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How I redesigned 3 McKinsey slides to be more effective

By Paul Moss

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McKinsey slides typically sit atop the PowerPoint slide food chain, but that doesn’t mean they’re always perfect.

It’s not an easy task to fit a large amount of text and data on a PowerPoint slide, while keeping the slide easy to read and understand. So when top consulting firms like McKinsey are able to do it well, the slide itself feels almost like a work of art.

For this post I chose three McKinsey slides (AKA works of art) and took on the daunting task of trying to make them even better using the principles of structure, design, and logic.

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Disclaimer: All of the slides that I use today are from publicly available sources, so if you’re interested in looking at the original McKinsey slides, make sure you check those out in the links at the bottom of this post.

This is a slide from McKinsey about the mining industry. The title says, “Successful implementation of technology could generate up to 22% of additional value from productivity improvement for all stakeholders”. And there’s enough content on the slide to support that message really well. But where the slide falls short is in the amount of visual distractions that make it hard for the audience to understand the slide’s key takeaways.

“Technology’s role in mineral criticality” McKinsey, 2017

Step 1. Remove the background photo

The very first thing that needs to be removed is the background photo. It doesn’t contribute to the slide’s message; it just distracts the audience. With photos, sometimes they can make the slide look more visually appealing, and they do have their place on occasion, but in general, they more often just distract the audience. If it’s not contributing to your message, it should be removed.

Step 2. Emphasize the title

Generally, people read your slides from top to bottom and then from left to right, so you want to set up your content in a way that supports that flow.

Related: How to design an effective PowerPoint slide in 5 minutes

You want your audience to read the title first so that they can grasp the overall message of your slide, putting the rest of the details in context. But the problem here is that the title doesn’t attract enough attention. So to solve this, I just made the font bigger and I bolded it.

Another issue is that the area around the top is a little crowded, which takes attention away from the title (not a good thing). We can solve this by moving the chart title to its proper place, and by placing the category labels right next to the chart.

When you create a legend for your charts, what you’re doing is you’re asking the audience to look at the legend, then back to the chart, then back to the legend to try and understand each of the categories. It’s too much work for the brain, and it’s unnecessary.

Step 3. Add clarity to the chart

One easy way to improve your charts is to call attention to what matters most. In this case you want the audience to notice the 22% figure that represents the total potential additional value, because that’s what is mentioned in the title. But in its original form all three numbers are the same size and weight. An easy fix for this is to make the less important numbers smaller, and the most important number bigger and bold.

Step 4. Add icons to the category labels

The main content portion of the slide might be difficult for the audience to process due to the large amount of text. Text on a slide is not inherently bad, but if the presentation is given live it can be difficult for the audience to read through the content, listen to the speaker, and formulate a response. Visual components on the slide can help provide a cognitive boost to the audience that helps them perform each of these tasks simultaneously.

One pretty simple way to fix this is to introduce icons. So first I spaced out the slide a bit more, then just found icons that roughly matched each of the categories. The result is a small change that can really aide a live audience in grasping the insights you’re trying to communicate.

And with just a few simple tweaks, the slide looks significantly better. It might not look like a lot of changes were made, especially if you’ve been looking at the slide for a few minutes. But if you were looking at this slide for the first time, you’d have a much easier time processing the information and understanding the key insights.

This McKinsey slide is about the flow of goods and data across the globe. And as you can tell, it’s a pretty straightforward slide from a content perspective. It’s just a list of recommendations, numbered from 1 to 10. No charts and no visuals.

“Investment and Industrial Policy: A Perspective on the Future” McKinsey, 2018

Step 1. Improve the title

On this slide the title is pretty good, but it could still use some work. It commands enough attention, but there’s plenty of space below it so there’s no harm in making it bigger. Secondly, the title feels a little wide (expanding beyond the margins), so it would look a little cleaner to bring it in.

Step 2. Simplify the categorizations

Another thing to notice on this slide is the legend that calls out the recommendations that are “enablers for digitalization”. The issue is that it’s unclear which of the recommendations are enablers, which are kind of enablers, and which are not enablers at all. I think we’re better off simplifying this categorization to just highlight recommendations 5-8.

But the obvious problem now is that the two orange colors make the slide really ugly. One way to improve this is by removing the fill color, then adding a thick dotted line. We can also simplify the design a bit by bringing the label down right next to the dotted line (instead of in a legend).

Making that change can also help us space out the slide better to make it easier to read.

Step 3. Make the text easier to read

With so much text on the slide, it can be challenging to understand each of the recommendations (most people will just skim). This can be mitigated by removing unnecessary words and splitting the content into two separate columns.

Step 4. Balance the focus of the slide

The slide is now spaced out in a way that makes it easier to read. But you may have noticed that there’s a bright orange takeaway box at the bottom that’s attracting most of the attention. To solve this we can add some color to the recommendations themselves. Ideally we want the audience to read the title first, the main content of the slide second, and the takeaway box last.

Related: Takeaway boxes: when to use them and when to avoid them

Now not only is the slide a lot easier to process visually, but there’s a logical connection as well. The title mostly connects with the recommendations (they are both blue), and the “digital enablers” are called out in orange, which connects with the orange takeaway box at the bottom of the slide.

So compare this with our original slide that had that ugly orange gradient, and this slide looks a lot better. The text is easier to read, there are visual components drawing attention to the parts that matter, and there’s less focus on the takeaway box.

This McKinsey slide is also about the mining industry. The title says “Companies are planning for the future with technology in mind and expect revenues to keep growing at 4%”. So again, this slide is about technology and its impact on revenue.

“Challenges in Mining: Scarcity or Opportunity?” McKinsey, 2015

The main challenge with this slide is that there’s just too much going on. The components of the slide are all there and support the message really well, but the visual distractions on the slide make it hard for the audience to grasp the key insights quickly. Some low hanging fruit in this area is to just remove the unnecessary background photo.

Step 2. Give the title breathing room

As was the case with the first McKinsey slide, the area at the top of this slide is too crowded. The title is the most important part of any slide, so making sure that it’s easily visible is important. One thing we can do to help with this is to remove the horizontal line and move the subtitles lower on the screen.

Step 3. Remove unnecessary lines and callouts

Another thing that needs to be done is to remove anything on the slide that doesn’t directly contribute to the message. On this slide there are a lot of lines, but not all of them are important. Removing many of the CAGR lines can help put emphasis on the part of the chart that really matters (the 4% growth section).

Step 4. Remove the legend

Now we have the same problem we had from the earlier slide, which is that the legend is adding clutter to the slide without helping the audience. This can be solved by putting the labels next to the lines themselves. Changing the EBITDA line from dotted to solid and making the CAGR line a little easier to read can also help the slide’s readability.

Related: How Bain & Co. builds beautiful charts

Step 5. separate historical and projected data.

Overall the chart is starting to look pretty good, but one more thing that’s missing is a line to distinguish between historical and projected data. The title talks about “planning for the future”, so it only makes sense to show the audience which part of the chart represents the “future”. This can be done easily with a vertical dotted line, though it’s important to make sure this line doesn’t command too much attention.

Step 6. Clean up the slide

A few final tweaks can really help with the overall look and feel of the slide. The first is to space out the title to cover the width of the slide (now that we don’t have a legend to compete with).

Then the next thing is to add more detail to the axis labels. It’s not immediately clear that the X axis refers to years, so adding an apostrophe next to each year can help. Likewise, adding percentage signs in each of the blue ovals can make comprehension that much easier for the audience.

So by removing the clutter of this slide and making a few design changes, we’ve made it easier to see the key insights. It’s clear, well designed, and easy for the audience to understand.

If you’re looking to build your own high-quality, consulting-style slides, be sure to check out our advanced courses for individual learners and for teams .

Source Information:

“Technology’s role in mineral criticality” McKinsey, 2017 https://worldmaterialsforum.com/files/Presentations2017/PlenarySession1/WMF2017-McKinsey-Franck-Bekeart.pdf

“Investment and Industrial Policy: A Perspective on the Future” McKinsey, 2018 https://unctad.org/system/files/non-official-document/tdb65pt2_item5_presentation_LKrstic_en.pdf

“Challenges in Mining: Scarcity or Opportunity?” McKinsey, 2015 https://worldmaterialsforum.com/files/downloads/5-Rare_20Raw_20Material_20Issues.pdf

You can watch a video version of this article on YouTube .

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How mckinsey consultants make powerpoint presentations.

Section 1: frontpage, section 2: executive summary, section 3: body of slides, section 4: conclusion/recommendation, section 5: appendix.

This article covers the structure of a McKinsey presentation, its key elements, and formatting tips and tricks. The principles are nearly identical to those found at BCG, Bain, or other top consultancies, although there are differences in terms of design and style.

As a note, the type of presentations we are covering in this post are what you would call ‘corporate’ or ‘management consulting’ presentations. These types of presentations are typically longer, data-heavy slide decks that serve as the foundation for complex decisions and recommendations. We are not referring to decks for keynotes, college projects, or design presentations.

The structure of a McKinsey presentation

A complete consulting presentation typically contains the following five overall sections:

Executive summary
Body of slides
Recommendation / Next steps

Let's dive into each section one by one.

The front page consists of a few simple elements: a title, a sub-headline, name of company, date and time . The title is usually less than 8 words long. A sub-headline is an optional second description line, used for further elaboration.

In consulting the 'name of company' and the template theme typically depends on whether the client wants to position the work as internal or external. If the client wants to position the work as external, then the front page will have McKinsey’s name and use its signature design template and color scheme. Vice versa, if positioned as internal work, the slides will be branded with the client organization's logo and design.

The executive summary, sometimes called 'At A Glance', is the presentation's first slide and usually the single slide that takes the most time to write and perfect.

The executive summary summarizes the key arguments, storyline, and supporting evidence of the body slides. This helps the reader get a quick overview of the presentation and take away the most important insights and recommendations.

Executive summaries written by McKinsey, Bain, and BCG usually follow the Situation-Complication-Resolution (SCR) Framework , which is a straightforward and effective approach to communicating the complete storyline of your slide deck .

See our post on How to Write an Effective Executive Summary for tips and tricks.

This is the central section of the presentation. This section often contains 50+ slides filled with quantitative and qualitative content. To avoid 'death-by-powerpoint', it is crucial to structure both the overall storyline and individual slides in a clear and engaging way.

Let’s start by taking a look at the way McKinsey consultants create individual slides.

The anatomy of a slide

At its most basic form, each slide must consist of 3 main parts:

(a) Action title - a sentence that articulates the key implication or insight (b) Subheadings - what data are you using to prove the insight? (c) Slide body - the actual data used to prove the insight (text, numbers, visuals, footer).

As a rule of thumb, there should be nothing in the action title that's not in the slide body, and nothing in the slide body that is irrelevant to the action title.

a) Action title

When you become a management consultant, one of the first things you are taught is that the title of a slide should always be an 'action title' that articulates the key takeaway or 'so-what' of the slide.

Often presentations are read by busy executives. Action titles make your slides easier to understand because your reader doesn't have to dive into the detail of the slide body to understand the key takeaway of that slide.

As an example, imagine you are creating a slide showing yearly development in revenue and costs for a business unit.

A passive title for that slide could be: "Historical development in Revenue and Costs". As a reader, you need to study the chart to deduct the 'so-what' of the slide.

An action title would be: "Over the last 5 years, costs have grown 10% per year, which is double revenue growth" As a reader, you immediately understand the message of the slide. You can now choose to look at the data on the slide more closely, if you want the details.

See our blog post on Action Titles for a more comprehensive guide.

(b) Subheadings

Subheadings are meant to give a clear summary of the data used to prove the insight in the action title, or alternatively add some nuance to the main takeaway. Keep it crisp and short.

Here are a few examples:

Sales of personal luxury goods, US Market, $ billions
Forecasted evolution of battery cell costs by 2030 ($/kWh)

(c) Slide body

A clear and concise slide body is essential for effectively communicating insights to an audience. The slide's main insight, articulated in the action title, should be supported by all relevant information presented in the simplest possible way. You have likely done a lot of research, and it is tempting to include all the interesting data you have found. Avoid this. Instead, try and remove all facts and figures not directly supporting your key insight stated in the title.

Here is an example:

In this case, the title is clear, and the content of the slide only serves to prove and support the slide's main insight.

When building your slide, you may only sometimes start with the title and then fill in the data to support it. Often it is more of an iterative process where you try out different titles to capture the data you have collected and the flow of the overall storyline.

Now that we have covered the building blocks of individual slides, let’s move on to how McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants construct a storyline.

Horizontal flow: The structure of a storyline

‘Storyline’ refers to the way the slide deck is built up or in other words the ‘flow’ of slides. The exact storyline created by McKinsey, Bain, and BCG consultants is typically tailored to that specific use case. But in general consulting storylines follow an SCR (situation-complication-resolution) framework .

The SCR framework is a way of structuring your findings in a clear and concise way that is engaging and intuitive. Here is what each part of the framework means:

Situation: The situation is the starting point or context of the problem or issue you're addressing. It might include information about the current state of affairs, the background of the problem, or any other relevant details that help set the stage. The situation can also focus more narrowly on a specific opportunity or threat.
Complication: The complication is the specific challenge or problem that has arisen within the situation. It might be a roadblock, an unexpected development, or a major hurdle that needs to be overcome. It can also refer to gaps in capabilities needed to capture an opportunity.
Resolution: The resolution is the proposed solution to the complication or problem. It should be a clear and actionable plan for moving forward and overcoming the challenge. This might involve specific steps to be taken, resources needed, or other details that help ensure success. We cover this in more detail in the next section.

Your storyline should be clear at the slide title level, which is why action titles are so important. Your audience should be able to read only your action titles all the way through the presentation and a) understand what the main conclusions are and b) understand how you got to those main conclusions through analysis. In other words, your action titles should flow like a story and be readable on their own.

In practice, when starting a new deck it can be helpful to sketch out your overarching sections on paper. Then follow them up with empty slides using just action titles (or fill in the slides with rough notes on which analysis or sub-conclusion goes on that slide). Print out your slides and lay them on a table or put your slides in ‘Slide Sorter’ mode in PowerPoint and see if the flow of slides makes sense.

You can also choose to write your entire storyline in a word document focusing first on the action titles of each slide and then supplementing the action titles with underlying bullets describing the data or information that will go on the slide to support that action title.

McKinsey consultants have a library of old cases to use, which helps create a skeleton or inspire a new deck and allows them to make better presentations in much less time. Build your own library by saving excellent presentations you come across in grouped categories and creating an ongoing general PowerPoint where you collect good slides to reuse.

Take a look at our templates to find specific storylines to match your needs , complete with multiple real client examples.

A crucial part of any consulting presentation is the conclusion/recommendation section. These slides outline the actions or responses required to address the situation and complication you've covered earlier in your slide deck. They often also include a suggested implementation plan and immediate next steps.

See our separate post on recommendation slides to dive even deeper .

While there is generally flexibility in how you lay out your conclusion/recommendation slides, the following three guidelines will help you create effective recommendations that are easy to understand and follow:

Groups: Group your recommendations into categories to make your reader's understanding easier.
Labeling: Label or number your groups and/or individual recommendations to help your reader follow the structure when you discuss your recommendations across multiple slides.
Active voice: Write your recommendations in active voice starting with 'action words' (verbs), such as "Grow...", "Minimize…", "Improve…", "Increase…", "Target…", "Increase…", etc.

Here are a few examples of recommendation slides from McKinsey, BCG, and Bain:

It is not uncommon for the appendix, also called backup pages, to be significantly longer than the main deck. The main deck tells the story, and the appendix contains details and all supporting evidence that might be relevant but is beyond the scope of the main storyline.

In other words, keep the storyline of the main deck as crisp and clear as possible and move all supporting documentation and details to the appendix. Here they will be out of the way but available for reference.

Formatting tips

Presentations from top consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG tend to feel very different and convincing compared to other corporate presentations. A part of this is the ability to effectively structure both individual slides and the full deck, which we have talked about in this post. But another part is the rigorous training in slide design and formatting details that ensure the output is of the highest quality.

Below we have gathered some common formatting tips for designing compelling and consistent slides:

Color: Color matters. Keep the color pallet simple and use bright colors selectively to draw attention to key data or insights. Create a color hierarchy and apply it consistently across your deck.

Fonts: Pick one (or two) font types and stick to it. BCG only uses the font 'Trebuchet MS'. McKinsey’s new 2020 template uses 'Arial' for slide body content and 'Georgia' for titles and select visual elements.

Margins: Never go outside of the slide margins. Use 'Powerpoint Guides' to clearly view margins when in design view.

Titles: All titles throughout the presentation should be two lines or less and use the same font size.

Lists: Only used numbered lists if the numbers themselves are relevant (e.g. if you are ranking items). In most cases, use bullets instead of numbers.

Icons: Icons are simple but can completely transform a boring text slide when used correctly. Replace bullets with icons that represent the bullet item if your slide is otherwise relatively simple. Ideally, use icons in places where the icons ‘have meaning’ and can be used later in the presentation when referring back to or going into detail around a certain topic. Use icons in the same style and boldness. Buy access to a large premium icon set like Streamline Light or Streamline Regular if you can. https://www.streamlinehq.com/icons/streamline-light .

Align, align, align: Content on all slides should be aligned. Titles and subheadings should have the same exact position across all slides. When you flip through your slides, the position of the headline should not move, and the font size should not change. This also goes for other common repeated elements (logo, source, page number etc.), as well as similar items on a slide (column headers, graphs etc.) Using a well-designed master template is the easiest way to keep alignment accuracy.

Animations: Refrain from using fancy graphics and animations in the slides.

Slide number and source: Each slide should also have a slide number and a source in the bottom section that provides the source of the data used.

Text: Review the text on each slide to ensure that it is clear, concise, and well-structured. Eliminate unnecessary words and sentences. Keep it as simple and short as possible.

Visuals: Ensure that visuals in the form of graphs, charts, diagrams, tables, and images are high quality and add value. Add call-outs, highlights or similar wherever it makes sense to make the so-what of that visual more clear. Colors, fonts, and layout should be consistent with the rest of the presentation.

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