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Communication, facilitation, targeted learning, ​powerspeaking blog: tips and strategies for crafting presentations, how to present to senior executives [23 proven strategies].

by Carrie Beckstrom     Jun 4, 2021 10:45:46 AM

If you’re preparing to make a pitch to senior executives, you can throw most of what you’ve learned about making presentations in the trash.

Why? Because this is an entirely different audience. An executive presentation is not about inspiring and persuading, but is instead about presenting meaningful data to top decision-makers as quickly and concisely as possible. As a matter of fact, you should start with your bottom line (what you need from them). And work your way from there.

As a company that lives and breathes communication, we are dedicated to transforming your organization's communication skills, so you can watch people succeed at engaging and influencing others, achieving results, and driving business to new heights.

And today, we are going to reveal our favorite tips for a powerful executive presentation to decision-making leaders to help you get your point across efficiently, earn your audience’s attention, and know when and how to go in for the "ask."

So if you want more success from your business presentations, then you'll love this list of tips, techniques, and strategies.

Keep reading to get started with our tried and true tips!

Don't have time to read the whole checklist right now? 

Save the PDF version to your desktop and read when it's convenient for you.

Tip 1 Understand the executive mindset

Tip 2 Consider executives’ personality styles

Tip 3 Give yourself enough time to gather data

Tip 4 Find and leverage a sponsor

Tip 5 Prepare for possible questions or objections

Tip 6 Follow the 10/30 Rule

Tip 7 Set the context and confirm the time slot

Tip 8 Use the PREP model if your time gets cut

Tip 9 State the outcome you want early

Tip 10 Always use a valid business reason

Tip 11 Follow with the essential data—and do a deep dive only if asked

Tip 12 Focus on analytical proof

Tip 13 Be proactive and transparent when delivering unpleasant news

Tip 14 Remember that executives want a dialogue—not a data dump

Tip 15 Read the room

Tip 16 Use the Headline + Evidence model

Tip 17 Paraphrase complex questions to gain clarity

Tip 18 Address heated feedback and challenging questions in the moment

Tip 19 Answer the question-behind-the-question (before it is even asked)

Tip 20 Rely on the “notice and ask” strategy to refocus the discussion

Tip 21 Be personal to re-engage a disengaged executive

Tip 22 Acknowledge disagreements between top executives, but don't intervene

Tip 23 Conclude with a quick summary and resolve any noteworthy issues before your final ask

Let's dive right in.

Before you try to deliver your next presentation to executives, keep this in mind...

Most people fail with their first attempt to wow the top executives for one simple reason:

C-level executives demand an entirely different approach from presenters than does a general business audience. SVP of Strategy and Business Development at Workato , Markus Zirn says,  

“You have to throw out everything you learned from traditional presentation training. It’s not about making a speech that educates, persuades, inspires, or leads. It’s about raw decision-making.”

With that little caveat out of the way, it’s time for our first strategy…

Understand the Executive Mindset

Executives are impatient, bottom-line-focused leaders who don't care about the minutiae of your project or expertise. They want you to get to the point, step away from your slide deck, and be ready for a dynamic dialogue.

During your presentation, they might multitask and switch topics quickly, make calculations in their heads at lightning speed, and they may be challenging when analyzing data. Be ready for this.  

Understanding the executive's mindset as you are going in for the pitch will help you succeed. Watch the video below on Audience Analysis and getting started.

Here's just one executive you'll hear from...

"If it is a C-suite presentation and you’re actually asking for an outcome, you need to know what are the hot points of the CFO, or the treasurer’s office, or the VP of finance."

Consider executives’ personality styles

Think of each executive who will be in the room.

How do they prefer to have information presented to them?  Where are they on the risk profile?  Are they highly conservative, or are they innovative and open to experimentation?  How will your proposal affect their areas of responsibility? 

Starting with your audience in mind helps you strategize how to present your information.

Give yourself enough time to gather data

Weeks ahead of your presentation to executives, you may need to: meet with people in various functional areas for input and/or buy-in; check in with your manager; research executives’ hot buttons; and prepare slides or documents to send ahead. Don’t underestimate the time it will take to do all of this.

And speaking of being prepared, make sure you’ve considered the environment in which you’ll likely be with them—namely, virtual. If presenting to executives weren’t challenging enough, today’s digital interactions present another layer of things to consider.

Check out this great article, “ Digital Communication Skills: Is Your Message Getting Across? ,” by digital presenting and training guru Cindy Huggett. Great suggestions not only for putting your best digital self forward with senior executives, but also tips you can use in any virtual-meeting situation.

Find and leverage a sponsor

Find someone who knows the group you’re presenting to who is willing to not only help you prepare as your guide, but can also advocate for you during the meeting. Use your sponsor to check the validity of your logic ahead of time, rehearse with and get feedback from, and agree on when you should look to them for help during the executive meeting. 

Debrief with your sponsor after the meeting to gain insights and lessons you can use in the future.

Prepare for possible questions or objections

Consider including a slide that states the answers to anticipated questions or concerns rather than waiting for them to be brought up. This is a great way to demonstrate that you’ve kept your audience in mind when preparing your presentation.

Follow the 10/30 Rule

If you have 30 minutes on the executives’ meeting agenda, plan to present 10 minutes of material. The remainder of the time will likely be devoted to discussion and interaction and not necessarily in sequence.

R emember that your role is to facilitate a conversation, not just deliver a presentation.

Set the context and confirm the time slot

You don’t need an entertaining, attention-getting opening, but you do need to set the context as you start and get an agreement on timing. Thirty minutes originally may have been planned, but the meeting timeline can change. 

Start by saying, “I understand we have scheduled 30 minutes. Does that timing still work?”

Rajeev Goel, Co-Founder and CEO at PubMatic, and Monica Poindexter, Vice President, Inclusion & Diversity/Employee Relations at Lyft, will give you tips on overcoming the presentation challenges in regards to context.

Use the PREP model if your time gets cut

Don’t be surprised if what you thought would be a 30-minute meeting is cut to 10 minutes because the executives have another more urgent matter to discuss. Use the “PREP” model to craft your abbreviated pitch before the meeting:

State the outcome you want early

State the outcome you want from your presentation early. What do you want the executives to say “yes” to?

Be specific. For example, “I want your support” is vague. “I want you to approve a $500,000 investment in new centrifuge equipment this quarter” is specific.

Get that key message out first...

Always use a valid business reason

Clearly state what value or ROI your ask will bring in terms of revenue increase, cost reduction, protection from risk, competitive advantage, or other business drivers. It can’t be just a “nice to have” proposal. 

For example...

“The bottom line is, we’re seeking your approval for five new FTEs in account management roles for an investment of $750,000. The reason is that we have a $2M revenue opportunity with the launch of [XYZ project]. These account managers will focus on the top 20% of our customer base to ensure we maximize the sales opportunity.”

Follow with the essential data—and do a deep dive only if asked

Instead of drowning listeners in data, lead with the top two to three key points and supporting evidence that best support your ask and business reason. The key points should be answers to the primary questions you think the executives will have about your proposal. 

Keep in mind that execs want the 10,000-foot view and how it affects the organization's bottom line.  

Focus on analytical proof

Senior decision-makers don’t need to be entertained. So while your logic may follow a “storyline,” hard data is what will be more convincing.

If you have a customer success story or a brief anecdote that supports your point, use it. But remember, unlike a general audience, the C-level executives in the room will grow impatient with stories unless they’re succinct and tie directly to your proposal.

Be proactive and transparent when delivering unpleasant news

There are four steps to presenting bad news:

• Get it out at the beginning
• Be candid about what happened
• Explain how you will fix it
• Offer options and recommendations. 

You can use this 4-step framework to present bad news in a way that speaks to executives.

Let's take a look at a hypothetical example. You have to explain to them why a consultant they hired quit, and you need to rectify the situation...

1. G et it out at the beginning

The consultant you approved quit unexpectedly.  A response to the audit she was supposed to help us with is due next week. Today I want to talk about the path forward. 

2. Be candid and explain how you will fix the situation

By the end of this meeting, I’d like your approval to:

Respond to the audit in a generic way with help from the audit team

Collaborate with the internal process improvement team to assess our local processes 

Collaborate with my counterpart to create one agreement that combines the best aspects of our process and theirs 

3. Offer options on why it makes business sense 

No additional cost of hiring a consultant

We’ll be able to leverage the existing processes to create a process that is consistent across the globe

4. Offer final recommendations   

With all of that in mind, today I’d like to talk about how we should change our audit process and why I’m confident this plan will receive regulatory approval.

Is there anything else you’d like me to add?

If you have bad news, don’t try to gloss over it. Use the framework to present it in a way that speaks to executives.

Remember that executives want a dialogue—not a data dump

Expect questions and energetic discussions to occur before you have presented all of your material.

(Remember the 10/30 Rule: If you have 30 minutes, prepare only 10 minutes’ worth of “presentation.”) Respond to questions when they come up.

Use facilitation skills to refocus the discussion after a topic change.

Here are a few more tips to enhance your facilitation skills:

Read the room

Notice the process of the discussion as well as the content. When there is cross-talk, interruptions, or rapid-fire questions, you can observe first and then choose an appropriate intervention.

Reading the room can be especially challenging in virtual meetings. You want to encourage everyone to turn on their webcam. Solicit feedback via chat. Stop the presentation and do a quick “reality check” if you notice disengagement or tension.

Use the Headline + Evidence model

Again, this is a time-pressed audience that wants brief, focused answers to their questions. Use the “Headline Response” model to help you do just that.

Paraphrase complex questions to gain clarity

Instead of restating an executive’s question verbatim, use synonyms when you paraphrase.

Remember, you don’t know what is on someone’s mind. So, always check for accuracy after paraphrasing. “Did I get that right?” or just “Right?” gives the questioner a chance to agree or disagree. If your understanding wasn’t accurate, try again.

Address heated feedback and challenging questions in the moment

Especially if someone is upset, a deeper level of listening is required. Reflect on both the content and the feeling you noticed (skeptical, concerned, frustrated, etc.) and answer the question as best you can.

Always check to see if you got it right. Never say, “I know how you feel,” because you don’t, actually. 

Answer the question-behind-the-question (before it is even asked)

If you get resistance or objections to your ideas, often executives are concerned with key business drivers such as top-line and bottom-line impact, competitive positioning, and risk management.

When you paraphrase their questions, check for these concerns and be ready to address them directly.

Listen for the question-behind-the-question.

Rely on the “notice and ask” strategy to refocus the discussion

You are not in a position to tell the executives what to do.

But if the discussion goes in a different direction, you can say, “I notice our discussion is now focused on X. May I get your guidance? Would you like to keep going in this direction, or would you like to go back to our topic?” 

Be personal to re-engage a disengaged executive

You don’t want to catch anyone off guard, so give a little context when you ask someone directly for their thoughts (as a re-engagement strategy).

For example, “Jaime, given that what we are trying to do here is to reduce response time, in your experience, will this new approach work in the field?” 

Acknowledge disagreements between top executives, but don't intervene

You may look to your sponsor to help calm things down, but don’t intervene.

Conclude with a quick summary and resolve any noteworthy issues before your final ask

As you end your presentation, summarize and check to be sure you are clear on what decisions or agreements have been made and what your next steps will be. 

“I explained x and y; you also brought up a and b. Do I have your go-ahead now to purchase the new equipment for $500,000 this quarter?”

Presenting to senior executives is often a nerve-wracking, high-stakes situation. But as these leaders will tell you, it can be a great opportunity to grow, and to increase your value to the organization.

I hope you’ve found these tips enlightening and helpful. L earning to think like senior executives and present to them means learning new habits—and breaking old ones. But wow, I know it’s hard. And we present a lot of information to take in with our 23 Tips.

So, here’s one final piece of advice: start small. Pick one or two tips to apply to your next presentation. And check out this quick-read article, “ 4 Steps to Making New Habits Stick ,” by Cindy Solomon, founder, and CEO of the Courageous Leadership Institute. It will help you learn how to make the most of small steps toward new habits.

But before you get started using them for your next presentation, I’d like to hear from you.

Which presentation tip from this list was your favorite?

...Or maybe you have a suggestion that I didn't cover here?

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below.

Join Us in Conversation . . .

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A Complete Guide for Preparing Outstanding Executive-Level Presentations

Every challenge comes with an opportunity. Likewise, presenting to C-level executives is not less than a nightmare for many employees, but at the same time, it is the golden opportunity to make a significant difference in your career. Before preparing the executive-level presentation, you must know that senior executives are one of the toughest audiences to convince. They have jam-packed schedules, and their brains remain occupied with a variety of business-related matters. Amidst all these, gaining their attention to what you have to say is a hard row to hoe. 

Unlike any other presentation, executive presentations are not at all about persuading and inspiring, rather, it is about presenting the most meaningful and relevant data in a concise manner for quick decision-making. So, as a presenter, you require an entirely different approach to wow the top executives in the first attempt.

Here are a few tips that will set you up for success. Take a look!

1. Know the Audience’s Mindset 

Executives are analytical and impatient. Their high-stake decisions and actions determine the future of the company. They don’t have much time to listen to funny introductions, minute details of the project, or a long story; instead, they want the presenter to get to the point right away. As soon as you start putting forward your ideas/proposals, they begin analyzing data, making calculations in their heads, and connecting disparate dots. So, if you want to grab the attention of the executives, you need to place yourself in their shoes, understand their mindset, and adapt your presentation style for their needs.

2. Commence with Key Takeaways

If you are presenting to C-level leaders, there is a strong reason behind it – it may be your promising solution or expertise in a specific area. They are listening to you because they feel you can provide them with the missing piece of information that will ultimately help them make the right decision. Therefore, to live up to their expectations and start on a strong note, present the summary slides first before covering anything else. This approach will set the right tone for the rest of the presentation. 

Executive focus on returns, costs, and trade-offs. So, your first few slides must be around these points. For instance, if you are pitching the executives to raise money, your initial slides must include ROI calculations to provide them a quick glance at what they will get if they invest in your project. 

3. Be Careful while Preparing the Content

If you are one of those presenters who prefer creating hype to get to the big reveal or adding fluff to the content just to portray themselves as more intelligent, you are required to work hard and come up with a new approach to presentation. C-suite executives have short attention spans. Keeping this fact in mind, include only the absolutely necessary content in the slides . Consider the following pro tips:

• Ensure that your content is to the point, brief, and easy to process.
• Skip the storytelling and add only valuable information that helps executives make quick decisions.
• Don’t include any information that the audience already knows.
• Represent your idea right upfront and provide supporting points.
• Distill your ideas into a few takeaways.
• Keep the number of slides less, follow the 10 20 30 PowerPoint rule .

4. Choose Visuals Consciously

If you really want to craft an outstanding executive presentation, include visuals not to make your slides look cool, but to support your information and make it more meaningful.

