Part IV

PART IV: Deck Architecture

Chapter 7: Build the Deck Before You Build the Slides

Before opening PowerPoint, build a storyboard. Write the message of every slide in one sentence. For example:

1. The company is losing profitable customers.
2. The main issue is a decline in customer experience.
3. High-value customers are disproportionately affected.
4. Three strategic options exist.
5. Retention is the strongest option based on our criteria.
6. The strategy can generate $X in incremental profit.
7. We will implement it in three phases.
8. The largest risk is adoption.
9. We will mitigate this through a phased pilot.
10. This strategy restores profitable growth.

That is a story. Now build slides to communicate those messages.

The Slide Message Test

Every slide should have a message. Not: “Customer Analysis” But: “High-value customers are leaving because the current experience no longer meets their expectations.” The second title tells the audience what they should learn. This is sometimes called an action title or message title. Use it.

Chapter 8: One Slide. One Message.

A common mistake is trying to make one slide communicate five things. The result is usually:

• too much text;
• too many charts;
• too many colours;
• too many callouts;
• too many competing messages.

Instead: One slide. One primary message.

This does not mean one fact. It means one idea. You can use several pieces of evidence to support that idea.

The Slide Hierarchy

A useful slide structure is:

• MESSAGE
  • What should the audience understand?
• EVIDENCE
  • What proves it?
• IMPLICATION
  • Why does it matter?

The slide should make the relationship between those three elements obvious.

Example

• Message
  • Customer churn is concentrated among our most valuable customers.
• Evidence
  • A chart showing churn by customer value segment.
• Implication
  • Retaining high-value customers offers greater economic value than broad-based acquisition.

Now the slide tells a story.