presentations. 

Dramatic Opening 

Another common technique is opening your presentation with a major statement, sometimes of controversial nature. This can be a shocking statistic, complex rhetoric question, or even a provocative, contrarian statement, challenging the audience’s beliefs. 

Using a dramatic opening helps secure the people’s attention and capture their interest. You can then use storytelling to further drill down your main ideas. 

If you are an experienced public speaker, you can also strengthen your speech with some unexpected actions. That’s what Bill Gates does when giving presentations. In a now-iconic 2009 TED talk about malaria, mid-presentation Gates suddenly reveals that he actually brought a bunch of mosquitoes with him. He cracks open a jar with non-malaria-infected critters to the audience’s surprise. His dramatic actions, paired with a passionate speech made a mighty impression. 

Opening best suited for: Marketing presentations, customer demos, training presentations, public speeches. 

Further reading: How to start a presentation: tips and examples. 

2. Get Your PowerPoint Design Right

Surely, using professional business PowerPoint templates already helps immensely with presentation deck design since you don’t need to fuss over slide layout, font selection, or iconography. 

Even so, you’ll still need to customize your template(s) to make them on brand and better suited to the presentation you’re about to deliver. Below are our best presentation design tips to give your deck an extra oomph. 

Use Images, Instead of Bullet Points 

If you have ever watched Steve Jobs’s presentations, you may have noticed that he never used bullet-point lists. Weird right? Because using bullet points is the most universal advice in presentation design. 

But there’s a valid scientific reason why Jobs favored images over bullet-point texts. Researchers found that information delivered in visuals is better retained than words alone. This is called the “ pictorial superiority effect ”. As John Medina, a molecular biologist, further explains :

“Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.”

So if your goal is to improve the memorability of your presentation, always replace texts with images and visualizations when it makes sense. 

Fewer Slides is Better

No matter the value, a long PowerPoint presentation becomes tiring at some point. People lose focus and stop retaining the information. Thus, always take some extra time to trim the fluff and consolidate some repetitive ideas within your presentation. 

For instance, at McKinsey new management consultants are trained to cut down the number of slides in client presentations. In fact, one senior partner insists on replacing every 20 slides with only two slides . Doing so prompts you to focus on the gist — the main business presentation ideas you need to communicate and drop filler statements. 

Here are several quick tips to shorten your slides:

• Use a three-arc structure featuring a clear beginning (setup), main narrative (confrontation), ending (resolution). Drop the ideas that don’t fit into either of these. 
• Write as you tweet. Create short, on-point text blurbs of under 156 symbols, similar to what you’d share on Twitter. 
• Contextualize your numbers. Present any relevant statistics in a context, relevant to the listeners. Turn longer stats into data visualizations for easier cognition. 

Consistency is Key 

In a solid business presentation, each slide feels like part of the connecting story. To achieve such consistency apply the same visual style and retain the same underlying message throughout your entire presentation.

Use the same typography, color scheme, and visual styles across the deck. But when you need to accentuate a transition to a new topic (e.g. move from a setup to articulating the main ideas), add some new visual element to signify the slight change in the narrative. 

Further reading: 23 PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Creating Engaging and Interactive Presentations

3. Make Your Closure Memorable 

We best remember the information shared last. So make those business presentation takeaways stick in the audience’s memory. We have three strategies for that. 

Use the Rule of Three 

The Rule of Three is a literary concept, suggesting that we best remember and like ideas and concepts when they are presented in threes. 

Many famous authors and speakers use this technique:

• “Duty – Honor – Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be” . Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
• “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” are the unalienable rights of all humans that governments are meant to protect.” Thomas Jefferson 

The Rule of Three works because three is the maximum number of items most people can remember on their first attempt. Likewise, such pairings create a short, familiar structure that is easy to remember for our brains. 

Try the Title Close Technique

Another popular presentation closing technique is “Title Close” — going back to the beginning of your narrative and reiterating your main idea (title) in a form of a takeaway. Doing so helps the audience better retain your core message since it’s repeated at least two times. Plus, it brings a sense of closure — a feel-good state our brains love. Also, a brief one-line closure is more memorable than a lengthy summary and thus better retained. 

Ask a Question 

If you want to keep the conversation going once you are done presenting, you can conclude your presentation with a general question you’d like the audience to answer.

