Creating successful presentations – Content

11. April 201913. March 2023 Philipp Tekampe Insights

How to create successful presentations

Part 2: Content

Reading time 10 minutes

When you create a presentation, the most important factor to bear in mind is that your audience will follow you throughout. Unless they keep up with your train of thought, there’ll be no chance to achieve your objectives of presenting to them in the first place, usually to impress, convince or inspire them.

When you next create a presentation, keep the acronym OSCAR in mind:

O – organized – create a clear, solid structure for your whole presentation
S – simple – keep your slides clear and easy to follow
C – concise – remember, less is more, too much is confusing and boring
A – appealing – style and visual elements should be consistent throughout
R – relevant – your slides should resonate with your audience

Organized

Structure your presentation with a clear introduction, a main body with your core message, then conclude it with summaries and next steps.

Find out the different options for structuring your presentation in our Insights paper “Creating successful presentations – Part 1: Structure.”

Simple:

Impress audiences with clear and simple presentations

If we produce a whole pile of elaborate slides with lots of detail, we might think we’ve created a good presentation. In fact, a presentation should stand out with its simplicity. When creating it, your audience should be your focus. Even if you won’t be giving the presentation yourself, think about how the content will come across to those watching and listening. A confusing presentation could make them restless and irritated. If they understand the slides easily, they’re much more likely to be relaxed and interested in what you have to say. As content creators we should make sure the whole presentation is clear and simple to understand.

Keep the following in mind when drafting your slides:

Create headlines with core statements

When we look at a PowerPoint slide, the first thing we read is usually the heading, to find out what’s being shown on that slide. For instance, “Sales trends,” “The new organizational structure” or “Cooperation partners.” These headings should never be misleading and should show what to expect on the slide. They give the listener a hint at what’s to come before you even talk about the content.

It’s easier for an audience to follow your presentation if the heading outlines the slide’s core statement, for example, “Sales trends are very positive,” “The new organizational structure comprises three levels,” or “Are our cooperation partners leading research institutes?” With headlines like this, your audience knows in seconds what will follow next, and can reflect on what’s being shown with the core statement in mind.

Headings which describe the slide’s core statement are known as “action titles.” To offer your audience more clarity about what’s being covered by a particular slide, break down the main topic, for instance, “Sales trends,” with subheadings.

Present clearly with visual elements

The saying “a picture paints a thousand words” holds true for presentations, too. Try to express as much information as possible with visual elements, as opposed to showing heaps of text-filled slides. These can include infographics, charts, photos or maps, depending on what you want to illustrate. Ideally, include at least one visual element on every slide.

Think about what you want to show in advance and ask yourself what kind of image would best convey this. If, for example, you want to illustrate that the opportunities and risks associated with an investment are evenly weighted, you could use an image of scales.

Audiences also enjoy looking at photos, charts and maps. Try to use visuals effectively, but don’t overdo it.

Read more about the use of images and an appealing design – the A of OSCAR – under “Appealing – Make it look good,” below.

Finding suitable images can be a challenge. A few hints:

Find out if your Marketing department has an image database.
If you need bespoke infographics or diagrams, ideally work with an experienced graphic designer.
Check out free and royalty-free images available on stock photo websites, like Unsplash or Pixabay.

Use animations sparingly – or not at all

In general, you should avoid using animations in your presentation and use static images and charts instead. You might be tempted jazz up your slides, but this is usually counterproductive. Animated elements often fail to clarify points and instead divert attention away from the topic. On rare occasions, animations can aid audience understanding. For instance, where you want to show a build-up of information to paint an overall picture, or to show developments or “before and after” changes in state. If you fill several slides with movement and sound, though, this will just distract your audience. Even worse, it can make a presentation look cheap. If you insist on using animations, remember, less is more.

Charts can depict trends, financial data or statistics well on a slide. Choose “Charts” from the PowerPoint Insert menu and select the chart to fit your figures. If your company uses PowerPoint add-ins, like QuickSlide, your charts can automatically be displayed in your organization’s corporate design for brand consistency.

Guide your audience with navigation elements

Presentations represent your trains of thought. For clarity, you need to depict these trains of thought as familiar elements throughout your presentation. These are known as “navigators.” They can be letters, numbers, symbols, even small diagrams which are shown in the same position on every slide, but their content changes as you progress. These fixed elements help your audience find information on the slides which shows them the key thought you’re addressing as you guide them through your presentation.

Keep it concise

If you’ve ever sat through a long presentation that’s been like a flip book – the dreaded slide overkill – then you know the feeling of just wanting that presentation to end. Spare a thought for your own audience when you create a presentation for them. Even the smartest people have limits to their intellectual capacity and concentration span. To understand a presentation, we need to focus on what’s being shown and said – and not always in an environment that’s conducive to concentration.

The worse thing that can happen while you’re presenting is that the audience gets left behind. Not only are they unhappy, but their confused and frustrated facial expressions could unsettle you and undermine your confidence, too. Minimize your number of slides and avoid overwhelming the audience. You’re better off showing them just the essentials.

For trickier topics, or where you think there may be discussions and questions, keep a small set of backup slides as an appendix at the end of your presentation deck. Only show some of those slides if it helps you to explain and the audience to understand something more fully. They’ll be impressed if you show them a backup slide when they ask you a question – it shows you’re well prepared and kept your presentation streamlined for their benefit.

Your individual slides should also be as succinct as possible. Try not to overload them with content. As a rule of thumb, each slide should only contain one single statement. If you can say all you need to on one slide using one clear image or chart, even better.

