Strategy Survival Guide

Strategy Survival Guide Version 2.1
Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit
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Strategy Skills > Managing Communications
Preparing presentations
> in practice
Most projects will at some point require a presentation to be given to key stakeholders and other interested
parties. These presentations are often a crucial part of the project, and their outcome can significantly impact
the success of the work. The team stands a much greater chance of making a successful presentation -
generating enthusiasm and commitment from stakeholders, if they present their analysis clearly and logically,
with a compelling narrative. Storyboarding is a tool to help achieve this.
What is Storyboarding?
The storyboard is a tool originally developed in the film industry, and consists of a series of visual images
that simply and briefly illustrate the film's key scenes and events. As with many 'buzzword’ terms,
storyboarding has been used and misused in a variety of contexts other than filmmaking. Applied to projects
and presentations, the most important parallels are as a means to sketch the flow of the narrative at the very
early stages, seeking the most coherent way to link its component parts. By having a clear idea of the best
way to construct the narrative, significant savings are made in work at the later stages, avoiding the need to
change the structure once the slides have a lot of detail on them and are integrated more tightly. Secondly,
having a clear narrative through the presentation will help avoid the tendency to present 'facts, facts, facts’,
which is likely to make the presentation tedious for the audience.
Initial Questions to Ask
Before preparing a storyboard, there are a number of basic questions that need to be answered:
• What do you want to achieve from the presentation? Are you planning to update the audience on
general progress, or do you want to engage them in a discussion of particular issues? Are there
specific decisions that you need them to make?
• Who is your audience? The way you prepare your narrative will differ depending on whether you
are presenting to an expert group, or a group who has never engaged with the issues before. Do you
know if they want to hear a detailed analysis, or high-level conclusions?
• How long do you have to make the presentation? It usually takes longer than you expect to
present, particularly if the audience ask questions (which they should, if they are engaged with your
work). Establish how long you will have to present (leaving time for questions) and from there, work
out how many slides you can use. As a rule of thumb, it takes three minutes to present a basic slide
with three or four points to explain. More complex slides will of course take longer to explain. The
longer the presentation, the greater the need for clarity.
• In what format are you going to present? With a small group it is easy to print out paper copies of
your slides, with multiple slides on each page. This has the advantage of avoiding the need to
organise a projector and laptop (as well as inopportune technical glitches!) and allows your audience
to make notes more effectively. However, with printouts people can try and race ahead in the
presentation, not being able to focus on your commentary at the same time. How much do you trust
your audience, do they want to listen? With larger groups, providing individual printouts may not be
possible, but nevertheless a projector has the advantage of being a single focal point for the room
where you can more precisely control the flow of the narrative. Furthermore, it can act as a covert
aide memoire in longer presentations for the narrator.
Strategy Survival Guide – Strategy Skills
Page 87