Alternatively, you can also encourage the members to pose questions to you. The latter is better suited for informational presentations where you’d like to further discuss some of the matters and secure immediate feedback. 

Try adding an interactive element like a QR code closing your presentation with a QR code and having a clear CTA helps you leverage the power of sharing anything you would like to share with your clients. QR codes can be customized to look alike your brand.

If you are looking for a smoother experience creating presentations on the fly, check out the AI PowerPoint maker —it offers everything you can ask forfrom presentation design in a couple of clicks.

12 Business Presentation Examples and What Makes Them Great 

Now that we equipped you with the general knowledge on how to make a presentation for business, let’s take a look at how other presenters are coping with this job and what lessons you can take away from them. 

1. N26 Digital Bank Pitch Deck 

This is a fine business pitch presentation example, hitting all the best practices. The deck opens with a big shocking statement that most Millennials would rather go to the dentist than step into a bank branch. 

Then it proceeds to discuss the company’s solution to the above — a fully digital bank with a paperless account opening process, done in 8 minutes. After communicating the main product features and value proposition, the deck further conceptualizes what traction the product got so far using data visualizations. The only thing it lacks is a solid call-to-action for closing slides as the current ending feels a bit abrupt. 

2. WeWork Pitch Deck

For a Series D round, WeWork went with a more formal business presentation. It starts with laying down the general company information and then transitions to explaining their business model, current market conditions, and the company’s position on the market.

The good thing about this deck is that they quantify their business growth prospects and value proposition. The likely gains for investors are shown in concrete numbers. However, those charts go one after another in a row, so it gets a bit challenging to retain all data points. 

The last part of their presentation is focused on a new offering, “We Live”. It explains why the team seeks funds to bring it to life. Likewise, they back their reasoning with market size statistics, sample projects, and a five-year revenue forecast. 

3. Redfin Investor Presentation 

If you are looking for a “text-light” business presentation example, Redfin’s investor deck is up to your alley. This simple deck expertly uses iconography, charts, and graphs to break down the company’s business model, value proposition, market share, and competitive advantages over similar startups. For number-oriented investors, this is a great deck design to use. 

4. Google Ready Together Presentation 

This isn’t quite the standard business presentation example per se. But rather an innovative way to create engaging, interactive presentations of customer case studies .

The short deck features a short video clip from a Google client, 7-11, explaining how they used the company’s marketing technology to digitally transform their operations and introduce a greater degree of marketing automation . The narrated video parts are interrupted by slides featuring catchy stats, contextualizing issues other businesses are facing. Then transitions to explaining through the words of 7-11 CMO, how Google’s technology is helping them overcome the stated shortcomings.

5. Salesforce Business Presentation Example 

This is a great example of an informational presentation, made by the Salesforce team to share their research on customer experience (CX) with prospects and existing customers.

The slide deck errs on the lengthier side with 58 slides total. But bigger topics are broken down and reinforced through bite-sized statistics and quotes from the company leadership. They are also packaging the main tips into memorable formulas, itemized lists, and tables. Overall, this deck is a great example of how you can build a compelling narrative using different statistics. 

6. Mastercard Business Presentation

This slide deck from Mastercard instantly captures the audience’s attention with unusual background images and major data points on the growth of populations, POS systems, and payment methods used in the upcoming decade.

Perhaps to offset the complexity of the subject, Mastercard chose to sprinkle in some humor in presentation texts and used comic-style visuals to supplement that. However, all their animations are made in a similar style, creating a good sense of continuity in design. They are also using colors to signify the transition from one part of the presentation to another. 

In the second part, the slide deck focuses on distilling the core message of what businesses need to do to remain competitive in the new payments landscape. The team presents what they have been working on to expand the payment ecosystem. Then concludes with a “title close” styled call-to-action, mirroring the presentation title.

7. McKinsey Diversity & Inclusion Presentation 

This fresh business slide deck from McKinsey is a great reference point for making persuasive business presentations on complex topics such as D&I. First, it recaps the main definitions of the discussed concepts — diversity, equity, and inclusion — to ensure alignment with the audience members. 

Next, the business presentation deck focuses on the severity and importance of the issue for businesses, represented through a series of graphs and charts. After articulating the “why”, the narrative switches to “how” — how leaders can benefit from investment in D&I. The main points are further backed with data and illustrated via examples. 