Appealing - Make it look good

A PowerPoint presentation doesn’t just impress people with its interesting and well-planned content. Good slide design is also important. Your presentations look professional and streamlined when the design is appealing and consistent throughout. To prevent the audience from getting distracted, keep your slide design clear and simple.

Don’t dazzle your audience

Try to avoid wild color combinations or flashing gifs if your presentation will be shown to a bunch of adults. Too many gimmicks can look tacky and might affect how seriously people take either the information on the slides or the presenter. As mentioned above – when it comes to animations, less is more.

Your audience will usually grasp graphics faster if you use fewer colors and make the graphic elements you use consistent (for instance, the line styles and thickness). 3D objects can be confusing. They might look more impressive and interesting, but a third dimension implies additional information that’s often not even available. Instead, keep graphic elements clean and simple. Ideally, you’ve already created design templates in PowerPoint and will use them for each new PowerPoint presentation.

Keep your slides as streamlined as possible. Try not to overload them with every detail.

Try not to cram too much text on one slide or reduce your font size to fit text on a template. Instead:

Cut down your text
Split your content over two slides
Consider a new structure with one slide per point if your presentation isn’t very long.

Types of slides in presentations

PowerPoint slides can generally be split into three different categories, which can exist in their pure form or be combined with others:

Text slides
Conceptual slides
Quantitative charts

Text slides

Slides of pure text, content conveyed through words only, are very common, but it’s important to frame your text clearly.

You can list individual thoughts or factors as bullet points to make them easier to understand. It’s better for your lists to include statements, like “the work environment has improved,” instead of single terms, such as “work environment,” which don’t tell your audience much.

Keep sentences as short as possible. Where feasible, group lists and put them in separate boxes with headings. This helps you to show different key thoughts separately from each other.

Conceptual slides

Conceptual graphic charts visually display your slides’ core messages and are very easy to grasp. Your audience can understand a core statement in one glance. Visuals not only highlight structures; they’re also a good way of conveying dynamics. You can add specific words, statements, lists or even images for more clarity to individual graphic elements.

Slide layout – clear structure

Every presentation consists of a series of slides which need to be shown one after another and understood by the audience.

Create your slide deck using a consistent system and design. This helps your audience to quickly grasp new information on each slide in turn, without having to completely re-orient themselves every time. These established principles for slide structuring can guide you when you set up your presentation.

Top section: Use for information such as chapter names/navigators, backup labels or logos.
Action title: The core message of the slide. Give yourself two lines rather than one so you have enough space for your statement.
Subheading: States what’s shown on that slide.
Slide content: This contains at least one of the three standard elements of a slide: Text, quantitative graphic or conceptual graphic.
Lower section: This is for any additional information, such as sources, footnotes, presentation details, such as title, author, occasion, location, date.
Slide numbers: They assist orientation and are a good reference for every slide. For instance, someone in your audience might ask you to go back to, say slide 18, if they have a question. Make the font for slide numbers large enough for your audience to see them.

Text format and legibility

What’s the point in having great content on your slides if no one can read it? Do all you can to ensure that even people at the back of the room can easily read all the text. A few recommendations:

Clear, easy-to-read font
Font size of at least 14 to 16 points
Maximum seven lines of text or up to 30 words per slide
Single-column bullet points and lists
Simple statements/keywords instead of long sentences
No vertical text where possible
Font color which contrasts well with background colors or images

Tips for good slide design

Slides can be great works of art. Microsoft PowerPoint offers a lot of visually appealing elements. As long as it conveys the right message in the right way, then any kind of visual can work.

In general, try to keep slides consistent and easy to understand. You want to draw people’s attention to core statements, not to details or colorful graphics which don’t add value.

A few tips for good visual design:

Use consistent, uniform slide templates.
Don’t overload slides with pictures.
Use colors and symbols discreetly: Maximum three colors per slide; bear in mind, pale colors are difficult to see; choose contrasting colors where possible, especially where your audience needs to read text over a background color or image.
Use font sizes and styles consistently for text and headings throughout your presentation.
Minimize text and instead incorporate more visual elements where possible
Choose charts which make it clear and easy to grasp the information you want to display

The challenge of image selection

Try to keep your visual language and quality consistent throughout your presentation. Too many variants in style can interrupt the flow of your slideshow.

Convince and impress with relevant presentations

You need to prepare a presentation for a specific occasion, maybe to present a project, or to convince decision-makers about your latest idea. The first thing you need to do is find out who the audience is and think about what you want these people to feel. Put yourself in their shoes: You’re attending a presentation and want to take something from it. The presentation content must therefore be of interest and relevant to you. Ideally, the presentation will offer answers to questions you have, or offer insights into something you’re curious about.

If you, as a presenter, can provide this for your listeners, then you’ll leave a positive lasting impression. Focus on the audience and your message before you get to work on creating any slides. Consider the following:

Who will attend the presentation?
What do I want these people to feel?
What presumptions can I make about my audience? What do they know already?
How does my audience think? How do they best grasp facts?
How can I design my presentation so that my audience will appreciate it?

See our other Insights papers on presentation structure and presenting.
We also provide courses on PowerPoint slide creation, as well as training on giving presentations.

Get in touch to find out more.

10 years of Strategy Compass

9. April 201913. March 2023 Uncategorized

10 years of Strategy Compass

A few thoughts from Achim Sztuka

Reading time 3 minutes

Düsseldorf, Commercial Register B, Number 60903. It is now exactly ten years since Strategy Compass has officially been in business. A pretty long time for those of us who have been there building it up right from the start. So it’s a good time to take stock.

