Skip to main content

Chapter 15: Story, Connection & SCQA

Chapter 15: Story, Connection & SCQA

Video: Build a Clear Thinking Pyramid: The Minto Pyramid Principle for Case Solutions

Once you have positioned the audience, you need to give them a reason to care about what comes next. A strong case presentation is not simply: Slide 1 → Slide 2 → Slide 3 → Slide 4. It is a connected argument. Each part should help the audience understand why the next part matters.

The goal is to create a clear journey from: Context → Tension → Question → Answer. One useful structure for doing this is SCQA: Situation → Complication → Question → Answer.

Storytelling Does Not Mean Telling a Story

When teams hear "storytelling," they sometimes believe they need to begin with an inspirational quote, a personal anecdote, a dramatic statistic, or an elaborate narrative. You don't. Business storytelling is primarily about connection and progression. The audience should understand:

  • Where are we? then:
  • What changed? then:
  • Why does that matter? then:
  • What decision must we make? then:
  • What should we do?

That is a story.

Create a Meaningful Connection

A strong opening can connect the case to:

  • the organisation's mission;

  • its values;

  • the customer;

  • the product;

  • the service;

  • the employee;

  • the community;

  • the human impact;

  • or a relevant experience.

For example, if the organisation exists to make healthcare more accessible, you might begin by reconnecting the strategic challenge to the patient experience. If the company has built its brand around customer trust, your opening might connect a current problem directly to the risk of losing that trust. The connection should remind the audience: Why this decision matters.

Don't Force the Story

An opening story should never exist simply because someone told you: "Good presentations start with a story." A weak personal anecdote can waste time and make the presentation feel artificial. Before using a story, quote, analogy, statistic, or emotional opening, ask whether this helps the audience understand the case. Then whether it connects naturally to our recommendation? If not, leave it out. The story serves the strategy. The strategy does not serve the story.

SCQA

SCQA provides a simple way to structure the opening argument.

Situation

What is happening? Establish something clear and relatively indisputable. For example, ACME has built a strong premium brand and has grown successfully for the past decade. The audience should be able to think: "Yes." That's where we are.

Complication

What changed? Introduce the tension. For example: Over the past three years, however, customer retention has declined while acquisition costs have increased. Now there is a problem. The audience should think: Something needs to change.

Question

What needs to be solved? Turn the complication into the decision. For example: How can ACME restore profitable growth without weakening the premium customer experience that differentiates the brand? Now the audience knows exactly what the presentation needs to answer.

Answer

What should the organisation do? Provide the high-level recommendation. For example, ACME should prioritise retention through a targeted loyalty strategy, beginning with its highest-value customers and scaling only after the pilot proves the economics. Now the audience knows where you are going. That is not giving away the ending. It is helping the judges understand the argument that follows.

The SCQA Flow

The complete story might sound like:

  • Situation: ACME has built a strong premium brand and achieved sustained growth.
  • Complication: Customer retention has declined for three consecutive years while acquisition costs continue to rise.
  • Question: How can ACME restore profitable growth without weakening the customer experience that differentiates the brand?
  • Answer: We recommend prioritising retention through a targeted loyalty strategy, beginning with the company's highest-value customers.

In a few sentences, you have established: Where We Are → What Changed → What We Need To Solve → What Should We Do. That gives the rest of the presentation purpose.

Give Them the Destination

Some teams are reluctant to reveal the recommendation early. They want to build suspense. This is usually unnecessary. You are not writing a mystery novel. Senior decision-makers often want to understand the answer quickly. Then they want to understand: Why should I believe you? This is why an executive summary can be so effective.

The Executive Summary

A strong executive summary can answer four questions:

  • The Problem: What is the most important issue?
  • The Recommendation: What should the organisation do?
  • The Key Actions: How will the recommendation work?
  • The Expected Impact: What will the organisation gain?

For example:
Problem Declining retention among high-value customers is reducing profitability.
Recommendation Launch a targeted digital loyalty strategy.
Key Actions Pilot → Measure → Refine → Scale
Impact Increase retention, reduce dependence on acquisition, and restore profitable growth.

The judges now understand the destination. The rest of the presentation explains why this is the right destination and how the organisation gets there.

Keep the Executive Summary CRISP

An executive summary is not a miniature version of every slide that follows. Do not try to squeeze:

  • the entire SWOT;

  • three alternatives;

  • a decision matrix;

  • financial calculations;

  • five implementation phases;

  • six risks;

  • twelve KPIs

onto one slide.