8. Accenture Presentation for the Energy Sector

Similar to McKinsey, Accenture keeps its slide deck on a short. Yet the team packs a punch within each slide through using a mix of fonts, graphical elements, and color for highlighting the core information. The presentation copy is on a longer side, prompting the audience to dwell on reading the slides. But perhaps this was meant by design as the presentation was also distributed online — via the company blog and social media. 

The last several slides of the presentation deck focus on articulating the value Accenture can deliver for their clients in the Energy sector. They expertly break down their main value proposition and key service lines, plus quantify the benefits. 

9. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Technical Presentation 

Giving an engaging technical presentation isn’t an easy task. You have to balance the number of details you reveal on your slides to prevent overwhelm, while also making sure that you don’t leave out any crucial deets. This technical presentation from AWS does great in both departments. 

First, you get entertained with a quick overview of Amazon’s progress in machine learning (ML) forecasting capabilities over the last decade. Then introduced to the main tech offering. The deck further explains what you need to get started with Amazon Forecast — e.g. dataset requirements, supported forecasting scenarios, available forecasting models, etc. 

The second half of the presentation provides a quick training snippet on configuring Amazon SageMaker to start your first project. The step-by-step instructions are coherent and well-organized, making the reader excited to test-drive the product. 

10. Snapchat Company Presentation

Snapchat’s business model presentation is on a funkier, more casual side, reflective of the company’s overall brand and positioning. After briefly recapping what they do, the slide deck switches to discussing the company’s financials and revenue streams.

This business slide deck by Snap Inc. itself is rather simplistic and lacks fancy design elements. But it has a strong unified theme of showing the audience Snapchat’s position on the market and projected vector of business development. 

11. Visa Business Acquisition Presentation 

If you are working on a business plan or M&A presentation for stakeholders of your own, this example from Visa will be helpful. The presentation deck expertly breaks down the company’s rationale for purchasing Plaid and subsequent plans for integrating the startup into their business ecosystem. 

The business deck recaps why the Plaid acquisition is a solid strategic decision by highlighting the total addressable market they could dive into post-deal. Then it details Plaid’s competitive strengths. The slide deck then sums up all the monetary and indirect gains Visa could reap as an acquirer. 

12. Pinterest Earnings Report Presentation 

Annual reports and especially earnings presentations might not be the most exciting types of documents to work on, but they have immense strategic value. Hence, there’s little room for ambiguities or mistakes. 

In twelve slides, this business presentation from Pinterest clearly communicates the big picture of the company’s finance in 2021. All the key numbers are represented as featured quotes in the sidebar with diagrams further showcasing the earning and spending dynamics. Overall, the data is easy to interpret even for non-finance folks. 

To Conclude 

With these business presentation design tips, presentation templates , and examples, you can go from overwhelmed to confident about your next presentation design in a matter of hours. Focus on creating a rough draft first using a template. Then work on nailing your opening slide sequence and shortening the texts in the main part of your presentation when needed. Make sure that each slide serves a clear purpose and communicates important details. To make your business presentation deck more concise, remove anything that does not pertain to the topic. 

Finally, once you are done, share your business presentation with other team members to get their feedback and reiterate the final design.

Like this article? Please share

Business Presentations, Corporate Presentations, Design, Design Inspiration, Examples, Executive Reports, Inspiration, Presentation Ideas Filed under Business

Related Articles

Filed under Google Slides Tutorials • November 26th, 2024

Does Google Slides Have Design Ideas?

Is Google Slides able to help us define design ideas for our slide deck? Do we need extra plugins? Find all the answers here!

Filed under Business • November 22nd, 2024

A Quick Guide on Business Ethics

Learn more about the different types of business ethics and how they can affect your day to day in this blog posts.

Filed under Presentation Ideas • November 19th, 2024

What is the Best Way to Deliver Presentations with Authenticity

Do you feel as if your presentations look dull or robotic? Discover how to bring authenticity to your slides and speech with this guide.

Leave a Reply

Effective Business Presentations with Powerpoint

Below are the top discussions from Reddit that mention this online Coursera course from PwC .

Coursera Online

This course is all about presenting the story of the data, using PowerPoint

Offered by PwC. This course is all about presenting the story of the data, using PowerPoint. You'll learn how to structure a presentation, ... Enroll for free.