• Use images, graphics, tables, and charts wherever required to convey your message with less text.
• Avoid using fancy graphics or animations as it will only distract the audience and negatively impact your credibility.
• Incorporate the best quality and high-definition images and visuals to give a professional look to your slideshows.
• To maintain consistency, you can use pre-designed templates and customize them according to your presentation’s requirements.

5. Present with Confidence

Presenting to senior executives is undoubtedly nerve-racking; however, you can conquer this fear by understanding that they are a person too. They have passions and interests. Understand that you are assigned the task of presentation because of the knowledge and expertise possessed by you. Believe that you are providing the right solution and put across your message with confidence, energy, and commitment. Moreover, your gestures and body language must also reflect your confidence and give the executives an impression that you are a horse worth betting on.

6. Consider Time Constraints

C-level leaders have loads of responsibilities and priority tasks they could be performing in the 30-60 minutes they have given to you. So, you must respect their valuable time and prepare your presentation in such a way that it includes all crucial points and can be wrapped up in the allotted time. Also, ensure that you have ample time for questions or discussion. In addition, you need to be flexible while delivering the presentation as executives may interrupt you to ask questions. They may also ask you to fast forward through your slides or jump back to a previous slide.

The Bottom Line

If you are assigned a task to present in front of the executives, it is apparent that you are considered a capable and smart employee of the organization. You must seize this opportunity to rise and shine in your dream job. All you need to do is, calm your nerves, turn your jitters into enthusiasm, and present with confidence . Do your preparations well – conduct extensive research, create backup slides with supporting facts and data, and practice your presentation several times.

Have you ever presented to senior executives? If so, share your experience and useful tips with us in the “Comment” section. Don’t forget to share the blog post on your social media handle.

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How to create a successful executive presentation

Do you have a big presentation to the c-suite coming up use these executive presentation tips to deliver an attention-getting presentation to keep execs engaged and interested..

• Andy Patrizio

Nothing frays nerves like an executive presentation . It's a combination of performance and job-related anxiety that can be paralyzing. Do it right and your star rises within the company. Blow it and it might be time to update your LinkedIn profile.

C-level executives are a tough audience. Their day is often planned from start to finish with no room for error -- or lateness -- and, certainly, no time for what they consider a waste of time. You need to give executives a reason to stay and pay attention.

So, there's the first rule: Make your time worth their time. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

What is an executive presentation?

An executive presentation is a brief proposal or update that someone -- an employee or consultant -- delivers to a group of executives in an organization. It's usually a proposal for some new initiative or an update to something in the works.

Executive presentations are sometimes called executive briefs, because they are meant to be short and to the point. If they aren't, the executives will make it so. The goal of a general executive briefing is to provide a compelling update to help execs form business conclusions.

Executive presentations are most often presented in the form of a slideshow -- often, using Microsoft PowerPoint -- but video and audio updates are also possible.

Learn how PowerPoint's Presenter Coach function can help you prepare for your presentation.

What are the types of executive presentations?

Because the purpose of an executive summary is to pique curiosity, the style of presentation will vary based on the objectives. Therefore, there are multiple types of presentations.

1. Visual presentation style

The visual style is one of the most popular -- both in PowerPoint and other styles of presentation. They tend to be very dependent on images and video, often, with complementary audio. The tech industry does this all the time, with Apple among the most notable users of the style.

2. Coach presentation style

The coach presentation style is more suited to charismatic and energetic speakers who can effectively tell a story. Presenters will sell the story better than any slideshow through sheer force of will.

3. Instructor presentation style

This method is ideal for complex subject matters that need a lot of visuals to help get the point across to the audience. These are often used at trade shows during instructional seminars for developer or engineering types.

4. Freeform presentation style

By default, presentations are very structured, detailed, planned and rehearsed. But the freeform presentation method is the opposite of that. It doesn't use slides and the speaker wings it. This is ideal for someone who knows the subject well, has a short presentation and may not have had sufficient time to prepare.

5. Connector presentation style

For most presentations, the presenter does most of the talking with occasional comment from the audience. But in a connector style, audience interaction is encouraged. It could be to flesh out ideas or simply go in depth, but the speaker and audience interact a lot more than is typical.

6. Persuasive presentation style

The persuasive presentation happens when the presenter tries to convince the audience of their conclusions, ideas or points of view. In a persuasive speech, the speaker makes an extra effort to connect with the audience.

Learn some tips from CIOs on giving presentations to a board of directors .

What questions should an executive presentation answer?

As said earlier, C-levels are very busy and have no time to waste, so give them a good reason to be there. Here are several.

Why are you there?

You have demanded the time of a CEO, CFO, CMO, etc., so there better be a good reason for it. Be upfront, direct and to the point about your purpose. This is no time to be wishy-washy.

Example: I am here today to give you an update on the X project, which is in danger of going off the rails.

What is the significance of what you're saying?

Executives want to make a decision based on information and data. Give it to them with authority. Who are you to present this information to them? Let them know.

Example: I've seen about two dozen projects like this go down in flames because of X, Y and Z.

What is the update or what is the proposal?

This is where you get to the meat of the topic. Up to now, you provided context -- the why of the issue. Now, it's time to provide the what. Here is the news, now what do we do about it?

Example: The X project is hemorrhaging money. If we don't act now, this project will cost us Y amount of dollars by the end of the year.

How to go forward

This is where you tell the executives the next steps to take, within reason. They must make a decision and may have a different perspective and priorities than you. What you might consider urgent they may find immaterial.

Example: Here are some options we have to get this project back on track.

What information should be included in an executive presentation?

Time is short in a presentation, and there is no room for idle chatter. Here is what must be done from the start of the presentation:

• Set expectations. Let the audience know what the plan is, such as five minutes dedicated to the presentation and the next 25 to questions.
• Summarize upfront. Use the inverted pyramid method and lead with all the information the audience cares about from the start. Then move onto the supporting details and background information.
• Provide background. C-level executives absorb incredible amounts of data per day. If the presentation is about a project update they were last briefed on a month ago, don't expect them to remember. Give them a good, succinct reminder.
• Give answers. Executives want actionable information -- never forget that. Don't just outline a problem; instead, present solutions and answers.
• Have a hook. After reminding the executives of what the presentation is about, introduce the proposition and lead with the conclusion. Tell them they will see massive return on investment ( ROI ) or double the size of the business if they do X, and tell them why.

How to design a PowerPoint for an executive presentation

The primary mission is to keep a presentation short and to the point. That doesn't mean dumbing it down and using simplistic English, but, rather, using fewer words so it is quick and easy to read.

If you think your presentation might be too wordy, click here for help to make it easier to understand .

As stated earlier, introduce your proposition and lead with your conclusion from slide two, if you can. Let executives know the ROI right away.

Never put information on a slide that requires a reference to a later slide. If you are going to reference anything, make sure it has already been shown.

Be prepared for questions on these slides. Have the answer to every statement or data point in your head, at least, as you write them.

Executives love data, but don't overwhelm them. Your goal is to highlight the most important numbers and provide recommendations with sound analysis.

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Moxie Institute

10 Tips For Impressive Presentations To Senior Leadership And Executives

Table of Contents

10 PRESENTATION TIPS TO IMPRESS SENIOR LEADERS

Tip 1: prepare, tip 2: begin with the end in mind.

• What do you want this audience to feel when they’re done?
• What do you want them to know when you’re done?
• What do you want them to do, when you’re done?

TIP 3: BE CLEAR AND CONCISE

Tip 4: tell stories, tip 5: keep slides minimal.

Provide extra information in your slide notes

TIP 6: CHANNEL NERVOUS ENERGY INTO USABLE ENERGY

The best way to feel confident is to practice.

5 to 7 full rehearsals

TIP 7: PRE-PRESENTATION WARM UP

Breathe low and slow.

WARM UP YOUR BODY

Warm up your mouth, tip 8: have vocal executive presence, tip 9: commanding the space.

Presentation power posing

TIP 10: AUTHENTIC SPEAKER PERSONA

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How to Brief a Senior Executive

• Grant T. Harris

Lessons from an Obama White House staffer.

You can always count on outside circumstances to affect your pitch to a senior leader, so prepare to get your point across under pressure by understanding the interpersonal dynamics at play in advance. What are your boss’s “tells”? How do they engage with material? And whom do they look to for endorsement? Knowing these things ahead of time will help you react effectively to pushback and pivot when necessary while you’re in the room, either in person or virtually.

Briefing a senior executive is an art and adept White House staffers do it every day under the most stressful of circumstances. They’re masters of compressing the right information into the right amount of time, no matter how complex the topic or short the briefing. The skills needed to brief the chief executive in the Oval Office are directly applicable to briefing  any  executive in the C-suite.

• GH Grant T. Harris is CEO of  Connect Frontier LLC  and advises companies on doing business in emerging markets. He has twice served at the White House and teaches interactive seminars on  How to Brief the President (or Any Senior Leader) TM  in corporate, nonprofit, university, and policy settings. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Global Management at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern, and a Lecturer at Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. Follow him on  Twitter .

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Executive Presentations: A Guide to Achieving the Outcomes You Want 

Focus on the outcome and audience, not what you want to say.

Learning to present to executives is a critical part of career growth and success. Your ability to articulate what you and your team do, and how that aligns with the long-term mission and goals of your company, can mean the difference between support and resources and the depreciation of your product or team.  

I have been on both sides of the table, as a presenter and an executive. I started out in consulting at Boston Consulting Group, where I learned to craft presentations that were shared with senior executives and boards. I spent time in Corporate Strategy, where I worked on strategies and decks for the CEO of PayPal. I have pitched dozens of products, from PayPal Integration with eBay to Games, Facebook Credits, and Facebook Marketplace.  I also helped to craft the Ancestry new vision and strategy for our board. On the executive side, I have sat through hundreds of presentations in my operating roles, during my time in board service, and now as the CEO of Ancestry.  

This is a compilation of the best practices for any team preparing for an executive review.  

Know the purpose of your meeting

If you don’t know what outcome you’re looking for, you will likely leave dissatisfied with the outcome you get. 

Here are a few ways of categorizing your meeting.

Decision-making meeting: The goal of a decision-making meeting is to make the final call during the discussion (or, if necessary, shortly thereafter). It is critical that you frame each question in the context of the following: 

Clear options

Stakeholders’ opinions on those options

The pros and cons weighed against the decision criteria

Brainstorming meeting: Early in product development or idea generation, some executives will host brainstorming meetings to get initial ideas on the table. This is also often done for new innovation and areas of exploration.

Resource ask meeting: Amazon has a well-known type of six-pager meeting dedicated to requesting resources for a specific product. Other companies have periods where new ideas or incremental asks are entertained during budgeting time.  

Approval meeting: These meetings are often considered “green light” meetings, where a product or initiative is ready to ship and the team is requesting final approval to proceed. Prepare with a press release, positioning statement, and rollout plans. 

Update meeting: Ask yourself before having an update meeting, “Could this have been an email?” Many executive update meetings are more for the team than the executives, so if you are invited to a meeting of this type, ensure that you leverage it to ask your questions and garner support.   

Write a quality pre-read 

Pre-reads ensure that the content has a separate space from the conversation, benefitting both. 

Pre-reads give those attending the meeting the chance to get context and ask questions ahead of time. The best practice is to send the pre-read at least 24 hours before the meeting. It is challenging in a live 30- to 60-minute meeting to both set context and discuss key points. Focus the education portion on the pre-read and use your time in the room for a guided discussion. The pre-read should stand on its own without additional live commentary, and it should clearly list out everything that will be discussed during the meeting.  

Provide context, context, context

You are the only one who knows what is in your head. Everyone else needs context.

Most executives do not have detailed knowledge of what your team does.  They are likely to run dozens of different products or teams. They are also constantly switching from one topic to another throughout the day. The teams that have the best executive presentations start with clear context, especially in the pre-read. 

Several years ago, we presented an idea for a new payments product. We started with a Payments 101 primer explaining the key players in the industry. This included what role the merchant, gateway, acquiring bank, card network, and issuing banks play, and how the $.30 + 2.9% transaction fee was broken down by player. We then went on to explain what role we wanted to play in the ecosystem. The conversation was richer because we started with clear context, even if it was basic for some of the people in the room.  

Speak to your audience

Don't focus on what you want to say. Focus on what you want your audience to take away.

Most teams start with what they want to talk about, and not the outcome they want. If you are asking for resources, focus on how your work ladders up to the goals of the organization. If you are giving an update, focus on the key points you want to get across and any things you need to flag. 

Tailor your communication to those in the audience. Help them understand your focus, your priorities, and your impact, rather than giving a superficial recounting of what you are working on. Talk about things in the context of the company’s mission, the executive team’s goals, and how the work you do helps with one or both. 

Think about how many levels the audience is away from where you and your team are. For every layer of management, reduce the detail by one level.  The more removed your audience is from the work, the less detail they will understand or be able to weigh in on.  

Use narrative storytelling

Few people remember the statistics. Nearly everyone remembers the story. 

Your presentation should have a clear story arc. Start with the narrative outline and ensure you have a story that gets your point across. Focus on leveraging stats and data to support your narrative, rather than the other way around. The story should stand on its own, and it should be readable and comprehensible to someone who is not close to the details of your work.  

I was the PM of a team that delivered straightforward executive updates that were factual recounting of how things were going, metrics, roadmaps, and progress.  While these were adequate, they didn’t garner much feedback. I later took on another area and switched to narrative storytelling since we didn’t yet have product-market fit and little to no data. The executives engaged actively, and I heard the stories retold both internally and eventually externally. Both products were equally successful in their time, but the latter became part of company lore, and the former has largely been forgotten. 

Focus on comprehension over comprehensiveness

Don’t aim to explain everything. Focus on making sure the right things land. 

I've seen some teams go for the “kitchen sink” presentation style. They put every detail in a hundred-page PowerPoint, making it impossible to have a focused conversation. Rarely are leaders impressed by the breadth of a presentation. Instead, they want clear thinking that will help them make decisions.  

Once, after a day of product reviews with several teams, one executive said, “The teams are bringing in 20-page Word documents for their products. We have a dozen of these reviews a week, and we are reading entire novels at this rate.”  

When we had mid-cycle product reviews, we limited each team to two written pages. The end of half product lookbacks and roadmaps were limited to four pages.  Ironically, the Product Managers chafed against these restrictions the most. As one said, “It is easier to write ten pages than it is to write four.” Though being concise is more challenging than including more, it made for richer and more focused conversations.  

Be truthful and transparent  

Focus on full transparency - on both good points and bad points - so that you can build a culture of trust. Shading in favor of the positive will erode trust in the rest of your presentation. 

Hiding bad news is never a good strategy. Companies where teams are constantly speaking only about good news risk running into “Emperor's New Clothes” syndrome. Sharing what is working well in addition to what is not working well ensures that you are giving a transparent and clear assessment of where you are. That way, you can ask for help in the areas where there are gaps.