We started out just like any other startup, albeit in our kitchen, not the garage (German winters are too cold for that). An initial homemade website. And our first client, who paid 200 Euros for one software license.

A few office relocations later, and we had a company that had quite successfully overhauled Microsoft Office-based communications at some of the world’s largest corporate groups. Not a bad effort…

When I founded Strategy Compass, I had a very clear idea about what I wanted and what I didn’t. Previous (very exciting) years as a business consultant and holding various roles within a corporate group had taught me a lot in that respect. Hence my question today: What exactly have we become?

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

I consider this great little pearl of wisdom from Peter Drucker to be just as relevant as ever. My main focus had always been on the actual matter at hand. Internal politics, personal aspirations at others’ or the company’s expense, or ideas neglected due to personal sensitivities are all things that make me shudder. And they’re things I definitely did not want at my own company.

It’s been going well so far. We’ve managed to create a content and client-oriented culture in which everyone puts aside their own gains and concentrates on the big picture. For this to happen, not only do you need the right leadership and appraisal systems, but you also need to integrate completely different characters and lifestyles into the company. And in view of the constant growth, increasing complexity and a permanently high volume of projects, the internal processes and teams need to keep developing so that every single person is able to handle the requirements and doesn’t start focusing purely on their own self-interest. It’s certainly a challenging road which is not without its stumbling blocks, but we’ve always been moving in the right direction.

Only the best.

I’ve never seen myself as a classic salesperson. I always found it very difficult to sell something I didn’t really believe in. And my colleagues in management and sales have all shared a very similar view. So it was always essential for us to have the best product, the best staff for the respective job, and the best service. It is our firm conviction that what we do truly benefits our clients. Not just in terms of productivity, but also in terms of the quality of their communications, their decision-making and how they are perceived in their markets. The fact that we keep seeing the value of our holistic approach, regardless of our clients’ industry or background, is the second reason we continue to be confident we’re doing the right thing.

Mission accomplished? Not quite yet.

The potential for what we can offer is vast. There are many options we haven’t even got to yet. Our development pipeline is bulging, and if I could have my way, I would have it all ready today – much to the despair of some of my colleagues. But what I have learned during my years as an entrepreneur is that, while some things can progress very quickly, most require great patience and perseverance in order to be successful. Therefore, I’m excited to think what I’ll be writing here in another ten years.

Achim Sztuka

Time to talk: Planning discussions systematically

8. March 201913. March 2023 Uncategorized

Time to talk: planning discussions systematically

Reading time 2 minutes

What do you want to achieve with your presentation? Reach a decision, implement a change or excite interest? This goal determines where you want to take your audience by the end of the meeting. You design your presentation accordingly – but even if it goes perfectly, you’re still not home and dry. The crucial last phase is the audience discussion. At this point, reservations and counterarguments are voiced; positive opinions and supportive information are brought forward. You can respond directly to these, eliminating reservations and incorporating input from your audience. Together, you can arrive at a constructive result – by agreeing to the next steps, for example. So plan the discussion as part of your presentation concept from the beginning. We’ve come up with a few useful suggestions:

Plan the presentation with sufficient time for discussion: e.g. at least 10 minutes’ discussion for a 30-minute presentation.
Define the optimal moment for the discussion. With short presentations, it usually makes sense to have the discussion after the presentation. You can add it to the agenda, so that your audience knows that there will be time for discussion at the end of the presentation. With longer presentations you can plan discussion time after particular sections. Separation slides can come in useful here. In the meantime, darken the screen with the ‘B’ key (black), so that your audience concentrates on the discussion.
Anticipate your audience’s likely objections and reservations, and prepare suitable counterarguments. Ask yourself who is likely to support your position and involve them directly in the discussion: in many cases, it’s worth having a short private chat with a supporter before the presentation. It’s often more convincing when reservations are countered by peers.
Prepare questions to get the discussion going or lead it in a particular direction.
Prepare the conclusion: Anticipate a realistic result and lead the discussion in that direction.

How your voice influences your presentation

22. February 201913. March 2023 Philipp Tekampe Uncategorized

How your voice influences your presentation

Reading time 4 minutes

During a presentation, the audience hears and interprets the speaker’s every spoken word. They perceive every gesture, every look, every change in posture, every modulation in voice, and every emphasized phrase as messages. And sometimes, the body can unknowingly express something other than the wording of their speech. A top presentation is one in which the overall expression is cohesive, i.e., if the verbal language, voice and body language all say the same thing as the text itself.

Here, we’ll look at how our voice impacts our presentations.

The spoken word structures the topics and gives your audience the opportunity to properly understand contexts and follow you and your presentation in all its complexity. Even the driest subject can be rendered exciting through the use of a lively voice, timbre, pitch, presentation speed and well-placed pauses.

Articulation

Practice articulation; read something from a book or newspaper, speaking exceptionally slowly and clearly. Be mindful of the fact that your audience will be hearing the presented information for the first time. Just for fun, place a wine cork between your teeth and say, “How now brown cow.” Or, “She sells seashells by the seashore.” As loudly as you can. It was by applying this method (or putting pebbles in the mouth, though these were rarely accessible) that Demosthenes became one of the most famous orators of his time. Before that, he had mumbled away quietly and inarticulately. It’s a case of developing clear vowels and taking care not to swallow consonants. Observe yourself and see what each vowel does to your facial muscles and the shape of your mouth. Get a sense of the difference between a round O and a U or the “ow” in “brown cow,” and be exceptionally clear, because the sequence of consonants and vowels will then be very deliberate.

