How to Prepare a Powerful PowerPoint (PowerPoint PPTX Slide Deck)

Many professionals jump into their PowerPoint before thinking through their messaging.

In my experience, this leads to muddled messaging and extensive rework. The messaging gets lost in page after elegant page, many of which become redundant as the messaging slowly bubbles to the surface.

I recommend thinking through your messaging using the Pyramid Principle first to give you a better chance of nailing a powerful message that achieves your desired outcome. 'Slide-making then becomes much faster and easier.

Here is a summary of the three key things this toolkit offers before expanding further on each one below. It ...
1 – Walks you through four steps for preparing Powerful PowerPoints.
2 – Explains how I have translated a message map into a powerful PowerPoint for seven commonly told business stories.
3 – Offers design tips around layout, colour and tone.

1 – Here are the four steps it takes you through:
•  Use a one-pager to frame your messaging
•  SCORE your messaging against five criteria to confirm it is robust
•  Sketch a storyboard to visualise your messaging, page by page
•  Showcase your messaging inside your PowerPoint

2 – Here is how it explains how I translated the message map into a Powerful PowerPoint for seven commonly told business stories. It
•  explains how the one-pager on its own can be enough for less-formal situations
•  illustrates how a short deck is useful when you have a simple story to tell
•  outlines how a medium deck looks when you have one page for each dot point in your story
•  demonstrates how to structure a more complex deck

3 – Offers design tips for your layout, including
•  having a punchy headline
•  ensuring each slide reads right
•  matching the content to the message
•  aligning elements carefully to minimise distraction
•  navigating well so your audience can follow.

This deck was prepared by Davina Stanley of Clarity First. Davina specialises in helping executives get to the point, using the Pyramid Principle. She learned the techniques at McKinsey. Barbara Minto reviewed and approved her training in 2009 and she has used them to help executives globally ever since.

This toolkit equips you with practical steps to streamline your PowerPoint creation process. Visual aids and structured frameworks help ensure clarity and engagement, making your presentations not just informative, but impactful.