In addition, truth-telling innoculates you when something goes wrong. If you are constantly selling the idea of a blowout success and then falling short, you risk losing the confidence of the leaders.  

We are often intimidated by executive meetings, but armed with the right preparation, you can leverage them to help your team and company. The key is to focus on the outcome you hope to achieve and work back from there.  Clear communication, focus, and purpose will drive the discussion forward, and the rest will take care of itself.  

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Presenting to Executives: Tips for Making a Winning Pitch

Who hasn’t been in the position of having to step up and make a presentation to the big wigs? You’ve anticipated the big moment, edited the slides, and chosen the perfect outfit (or at least tried). But without fail, nerves still set in. In the crucible of the executive’s attention, it can feel like the presentation stakes are higher than ever. Is it possible to make a strong impression in the face of executive pressure? As it turns out, with a bit of craft and preparation, a good presentation to your superiors is well within reach. In this blog post, we will break down the fundamentals of how to make a memorable, persuasive presentation to executives. As you read on, keep in mind that executive presentations are the distinguishing moments when your hard work can show its value. Whether it’s for a proposed project or your team’s performance thus far, a solid presentation can make a critical difference. So, here’s to investing in the peace of mind of wowing your superiors, and to gaining the skills you need to make it happen. Let’s get to it!

Defining Your Presentation Objectives

Defining Your Presentation Objectives is a critical step in preparing to make any successful presentation to an executive team. Without understanding the objectives of your pitch, it can be difficult to determine your strategy and deliver a focused message. To ensure success, carefully consider what you want to accomplish with your pitch and set explicit objectives that clearly define success. When defining objectives, take time to generate a list of goals for the presentation . Consider global topics such as the overall message you’re trying to communicate or the key objectives of your pitch, as well as specific ideas like how you want those in attendance to respond or what type of feedback you want to receive from the executive team. This can help ensure an effective, successful presentation that produces results. However, setting specific objectives may seem easier said than done. Considering your audience and aligning your objectives accordingly is essential for crafting an effective pitch. Executives are often quite busy and expect concise presentations that don’t waste their time. They’ll appreciate concise, targeted messages that address their needs by highlighting solutions or opportunities that excite them most. It’s important to note that not all pitches will have easily measurable outcomes right away. Some ideas or solutions might follow up with additional research or require further evaluation before they can be implemented successfully, so taking those things into consideration when determining objectives is also important. After determining your presentation objectives and aligning them with what executives will value most, preparation for the actual delivery can begin in earnest. In the next section we’ll explore how to intelligently curate and prepare content and slides for effective delivery during your presentation.

Prepare Content and Slides for Effective Delivery

When planning an executive presentation, the content and slides you create need to accurately reflect the ideas you are proposing. Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach to preparing your slides, there are several strategies that should be taken into consideration. Firstly, it is important to ensure that the presentation does not contain too much text or explanatory material; executives often value brevity and don’t have time for long explanations. A presentation should communicate one idea at a time and each slide should succinctly express this point . Introducing complex data or numerous topics may overwhelm the audience and makes it harder for attendees to keep track of the various concepts presented. At the same time, considering the audience’s perspective can help establish what level of detail is appropriate. For example, if executives have technical knowledge about a certain topic, then more details may be necessary than if they lack technical understanding. The design of the slides should also be as professional as possible. This means making sure fonts are legible, colors align with overall brand standards, or avoiding distracting visuals or animations. While these visuals can help deliver your message in a creative way , they should also be used judiciously – striking a balance between aesthetics and information will give viewers an effective visual impression of your communication goals. Furthermore, creating supporting charts or infographics can draw attention to important elements within the story you want to tell via your content; graphs and diagrams can be used to quickly explain complicated data in an efficient manner. Finally, it is important that all content is accurate and well-researched – any discrepancies within the data being communicated could seriously detract from your overall message. Lastly, rehearsing presentations a few times before delivery can help decrease missteps or awkward pauses during delivery. Thorough preparation will ensure that all aspects of presentation are covered effectively so as to appeal to executive audiences. Having prepared effective content and slides for delivery, it’s now important to achieve the right balance between information and aesthetics in order to make a winning pitch with executives.

Achieving the Right Balance Between Information and Aesthetics

Presenting to executives can be intimidating, but following the right guidelines will ensure success. Your presentation should achieve the right balance between providing useful information and creating a visually appealing aesthetic. When presenting to an executive audience, it is essential to provide relevant metrics, while also remaining concise and engaging. To reach the optimum balance of information and aesthetics, you must deliver your message clearly and efficiently without overcrowding the slide with words or visual components. The material included should be meaningful and thoughtfully designed for maximum impact. An easy-to-follow structure that outlines key initiatives alongside supporting data will help captivate senior management. Include storytelling elements like detailed case studies, statistics, and quotes to engage the audience and add credibility to your pitch. Finally, use a few subtle graphics or visuals to spice up the presentation without overwhelming the slides. Overall, focus on conveying your ideas in a well-organised manner that pays attention to detail and simplicity. Finding the right balance between information and aesthetics will help create a winning presentation and make a strong impression on executives. Now that we have discussed achieving the right balance between information and aesthetics, let’s move onto our next section about using material to capture executives’ attention.

Using Material to Capture Executives’ Attention

To capture the attention of leaders and executives, your presentation material should be thoughtfully created to evoke their interest. Depending on the goal and context of the presentation, your materials might include visual aids such as graphs, charts, or other graphics to easily explain complex information, industry or company-specific data and statistics, or customer stories. Visual aids can demonstrate the worth of your idea or project in a concrete way, which is often more persuasive than a verbal argument. On the other hand, less is sometimes more. It is important to communicate with clarity while using only materials that are necessary to make your point. Overwhelming decision makers with an abundance of irrelevant details may cause them to zone out prior to hearing the entire story. With too many visuals or different types of content, the message you are trying to convey may become muddled— so it is best to focus on one main point or combination of points and support those with relevant visuals and data. Leaders and executives appreciate brevity and directness in pitches; ensuring relevant and targeted materials that clearly illustrate your key idea gives them just what they need. Capturing an executive’s attention with appropriate materials helps demonstrate that you understand what they need and enables them to get quickly up to speed on the matter at-hand. After presenting relevant materials that capture executive’s attention, demonstrating confidence and enthusiasm when delivering your success story will solidify an impactful impression – which is discussed in more detail in the next section.

Confidence to Deliver Your Success Story

Your success story will be at the heart of your presentation, and demonstrating confident delivery is key. Buy-in from executives is more likely if they believe you are sure of yourself and your message. To deliver a success story confidently: 1. Rehearse: Rehearse your presentation several times so that you feel comfortable speaking. This will also help you stay on track and avoid rambling. Additionally, practice pausing to give executive members time for questions or comments. 2. Be Positive: Frame your success story in a positive light and speak with enthusiasm about your work. Use affirmative language and keep up a good energy level throughout the presentation. 3. Talk Benefits: Make sure to point out how your work resulted in substantial benefits for the company or customer (e.g., increased sales or cost savings). Discuss the details, but emphasize results and takeaways. 4. Be Confident: Speak with confidence about the successes that arose from your project or product and be prepared to answer any questions regarding it objectively and professionally. If you have statistical data, use that to back up any evidence of a successful outcome. It is essential to present your success story with confidence. Being well rehearsed, upbeat, informative and engaging will allow executives to buy-in to the outcomes of your presentation. Next, we’ll explore how to make the most out of the time available by using effective presentation strategies and tools .

Utilizing Presentation Time

In the presentation, time is one of the most essential elements to articulate ideas effectively . Therefore, it is important to know how to use the allotted time wisely to make a winning pitch. Using a timer or knowing limits in advance can ensure that presentations do not exceed or fall short of expectations. If too much time is spent on peripheral issues that are only tangentially related, then important relevant content may be overlooked. This could greatly reduce the impact of the presentation and ultimately lead to an unsuccessful pitch. On the other hand, if too much detail is given without enough context and overview provided, then the executive may not get the necessary information from the pitch either. It is therefore important to find a balance between providing enough information while keeping within the bounds of time constraints. In order to accomplish this goal, preparing well-structured slides in advance and testing them before presenting will help achieve success in gaining full attention during the available duration. Be sure to leave some extra time as well for questions at the end as this will potentially open up opportunities to close more deals or uncover more ideas that could be explored further. With efficient use of time and knowledge of how much content should be covered within each section, presenting executives with a clear story line throughout can make all the difference in creating a hitting presentation. Now let’s look into what needs to be considered when talking to executives directly and asking for their feedback or action plans.

Talking to Executives

Talking to executives can be an intimidating experience, as they are usually highly experienced professionals who have already achieved great success within their industry. As such, it is important to recognize their position when engaging them in a conversation and develop strategies that will make sure you effectively communicate your ideas and receive their feedback. First and foremost, take the time to do your research on the executive ahead of time. Learn about their professional background, what kind of decisions they have made in the past and what kind of topics interest them. Doing research can also help you tailor your pitch to the individual executive’s interests and preferences. When speaking with an executive, always be mindful of their time constraints. It is important to keep conversations brief and to the point while still being informative. Do not ramble or go off-topic; address everything during that conversation that will help answer their questions and lead toward a successful outcome. Additionally, anticipate possible questions beforehand so that you can respond quickly and clearly while battling any potential nerves. When presenting an idea, it is important to convey passion without getting overly emotional or defensive. By carefully considering all angles surrounding the topic and responding thoughtfully, you will demonstrate a greater sense of strategy and understanding than simply being impassioned or aggressively defending a belief without taking into account other opinions. Finally, remain open minded during the entire process – it is much easier for an executive to agree with something when open dialogue is encouraged rather than creating a one-sided argument backed by facts alone. Executives respect those who ask questions instead of assuming they already have all the answers; this presents an opportunity for collaboration instead of confrontation and yields better results in most cases. By talking to executives respectfully, researching ahead of time, keeping conversations brief yet informative, conveying passion without getting overly emotional or defensive and remaining open-minded throughout the discussion – you will be more likely to secure success when presenting your ideas to key stakeholders.

Must-Know Points

When talking to executives, it is important to keep the conversation brief and professional while demonstrating a strong understanding of the topic. Prepare in advance by researching the executive’s interests and anticipating possible questions. Convey passion without getting overly emotional or defensive, and remain open-minded throughout the discussion; these practices will help present ideas in an effective manner and secure success. Goal setting and developing a plan for achieving success is essential too, but this will be discussed further in the following section.

Focus and Plan to Secure Success

When it comes to presenting to executives, it is essential to have a clear focus and plan in place. It is important for presenters to think strategically about the purpose and objectives of their pitch. Developing a plan prior to talking with executives means that the presenter has already thought through the main points they want to get across and can tailor the message towards the key decision makers in a concise way. Taking this preparatory step will ensure a smooth delivery and guarantee success during the presentation. Some may argue that having a set plan means that conversations with executives become robotic or forced but there are ways around this. A well-crafted plan does not mean that presenters should be overly rigid or scripted , rather it allows them to stay focused on what needs to be said, giving an opportunity for conversation in between points if desired. When done well, having a clear plan can actually lead to open discussion which naturally follows on from the structure that has been set. Finally, in order for the executive presentation or pitch to be successful, it is essential for presenters to be organized, efficient and confident – all of which are achievable when one has given enough attention and care in creating a strategic plan. With these qualities on display, it is difficult not to captivate executives and win over their trust. In conclusion, a clear focus and plan are invaluable when presenting to executives. Having taken the time to effectively strategize the approach beforehand ensures that the presenter stands out from any competition during the executive pitch, leaving them feeling more confident and secure in their success.

Presenting to executives is a challenging yet important part of many professional positions; as such, it is essential to be prepared for any of the nuances that can come with such a moment. Despite the potential difficulties and risks associated with presenting to executives, there are key strategies one needs to follow in order to maximize their chances of success—from properly researching and understanding the material you are presenting, to dress and behave professionally while engaging your audience, and speaking clearly and succinctly. Following these guidelines will ensure that you make a winning pitch when presenting to executives. On the other hand, making an inappropriate presentation or not having knowledge of the material can take away from an executive’s experience, which could lead them to becoming uninterested in what is being presented. Executives typically set high standards for themselves and those working for them, hence why it’s important to be prepared. Utilizing the ideas outlined above will help prevent such a scenario from occurring by properly equipping yourself to give an effective pitch. Overall, it is clear that presting to execuivef is no easy feat and requires extensive preparation prior to presenting. Equally important is proper dress and behavior while engaging the audience. Pay attention when they are asking questions or interjecting their thoughts during your conversation. As long as you become thoroughly knowledgeable about what is being discussed, remain professional in conduct and attire, and speak clearly and succinctly throughout the presentation—your chances of making a successful pitch will be greatly increased.

Common Questions Explained

How should i handle questions and concerns during an executive presentation.

When addressing questions and concerns during an executive presentation, it’s important to remain calm and composed. Clearly explain your points and stay on track with your messaging. Be prepared for questions though, and have a plan for how you’ll answer them. Keep your explanations concise and professional. Use tactful and respectful language when responding to difficult questions or criticism. If need be, pause for a few moments before responding, this will give you time to put together an appropriate response. Additionally, try to look for areas of agreement or common goals between what you are presenting and the audience’s needs or desires. Showing that both parties can come together to achieve a shared goal will increase credibility and lead to a better outcome. Finally, it helps to practice ahead of time so you’re familiar with potential questions or objections you might encounter during the presentation. Having thoughtful answers ready and rehearsed will help you feel more confident during the discussion and create a better overall outcome.

What strategies should I use when presenting to executives?

When presenting to executives, the most important strategy to use is to first identify your audience. Knowing the executives’ needs and preferences is critical to crafting an effective presentation. Once you know their expectations, tailor your presentation accordingly. Next, focus on creating clear objectives and generating a sense of urgency in delivering them. Clarifying the “why” behind your presentation gives context for what you plan to discuss and builds anticipation for a successful exchange. It’s also important to keep your presentation concise and focused. Executives are often busy, so it is critical not to waste their time with superfluous information. Focus instead on delivering the necessary details in a succinct and organized fashion that is easy to digest and follow. Additionally, highlighting the key points in your slides and building towards actionable requests can help maintain the interest of your audience. Finally, practice speaking in front of an executive beforehand—such as a trusted colleague or mentor—to gain confidence in your ability to deliver a compelling pitch without nerves getting in the way. With the right preparation, practice, and understanding of your audience, you’ll be sure to give an amazing presentation that will impress even the most discerning executives.

What should I do to prepare for an executive presentation?