Volume

The volume of your voice conveys energy and power. But that doesn’t mean you should shout loudly across the room. Try the following: Stand upright. Feel your feet on the floor. Anchor yourself and imagine you are a tree with its roots in the ground. This will give you a confident stance. Now get a sense of your breath. To do this, place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. Feel where your breath goes … then practice very deliberately breathing into your belly, in such a way that your chest and shoulders do not rise up as you breathe, but rather your stomach pushes out on the inhale (not the most attractive look for the moment, but healthy nonetheless) and goes in again on the exhale.

Voice and voice volume are created by combining many of the body’s tools, including the diaphragm, your vocal chords, the orifice of your mouth and throat, your breath … Did you know that good abdominal breathing also influences your autonomic nervous system? It makes you calmer. And when you’re calmer, your voice gets deeper. Chest breathing/shallow breathing and nerves make your voice higher. And the higher your voice, the less you’ll convince your audience of your competence and expertise. Next time you are part of an audience yourself, close your eyes and just concentrate on the presenter’s voice, their timbre, their breathing. You can even try it when you’re on the phone. What you hear will amaze you.

Pitch of the voice

Everyone has a neutral pitch; the tone and pitch that come naturally when you’re feeling at ease and the vocal chords are relaxed. Most of us lose contact with it. Because we lapse into shallow breathing, are hurrying or nervous, perhaps because we want to convey a sense of toughness or dynamic management traits. But it’s at this precise neutral pitch that you appear more authentic and competent. Try the following exercise: Adopt the rooted tree position (as described above). Breathe deeply into your stomach. Calm yourself. Now try to hum to yourself. From top to bottom. And get a sense of where you feel most comfortable. You may need to try it a few times as we’re no longer used to doing this, but it’s actually very simple. Just like when we say “mmmm” if we eat something tasty. And at this exact point, say any simple little phrase. Once you’ve done this a few times, you’ll generally feel you’re able to speak without straining at all.

These small tips of course only scratch the surface of the topic. The most important thing is to get back in touch with yourself and thus be more aware of your own voice or, by observing others, more consciously notice the voice as a tool. Because who already does that in everyday life?

The breath and voice are incidentally two aspects we intensively focus on in our presentation training.

Creating successful presentations – Structure

11. February 201913. March 2023 Philipp Tekampe Insights

Creating successful presentations

Part 1: Organized presentations

Reading time 8 minutes

Presentations are a standard format for both internal and external business communications. A well-planned presentation can help inspire clients, convince decision-makers, and even boost your career by proving your management skills. On the flip side, just one poor presentation could ruin a business, a reputation, or your own professional opportunities.

Create professional presentations using the OSCAR principle

When you next create a presentation, keep the acronym OSCAR in mind:

O – organized – create a clear, solid structure for your whole presentation
S – simple – keep your slides clear and easy to follow
C – concise – remember, less is more, too much is confusing and boring
A – appealing – style and visual elements should be consistent throughout
R – relevant – your slides should resonate with your audience

Devise a clear framework

Your presentation’s structure plays a key role in its overall success. What’s the point of being a charismatic speaker with attractive slides if the whole presentation sequence is confusing? Your audience, whether two people or 200, must be able to identify the structure and links between various presentation components quickly. Your key recurring theme must be clear throughout the whole presentation so your audience will stay with you.

Before you design any individual slides, it’s important that you give enough thought to the entire presentation structure, from start to finish. C-level audiences particularly expect logically organized presentations. They’re usually pressed for time and want to grasp key messages quickly. A methodical structure also helps you to memorize and navigate the presentation sequence more easily. This makes the whole presenting experience smoother and more impressive for the audience.

PowerPoint tops the charts for presentation software usage:

There are around 500 million PowerPoint users worldwide.
350 new PowerPoint presentations are started per second.
That’s around 30 million presentations every day!

Basic structure

You can organize your presentation in several different ways, depending on the topic and target audience.

The basic structure is always the same, with these three parts:

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion

This might seem obvious, but this simple rule forces us to think about how to broach the topic and what we want to show at the end, after the main body.

Introductions - Get off to a good start

Gentle introductions

This is where you warm up your audience with a few slides covering their prior knowledge or the status quo. Content on these slides should always be very simple or even familiar for your audience. This lets you slowly guide them to the core message of your presentation. Listeners must agree with all the points up until a challenge or complication is raised, along with any associated questions.

Gentle introduction structure

Situation: The stable, known state. A brief overview of developments over recent months or years till now, or the current status.
Complication: Something has happened or could happen. This indicates a possible change to the known situation.
Question: How can or must we respond to this?

Powerful introductions

Start with a statement that surprises or shocks your listeners. This instantly grabs their attention and ensures they’ll want to hear more. The “shock” can be a statistic, a quote, a short story with a surprising outcome, a fascinating piece of information or even a thought-provoking question.

Whatever you choose, your powerful introduction must be

a. factual – or it won’t be easy to regain your audience’s trust

b. relevant to your audience – or you’ll struggle to keep their interest and attention

Powerful introduction structure

Situation: Something has happened or could happen: Research findings, the outcome of an event or a recent interview revealing key updates to start off with.
Complication: Possible consequences. What does this mean for us or you?
Question: What can we do about it? How could or should we respond?

Body - The core of the presentation

This is where you can expand on the key topic of your presentation in more detail. Your audience will be keen to know what you want to tell them, and what impact this could have on them, now or in future.

Make sure the order of your slides is easy to understand and follow and guide them through your points systematically. Think of any questions they might have, then add – or delete – content or whole slides as necessary for more clarity.