The executive summary should answer the question: What do I need to know before you begin? Not how much information can we fit on one slide? Keep it CRISP. The audience must quickly understand the essential solution.

Don't Confuse the Executive Summary With the Analysis

The executive summary answers. The rest of the presentation provides the proof. Think: Executive Summary: Here is what we recommend and why it matters. → Analysis: Here is what we discovered. → Alternatives: Here are the credible choices. → Decision: Here is why our recommendation wins.→ Financials: Here is why it makes economic sense. → Implementation: Here is how we make it happen. → Risk: Here is how we protect the strategy. This creates a much clearer presentation than asking the judges to wait until the final few minutes to discover what you recommend.

Build a Thinking Pyramid

The SCQA structure also connects naturally to the broader idea of the thinking pyramid. Start with the central answer. Then support it with the few major arguments required to make it credible. For example:

Recommendation

Launch the targeted loyalty strategy. Supported by:

  • Customer: Retention is the primary driver of the current problem.
  • Financial: Improved retention creates greater value than additional acquisition spending.
  • Feasibility: The organisation already possesses most of the capabilities required to execute the strategy.

Each of those arguments can then be supported by evidence. The structure becomes: Recommendation → Key Arguments → Supporting Analysis → Evidence. This helps prevent the presentation from becoming a collection of disconnected facts.

Connect the Slides

A strong story also depends on transitions. Do not treat each slide as an isolated presentation. At the end of one section, help the audience understand why the next section follows. For example: "We have established that declining retention is the primary driver of the profitability problem. The next question is what ACME can realistically do about it." Now the alternatives section feels natural.

Later: "Of the three options, the loyalty strategy provides the strongest combination of financial impact, capability fit, and implementation speed. Let us show you what that recommendation looks like." Now the recommendation feels inevitable. Good transitions make the presentation feel like one argument rather than fifteen slides.

The Story Test

Before finalising the opening and executive summary, ask:

  • Situation: Is the starting point clear and credible?
  • Complication: Have we created a meaningful reason for action?
  • Question: Is the decision management needs to make obvious?
  • Answer: Have we stated our recommendation clearly?
  • Connection: Does the opening connect to something the audience actually cares about?
  • Executive Summary: Can the judges quickly understand the destination?
  • Proof: Does the rest of the presentation clearly support what we told them?
  • Flow: Does each section naturally create the need for the next?

If not, restructure the presentation.

Discover Your MAD Skills Principle

Don't make the judges discover your story. Build the story so they can follow your thinking.

A strong opening creates context. SCQA creates tension and direction. The executive summary gives the destination. The rest of the presentation provides the evidence.

The Bottom Line

Story, Connection & SCQA
  • Storytelling in a case competition should serve the strategic argument, not compete with it.
  • A useful opening can connect to:
    • the customer;
    • mission;
    • values;
    • product;
    • service;
    • human impact;
    • relevant audience experience.
  • Do not tell a story simply because it is interesting. It needs to help the audience understand or care about the decision.
  • SCQA provides a useful structure: Situation → Complication → Question → Answer.
  • Situation establishes what is happening.
  • Complication introduces the tension or change.
  • Question defines the decision.
  • Answer introduces the recommendation.
  • The executive summary should give judges the destination before the journey.
  • At a minimum, the executive summary should communicate the problem, the recommendation, and the expected impact.
  • Keep it crisp enough that the audience can quickly understand the essence of the solution.

A strong story doesn't hide the recommendation; it makes the recommendation easier to understand and remember.

MAD Skills Drill

Give your team 10 minutes to create a 60-second opening. It must establish:

  • Audience: Who are we advising?
  • Situation: What is happening?
  • Complication: Why is the current situation unsustainable?
  • Question: What decision needs to be made?
  • Answer: What do we recommend?
  • Impact: What will it accomplish?

Deliver it without slides. If you use:

  • a story;
  • customer;
  • mission;
  • statistic;
  • personal connection;
  • analogy;

Ask whether this actually strengthens the argument? If removing it makes no difference, remove it. Give your executive summary slide to someone unfamiliar with the case for 30 seconds. Then hide it. Ask:

  • What is the problem?
  • What are we recommending?
  • What will it accomplish?

If they cannot answer, simplify it. By the end of the opening, can the judge answer: What is happening, why it matters, and what do these people want us to do?

Back to top