Preparing for an executive presentation is critical to making a winning pitch. Here are some tips to consider when preparing: 1. Do Your Research: Thoroughly research the company and its executives; find out their mission, goals, values, and any other relevant information about the company before your presentation. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the executives that you’ll be presenting to by reading their bios or researching them on LinkedIn. 2. Create a Detailed Outline: Outlining your presentation will help you stay organized, focused, and on topic during your presentation. Make sure you have all the facts to back up your points and add visuals if appropriate. 3. Practice & Rehearse: Rehearse your presentation several times prior to the big day. Ask for feedback from colleagues or mentors; practice speaking confidently in front of a mirror or record yourself so you can review afterwards. 4. Dress Professionally: First impressions matter! Make sure you’re well presented on the day of your presentation; wear conservative clothing that is appropriate for the setting and audience you’re presenting to (and don’t forget a smile!). 5. Prepare Handouts & Takeaways: Depending on the type of presentation and audience, providing handouts or writing materials can be beneficial; make sure that what you give out reflects positively on you and helps solidify your message with the executives.

How to design a Professional Executive Presentation

What is an executive presentation.

An executive presentation , also known as an executive brief, is a concise proposal or update delivered to a group of executives within an organization. It typically involves presenting a new initiative or updating an ongoing project. The purpose of an executive presentation is to deliver information clearly and compellingly, allowing executives to make informed business decisions. These presentations are expected to be concise and to the point, as executives may request further clarification or adjustments.

Presentation Skills for Executives and Leaders

Executives improve presentation skills by grasping body language impact and using credible vocal tone. Personal attributes and dynamic techniques enhance communication and inspire action. Natural strengths aid in developing strong presentation skills. Presenters use PowerPoint to explain ideas to the audience. Consultants use it too in their daily tasks, perfecting their consulting slides. This collection is often called a slideshow deck shown to the audience. Close attention to be paid while designing a slide deck such that it sticks to the branding guidelines. Neat PowerPoint slides create positive audience impressions. The use of slides in ppt allows for visually appealing presentations. PowerPoint examples demonstrate design elements for inspiration, effective storytelling, and delivery methods. Consider layout, fonts, visuals in the presentation format. Relevant slide backgrounds enhance aesthetic.

6 tested methods of Executive Presentations Style

With the advent of latest technologies many software are available to design PowerPoint including Canva , a noteworthy design software. This presentation application has customizable templates and powerful editing tools, making it popular for creating custom designs for social media. Different executive summaries vary in style based on objectives and desired outcome, with format and content tailored to engage the audience effectively.

1. Visual presentations style:  These are common in PowerPoint and rely on images, videos, and audio. Apple is a notable user, along with others in the tech industry.

2. Coach presentation style:  Coach presentation ideal for engaging speakers, focuses on storytelling over slideshows, captivating audience through sheer force to sell story efficiently.

3. Instructor presentation style:  The instructor’s style is effective for conveying complex subjects that need visual aids. This is often used at trade shows and seminars for developers or engineers.

4. Freeform presentation style:  The freeform presentation style is different from the structured approach. It requires effort to deliver and involves improvisation by the speaker.

5. Connector presentation style:  In a connector presentation, the usual presenter-audience dynamic shifts towards more audience participation. This includes discussions, Q&A, or collaborative activities for a deeper exploration of ideas. The connector style enhances engagement and interaction for both speaker and audience.

6. Persuasive presentation style:  The 7 key steps in the persuasive presentation style are as follows

i. Engage your audience from the start: Capture your audience with an engaging intro. Use a thought-provoking question, a surprising stat, or a compelling anecdote to pique interest. Keeping the audience engaged lays the foundation for a convincing presentation.

ii. Use storytelling techniques: Storytelling is vital in making an ordinary presentation more relatable and easily remembered. People are drawn to stories. Personal anecdotes or case studies can illustrate your viewpoints, emotionally connecting with the audience to persuade them of your ideas.

iii. Provide evidence and data: In presentation, use evidence from research, experts, or real-life. Builds credibility, trust, and audience receptiveness to persuasive arguments.

iv. Appeal to emotions: Connect emotionally with your audience by sharing personal stories, using powerful imagery, and evoking empathy. Emotions are crucial for decision-making. Emotional connection helps convey viewpoints effectively and convince your audience.

v. Use visual aids effectively: When making a presentation, consider background, purpose, audience, outcome. Tailor PowerPoint for effective communication. Use interactive elements, clear visuals, concise text for engaging slides. Design with clear structure and flow for impact on audience. Visual aids like slides/videos can enhance presentations. Use them strategically to support key points and simplify complex info. Keep visuals simple, appealing & avoid overcrowding with text. They should complement, not distract from, the presentation.

vi. Address counter-arguments: Anticipate objections and counterarguments, address them proactively. By acknowledging and refuting opposing viewpoints, show different perspectives, strengthen argument. Demonstrates thorough research, increases credibility.

vii. Call to action: Your call to action should ask your audience to take a specific action, like implementing a new strategy. Explain the importance and benefits of that action. Provide clear instructions on how to do it. A persuasive style involves presenting ideas with evidence and passion, not manipulation. Follow these tips to increase persuasiveness and achieve your goal , especially for C-Level Presentations in High-Stake Discussions.

10 amazing tips to structure an Executive Presentation

C-Level Presentations are crucial for corporate direction, involving executives relying on teams for vital information. The impact is significant for both the organization and individuals. Crafting and delivering these presentations are challenging due to executives’ expertise. Consider their priorities, communication style, and expertise. Tailor your message, be concise, avoid gimmicks, be ready for interruptions, start with a clear conclusion, and have short and long versions prepared.

1. Clear and concise agenda:  Start the executive presentation by outlining the agenda and objectives of the presentation. This will help set the expectations and provide a roadmap for the discussion.

2. Background information:  Provide a brief overview of the topic or project being presented. This should include relevant background information, context, and any previous work or research that has been done.

3. Key findings and insights:  Present the main findings and insights gathered through research or analysis. This could include market trends, customer feedback, financial data, or other relevant information supporting the presentation’s objectives. Key takeaways are the main points that are meant to be remembered and understood after a presentation

4. Recommendations and solutions:  Provide clear, actionable recommendations based on insights. Align with presentation goals. Address challenges/opportunities.

5. Supporting data and evidence:  Back up the recommendations and insights with supporting data and evidence. This could include charts, graphs, statistics, case studies, or any other relevant information that strengthens the credibility of the presentation.

6. Implementation plan:  Outline a clear plan for implementing the recommendations or solutions. This should include timelines, responsibilities, and necessary resources or support to execute the plan successfully.

7. Risks and mitigation strategies:  Identify any potential risks or challenges during the plan’s implementation. Offer mitigation strategies or contingency plans to address these risks and ensure the project’s success.

8. Key metrics and success indicators:  Key metrics and success indicators measure project progress and impact, tracking implementation plan effectiveness to achieve desired outcomes efficiently.

9. Next steps and follow-up actions:  It is essential to communicate the next steps and follow-up actions. This could include assigning tasks, scheduling meetings, or providing additional resources or support.

10. Q&A session:  Executive presentations must make a clear case for recommendations. Allow time for Q&A to clarify, get feedback, and address concerns.

Designing an Executive Presentation in PowerPoint

Creating executive presentations for C-level executives are crucial. Ensure they are powerful to not waste time or damage credibility. Design in PowerPoint for conciseness and focus. Use fewer words for quick readability. Present proposition and conclusion by slide two. Inform executives of ROI upfront. Highlight important data and provide recommendations. Presentation design software commonly used includes PowerPoint , Google Slides , Keynote , Prezi , Canva , Visme and much more. Microsoft PowerPoint is widely used in creating professional presentations including executive presentation. PowerPoint design: fonts, colors, and images communicate ideas. Good design captures attention. Business presentations need professional slides for credibility. Google Slides and Keynote are popular. Google Presentation design creates visually appealing slides. Google Slides is user-friendly with templates and features.

9 creative ideas that will improve the Executive Presentation Designs

1. Be concise and precise:  When making an exec presentation, note their limited time. Be concise, include essential info. Temporarily remove content from a slide to check clarity. If clear, delete it. Repeat until slides have only necessary details. When picking presentation topics, think of audience, interests, and goals. For instance, tech benefits in educational presentation suits educators. Intro slides should grab attention and preview main points.

2. Use the power of visuals: When making an executive PowerPoint presentation, including visuals is crucial. Charts, images, and graphics enhance the effectiveness by conveying information clearly for audience understanding. Slides are essential for communicating important information and engaging the audience. They offer valuable insights and inspiration for impactful presentations. Short slides are popular as they maintain audience focus and avoid overwhelming them with information.

3. Improve clarity and simplicity:  It’s crucial to prioritize simplicity and clarity to save time and improve professionalism in presentations.

4. Compatible with all platforms:  Ensuring compatibility across all platforms, devices, and settings is crucial for executive presentations. Your audience may access it on different devices or in environments with limited features. Creating easily understood presentations is key to delivering messages effectively.

5. Start with Key Takeaways:  When presenting to executives, start with slides summarizing main points for a strong opening and setting the tone. Summary slide conveys key points effectively.

6. Keep it Scan-Friendly:  When presenting to execs, make info scannable by adding key takeaway at bottom or title. Each slide should focus on one major point to prevent overwhelming audience.

7. Set Time Requirement Expectations:  When presenting to executives, make info scannable by adding key takeaway at bottom or title. Each slide should focus on one major point to prevent overwhelming audience.

8. Use Color Coding:  To enhance executive presentation, use color codes to guide attention. For instance, consistently use blue fonts to highlight key takeaways. Audience will look for blue fonts to identify main points quickly. This strategy saves time and ensures audience gets information efficiently.

9. Use the Appendix Wisely:  Utilizing the Appendix for additional info in exec presentations is crucial. Anticipate audience queries and address them in the Appendix to keep core slides clean yet informative.

10 amazing tips to give a facelift to your Executive Presentation

1. Introduction:  When starting an executive presentation, keep it simple and concise. Introduce yourself, your organization, and the presentation objective briefly. Provide context with relevant background info but limit excessive details. Focus on the main topic you’re addressing.

Executive Presentation – Introduction

2. The hook:  When giving an executive presentation, grab audience’s attention is crucial. Limited time to leave a lasting impression, make every moment count!

Executive Presentation – Hook Message

Introduce value proposition and conclusion first. Highlight ROI and impact on bottom line. Studies show engagement with stats, humor, questions & quote for positivity.

3. Current situation

Executive Presentation – Current Situation

When giving an executive presentation, it’s crucial to provide a thorough overview of the client’s current situation. This includes addressing the obstacles faced, the root causes of challenges, and their business impact. Communicating resonant information is key, using relevant metrics and KPIs. Framing the presentation around these elements helps convey the client’s status and sets the tone for the rest of the talk.

4. New opportunity

When giving an executive presentation, convey your vision and how it can solve the issue or enhance the current situation. Highlight identified opportunities and their benefits. Address risks and propose strategies to mitigate them.

Executive Presentation – New Opportunity

5. Evidence

When giving an executive presentation, focus on one impactful data set to capture attention. Share relevant insights and analysis for meaning. Specific and actionable insights are key. Find unique points to spark curiosity. Explain the significance clearly. Be ready to address data-related questions. Include case studies/testimonials for practical application showcase.

Executive Presentation – Evidence

6. More evidence:  Focusing on future outcomes is key in executive presentations. Choose relevant data showing successes like cost reduction and quality improvement. Executives value data but too much can be overwhelming. Emphasize essential numbers and assure them of your well-researched recommendations.

7. Alternatives:  During executive presentations, show thorough evaluation of options before deciding. Discuss one considered and one chosen option. Alternatively, address consequences of no action.

8. Recommendations:  During executive presentation, recommend best course of action with clear rationale. Be confident, neutral. Remind audience of ROI and time frames for return.

Executive Presentation – Recommendations

9. Next steps:  During the presentation, provide an overview of the timeline, approach for our goals, key steps, milestones, and details for the project plan. Communicate any required support or resources for plan execution.

Executive Presentation – Customer Journey

10. The grand finale:  To succeed in an executive presentation, end with a powerful conclusion. Remind the audience of the engaging intro to keep them inspired and ready to act. Have a clear, concise request that is easy for them to accept promptly.

How to avoid death by PowerPoint – 5 valuable tips to turn your boring slides to awesome decks

When presenting to executives, use PowerPoint less. Executives prefer interactive discussions over lectures. If visuals are needed, follow tips to avoid boring the audience with slides.

i. Design principles: Experts in presentation design share the key principles for creating an effective presentation. Principles include one message per slide, images & short phrases, emphasizing important parts, contrast, limited objects. Emphasize dark backgrounds & highlight text. Use outline presentation to organize ideas & ensure smooth flow. Slide design is crucial for a cohesive look. Get PowerPoint tips for better design. A design slideshow enhances impact & memorability for audience.

ii. The glance test:  Creating a scannable and clear executive presentation is crucial. Use contrast, white space, and visuals like diagrams to emphasize key points. Structure the presentation logically with a focus on high-level findings, conclusions, recommendations, and next steps. Keep supporting data in the Appendix for quick reference. Ensure each slide delivers a single message that can be understood in 3 seconds.

iii. Slide titles:  Creating impactful executive presentations starts with crafting compelling headlines. Instead of generic titles like “Q2 2022 Results,” opt for attention-grabbing phrases that convey the key message, such as “Record Growth in 2022.” Using concise and specific language can instantly captivate your audience and make a lasting impression. Keep the headline within 5 to 10 words to maintain clarity and effectiveness.

iv. Visualize data:  When creating an executive presentation, avoiding overwhelming your slides with excessive detail is important. Instead, focus on presenting high-level concepts and ideas while being prepared with supporting facts and data. It can be helpful to have copies of relevant data and reports readily available in case they are needed. To effectively convey your data, utilize charts and infographics rather than lengthy reports. Select only the most compelling and relevant data that directly supports your conclusions, and strive to keep the overall presentation simple and concise.

v. Improvise:  When delivering an executive presentation, it is important to prioritize your facilitation skills over the content itself. According to a CEO, 80% of your success in this role is attributed to your ability to facilitate effectively. However, it is also crucial to anticipate and prepare for potential challenges during your presentation.

7 Common mistakes while designing your Executive Presentation

i. Lack of clarity in the message:  One of the common pitfalls in executive presentation design is the need for a definitive and concise message. They are establishing a precise objective for the presentation and ensuring that each slide and piece of information effectively reinforces that message is imperative.

ii. Overloading slides with text:  Another mistake is overcrowding slides with too much text. Executives are often busy and need more time to absorb information, so keeping slides clean and visually appealing is important. Use bullet points or concise phrases to convey key points and visuals to enhance understanding.

iii. Ignoring the audience’s needs:  Failure to consider audience needs when creating an executive presentation is a common error. Understand the executive’s expertise and adjust the presentation. Avoid using industry jargon that may not be clear to the audience.

iv. Lack of visual appeal:  An inadequately designed executive presentation may disengage the audience, making its purpose fruitless. It’s crucial to use top-quality images, charts, and graphs for aesthetic information. Consistent fonts, colors, and layouts are essential for a sophisticated look.

v. Failing to rehearse:  Common pitfall in public speaking: presenting without enough rehearsal results in lower confidence and disjointed delivery. To avoid, practice presentation multiple times for seamless delivery and better understanding of content. Repeated practice helps identify areas for improvement, enhancing presentation quality.

vi. Not addressing potential questions or objections:  Failing to anticipate and address potential questions or objections from the audience is a common mistake. Executives may have concerns or doubts, so it is important to anticipate these and prepare appropriate responses. This demonstrates thoroughness and helps to build credibility.

vii. Neglecting to have a clear call to action:  An unclear presentation without a clear call to action can lead to executive confusion about the next steps. It’s crucial to clearly state the desired outcome or action for the audience. This ensures a precise objective and clarifies their responsibilities.