Conclusions - Skillfully ending presentations

The conclusion is the most exciting part of your presentation – and it’s quite easy to structure. This is where you address your listeners and formulate your core statement. This structure works well for most presentations:

Summary of points and results
Conclusion – what does this change or imply for us?
Next steps – which concrete actions can we/you take now?

How big should my presentation be? Think of the time slot you have, e.g., 15 minutes to present. Then decide what the scope of the presentation should be.

Common presentation structures

You have two main options when creating your presentation: To mention the core message at the start (pyramid structure) or at the end (funnel structure).

Pyramid structure

If you reveal your core message very early on, your audience will be curious as to how you got there or what exactly you mean by it. This prompts a kind of question-and-answer dialogue, which lets you lead them through the process step by step. This makes it much easier to attract audience attention and ensure everyone follows you on your train of thought. This structure is often used when presenting to C-level managers as it’s seen as a more logical sequence for presenting facts and considerations.

Pyramid structure example

Jake Scott is the Head of Strategy at sports equipment manufacturer X-Treme Sports. To further accelerate the company’s ambitious growth and become number one on the market, he proposes taking over competitor Fun Sports Enterprises (currently number five on the market). He wants to convince the executive board of this idea at the next strategy workshop.

How could he structure his presentation?

Jake knows the executive board is interested in all ideas that support the ambitious growth target. He also knows the executive board is open to acquisitions and is already looking for possible suitable candidates. So, Jake decides to mention his core message, “We should take over Fun Sports Enterprises,” at the start of the presentation, and then provide answers to the logical follow-up questions. He opts for a pyramidal structure with the respective core statements for each subsection:

Introduction

Situation: We have an ambitious growth path.
Complication: We won’t reach our targets through organic growth alone.
Question: What else could we do?
Core statement: We should take over the competitor Fun Sports Enterprises.

Body

Argument 1:

We will only be able to reach our growth target through a larger acquisition.

Fact 1.1: Taking market shares off competitors requires a lot of time and resources.
Fact 1.2: Excessively fast organic growth would lead to a price war.

Argument 2:

Fun Sports Enterprises is a suitable takeover candidate.

Fact 2.1: Fun Sports Enterprises fits with our strategy.
Fact 2.2: We expect a low purchase price.
Fact 2.3: Both companies can be merged without any major difficulties.

Conclusion

Summary of results: We have seen that …
Conclusion: That’s why I am proposing we take over Fun Sports Enterprises.
Next steps: We will hire an investment bank to help us.

Funnel structure

If you mention the answer at the end, as part of your conclusion, it’s harder to maintain the dialogue with your audience from start to finish. Plus, if you make a key statement at the very end your audience might not be convinced that they can accept it. They’ll be forced to go over your previous statements and will have to consider if they support the core message or not. This structure therefore doesn’t work well when presenting novel ideas or a whole new approach.

Cases where a funnel structure does make sense are when a topic could be controversial or emotionally charged. If you leave your delicate core message until the end, you can avoid heated discussions from cutting into your valuable presenting time – and opportunity to convince anyone – right from the start. In situations like this, you could end your introduction with a (rhetorical) question and then lead your audience through consecutive statements which eventually lead to your concluding core message.

Funnel structure example

How could he structure his presentation?

Henry knows the executive board is split when it comes to opinions on takeovers. Several past attempts to take over competitors have failed. Several executive board members are especially critical of Fun Sports Enterprises. To ensure his proposal is viewed objectively, Henry decides to only mention it at the end of the presentation. He devises the following structure with the respective core statements for each subsection:

Introduction

Situation: We have an ambitious growth path.
Complication: We won’t reach our targets through organic growth alone.
Question: What else could we do?

Body

Topic 1:

Growth through acquisitions

Fact 1.1: Taking market shares off competitors requires a lot of time and resources. Acquisitions are a faster option.
Fact 1.2: Excessively fast organic growth would lead to a price war. Acquisitions avoid a price war for market shares.

Argument 1:

A suitable acquisition would enable us to achieve our growth targets quickly.

Topic 2:

Conditions for successful acquisitions

Fact 2.1.: The takeover candidate needs to fit with our strategy. Fun Sports Enterprises meets this requirement.
Fact 2.2: The purchase price has to be right. Fun Sports Enterprises meets this requirement.
Fact 2.3: It must be possible for the two companies to merge without any major difficulties. Fun Sports Enterprises meets this requirement.

Argument 2:

Fun Sports meets all the requirements for successful acquisitions

Conclusion

Summary of results: We have seen that …
Conclusion: That’s why I am proposing we take over Fun Sports Enterprises.
Next steps: We will hire an investment bank to help us.

Research by Strategy Compass has proven: We spend many hours of our working lives either drafting new PowerPoint slides or looking at colleagues’ presentation decks. It makes sense, therefore, to optimize the process of presentation creation within your organization. We can help you with this – get in touch!

Quality check for presentations

How do you know if you’ve done a good job with your presentation structure? Use these four quality criteria as a checklist at every structural level:
Statements made at this level are

Consistent
Not overlapping or repetitive
Concise and to the point
Complete, and collectively represent the overarching statement. Every statement is a summary of those below it (at least two points).

This can help you determine the quality of the points you want to make.

Summary

When drafting your next presentation, remember, establishing the structure is the most important and often most difficult part of creating it. A clear, tidy structure makes things much easier for your audience to understand and follow, and a whole lot easier for you to present to them.