Reddsera may receive an affiliate commission if you enroll in a paid course after using these buttons to visit Coursera. Thank you for using these buttons to support Reddsera.

Taught by Alex Mannella Alumni / Former Principal and 7 more instructors

Offered by PwC

Reddit Posts and Comments

0 posts • 3 mentions • top 3 shown below

https://www.coursera.org/learn/powerpoint-presentations

The places I've worked at (MBB), it's generally just PowerPoint with some add-ons like ThinkCell and Essential Elements, plus some custom macros. For data visualization, we may also use tools like Tableau.

Effective slidewriting is as much about having great communication skills as it is about technical proficiency with the tools.

If you're looking for a good primer, PwC has one on Coursera . Just keep in mind that different firms may have somewhat different philosophies when it comes to building decks, so be prepared to adapt your approach to your firm's guidelines.

Is it a finance/business related case study?? If so, I would use this Coursera Course . It’s from a big4 firm & only 10 hours, so if you haven’t used your free 7 day trial it can be completed before that time frame is up.

This page was also helpful with a few advanced tips.

Lastly, YouTube University.

Edit to add: Good luck! You got this!!

PowerPoint Storytelling: How McKinsey, Bain, and BCG use the SCQA framework to create elite presentations

• Big name consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG all do one thing really well: they create amazing presentations for their clients. But it's not just the formatting and design that makes these presentations so special. It's the stories they tell.

SCQA Framework

Disney case study, bcg example, pyramid principle, final thoughts.

Join 100k+ subscribers on our YouTube channel and enjoy highly engaging lessons packed full of best practices.

Big name consulting firms like mckinsey, bain, and bcg all do one thing really well: they create amazing presentations for their clients. but it’s not just the formatting and design that makes these presentations so special. it’s the stories they tell..

In this article you’ll learn the PowerPoint storytelling techniques major consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG use to build elite presentations. You’ll see how these storytelling experts build presentations with clear takeaways, compelling insights, and an engaging narrative. I’ll walk through each step of the storytelling process in detail, and show you some examples of what this looks like in the real world.

But first, if you’re new to this blog make sure you check out our advanced PowerPoint and presentation design courses . Or, sign up for our free 5-day email course below and get instant access to our most popular download: the Top 50 PowerPoint for Consultants cheat sheet.

FREE Slide Design Course

Enroll in our free 5-day email course and learn how to design slides like a McKinsey consultant.

Complete hands-on exercises , review a realistic consulting case study , and get personalized feedback from your instructor!

Plus get a free copy of our Top 50 PowerPoint Shortcuts for Consultants cheat sheet.

Learn More ➔

Success! Please check your email.

We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime.

When building a presentation, regardless of who the audience is, you have one primary goal: to make it as easy as possible for the audience to understand what you’re trying to tell them. And this can be difficult – business presentations tend to have a lot of data and information, and it can be hard for the audience to grasp the key insights right away. Especially if they’re trying to also listen to the speaker and think about what they’re gonna say in response.

So when building your deck, it’s especially important to make sure it’s structured in a way that makes it clear, insightful, and engaging. It’s something top consulting firms do really well, thanks in part to two important concepts: the SCQA framework and the Pyramid Principle .

In simple terms, SCQA is just a framework for presentations that allows you to craft a story around the information you’re trying to present. It stands for Situation, Complication, Question, and Answer.

Every presentation is an answer to some question, such as “should we acquire this company?” or “How did this marketing campaign perform?” or even “What did you find in your research?” – and the SCQA framework just allows you to provide context for that answer.

Practically speaking this means that your main deck is used to show your answer, and the situation, complication, and question are how you provide context for that answer.

Lets consider an example…

Let’s say you’re on a consulting case for Disney and the executives have asked you to make a recommendation for where they should build their next theme park. 

The main part of your presentation will be the actual recommendation and all the supporting details. But then the situation, complication, and question will form your introduction slide. 

The situation is how things are right now. The complication represents a change in that situation and is the reason why the presentation is needed. The question is what gets raised by the complication (and what needs to be solved). Then the answer is the resolution. 

So here, the situation might be something like, “Disney is looking to grow revenue by opening a new park”. The complication could be, “they need to decide where to open this park”. Which then leads to the implicit question which is, “where should Disney open its next theme park?”