Looking for Design Support to impress your C-Level Executives?

When presenting to executives, prepare a short version in case time is cut. Use slides to convey your message effectively. Reconfirm the topic’s importance if executives lose interest. If a decision maker leaves, ask for guidance on next steps. Be flexible with your agenda and adapt if the topic changes. Refocus the audience if side talk occurs, seek help from your sponsor or the senior person. Capture executives’ ideas and confirm opinions post-meeting. Reach out to Visual Sculptors. Our expert designers team have rich experience in designing high-quality presentations matching the standards on par with top-tier consulting companies like McKinsey . We will professionally improve the designs of your executive presentations that will visually capture the key messaging in each slide, easy to remember and quick to absorb.

Why wait? Reach to our VS team .

• What is executive presentation?

An executive presentation is a formal presentation given to high-level executives or decision-makers within a company or organization. It typically involves presenting important information, data, or proposals in a clear and concise manner, with the goal of influencing or informing the executives’ decisions. Executive presentations often require careful preparation and may include visual aids, such as slides or charts, to enhance understanding and engagement.

2. What is the best way to start an executive presentation?

The best way to start an executive presentation is by grabbing their attention and setting the tone for the rest of your presentation. You can start with a compelling story, a thought-provoking question, or a surprising statistic. The key is to engage your audience from the very beginning and make them interested in what you have to say.

3. How do you make an executive PowerPoint presentation?

To create an executive PowerPoint presentation, it is important to keep it concise and focused. Use clear and impactful visuals, such as charts and graphs, to convey information. Keep the text minimal and use bullet points to highlight key points. Use a professional and clean design, and practice your presentation to ensure a smooth delivery.

4. What are 7 elements of powerful presentation?

The 7 elements of a powerful presentation are: clear objective, engaging opening, well-structured content, compelling visuals, effective delivery, audience interaction, and memorable closing.

5. What is an executive summary slide?

An executive summary slide is a concise overview of a presentation or report that highlights the key points and main findings. It is typically used to provide a quick summary of the content and to grab the audience’s attention. The executive summary slide should include a clear and compelling headline, a brief description of the problem or opportunity, the main objectives or goals, and the key recommendations or takeaways. It should be visually appealing and easy to understand, with minimal text and impactful visuals.

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How to design a compelling C-Level Presentation

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Professional Skills Development

How to create powerful executive level presentations [+ template].

Taking these steps will start the process towards a more resilient, innovative, and client-focused approach to key account management.

We’ve all been there.

Don’t let that happen to your presentations. Especially when your audience is a room full of executives

Executive-level presentation framework in 22 minutes

Transformation not information.

Either to someone inside or outside your organisation. The reasons are many:

A compelling presentation needs to answer the question, “so what?”

How can your presentation inspire some sort of transformation? In one or two sentences describe the change your presentation will bring to the audience. It will help you stay focused on what’s important as you write it.

Executive level presentation framework

It only runs 22 minutes. Which means for a 30 minute meeting you have plenty of time to answer questions, or get things back on track if you run overtime on a slide or end up in a detour.

1. Introduction (2 minutes)

2. the hook (2 minutes), 3. current situation (3 minutes), 4. new opportunity (3 minutes), 5. evidence (2 minutes), 6. more evidence (2 minutes), 7. alternatives (2 minutes), 8. recommendations (2 minutes), 9. next steps (2 minutes), 10. the grand finale (2 minutes).

The best way to conquer stage fright is to know what you're talking about Michael H. Mescon

How to avoid death by PowerPoint

In fact, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has gone so far as to ban PowerPoint presentations at Amazon HQ and replaced them with  six-page structured memos .

Design principles

The glance test.

Duarte says to focus on your high level findings, conclusions, recommendations and next steps. Keep supporting data and other materials in the appendix so you can quickly pull up the slides and go deeper if you need to.

Slide titles

Powerful executive level presentations begin with a good headline. Try writing  slide titles like a newspaper  and tell a story that conveys exactly what it’s about.

Visualise data

According to one CEO, “Eighty percent of your success at the top is your facilitation skills. Only 20 percent is your content.”

If companies would have as little respect for business as they have for presentations, the majority would go bankrupt Dr. John Medina

Presentation Resources

Bring your executive presentation to life with facts, figures and imagery that adds credibility to your recommendations. Here are a few of my favourite resources.

Presentation and diagram templates

There are many places to get statistics from: Government agencies, trade organisations, Chambers of Commerce and all the big consulting firms like PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and so many others. Or try these. Just make sure you quote your sources on your slides.

Free stock photos

Don’t be too literal. If your presentation is about saving money, don’t use a picture of piles of cash. Think about what saving money means to your client and choose that picture instead. Something that triggers an emotional reaction.

Ditch the bullet points and use icons to illustrate your message. They’re very effective and creative. Here are the libraries I use.

Illustrations

Related articles.

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How to Give a Presentation to Senior Management & Executives (+ Expert Tips)

Do you have a big presentation to the C-Suite coming up? Use these executive presentation tips to deliver an attention-getting presentation. Keeps top execs engaged and interested.

It happens. You prep all night for an executive presentation, then it doesn't go as smoothly as it did in your head. It's not flowing, and you feel like your audience is kind of bored. 

To prevent your audience from saying " thank you; next ," you'll need to  up your presentation game.

This tutorial will show you how to present a presentation to senior management so you can keep their attention. You'll also see some of the best executive presentation formats and management presentation samples from Envato Elements and GraphicRiver. 

Best PowerPoint Executive Presentation Templates (With Unlimited Use)

A good place to find  executive PowerPoint presentation templates is Envato Elements. They've got a great offer to take advantage of today. Download as many management presentation templates as you want for one low price.  

For a head start with designing your slides, check out the  executive presentation templates  on Envato Elements. 

For well-designed executive slide decks that grab and hold your audience's attention, turn to Envato Elements. 

Here are some of the PowerPoint templates for executive presentations:

Envato Elements is great if you need a range of template designs for several executive presentations. But,  if you need a single template for one-off use, then check out the affordable  business PowerPoint templates  on GraphicRiver.  These popular templates for executive presentations will help you create eye-catching management presentations. And at a price that suits your budget.

If you're preparing an executive presentation in PPT, you want it to be the best it can be. Read on for tips on presenting to senior management and other executives.

15+ Tips for Better Executive Presentations (+ Expert Advice)

Are you planning on presenting recommendations to senior management? Use the following tips to create more effective executive presentations:  

1. Research Your Audience

When preparing for a presentation to senior management, a little research goes a long way. A good place to start is LinkedIn. Because it's business-oriented, LinkedIn can help you find the interests and background of the executives you'll be presenting to . You may be presenting to a group, but they're all individuals with different roles and focuses. 

For example, when presenting recommendations to senior management, know that the data you'll present to the CFO might not interest the CMO, and vice versa. Some people might be passionate about a particular topic or turned off by it. And some of your recommendations may have bigger implications for some departments than others.  Researching your audience as individuals helps you tailor your executive presentation to them.

Author and public speaker Pamela Hilliard Owens suggests:

"After you have been awarded the presentation opportunity, take the time to visit the company’s website and research the bios of each person who will be in your audience. Pay particular attention to the person’s title and position in the company as well as to what is important to them. If possible, try to get to know the person by name and title so that you can address them and/or their top issues or concerns as you prepare and present your topic."

"There’s no excuse to skip audience research.  It only takes one or two targeted examples to turn your presentation into a personal experience. Leverage the hobbies and interests of your audience to select examples which support your message."

2. Research the Niche

Sometimes it's as important to understand the niche you're presenting in as the audience. Mitch Mitchell, President and CEO of T.T. Mitchell Consulting , says:

"Audience research is important if you're addressing people with certain skills that might be out of the norm. For instance, if you're addressing an audience of nurses and medical people, it helps to know something in regards to how they work and what they deal with. The same goes for teachers. Depending on the presentation, I might not do audience research for most industries, but I might do market research on the topic so the presentation would be pertinent."

3. Prime the Audience

Andy Crestodina, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Orbit Media Studios , who gives 100+ presentations a year, says prepping your audience in advance is a good way to ensure your presentation is well-received:

"The key to a great presentation is to prime the audience. Make sure everyone knows the point of the presentation. State the goal of the meeting up front, in the meeting invite and on the first slide.  Make sure each point is concise. If you’re using a deck, limit it to only one idea per slide.  Never read slides. They’re there to support you, not replace you.  If there are deeper details, keep them in your back pocket (often at the end of a deck) and be ready to show them if necessary.  If there are likely dissenters, discuss things with them prior to the presentation. If you get surprising, negative feedback during a presentation, you likely didn’t prep that person well enough in advance!"

4. Tailor Your Presentation to Your Audience

Research your audience and niche. Then use that information to create a stellar presentation that meets their needs. Author, speaker and trainer Amma Marfo says:

"The key for clear communication with senior management is speaking in a language that they understand. So, as an expert on the topic at hand, consider filtering it through their lens. Are they primed to be moved by strong statistics? Make sure that you have quantitative proof of impact. If they’re convinced a given issue doesn’t exist? Come prepared with testimonials from impacted parties. Take note of not just what you want to share, but how they want to hear it."

"When I prepare to present to a company or organization, I make sure to spend time with organizers going over the context in which I’ll be speaking. What organizational issues might impact how people hear me when I arrive? How might people feel about this topic, and will it be an uphill climb for me to educate them on this? Without that context, I may be successful in delivering a talk, but I’ll have no idea if I can be impactful."

5. Project Confidence

When presenting data to executives, how you appear is almost as important as the data itself. That's why it's good to project the right body language . If you slouch, seem stressed, and don't look at your audience, then you'll wind up alienating them. Your presentation will seem boring, even if it really isn't.

But, when you look confident, have a relaxed demeanor, and make eye contact, it makes your audience more interested in what you've got to say. Check out our article on the importance of body language in presentations for more tips on using body language to win over your audience.

Nicole Fende has two unusual, but attention-getting, tips for projecting confidence as a presenter, by using lightsabers (yes, really!) and improv:

"I own 8 (yes 8!) movie replica lightsabers and often ask my clients to hold one.  Even people who’ve never seen Star Wars will stand straighter and carry themselves with more confidence.  Find your touchstone and hold it while you rehearse or right before your presentation. Please note, I do not recommend taking the lightsaber into your presentation unless George Lucas will be there. When things go wrong the key is riding out the moment calmly.  Improv teaches you how to handle even the craziest of scenarios and keep going. Improv has improved my presentation skills exponentially."

6. Lead With the Summary

The term "executive summary" exists for a reason. It's a good way to think of the starting point for executive presentations. 

The ideal executive presentation format is to lead with a summary of the key facts they need to know on the first slide. This helps focus their attention and create interest. When you get straight to the point, they'll know they're not wasting their time—and you're not wasting it, either. Here's a high level executive summary PowerPoint example using the Business PowerPoint template from Envato Elements:

It's ideal for busy execs who've dashed into your presentation at the last minute. This approach tells them why they're there and why they need to pay attention. Andy Crestodina agrees with this advice, but says it's useful for all presentations:

"The “executive summary” is important for the C-suite audience and anyone else. The reason is simple: people are not good listeners until they know that they are being listened to. If you do too much talking up front, the listener will gradually grow uncomfortable as they wait to give their input.  If you begin with a summary and then sit back and listen, you’ll quickly learn if there is support or objections. Then you can focus on those points as you continue the presentation.  With this approach, the presentation adapted for the audience as you go. It isn’t a monolog, it’s a dialog. That is the goal. It should feel more like a conversation. Most people would rather have a conversation than sit through a presentation."

Mitch Mitchell suggests that whether you need a summary for an executive presentation depends on the audience's knowledge:

"I think it depends on what the audience may or may not know about the presentation up front. For instance, if they're unsure of the topic of the presentation, a summary would be prudent to hopefully get their attention. If they know what the topic is going to be then a summary might not be needed in a normal sense; an outline will do."

After the summary, expand on your key points . Even busy execs who can't stick around for the whole presentation will get the most important information. Once you're past the summary slide, then keep it simple. Explain the situation, offer a solution, and explain the benefits of that solution, with relevant supporting information and data.

7. Make Your Presentation Flow

One of the best executive presentation tips I can share is to make your presentation flow by arranging information in a logical order . Once you've done your executive summary, then the slides that follow should outline the context. Cover those main points in order. 

While you're presenting, guide your audience to the key parts of your slides they should look at. Remember, while you're presenting, you're in charge.

8. Keep Your Executive Presentation on Topic

For an executive presentation, you may have to talk about business goals and values, business risks and opportunities. Do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. Learn more about creating and SWOT analysis slides here:

Whatever your subject, the key thing when creating presentations for executives is to stay on topic. If you don't, your audience will lose interest fast. Use your presentation speaker notes to help you keep your presentation relevant.

9. Have a Single End Goal

When presenting recommendations to senior management, it's important to have a goal. Before you start, know what key recommendation you're leading to. Mention this in the executive summary. Then present the evidence to make a compelling rationale for your key takeaway.

10. Include Relevant Statistics

If you want to grab—and hold—the attention of the C-Suite, wow them with data. Using the right stats will make your executive presentations more compelling. Stats can also support the recommendations you make. One tip: check and double check your stats before you make your executive presentation.  A single error could undermine the validity of your whole pitch. 

Andy Crestodina advises:

"People want to believe we are rational decision makers, even when it’s not the case. Statistics and data appeal to that rational part of the mind, letting decision makers feel like they are using data to make a good decision. But mostly, they help people rationalize the choices they have already mostly made. They are visual triggers for the confirmation bias. To make them more effective in this role, make the analysis and conclusion obvious. Don’t show a spreadsheet. Show a simple chart with the analysis added so the point is 100% obvious.  For example, if I was looking for support to create more long form content, I would show the trend data, but highlight the conclusion."

11. Present Data So It Gets Attention

When presenting data, it's important to remember that the figures tell a story. You want that story to be as clear as possible. Here are some tips to help you achieve that:

• Decide on the right chart type for the data you're presenting. Whether you use bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, Venn diagrams or another chart type will depend on the data you've got to present.
• Avoid clutter as this can make data hard to read.
• Use color wisely to help viewers distinguish among data points.
• Ensure chart labeling is clear and helpful.

Nicole Fende recommends adding an interactive element to data presentation:

"Turn dry into compelling with an interactive presentation.  I will have people take out a coin, pick heads or tails, and flip it. If you chose correctly – congrats you’ve picked a successful company to copy. If your choice didn’t land – too bad, you’re following someone else right into failure. I use this to illustrate the risk in blindly copying another company’s pricing, policies, product offerings, strategy, etc.  It evokes emotion and involves three senses – visual, auditory, and touch."

Using executive presentation templates can also make your data stand out. Here's a high level presentation example, using the Sigma PowerPoint template , of how a small design tweak can make a big difference. In the first slide, all the bars are the same color. The audience is forced to check each line to figure out the percentages.

Look at the difference below! In the second chart, the addition of percentage labeling, and color contrast makes the data much easier to understand.

12. Pay Attention to Slide Design

An important part of making your management presentation appealing is having well-designed slides with a coherent visual identity. Unless you're confident about your graphic design skills, consider getting a premade management presentation sample or template. This will save time on the design elements of your presentation. You can have the confidence that it'll look great. Pamela Hilliard Owens advises:

"If you think people are getting tired of Zoom calls, they are really tired of PowerPoint slides! When designing your slides, ensure that you, and not your slides, are the star of the show. Add only 2 or 3 bullet points to each slide, and use them only as an outline for your presentation. Remind your audience that they will receive a printout of the slides, so they won’t need to take notes. That way they can focus primarily on you and what you are saying, instead of focusing on reading the slides and writing while you are speaking." 

13. Watch Your Language

When preparing your presentation slides, pay attention to the words you use, and how you use them. Avoid unnecessary jargon —when people don't understand it, that's a major turnoff. And keep slide text short and focused on the essentials. That gives people time to read it and avoids an off-putting wall of text.

Here's an example, using the Sepi business PowerPoint theme . On the first slide, there's a chunk of text, which most people will find hard to read.

The second slide is better, extracting the key points and putting them in bullet point form.

14. Get Your Timing Right

It's worth repeating that it pays to keep executive presentations short and focused. Don't make the mistake of creating a presentation that fills your whole time slot. If there's one thing you can count on, it's interruptions from your audience.

Allow for that in advance by making your presentation shorter than the allotted time. Plan for questions and interruptions. For time-crunched execs, a presentation that finishes early while still providing value is a bonus.

That said, you don't want to finish so early they feel short-changed. Amma Marfo recalls learning a lesson about presentation timing:

"Sometimes this is awkward for people, but practice, practice, practice. I made this mistake early in my speaking career - assuming there’d be longer periods for engagement and question, I finished what I thought would be an hourlong presentation…in twelve minutes. Now, when I put together a session on a new topic, I test it out - you can do this alone with a timer, or with a small group of trusted colleagues to simulate any interactive parts of the presentation for you."

15. Expect the Unexpected

Speaking of questions, there's no telling what those execs might ask. It's wise to prepare for the unexpected and do some research around your presentation topic . That'll help you be ready for any questions that come out of left field. 

That also goes for any data you include. Identify areas where people are likely to ask questions and have extra supporting data to help answer them.

Every now and then, you'll get a completely unexpected question. Don't panic. If you don't know the answer immediately, don't be afraid to say so. Just promise to check your facts and get back to the questioner with the answer in a short time. 

16. Practice in Advance

When it comes to delivering the perfect executive presentation, practice makes perfect. Run through your executive slide deck as many times as it takes to know your material inside out. Have a mental picture of where the supporting information is for each of your main points. That'll help you find it quickly if someone asks a specific question. Mitch Mitchell comments:

"I've always over-prepared. I put together an outline, I make sure I know all the answers to everything I want to talk about, then I rehearse upwards of 5-7 times to get the timing correct. The worst thing is to come across as unprepared or unprofessional; no one likes being rambled at." 

Pamela Hilliard Owens agrees:

"Practice, practice, practice, and be yourself. You were hired for your experience, your expertise, your personality, and your ability to relate to your audience. As you prepare your presentation, put yourself in the shoes and minds of your audience. Ask yourself: What are my goals for this presentation? Do my goals match the goals of the person/group to whom I am presenting? What are the specific “takeaways” I want for my audience? Am I speaking so that the people in my audience actually want to hear what I am saying?"

17. Step Away From the Podium

Don't be afraid to move away from the PowerPoint presentation and use a whiteboard to illustrate a key point. Switching up maintains interest and shows you know your stuff. It makes for an appealing presentation.

Grab Some Professional Presentation Templates

Find more high-level presentation examples in the articles below:

Learn More About Presentations

Want some more help with creating presentations for executives? Check out the tutorials below for more guidance:

Don't Miss Our New Free Online Presentation Guide

Now that you've been through our tutorial, do you want to learn even more about public speaking? We've got the resource for you! We'll take you through the complete process to get you ready for your next executive presentation in PPT—from start to finish.

Don't miss our new free online presentation guide,  The Complete Guide to Making Great Business Presentations . It's chock full of powerful business presentation advice to help you make your next business presentation your best yet.

Get a Unique Executive Presentation Template Today!

Now, it's over to you. Choose one of the PowerPoint templates we've shared in this tutorial. Or go to Envato Elements for a stunning executive PowerPoint presentation template that'll make your audience take notice. Look at GraphicRiver's best PowerPoint templates or business PowerPoint templates for even more choice. 

Download your favorite executive presentation template today.

Editorial Note : This article was original published on November 4th, 2019. It's been updated to include new information by Sharon Hurley Hall .

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The 7 Questions You Must Answer in All Your Executive Presentations

Executive presentations can be the hardest nut to crack, yet will have the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to your career advancement.

Master the executive presentation, and you will get the visibility and recognition to drive your career upward. The alternative is to fumble and ramble through, and get labeled as “ not for leadership ” material.

It’s unfortunate because being smart, analytical, detailed oriented will work against you when developing your executive brief, unless, you follow a disciplined approach to clarify and broaden your message.

What is an executive presentation?

An executive presentation is a brief update or a proposal you deliver to the executives in your organization. You either do an update on a project you worked/ working on, or you make a proposal for something new.

An executive presentation is also called an Executive Brief

It’s called a brief because executives live in a “no time,” “no patience dimension,” and will not tolerate you wasting their time.

Executives live in a “no time,” “no patience dimension,” and will not tolerate you wasting their time.”

I know that you might be thinking – you are busy too and distilling your message to the essence is hard to do, and maybe unfair to expect it out of you, but that’s the reality we live in. The senior executives hold the key to your promotions and making their life easier by putting some thought into your presentation will make your career progress easier.

Demystifying Executive Presentations with the 4 Executive Thinking Styles:

To create excellent executive presentations, you need to understand the 4 executive thinking styles. Then you need to tailor your message to appeal to those thinking styles instead of your own

The four thinking styles of executives is an adaptation of Dr. Bernice McCarthy’s  4MAT learning style system developed for to enhance the educational experience of students. I adopted it over the years to communicate better with leaders and executives in a business setting.

The “Why” thinkers:

The first executive thinking style is called the “Why” thinking style, these are the executives who care mostly about why we are doing things and why now. These executives tend to be in sales, marketing, and a lot of times the CEOs.

The “What” thinkers:

The second executive thinking style is called the “What” thinking style, these are the executives that care mostly about answering “what based questions” like what is the background, what is the science, what is the history, what is the science? Etc. These executives tend to be in engineering and technology like the CTO of companies or the VP of engineering.

These executives tend to be in engineering and technology like the CTO of companies or the VP of engineering.

The “How” thinkers

The third executive thinking style is the “How” thinking style. The how thinking executives, tend to think by asking “How based questions” like how do we get it done, how do we go forward, How do we get over this obstacle? Etc. The COO or the VP of project management would have this style.

The COO or the VP of project management would have this style.

The “What if” thinkers:

The fourth executive thinking style is the “What if” style. This is a funny group because they have “what if negative,” and “what if positive.”

The what if positive thinkers are the entrepreneurial executives like the CEO and co-founders of a startup (CEOs of established companies tend to be Why thinkers for the most part).

The what if negative are the executives that usually focus on what could go wrong like corporate counsel, CFO, and VP of quality. Note- there is nothing wrong with being what if negative, in fact, this type of thinking, is essential for strong organizations.

If you want to create an executive presentation, the safest route is to assume that all these thinking styles are present in the room and create a presentation that addressed all these learning styles.

Warning: if you do not consider all these thinking styles, then you will create a presentation based on your thinking style as a default and as a result, you will resonate with people who think like you and miss the rest.

[easy-tweet tweet=”if you do not consider all these thinking styles, then you will create a presentation based on yours.”]

When you are communicating with your peers, communication-based on your learning style is OK because your peers will probably think like you.

However, as you go higher in your organization, your message must have a broader appeal. Being able to communicate in all four thinking styles will allow you to reach more people and influence more executives with your message.

The 7 Questions to answer in every executive presentation or briefing:

Now that you know the thinking styles, all you have to do is create a presentation based on all these styles. Below is the template to guide you the next time you have to create a brief.

When used, this template will ensure that you have a concise, precise and laser focused executive presentation that will get the eyes of officials to jump out of their sockets.

The 7 questions you need to answer in every brief:

1. why are you there.

You have to be explicit in front of executives. You can’t be vague and wishy-washy. You got to be upfront with why you are there presenting to them.

Some examples of good answers: I am here today to give you an update on project x, or I am here to propose a new way of doing business.

2. Why does it matter (why is what you are saying important now)?

When executives are making a decision, they are always trying to assess the importance of what you are talking about. You tell them the importance of your idea, proposal, update, to make sure they don’t check out trying to figure it out on their own.

It’s amazing how many executives space out during a technical project update because they have no idea why the project is important anyway.

So you got to tell them why it is important now .

3. What is the background?

If you see 10 project updates a day, then after a week all these projects start to blur in your mind. That’s what happens to executives unless the project is one of their baby projects (a project they are directly involved in).

Most likely they will forget about your project unless you remind them and give them context by giving some background on what you are doing. It is easy to overdo this step, so be careful, and just give some background to establish common ground but not so much to bore and distract the executives with the minutia.

4. What is the update or what is the proposal?

This is the part where you get to the meat of the topic. Everything you said before this step was the ramp up for this.

I know what you might be thinking: don’t the executives want this part only. No, they also want the context and the importance of the update. Otherwise, they will be confused.

5. How to go forward?

This is where you tell the executives the next steps. Again, don’t get too much into the weeds here, talk about next steps in big blocks. You don’t need to tell them the timeline one hour at a time; you just need to explain the next steps from a broader perspective.

Instead of saying today, we will do x, tomorrow we will do y, and so on for an hour. Say we are working on getting manufacturing approval by the end of this month, and we will roll out the change in beta mode by the end of the quarter, and if everything checks out, we will launch with full force in Q3 this year.

Notice, no minutiae, just logical and zoomed out perspective .

6. What if negative

Remember, the what if negative people are the ones who will point out what’s wrong with you presentation. Ideally, you want to handle these people and their objections offline by lobbying their support. However, that might not always happen, so what you want to do here is bring up objections, alternatives and quickly deal with them.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Always try to lobby for support offline before the big presentation. The presentation is just a formality.” hashtags=”leadership, influence, sanfranciscoclasses”]

There are two reasons you bring this up first, rather than wait for someone to bring it up:

• One it shows that you have a balanced and rational view and it shows that you considered alternatives and what could go wrong and adjusted for it.
• Two it allows you to bring up objections first and deal with them before others do. This allows you to handle objections without having the other’s ego attached to it.Imagine if the CFO brings up an objection and you manage it, the CFO’s ego might get touched a bit, and she might dig in her heels, but if you bring up the objection and handle it before the CFO then you save the CFO’s ego, and you might get less resistance from her.

It’s important to remember calibration here – if there are no objections to your ideas, then maybe just mention a couple of alternative plans to show that you are balanced in your thinking, or just skip this altogether. The last thing you want to do is to plant objections when there were none.

7. What if positive

The executives are human beings too. So naturally, they have big goals, big dreams, and big ideas too. These thoughts usually manifest themselves in big company initiatives or executive baby projects. These baby projects tend to occupy a lot of the executive’s mind, and naturally, they care more about these pet projects than your project.

In the “what if positive” section of your executive brief, you want to tie your ideas to one of these baby projects or big company initiatives if you can.

For example: If you know that there is a big business initiative to improve diversity in your organization, and your proposal is related to the new intern rotation program, then at the end link your project to that big company initiative for diversity.

With both the what if negative and what if positive, you don’t want to overdo things. Use both strategically in the right meeting and for the right projects and updates.

Notice that all the above questions address all the executive thinking styles. Answering these questions will make sure that you appeal to all of the executives in the room and demonstrate that you can communicate to a broad audience.

Most of the time answering these questions will be your whole executive presentation.

Step by step procedure:

First, think of a project update or a project proposal you want to present to the executives.

Second, go through the template below and answer one question at a time. Just keep it simple, the executive brief is typically between 2-15 minutes max. If the executives need more, they will ask you questions, but most of the time this is all they need.

Executive Brief Template

You can use this template to create your verbal executive briefing, or you can do it as a physical print out or email to send out to executives. Either way, it will work.

Use the template exactly as it is first, then if you want to adjust things feel free to make adjustments to fit your style and personality.

• Why are you here? I am here to __________
• Why is it important? This is important because__________
• What is the background? Just to give you some background on this:__________
• What is the update or what is the proposal? – For update: Here is the latest update__________ – For a proposal: Because of__________, I recommend/ propose we do__________
• How to go forward? The way to go forward for us is__________
• What if negative? – If objections then use this: I know some of you might be thinking__________, but,__________ – If consequences: If we don’t do__________, then__________ – If presenting alternatives: We also considered__________, and we still think__________
• What if positive? After all, we are trying to achieve_(Big Initiative)__, and this__(your proposal or update)__will help us do it (faster, better, etc)

Here is an example of an executive presentation/briefing

For this example, I will show you an example, for a project proposal from the biotech industry.

Good morning!

I am here today to propose a new process for handling deviations.

This is important because the new process will help us increase efficiency and accuracy.

Just a quick background, our normal process for handling deviations right now looks like x, y, z (I removed the actual process to keep it simple). As you can tell there are multiple steps in the process, and that takes a lot of time and provides multiple points of error in documentation.

• I want to propose a new process to replace the x, y, z steps with only step w. This reduces the process to one step instead of three. For example…. (you can further illustrate by elaborating with a small example)
• To go forward we just need your approval on this new process for handling deviations, and once we have it, my team and I will take care of the documentation and training, and we will be ready to roll out by next quarter.
• I know that some of you might be concerned that reducing the process to one step instead of three removes the checks and balances that come with many eyes seeing the deviation.We, in fact, believe that reducing to one step, with one centralized accountability will enhance the accuracy. We currently follow a similar one step process for changing SOPs, and since implementation, it reduced the errors in procedures by 30%. We think we will achieve the same effect with this process change to handling deviations.