Always bear in mind at least the basic structural elements and the core message you want your audience to hear. Depending on your content and the audience, you can choose from the different introductory styles. Keep your messages consistent and relevant so your audience will keep up with you, slide by slide.

Easy to find: Search strategies for image databases

6. December 201813. March 2023 Uncategorized

Easy to find: search strategies for image databases

Reading time 3 minutes

Images have a big impact. They can emphasize key messages and give them emotional weight – but they can also miss their intended purpose, for instance, if they’re too generic or don’t match the tone of the text. Given the millions of pictures available today in online archives and company databases, finding the right one isn’t easy. We’ve come up with five tips to help you pick the right pics:

1. Search the right way

Test different terms and combinations of terms in your search. Start with a general one, such as “ship.”  If that doesn’t offer the results you’re looking for, try synonyms such as “boat.” Or try more specific terms, like, “sailing ship” or “yacht.” This often gives you completely different pictures. Finally, try thinking laterally, with search terms such as “sailing” or “cruise.”

2. Use other people’s ideas – Google and Bing

With abstract concepts such as “innovation” and “teamwork,” it’s often difficult to come up with ideas for images. Luckily, you’re not the first person to have come across this problem. Benefit from others’ creativity by using the Google or Bing images search to see what other people have used to illustrate these terms. If you search for “innovation” you not only find obvious pictures, such as a light bulb or a broad horizon, but also a picture of Otto Lilienthal, the aviation pioneer. This way, you can get a general idea of what you want to show for your topic and then continue with a more specific search, for instance, in your company’s image database (where you’re also on the safe side regarding image copyright).

3. Filtering for better search results

If you know exactly what you’re looking for, you can narrow down your search using filter functions. Choose certain topics or limit the search to visual element types (photos, illustrations, pictograms, etc.) or orientation (portrait, landscape). Look at the options available such as drop-down menus or check boxes in the database you use. If your image database uses Boolean logic behind its search function, this lets you add the words “AND,” “OR” or “NOT” between search terms, so you can include or exclude certain search results. For example, search “innovation NOT light bulb” to exclude light bulbs from your innovation search results or “boat AND harbor” to find images showing both a boat (or several boats) and a harbor.

4. Try free association

Free association is a bit like brainstorming. Take a blank piece of paper and write down the word or term you’d like to illustrate, for example, “presentation training.” Then spend five minutes writing down all the associated words and expressions that spring to mind. Don’t dismiss any term as unsuitable – it might lead you to another, more appropriate term. For example, “training” makes you think of “sport.” “Sport” leads you to “weight training,” which then gives you the idea of “dumbbells.”  Perhaps “dumbbells” is exactly the image you’re looking for to get your message across. Free association works even better in pairs or groups of three – you can bounce ideas off each other in a creative development session.

5. Get feedback

When you think you have found the perfect image, show it to at least three people for their feedback. Ask them what they associate with the picture, and what emotions it raises in them. Different pairs of eyes pick up details you might not spot. If you get three completely different answers, you should rethink your choice of image or even adjust your search accordingly. Sometimes, if you change a particular aspect of a picture using an image editor, you can sharpen your message. Also consider cropping – for example, you might find the perfect image of person to show in a summer brochure, but a colleague then points out that to their left in the photo there’s a window showing snow outside. Cropping away that part of the picture might deem the photo suitable to use after all.

Visualizing data through charts

13. November 201813. March 2023 Philipp Tekampe Uncategorized

The dos & don'ts of visualizing data through charts

Reading time 2 minutes

The ability to make figures visual is the mark of a good presentation. It involves providing a fast overview, displaying complex content, and ensuring listeners follow you on the journey to important decisions.

When working with charts, the same principle as when designing slides generally applies:

Step 1: Precisely define the essence of your message to your audience
Step 2: Remove anything that does not serve this message
Step 3: Add anything that illustrates and conveys your message

Here are the dos & don’ts in an overview.

Step 1:

Do:

Write your core message in one sentence on your slide. This is actually the most difficult part of creating your slides.
Example: “First decline in sales of product XY in 2017”

Don`t:

Simply transfer your data from Excel or a database export to PowerPoint.
Use headlines such as: “Product XY sales development in 2017”. This is not a statement or message.

You can only create effective visualizations using clear statements and content which adds value.

Step 2:

Do:

Reduce all content in your chart to this statement
Rid the data or axis labels of anything irrelevant to the message or redundant
Ensure a clear, well-organized look

Don't:

Use any visual elements that cause distraction. Make a conscious decision to reduce the use of color, 3D elements, shading, decorative elements or background images
Use multiple messages
Include vast seas of numbers

Less is definitely more. Reduction makes for easier orientation.

Step 3:

Do:

Visually highlight your core message, as the only colored element
Immediately interpret your presented facts for your audience

Don't:

Leave your audience to try and get their bearings
Leave your audience alone with too much to read
Leave your audience to interpret things for themselves

Your audience expects messages, not just data and facts.

Presentations bring brands to life

7. November 201810. November 2022 Uncategorized

Presentations bring brands to life

Reading time 3 minutes

When it comes to presentations, there’s what you can classify as good craftsmanship, and there’s rousing, passionate brand management. This includes company presentations, as well as canvassing or sales appointments, results and project presentations or speeches and lectures. Of course, brand identity also plays an important role in internal communications, but for now we’ll focus on how you come across in public ‒ your external image.

