July 19, 2024
Consultants at McKinsey, Bain, and BCG are known for one thing:
Their slides.
They’re nicely formatted, perfectly aligned, and very consistent.
But having worked as a consultant at Bain for two years, I realized that it’s actually not the formatting that makes their presentations so special.
It’s the storyline they use in every single presentation.
Today, you’ll learn the exact techniques that consultants use to outline their presentations.
Let’s start with the first element of basically every consulting presentation.
The first slide covers four things: SCQA.
Situation, Complication, Question, and Answer.
Let’s look at an example together:
Imagine you’re a consultant at McLindsey & Company.
One day, your high-school buddy Sam calls you and asks for your help.
A few years ago, he started a cute bakery called ‘Sweet Treats.’
Even though it started really well, his profits have plummeted in the past few weeks.
As Sam is more of an artsy guy and doesn’t know much about business, he hired you to help him out.
For a tiny fee of $10,000 a day, you generously agreed to assist him. After two weeks of thorough analysis, you are ready to share your findings with Sam.
You start your presentation by sharing SCQA:
This one slide gives context, frames the project, and gets everyone on the same page.
Once you’ve done that, you move into your actual presentation. Here is where you apply the second technique of Powerpoint Storytelling, the Pyramid Principle.
The Pyramid Principle is a method for organizing your ideas in a clear and logical way. Consultants love it because this method helps their audience understand their main points without getting lost in the details.
Think of your presentation as a pyramid.
The top of the pyramid is your main idea or recommendation.
Below the main idea, you show the supporting arguments that justify the main idea.
And below the supporting arguments, show a set of details, data, or evidence to back those up.
Let’s go back to Sam’s case to see how the Pyramid Principle looks.
That’s Powerpoint Storytelling.
This outline gives a super clear view of what Sam should do and how you arrived at that conclusion.
Once you’ve shared your findings with the help of the Pyramid Principle, you wrap up your presentation.
You share some clear next steps, timelines, and responsibilities.
Done!
So, first, SCQA to give context.
Second, the Pyramid Principle to show your recommendation.
And third, next steps to wrap it up!
By following these methods, your presentation will have the same flow as any McKinsey presentation.
But hey, sometimes you may want to do something to get your listeners hooked from the first moment.
For that, you may want to check out this next article where I share my seven favorite hooks to start your presentation.
Are you ready to transform your storytelling skills?
Discover how your storytelling skills score and uncover useful insights to help you become a charismatic storyteller:
