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By Root 410 0

form of presentation in most organizations has become the “deck,” jargon for page after page of bulleted points serving as a framework for spoken elaboration. The name probably derives from a deck of papers (like deck of cards), but decks can be delivered on overhead slides or Power Point slides on a computer, simply a deck on a screen or monitor. There’s just one constant — decks are invariably horizontal. Sometimes the presenter even disappears, as when there’s a request to “Send me your slides,” evidence of how pervasive this form of communication has become.

While decks lack the precision and nuances of carefully crafted memos or papers, it’s not productive to mourn the loss. Decks are reality, the business tool that gets things done. And the deck has its own merits, in stimulating debate and carrying discussions through several layers of management.

One of the renowned practitioners of presentation decks, the McKinsey consulting firm, uses them effectively in client “engagements.” Writing in The New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann describes the McKinsey approach:

The aim of the engagement is not to give the client reading material, it’s to reduce the issue to its pulsing essence. The client team comes into the room, you distribute the deck, and crisply, calmly, rationally, brilliantly, you make your “clunk points,” marching through them inexorably to the one unerring strategic conclusion.

Reducing the issue to “its pulsing essence” is what a well-done deck does best. Only key points on each page, as few words as possible. But the points on the page must point to something — some action.

The format carries the audience on a flow of logic:

Objective

Background

Facts

Conclusions

Recommendations

Next steps

In the Memorial Sloan-Kettering exhibit that follows:

INTERNET STRATEGY is the Objective.

INTEREST IN INTERNET FOR MEDICAL INFORMATION is Background.

DRIVERS OF GROWTH are Facts to be considered.

LEVERAGING THE INTERNET is the Conclusion.

The Recommendation is AN AUTHORITATIVE WEB SITE.

Funding and Control of Content are NEXT STEPS.

A TYPICAL PRESENTATION DECK

MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER

Internet Strategy

Americans are Increasingly Looking to the Internet for Health and Medical Information

[Chart showing growth of on-line health and medical information]

Drivers of Growth

Consumers taking more active role in managing their health [Survey]

Internet enables patients to educate themselves on health-related topics [Research]

Managed care reducing consumers’ access to physicians, driving them to seek alternative sources of information

By Leveraging the Power of the Internet, MSKCC Can Deliver Its Mission to a Much Broader Audience

MSKCC Mission:

“The progressive control and cure of cancer through programs of patient care, research, and education”

Education — [Access to knowledge, disseminating findings]

Patient Care — [Access to expertise, patient information]

CancerSmart will be the Authoritative Web Site for Information and Medical Advice

Cancer prevention, detection, and treatment improvement in the quality of life for those with the disease and their familie

Although There are a Number of Medical Sites, Some with Cancer Info, None Offer the Breadth and Depth of the Proposed Site

[Examples — general health, cancer organizations, specialty sites, medical advice]

To arrive at that simple structure requires a disciplined analysis of every element — alternatives, implications, costs, or any other factor that must be weighed.

A useful model to help organize that analysis, especially for complex decisions, is the Pyramid Principle, developed for McKinsey by Barbara Minto:

THE PYRAMID PRINCIPLE

The easiest order is to receive the major, more abstract ideas before the minor, supporting ones. And since the major ideas are always derived from the minor ones, the ideal structure of the ideas will always be a pyramid of groups of ideas tied together by a single overall thought.

PURCHASE A LARGE FRANCHISE