After all, our big initiative this year is to improve our manufacturing efficiency, and to update the deviation process is one big step forward to help us achieve our efficiency goal.

___________

Notice when you do the example, you do not vocalize the questions. The questions are just for you to help guide you and keep you organized. Here is the same example above with questions so that you see how they were used.

——- Good morning!

Why are you here?

I am here to __________

Why is it important?

This is important because ______________

What is the background?

Just to give you some background on this:______________

What is the update or what is the proposal?

For update: Here is the latest update_________________

(NA, it’s a proposal this time, see below)

For a proposal: Because of ______________, I recommend/ propose we do __________________

I want to propose a new process to replace the x, y, z steps with only step w. This reduces the process to one step instead of three. For example….

How to go forward?

The way to go forward for us is __________________________

To go forward we just need your approval on this process, and once we have it, my team and I will take care of the documentation and training, and we will be ready to roll out by next quarter.

What if negative?

If objections then use this: I know some of you might be thinking________, but, ____________________________

I know that some of you might be concerned that reducing the process to one step instead of three removes the checks and balances that come with multiple set of eyes seeing the deviation. We, in fact, believe that reducing to one step, with one centralized accountability will enhance the accuracy.

We currently follow a similar one-step process for changing SOPs and since implemented it reduced the errors in procedures by 30%. We think we will achieve the same effect with this process change to handling deviations.

If consequences: If we don’t do _____________, then ___________

NA handled objection this time

If presenting alternatives: We also considered _______________, and we still think____________________________

NA handled objections this time

What if positive?

After all we are trying to achieve ___(big initiative)___________, and this ____(update/proposal)____________ will help us do it (faster, better, etc)

In this article, you learned how to create executive presentations and executive briefings to communicate effectively to senior executives

You learned the 4 primary groups of information from you every time you present to them. The why, the what, the how and the what if of the project.

Instead of dancing around the bush, now you have the structure and template to structure your presentation for maximum impact and influence. As s a result you will not ramble, you will not stumble, and you will sound great.

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You are tasked with creating a presentation for your C-level executives. This is your chance to rise and shine and make a big impact in your company. However, if you do not create a powerful presentation, you will end up wasting the time of your key executives, and most importantly, end up ruining your credibility. These tips will help you create a robust deck, well-suited for senior executives.

Tip #1: Keep it Short

Executives have little time and short attention spans. You want to get straight to the point and only include details that are necessary. A good practice is to temporarily delete some content from a slide to check if it still delivers your key message. If it does, you can permanently delete that piece of content. Repeat this exercise until your slides only have the absolutely necessary content.

Tip #2: Keep it Visual

You have heard it a million times – a picture is worth a thousand words. Use this principle when creating decks. Use charts, images, and graphics whenever possible. This will help you convey more information while keeping the deck short, and will make it easier for your audience to understand your presentation.

Tip #3: Keep it Simple

Do not use animations or any fancy graphics. They do not add any value and hurt your credibility. Keep things as simple as possible. It will save you time and make your presentation more professional.

Tip #4: Keep it Universal

Make sure your presentation works as you intended on all platforms, devices, and settings. You never know where it might be viewed. Your audience may view it on a tablet or smartphone, or can view it in a setting where they are unable to see the video you have added to the slide. It is best to create presentations that deliver the key messages in any setting.

Tip #5: Start with Key Takeaways

Another best practice is to include a slide or two in the beginning highlighting the key takeaways of your presentation. This will help you get started on a strong note and set the right tone for the rest of the presentation.

Tip #6: Keep it “Scan-Friendly”

A lot of executives will initially just “scan” a presentation that they receive. Make it easier for them to scan the presentation by adding the key takeaway of each slide at the bottom or in the title. Also, make sure that each slide only has one major takeaway.

Tip #7: Set Time Requirement Expectations

Executives will appreciate if you let them know in advance how much time will be required to review your presentation, especially if they are receiving it in an email. Set the time requirement expectations on the first page of your deck, e.g. “Time Requirement: Quick Scan – 10 minutes, Detailed Review: 30 minutes”.

Tip #8: Use Color Coding

Use color codes to “train” your audience to better view your presentation. E.g. use blue fonts to write all your key takeaways on slides. After viewing 4-5 slides, your audience will automatically look for blue fonts to view the key takeaway of that slide. This will help your audience save time while getting the needed information.

Tip #9 Use the Appendix Wisely

Use the Appendix to provide any additional information that may be helpful in understanding the presentation. Make a list of most likely follow-up questions that viewers / readers will have, and answer those questions in the Appendix. This helps you keep your core slides clean while including all the needed information.

September special: Business Transformation PPT Templates

Level Up Your Executive Presentations with 7 PowerPoint Templates

• August 1, 2022
• Management , PowerPoint templates for download

Visualizing various management topics and concepts such as strategies, analyses, plans, business models, objectives, etc. can be challenging because such slides usually incorporate a lot of information. To succinctly convey these ideas during company meetings, we suggest strengthening your executive presentations with graphics and relevant visuals.

Here you’ll find our recommendations for PowerPoint slide decks that can be a source of graphical inspiration for you.

Running behind on your presentation schedule, or just looking forward to making sure your presentations are top-notch? Use the power of visuals to communicate your insight and key points efficiently, save time with your management tasks, and finally deliver that presentation without worrying about creative presentation ideas!

You can get any slide deck presented here as an editable PPT file. Click on the slide pictures to see and download the source illustration. Check the full collection of Operational Management and Planning Presentation Templates here .

Here is a suggestion of several templates that will help you save time and effort in creating your executive presentations. You can use them as a whole presentation or just copy specific slides and graphics: 

• OKR Framework: Objectives Key Results

Responsibility Assignment RACI Matrix

• SWOT Analysis
• Product and Strategy Roadmap Tables
• Status Review Meeting

30-60-90 Day Action Plan

• SMART Goal Planning

Objectives and Key Results (OKR) Infographics

OKR is a goal-setting methodology to set challenging, ambitious goals with measurable results. Even if you don’t utilize the OKR methodology within your company, you might still need to talk about tracking and measuring objectives, progress over time, or monthly/quarterly achievements and failures. See Objectives and Key Results Performance Review deck with slides to illustrate OKR concepts, goal setting processes, progress tracking, and performance reports.

You can also explore our ideas on showing improvement or failure concepts with icons, which often appear in presentations related to goal reviews.

The RACI matrix is used for assigning job tasks and defining work breakdowns. It’s a valuable project management tool that will help you identify roles assigned to each duty: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. Such a table can help give you an overview of who’s in charge of what between team members.

Creating your own matrix can be pretty time-consuming – have a look at our pre-designed RACI matrix diagrams that will help you create clear slides faster.

Examples of using RACI matrix graphics:

• Illustrating higher-level project milestone responsibilities
• Drawing a map of personnel occupation status and evaluating your group’s capacity for the next assignment(s)
• Explaining people and work management theories

SWOT Analysis Presentation Diagrams

The SWOT analysis is a well-known strategic planning and management technique, which is very often included in executive presentations or marketing reports. SWOT can be used to influence stakeholders’ decisions, so it’s important to illustrate it effectively to make an impact on your audience. Check our SWOT analysis diagrams collection for inspiration.

See more ideas on how to display SWOT analysis findings here . Also, explore our icon ideas to illustrate strength and weakness concepts. Even 1 small image can make a difference to your presentation.

Product and Strategy Roadmap Presentation Tables

Whether you need to present a company strategy, show the history of your business projects, or plan product/software development and launches, roadmap graphics and tables are great visuals for visualizing these concepts. This Product and Strategy Roadmap Presentation Tables deck is designed to help you get rid of text and make the content more visual.

These roadmaps tables can be used in a broad spectrum of contexts:

• Illustrating a long-term strategy of a company
• Showing a history of your business activities
• Planning a product development and launch journey
• Reviewing the current status of completed parts of a project

Review Meeting Template

For your team to work together, you need to communicate clearly about the goals you have and make sure they know where things stand with their projects. However, one pitfall is that review meetings and brainstorming sessions take too much time – especially if they are unorganized and not structured properly.

To facilitate team meetings effectively and find the best solutions, you can use a Status Review Meeting set of slides that will help you present various meeting topics.

You can use these presentations graphics to:

• Keep track of your business’s next steps
• Outline what topics will be discussed
• Show clearly meeting agenda, structure, and outcomes
• Create lists, agendas, timelines, and further steps diagrams
• Evaluate the current market and company situation, present key market data and KPI numbers
• Adjust strategy to this situation, set new objectives
• Distribute new tasks over a timed schedule and hold people accountable

Explore more ideas on how to manage an effective review meeting and visual examples of various meeting sections here . If you’re holding an annual review or strategy planning meeting, have a look at the following deck collection.

If you’re interviewing for a management position or need to present a plan for accomplishing a big goal, 30-60-90 Day Action Plan graphics can help you visualize your proposals.

You can also use these graphics while creating an actionable project template to divide big goals into manageable tasks or show end goals during the performance review. You can also use these infographics to:

• Show a detailed plan for every 30 days using minimalistic diagram graphics
• Visualize a development plan using growing plant graphics to show improvements
• Design a roadmap to show every milestone
• Create timing and budget plans with timing deadlines and cost estimations

SMART Goals and Objectives Planning Template

SMART goal methodology helps to bring structure and trackability to your goals. Setting SMART goals means you can clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, and use your time and resources productively. Check this SMART Goal Diagram collection in an outline style, that will help you present your objectives and how you plan to reach them.

We hope you got inspired by these visual examples, feel free to explore and reuse those ideas for executive presentations and management meetings.

When preparing a business presentation, finding the perfect balance between text and graphics is important. One way you could try is by substituting your default bulleted lists and SmartArt tables with diagrams.

With the help of these PowerPoint decks full of various diagrams and icons, you can save time spent on design and create an appealing set of slides. If you are often presenting during company meetings, it’s handy to have a collection of pre-designed diagrams and icons at hand.

If you are adding slides to your existing PowerPoint file from another deck, see how to keep the whole presentation consistent by following simple steps.

Elevate your business performance presentations with our curated resources – visit our financial performance PPT reports webpage.

For more inspiration, subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Resources: Diagrams and PPT Templates  for  Executive Presentations

If you like any of the examples above, explore all the source illustrations for commercial use and free modifications. All slide decks in this blog, and many more, are available in the infoDiagram collection:

Further design inspiration for executive presentations

Here are more resources to find the right infographics and visuals for presenting your ideas:

• Presenting Change Management Models
• Illustrating the Executive Summary concept in a Presentation
• Present Your Company’s Progress on One Slide
• How to Show Leadership in a Presentation by One Icon See more visual ideas and examples of illustrating management topics on our blog .

Get a free  sample of PowerPoint diagrams and icons  to try out how our diagrams work.

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Tips for Creating Winning Presentations for Executive Audiences

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• Management & Leadership
• Human Resources
• Employee Benefits

Art Petty is an author and speaker offering management guidance. He is a management and leadership expert.

An invitation to present your ideas or your proposal to the executive management team is a great opportunity to make a positive impression on the people who have a voice in your future. If this is your first time presenting to this group, it pays to know your audience and set yourself up for success with proper planning.

6 Things You Should Know About Executives

• They appreciate well-prepared presentations: Executives appreciate discovering intelligent new voices in the business and they will be paying close attention to you. Come prepared to deliver.
• You’re always on the clock when you are in front of executives: While they’re interested in what you have to say, their attention spans are short. Use your allotted time carefully.  
• Don't assume you're pitching to a team: We tend to think of them as the “executive team” however, they are better described as a collection of smart, successful functional experts who come together from time-to-time to engage on the big issues facing the business. Roughly translated, if you’re selling them on a new proposal, you will have to sell them one at a time.
• Know their hot-buttons: Executives focus on costs, returns, and trade-offs. While you might be excited about the incredible benefits your new program offers for customers, they’re thinking: “How much will this cost?” Or, “What will I have to give up to support this initiative?”
• Executives love data-driven discussions and recommendations: They’ll descend upon your numbers outlining costs and returns like a pack of hungry wolves. However, if you bring questionable or confusing data to the meeting, it is possible you will lose an extremity.
• Executives are always hunting for great talent: Emphasis on “always.” Work hard to make a great impression.

Tips for Making a Great First Impression

Put these tips to work to improve your odds of making a good impression:

• Carefully construct, support, and practice your message:  A simple exercise for distilling your message down to its component parts is called message mapping. Here's how you do it: Draw a circle in the center of a sheet of paper. This is your core message. It should be no longer than one or two sentences. Yes, it’s difficult to distill your message down to a few brief sentences, but you must. The time invested now will pay dividends in your live presentation. Surround your core message with three or, at most, four additional circles. Fill these in with the primary data points that support your core message. This might be market research, customer feedback, competitor data, or your own projections. If needed, go just one layer deeper and attach supporting data for the supporting data. Learn to use this message map in both directions. Describe your core message and supporting points, or describe a supporting point and connect it to your core message. The map works in both directions. Practice it like a politician preparing for a debate.
• Ensure your message focuses on opportunity development or burden relief:  Executives are interested in strengthening their ability to compete for and retain customers and reduce costs. Make certain your value proposition is tight.
• Do not sugarcoat risks in your presentation: On the contrary, a well-developed list of potential risks and a risk mitigation strategy show the executives that you are thinking about everything.
• Carefully prepare meaningful, simple visuals:  Have several people—including your boss—review them for quality, clarity, and completeness. Now is not the time for animation magic. Make certain that the visuals use text sparingly and numbers carefully.
• Mentally divide your time allotment in half: Know how much time you have been allocated and plan to use only half of it. 
• Bring it!  Executives look for confidence, clarity, and completeness of thought when listening to the ideas and proposals from employees. Your message and your body language must support the notion that you are confident about your ideas.
• The harder you work, the more relaxed you will be: Practice your presentation until it is natural. Your confidence will be contagious. 
• If you are uncomfortable presenting, fix-it in a hurry : Chances are it’s too late to seek formal training or coaching, so recruit a buddy you trust to offer critical feedback and run through the presentation with them. Avoid this in the future by signing up for speaking training or joining a local Toastmasters group. 
• Leverage a subtle power move: If possible, grab a marker and get to the whiteboard. This is a presentation power-tip. By doing this, you involve and engage the audience and showcase your confidence and expertise.
• When it comes to questions, remember the message map: If you put the time into crafting a thorough message map, it is the go-to source for answering questions. Reiterate supporting data and always tie the data to the core message. If you do not know an answer to a question, do not make the answer up. “ I don’t know,” is perfectly acceptable, especially when it is followed by, “But I will find out and loop back with the team immediately.”
• Passion for your topic is positive:  Executives love to hear and feel the passion in your presentation. If you believe in something, make certain you use all of your faculties to communicate your commitment. Your passion for your project is impressive and contagious.
• No surprises please:  If your request involves resources or budgets from multiple groups within the firm, the executive presentation is not the time to spring this as a surprise. Work ahead of your presentation to line-up support from your counterparts in other departments.