Then the main part of your deck answers this question. 

And notice how this brings the presentation to life. It puts the presentation in context, and it tells the audience why they should care. Instead of just dropping them in the middle of your data, you’re leading them along and creating a narrative. Remember, your goal is to make it as easy as possible for the audience to understand what it is you’re trying to tell them.

Now, an important rule here is you don’t want your introduction to have anything new or controversial. It should all be something your audience already agrees with, so you can focus on the answer. All you’re doing is establishing relevance, and making sure you and the audience are on the same page.

Here is a great SCQA example from BCG .  

The presentation is for a non-profit organization that invests in open education resources (or OER) – which are basically education resources that are made available to everyone. 

“The Open Education Resources ecosystem” BCG, June 2013

They’ve titled the introduction slide “context of the work”, because ultimately that’s what it is. They’re just giving context before diving into the presentation. 

The first line says, “Since the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation began investing in open education resources in 2002, the field has grown significantly: the past decade has seen an influx of OER and increased awareness and adoption”.

And notice how this just clearly and plainly explains a steady-state situation. How things are right now. This is the situation.

Then the next line says, “However, more work remains to push the OER movement from the sidelines of mainstream education into the center of the classroom”. This line essentially tells us that things are looking good for OER, but more work remains. This is the complication.

And already you can see how this is setting up the presentation. The situation leads to the complication, and the complication very naturally leads to the question, which is the next line:

“The Foundation engaged the Boston Consulting Group in late 2012 to evaluate the state of the current ecosystem in the United States and to help understand how to measure the movement’s progress towards a sustainable, mainstream end-state”.

Now although they don’t state the question explicitly, you can see it in the text. The question is “What is the state of the current ecosystem in the US, and how can we measure the movement’s progress?”

And now we have the right setup for the presentation, and we’re ready to hear the answer. Everyone is on the same page, and the audience is ready to go. 

It might seem like a small piece of the presentation, but all the major consulting firms use this PowerPoint storytelling technique to turn what otherwise might be a dry presentation into a persuasive story with a clear narrative. 

If you’ve watched our other videos, or taken some of our advanced courses , you’ll know that we talk about the Pyramid Principle a lot – especially as it relates to slide structure. But here I’m going to focus on how it applies to storyboarding and the presentation as a whole. 

Put simply, the Pyramid Principle is just a method of communicating information where you start with the main idea, and then provide the supporting details and data of that idea. Going back to our Disney example, the main idea would be on top, then the two supporting points would be below that. 

If you recall, the question is, where should Disney build a new theme park? 

Let’s say that your answer is that Disney should build a new theme park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Two supporting reasons for that answer might be that Rio is a major tourist destination, and that the Disney brand is strong in Brazil. And if you wanted, you could continue creating additional layers to your pyramid with more supporting details and data. 

In a presentation, the way you would communicate this is from top to bottom. And the reason why that approach is so effective is because you provide the audience with context first, before giving them more granular detail. Plus it helps the audience know exactly what you’re trying to tell them, and how you’ve reached each of your conclusions. Remember, your main goal is to make it as easily as possible for the audience. 

If you were to turn each of these ideas into its own slide, you would rearrange them with the highest level ideas coming first, then the supporting details following each idea. Then throw your introduction slide up front, and voila! you’ve got yourself a story.

And this is the exact PowerPoint storytelling technique they use at every major consulting firm to build client presentations that are incredibly clear, compelling, and persuasive. 

Unfortunately, PowerPoint storytelling doesn’t always happen this smoothly. In practice, there are lots of factors that can influence the final version of deck. Not to mention other slides that I didn’t mention like an executive summary slide, next steps slide, or the appendix. But generally speaking, this approach works really well.

In fact, did you notice it’s the same approach I used for this article. I started by stating the situation: I said that when you build a presentation you want to make it as easy as possible for the audience. Then I introduced a complication: business presentations tend to have a lot of data and information, so making it clear can be difficult. The implicit question then became, how can you make data heavy presentations easy to understand. 

Then I moved on to my answer, which was to provide a clear structure to your presentation, using two key concepts: the SCQA framework, and the Pyramid Principle. And I used this structure to then build out and explain my answer. 

The end result is an article that’s clear, easy to follow, and insightful (I hope!).

You can watch a video version of this article on  YouTube .

• Print Friendly