Good craftsmanship as a basis

Before we get to the performance part – and naturally for routine presentations, you’ve got this by now, they’re first-class – let’s look at the presentation:

You’ve programmed the PowerPoint master and set design guidelines, from the title slide to content slides: colors, layout, fonts, bullet points, charts, tables and stylistic elements. All in your corporate design.
You’ve thought about formats, file names, storage locations, versions and keeping files up-to-date.
You have a kind of basic company presentation or, better still, you’ve made a modular “presentation kit,” which is available to be used as the official template for various types of presentation.
As a skilled expert, you also pay attention to defined imagery, icons, headlining and corporate wording.
And, as a top professional, you’re concerned about addressing target groups, structure and composition. You want a logical narrative that takes into account the company’s objectives ‒ all the way to a conclusion that points to a desirable future outcome, not just a “thanks for your time” slide.

All done then, right?

Brands should be experienced

Precisely. This brings us to the performance part. Bring your brand to life based on the characteristics, values, and image objectives you defined, and – if you have a marketing slogan – based on the slogan that communicates the essence of your brand.

Presentations are essential experiential touchpoints for your brand. They make it tangible, believable, exude its character and radiate its values. Both through its styling, its wording, in the narrative and via the people who present it. Together, they help the brand penetrate the market and exude the right feeling or character.

Do a quick presentation brand check

PowerPoint isn’t just PowerPoint. It’s a vehicle for your brand management.

List your defined brand characteristics (for example: warmhearted, passionate, simple, quick, customer-oriented, unlike any other). Align all characteristics with the structure, composition, and key messages of your presentation. For example:

Customer-oriented… Does your title slide grab your recipients? How can your listeners relate to your presentation? How can they tell you’re talking specifically to them and no one else? How do you come across as customer-oriented? Or is your title slide still in the classic bureaucratic style, populated with title, date, name of the speaker or your company? Are you still thinking “I” or are you thinking “customer?”
Unlike any other … Is your presentation really that different to all the other presentations? Do you perhaps kick off with an unusual opening? Is your lateral thinking evident? What’s your unusual ending? Although “unusualness” is always relative to your brand’s attributes. What’s the significance of the brand attributes rooted in your corporate identity with regard to implementing and performing your presentation?
Do you have a claim or slogan? How does it run through the presentation? In allusions, wording and stories? How does it become tangible?
Have you trained everyone in the characteristics, image objectives and values that match what your presentation projects? Briefed the coach or trainer as to your brand image? Are the stories you want told clear and easy to repeat? To what extent are your speakers perceived as unusual, noticeably different, customer-oriented, or even human? How do you help them develop their performance so they come across that way?
Be honest: Is your presentation performance exciting? Does it make your audience smile at times? Are they nodding in agreement? Looking at you attentively?
How do you prepare for a presentation? What can you do afterwards to make the brand an experience?

This is only a tiny checkup. It would be, however, your routine check to ensure your talk or pitch is a lively performance on the presentation dancefloor. We often conduct checkups like this for our customers, but more thoroughly, and with positive results. Get in touch if you need a brand checkup, or simply a neutral perspective. Such feedback can be enlightening.

Most importantly: Simply be as unique as you are.

Corporate slide management in PowerPoint

28. October 201825. August 2023 Uncategorized

Corporate slide management in PowerPoint - what really matters?

Reading time 5 minutes

No matter how big the organization, when it comes to using PowerPoint, there’s always a certain degree of chaos. You can’t find the slides you need, some sales staff are using the company presentation from two years ago, and everyone uses whatever images and icons they want. Even within one department it’s easy to lose track of which version of a slide is being used, and where.

Inefficient processes

As the saying goes, “too many cooks spoil the broth.” When a presentation is made or revised using input from several people, there’s usually only one way to ensure a good result: one person is in charge, and the others work through them. The person responsible incorporates all the material supplied by colleagues into a “master presentation” which only they may edit. Colleagues only receive copies for use or review. This is the best practice in companies that produce presentations to a high professional standard, such as management consulting firms or communication agencies.

Poorly archived slides and graphics

In most companies, everything you need for your next presentation is ready and available – but where? The company presentation and standard slides can usually be found on the intranet. Images for presentations are stored in an often unused and forgotten image database. Sales and marketing presentations are available on a shared network drive. Often, the stuff you need most can only be found if you ask the right people. The result of this chaos? If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you simply come up with your own solutions.

No update system

Once distributed, presentations quickly develop lives of their own. The widespread practice of “recycling” slides that are already saved somewhere on your hard drive makes it extremely hard to remove out-of-date slides from circulation and replace them with new ones. This creates a company-wide disparity of slides and presentations being used and shown, both internally and externally.

Find the right slide management software for PowerPoint

A slide manager for PowerPoint can help. There are many available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. When choosing between them, it’s important to consider the criteria most relevant to your organization and your users. Different requirements demand different solutions.

Decision criteria when choosing software

Use this overview to help you choose the right solution. It explains the practical advantages and disadvantages of the various functionalities available.