The Bottom Line

We all know you only get one chance to make a first impression. When it comes to your first invitation to present to the executives, it pays to work overtime to prepare. 

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Home Blog Business Analyzing the McKinsey Presentation Structure: A Guide for Consulting Presentations

Analyzing the McKinsey Presentation Structure: A Guide for Consulting Presentations

Whenever we speak about consulting presentations, several firm names come to mind: BCG, Bain, and PwC. However, McKinsey & Company stands out as the most well-known choice in quality standards due to its clear and concise approach to conveying information. This presentation structure and style are widely recognized in business and strategy presentations, allowing speakers to communicate complex information to senior executives. 

In this article, we will dive into the key principles that build the McKinsey presentation structure, provide insights into how business professionals can implement similar methods to create effective and persuasive presentations, and offer some visual examples of McKinsey presentation slides.

Table of Contents

What is the McKinsey Presentation Style?

Benefits of mckinsey presentation slides, understanding the structural components of a mckinsey presentation, the importance of storyline, title slide, executive summary, the anatomy of a mckinsey’s deck body slides, conclusion slides, recommended ppt templates for mckinsey styled presentations, final words.

The McKinsey presentation style emerged from the need to communicate complex strategic insights efficiently to senior executives, often under tight time constraints. Founded in 1926, McKinsey & Company has been at the forefront of strategic consulting, advising businesses, governments, and institutions worldwide. The firm’s reputation for delivering insightful analyses and actionable recommendations is partly attributed to its distinctive presentation style. 

The style is not just about aesthetics; it’s a philosophy of communication that emphasizes structured thinking, logical coherence, and persuasive storytelling. It combines rigorous analysis with clear messaging to drive decision-making.

Core Principles of the McKinsey Presentation Style

McKinsey presentation slides are built upon several foundational principles:

• The Pyramid Principle: A top-down approach where the main conclusion is presented first, followed by supporting arguments and detailed evidence.
• The MECE Framework: Ensuring that all information is Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive, avoiding overlaps and gaps.
• Data-Driven Insights: Basing all recommendations and conclusions on solid data and rigorous analysis.
• Minimalist and Consistent Design: Utilizing clean, uncluttered slides with a consistent visual theme to enhance readability and focus.
• Logical Flow and Coherent Narrative: Structuring the presentation to guide the audience seamlessly through the argument.
• Audience-Centric Approach: Tailoring the content and delivery to the specific needs and expectations of the audience.

By implementing McKinsey slides into the presentation design workflow, presenters can structure the content to boost clarity and understanding. This presentation structure is aimed to present the main conclusion upfront, structuring the supporting information in a logical flow. As a result, the audience can easily grasp complex ideas, thus reducing the cognitive load, which is a tiresome factor in lengthy presentations, and also helping to retain attention.

Another point to highlight is that the nature of McKinsey PowerPoint presentations grounded in data and logical reasoning is inherently more persuasive. Data backs any kind of statement, reducing the skepticism, and – depending on the type of data used – an emotional factor can be added to enhance the narrative flow. Hence, presenters end up delivering robust cases that can even anticipate counterarguments.

Finally, we can say that the consistent formatting and minimalistic design that most McKinsey presentation PPTs bear allow the speaker to reflect a high level of professionalism. The polished aesthetics of the slides enhance the organization’s reputation while making the audience more receptive to its message.

If we have to singularize three main benefits of the McKinsey consulting decks, these would be:

• Evidence-based arguments
• Simplified complexity

Before creating a slide in the McKinsey style, we need to understand each of the components that structure this kind of consultancy slide deck.

The Pyramid Principle

Developed by Barbara Minto, a former McKinsey consultant, the Pyramid Principle is a method of structuring communication. The idea is to begin with the top-level message, which is your main conclusion or recommendation for the audience. After that, present the supporting arguments for your conclusion, which should be grouped logically. Each point has to be backed up with data, analyses, and examples that substantiate each supporting argument.

Let’s put this example. 

Conclusion : The company needs to invest in renewable energy technology

Supporting Arguments :

• Market Growth: The renewable energy sector has rapidly expanded in the past decade.
• Regulatory Incentives: Governments offer subsidies and tax breaks to organizations that opt for renewable energy.
• Corporate Responsibility: Aligning with sustainability goals enhances brand image.
• For Market Growth, present statistics on industry growth rates.
• For Regulatory Incentives, detail the specific policies and financial benefits while citing examples of competitors that opted for this route and their results.
• For Corporate Responsibility, cite consumer preference studies for your target buying personas.

Implementing the MECE Framework

Working under the MECE framework ensures that supporting arguments are organized effectively. 

• Mutually Exclusive : Each point should be distinct without overlapping content.
• Collectively Exhaustive : All points together should cover the entire scope of the argument.

On this behalf, we can mention some ideas to help you structure your content based on our expertise:

• Categorize your content to avoid duplication. This can be done as easily as grouping similar ideas with their supportive data.
• Use the Gap Analysis to check for missing elements that are critical to the main argument. 
• Apply hierarchy principles to organize points from most to least impactful.

Emphasis on Data-Driven Insights

In his book, Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery , Garr Reynolds discusses the role of data in supporting key messages and establishing the speaker’s credibility. McKinsey decks use quantitative and qualitative data to support their arguments. Quantitative evidence can be shaped through statistics, charts, graphs, etc., whereas qualitative insights imply expert opinions, case studies , and testimonials. 

In our experience, it is best to only include data that directly supports your point rather than stuffing slides with unrequired information. Data should be presented in a clear format, which our article on data presentations can give you further information about. If the topic involves any format of data-driven decision-making, then work with presentation layouts like dashboards, which simplify the understanding of large datasets. 

The Minimalist Aesthetic

As we’ll study below, McKinsey slide decks aim for simplicity. They avoid clutter, and in most cases, they limit text to focus on key points. In case large chunks of text cannot be avoided, they stick to a one-slide format for that requirement, using a contrasting color in the format of a banner or complementary graphic, but they don’t mix and match large amounts of data with charts or graphs . It is all about preserving the audience’s focus.

Consistency is a must across all slides. Use the same fonts, colors, and layouts throughout. Choose font sizes and styles (and please avoid script typefaces) that are easy to read from a distance. 

McKinsey presentations use a limited set of colors aligned with their brand identity. Headings, subheadings, and bullet points have a clear visual hierarchy to guide the reader’s eye. 

Use white space to separate elements and reduce visual fatigue. Be mindful of a strong contrast between the text and the background color of your slides. 

At the heart of any McKinsey presentation lies a strong, coherent storyline. Consultants craft their presentations like a narrative, guiding the audience through complex information logically and engagingly. 

The storyline addresses a central problem or question, with each slide serving as a stepping stone toward a recommendation or conclusion. This narrative structure is often built using consulting frameworks like SCR (Situation-Complication-Resolution), where the problem is clearly defined, complications are identified, and resolutions are proposed.

Why the Storyline Matters

Engagement: A clear storyline keeps the audience engaged by laying out a roadmap from the very beginning. McKinsey consultants use this structure to capture and retain attention, ensuring that each slide leads logically to the next.

Focus: Presentations without a defined narrative often lose focus. The storyline ensures that only the most relevant information is presented, avoiding unnecessary detours or tangents. By anchoring every piece of content to the overarching message, McKinsey consultants keep their presentations tight and purpose-driven.

Clarity: Complex topics can easily overwhelm an audience, but a structured narrative makes them more digestible. The storyline breaks down intricate problems into manageable parts, leading the audience step-by-step through the thought process. The clarity of the storyline ensures that the main points resonate clearly without confusion.

Decision-Making: In corporate environments, presentations are often intended to drive decisions. A strong storyline ensures the presentation builds logically towards a recommendation or solution. By following the storyline, decision-makers can see the rationale behind recommendations, which increases the likelihood of buy-in.

Memorability: A narrative approach makes the presentation more memorable. Instead of bombarding the audience with disconnected facts and figures, McKinsey’s presentations use the storyline to create a lasting impression. A straightforward narrative ensures that the key points and recommendations are retained long after the presentation ends.

Structuring the Storyline

When building a storyline for a presentation, the following elements are key.

• Introduction of the Problem: The storyline starts by framing the core issue. This sets the stage for the following analysis and gives the audience a reason to care about the presentation.
• Complication: After outlining the issue, the presentation identifies complications or challenges. This helps highlight the problem’s urgency and sets up the need for a solution.
• Resolution and Recommendations: Finally, the storyline leads to the solution or recommendation. This is the ultimate goal of the presentation—guiding the audience to a clear and actionable conclusion. Every slide leading up to this point should reinforce the credibility of the recommendations.

Multiple methods exist to structure a storyline. In general, we recommend you check these articles to learn how to use storytelling as a tool in presentations and how to start and end a presentation:

• Storytelling for Presentations
• How to Start a Presentation
• How to End a Presentation

The title slide provides more than an introduction; it immediately sets expectations for the audience. In a corporate or consulting environment, presentations must quickly communicate what will be discussed and why it matters. By crafting a title that directly reflects the objective of the presentation, consultants can start guiding the audience from the very first slide. 

In general, the title slide includes the presentation title, client name, date, and sometimes the consulting team’s names. The title itself is typically precise and straightforward, immediately signaling the purpose of the presentation. The clean design reflects McKinsey’s structured, no-frills approach in all its communication, focusing on clarity over aesthetic embellishments.

Key points to consider for a McKinsey presentation title slide:

• Ensure the title is concise and clearly states the presentation’s main focus.
• Use minimal design elements, focusing on clear lines, consistent fonts, and restrained use of color.

After the title slide, the executive summary serves as a high-level overview of the entire presentation. This section is designed to answer the most important questions upfront, summarizing key findings, recommendations, and next steps straightforwardly. The goal is to ensure decision-makers can grasp the presentation’s core message in just a few minutes without diving into the following detailed slides.

McKinsey’s executive summaries highlight the actionable recommendations right at the beginning. While brief, the executive summary still references the core data or evidence supporting the conclusions. However, it only includes the most critical pieces of information, with the detailed data presented later in the body slides.

The anatomy of McKinsey body slides meticulously balances data presentation, visual clarity, and textual reinforcement. Each component plays a specific role in effectively delivering information. Regarding titles, every slide has a headline that captures the key message or takeaway. This title isn’t just a label—it tells the audience what they need to know from the slide. 

Now, let’s see what the typical designs found in McKinsey slide examples can tell us.

Full-Slide Graphs

Graphs and charts often cover an entire slide to give prominence to the data and avoid clutter. By dedicating a whole slide to one chart, McKinsey ensures that the audience can focus solely on the message the data conveys without distractions. These slides are clear, visually impactful, and often feature minimal or no additional text to keep attention on the data trend or insight.

Infographics and Text Combination

Infographics are frequently used alongside text to visualize complex ideas in an easily digestible manner. In McKinsey’s approach, infographics serve as quick summaries, while accompanying text offers a concise explanation. This combination allows for effective storytelling where visuals summarize vital points, and short text highlights the context or actionable insights.

Full-Text Slides

Although McKinsey typically avoids text-heavy slides, there are cases where full-text slides are necessary, such as summarizing key findings, presenting recommendations, or outlining the next steps. In these instances, McKinsey manages text-heavy slides by keeping the layout clean, using bullet points or short paragraphs, and ensuring ample white space to prevent visual overload.

How McKinsey Handles Full Text Slides:

• Brevity : The text is concise, with short sentences and bullet points.
• Hierarchy : Headings or bold text differentiate between sections, making scanning easy.
• White Space : This helps avoid overcrowding and maintains clarity.

Text and Icons Slides

Slides that use text and icons are a staple in McKinsey’s deck. Icons are often used to represent concepts visually, breaking up text and adding an intuitive understanding of the point being made. For example, a slide might include a series of myths to be debunked; therefore, the presenter opts to show them with icons for easier recall while placing the “reality” next to each of those myths with their own icons.

Why Text and Icons Work:

• Simplification: Icons reduce the need for lengthy descriptions, making concepts easier to understand.
• Visual Interest: They make slides more engaging and less monotonous.
• Clear Organization: Icons help organize information into sections, allowing the audience to follow the narrative smoothly.

Concluding your presentation shouldn’t be taken lightly in internal corporate slide decks. First, summarize the main points and insights drawn from the data. Based on that, provide specific, prioritized actions that the client should take. This takes us to a detailed outline of steps for immediate actions or implementation plans. That way, the attendees know how to proceed after the presentation concludes. 

Keep the conclusion short, presenting the findings in 3-5 concise points. Highlights should only signal the most critical insights linked to the recommendations. 

In this section, we’ll list down some of the best McKinsey slides PPT by SlideModel. Remember that some popular frameworks, like the 9 box model McKinsey or the McKinsey 7s model apply to specific aspects of organizational changes. The following list of McKinsey PowerPoint templates tackles the general style for McKinsey slides.

1. Consulting Proposal McKinsey PowerPoint Template

Transform your client pitches with our McKinsey-style Consulting Proposal PowerPoint Template. Designed to mirror the professionalism and clarity of top-tier consultancy presentations, this template is your key to delivering impactful messages. Featuring sleek layouts, data-driven charts, and strategic frameworks, it empowers you to present complex information seamlessly.

Use This Template

2. Strategy Consulting McKinsey PPT Template

Elevate your strategic presentations with our Strategy Consulting PowerPoint Template, meticulously crafted to reflect the professional style of leading consulting firms like McKinsey. This comprehensive slide deck enables you to showcase your consultancy’s features, perks, and services in a manner that mirrors the clarity and impact of McKinsey presentations. Customize various PowerPoint objects and shapes to present your organization, services, and team effectively. Utilize image placeholders and data-driven chart slides to display market research statistics and insights, just as top-tier consultants do.

3. Consulting Report McKinsey Slide Deck

Mimicking the sleek aesthetics and structured layouts of top-tier consulting firms like McKinsey, the template features customizable graphics, data-driven charts, and modern infographics. It’s tailored to help you convey complex information effectively, whether you’re outlining strategic plans, showcasing market research, or delivering project summaries. The intuitive design enhances your storytelling, allowing you to communicate insights with authority and confidence.

McKinsey’s presentation style is all about clarity, focus, and structured problem-solving. By organizing information logically, presenting data simply, and offering actionable recommendations, their presentations are designed to persuade and inform at the highest level. The guiding principles of McKinsey’s structure can be adopted in various industries and fields to improve communication effectiveness.

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