It’s almost always “Where we are, where we want to be, and how we’re going to get there.”
In my 25+ years working, I have given, received, reviewed many presentations. To small groups, to large groups. To friendly audiences, and to hostile ones. Met with applause, met with the sound of crickets. With paper presentations around a table, and on a screen on a stage. So my lessons learned….it’s a story. It starts out “Once upon a time”….and ends….well, that’s the question right?
On presentation decks (Powerpoint unfortunately has become the norm) , the basics:
1. Executive summary: if I can only read one page, this is the page I need. It’s typically got an objective statement, a status update, issues/challenges, next steps sections. The pages following typically go into more detail of the executive summary points.
2. Status update page: this page should stay the same but allow you to show progress. Examples of this would be a page that shows the deliverables, time allotted, across a timeline. It stays the same every time you show it to the same audience but will show more deliverables completed, or RAG statuses turning green…or red. Projects are always about deliverables and time. This page drives confidence: you always show the same page but you show progress, against time or deliverables or both. I get worried if this page changes a lot…why would it?
3. Issues/Challenges: these need to be actionable ones. I dislike when people put the obvious items like “Time frame will create challenges” – either it’s a real issue we need to take action on or you’re hedging. These should be items where the people you are presenting to can do something to help you. For instance, a challenge might be that testing is behind schedule. The ask should be for additional testing resources. (Remember, you don’t want to make anyone look bad unnecessarily so see #8 when it comes to challenges. Now is not the time to throw someone under a bus.)
4. Conclusions and Next steps: pretty straight forward. Should always have dates and accountability assigned.
These are the basics, but I can’t tell you how many times I receive a presentation deck which doesn’t have the above…which means the in person presentation just got that much harder because the burden of communicating is now solely on the presenter.