Handling from a user perspective

Presentation management software must be user friendly for it to be accepted by all colleagues. This includes:

Custom-made elements: The central purpose of a slide manager is to provide ready-to-use presentations and slides. But what about users who want to create their own slides? It’s extremely useful if they can also access a modular system of individual graphic elements in the corporate design – images, pictograms, formatted text elements, charts and icons.
Integration into PowerPoint: Slides, images and other content must be available in the application you’re working with, i.e., directly in PowerPoint. Whereas whole presentations or slides are inserted only occasionally while working on a presentation, slide content such as images, icons, formatted text elements and charts in your corporate design must always be at hand whenever you need them.
Simple, intuitive user interface: The more complicated the software appears to the user, the less likely they’ll use it.
Rapid slide retrieval: Particularly in companies with a large pool of available slides, it makes sense to give users various ways to find the content they’re looking for. Possibilities include an overview in the form of a folder structure, a visual search via a slide preview (ideally including individual slides within presentations), a keyword search and a full-text search.
Simple insertion of required content: Once you’ve found what you’re looking for you should be able to use it immediately for instance by double clicking on it. Typically, inserted slides acquire the design of the presentation being worked on. It may, however, be important to retain the original design of the inserted slide. For agencies or management consulting firms that frequently work with their clients’ designs, it’s also handy to paste just the graphics from the content area of the slide, rather than the whole slide, to use these graphics more easily in different designs.
Offline availability: Purely network-based solutions have the advantage that users always see the most up-to-date content. In practice, many key users travel a lot and have inadequate or no network access. It’s then vital to make the most important material available offline. This way, good slide management can also make a difference outside the office.
Multilingual interface: Although English is often the dominant business language, many users appreciate having a software interface in their own native language.
Personal area: A personal area in which each individual user can organize their frequently used personal slides and graphics is a practical additional feature.

Handling from an administrator perspective

Only a very small number of users are generally responsible for uploading and maintaining content. These individuals, referred to here as administrators, have additional user rights and requirements:

Simple addition and revision of slides and graphical elements: Although usability, especially finding and inserting content, is most relevant to the normal user, well thought-out software handling is also important for the administrator. It should be possible to add, replace, reorganize, rename, and delete content – and all without the help of the IT department. Otherwise, the level of maintenance required and resulting reaction times quickly become unreasonable.
Automatic updates of old slides: To prevent issues with slide “recycling,” an automatic update function should be available. This prompts the user to update a particular slide and should ideally provide a preview of the new slide. This function should work even if the user has already copied the slide into other presentations.
Enabling of user groups: Not all content is relevant to all users, and a lot of it should not be made generally available. A PowerPoint corporate slide manager should allow specific user groups to be set up and individually managed.
Delegation of roles: The slide manager should support best practice in the presentation production process. One person (i.e., one person per user group, plus their backup colleague) may upload, change or delete content, the other users may only use the content. In some cases, further differentiation of user roles might make sense. As far as PowerPoint is concerned, the above system has proved successful in nearly all cases.
Tracking user behavior: Setting legal concerns aside, it can be interesting to analyze user behavior. For users themselves, information on which slides are used most or are particularly well-rated by other people is practically worthless, as it doesn’t provide a meaningful basis for creating a presentation. But this information can be interesting for the administrator, as it can indicate where further slides (or graphics, etc.) could be made available.

Handling from an IT perspective

IT often gets the job of implementing and maintaining the corporate slide management software. Here, further criteria become relevant:

Simple setup: In most companies there are more than enough software tools, and IT departments are often wary of the additional hassle involved in rolling out and maintaining new software. It’s therefore important that a slide manager can be integrated smoothly into existing IT infrastructure and doesn’t require an additional server, for example. It should be possible to roll out the software with regular tools, such as Microsoft SCCM or Citrix, and it should require minimal technical support. This includes being able to integrate existing user groups from the Active Directory.
Security: Any new software is a potential security risk and creates a lot of work when it doesn’t run properly. The choice of software should therefore favor solutions with suitable certification (e.g., Windows compatibility test) that’s already in use in large organizations.
Handling large data volumes: Large amounts of data can quickly accumulate in a slide manager. It’s important that the software solution is stable and runs quickly and reliably even with high data volumes. It should also minimize memory requirements and network load.

Consider usability from all these perspectives to help inform your choice of corporate slide management software. Talk to us if you need more guidance or tips: Contact us.

Philipp Tekampe

How to create successful presentations

Part 2: Content

Organized

Simple:

Impress audiences with clear and simple presentations

Present clearly with visual elements

Use animations sparingly – or not at all

Guide your audience with navigation elements

Keep it concise

Appealing - Make it look good

Don’t dazzle your audience

Types of slides in presentations

Slide layout – clear structure

Text format and legibility

Tips for good slide design

Convince and impress with relevant presentations

10 years of Strategy Compass

A few thoughts from Achim Sztuka

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Only the best.

Mission accomplished? Not quite yet.

Time to talk: planning discussions systematically

How your voice influences your presentation

Here, we’ll look at how our voice impacts our presentations.

Articulation

Volume

Pitch of the voice

Creating successful presentations

Part 1: Organized presentations

Create professional presentations using the OSCAR principle

Devise a clear framework

Basic structure

Introductions - Get off to a good start

Body - The core of the presentation

Conclusions - Skillfully ending presentations

Common presentation structures

Pyramid structure

Pyramid structure example

Funnel structure

Funnel structure example

Quality check for presentations

Summary

Easy to find: search strategies for image databases

1. Search the right way

2. Use other people’s ideas – Google and Bing

3. Filtering for better search results

4. Try free association

5. Get feedback

The dos & don'ts of visualizing data through charts

Step 1:

Do:

Don`t:

Step 2:

Do:

Don't:

Step 3:

Do:

Don't:

Presentations bring brands to life

Good craftsmanship as a basis

Brands should be experienced

Do a quick presentation brand check

Corporate slide management in PowerPoint - what really matters?

Inefficient processes

Poorly archived slides and graphics

No update system

Find the right slide management software for PowerPoint

Decision criteria when choosing software

Handling from a user perspective

Handling from an administrator perspective

Handling from an IT perspective

1. Search the right way

2. Use other people’s ideas – Google and Bing

3. Filtering for better search results

4. Try free association