PowerPoint for Consulting and Business presentations from Udemy

This course is a consolidation of the knowledge that I have accumulated from my multiple years of working in the top consulting firms, where I started as a graduate and am now a senior consultant.

Often spending most of my day knee deep in PowerPoint, my day to day familiarity allows me to share with you the most up to date tools, tips and techniques that are required to create a highly impactful presentation.

In the world of consulting and business, far too often, the PowerPoint slides that are created lack a good structure and are unaesthetic, making it difficult for the audience to ingest the intended message.

This course will empower you to

Structure your presentation to ensure the robustness of your reasoning
Select the optimal exhibits ( graphs, charts, diagrams, etc..) to convey your message effectively
Develop visually aesthetic PowerPoint slides in a timely manner

I will take you through the principles required to create a quality slide pack across all its elements, and allow you to get your hands dirty with the numerous exercises designed to cultivate a set of hands and eyes that is optimised to create PowerPoint slides.

I hope this course will provide value to you.

Thank you

What's inside

Learning objectives

Structure your presentation to ensure robustness of your reasoning
Select the optimal exhibits ( graphs, charts, diagrams, etc...) to convey your message effectively

Develop visually aesthetic powerpoint slides in a timely manner
Have access to the best templates used by consulting professionals

Structure your presentation to ensure robustness of your reasoning
Select the optimal exhibits ( graphs, charts, diagrams, etc...) to convey your message effectively
Develop visually aesthetic powerpoint slides in a timely manner
Have access to the best templates used by consulting professionals

Syllabus

Provides a view of the purpose and structure of the course

About me

Introduction and Overview

Understand the principles you can follow to create a high quality slide

Traffic lights

Read about what's good

what should give you pause

and possible dealbreakers

Covers slide ideation and exhibit selection, which are essential for conveying complex information clearly and concisely

Focuses on structuring presentations to ensure the robustness of reasoning, a critical skill in consulting and business environments

Includes exercises designed to cultivate a refined sense for creating impactful slides, which is valuable for professionals seeking to improve their presentation skills

Explores visual design fundamentals, typography, images, infographics, and color, which are all key elements in creating visually appealing presentations

Teaches PowerPoint functions to create slides quickly and neatly, which can save time and improve efficiency for busy professionals

Examines the MECE principle in storyboarding, which is a technique for weaving a compelling narrative in presentations

Reviews summary

Practical powerpoint skills for business

Based on the rating distribution, learners report an overwhelmingly positive reception for this course. With 85% of ratings at 4 or 5 stars, it appears to successfully equip students with the skills needed for consulting and business presentations. The course likely delivers on its promise to teach participants how to structure presentations effectively, improve visual design for aesthetic slides, and master practical tips and shortcuts to create slides efficiently, helping them save significant time.

Insights from a senior consulting professional.

"It's clear the instructor has deep, real-world experience from their time in consulting. The insights are spot-on."

"Learning presentation techniques from someone who uses them daily at a high level was exactly what I needed."

"The credibility of the instructor's background added significant value to the lessons."

Builds skills for clear, reasoned arguments.

"Understanding the MECE principle and storyboarding was eye-opening for structuring complex ideas."

"The guidance on selecting charts and exhibits made a huge difference in conveying my message."

"I now feel more confident in building a logical flow for my presentations."

Master visual principles for professional slides.

"My slides look so much better after applying the principles of typography, color, and image use from this course."

"Incorporating icons and infographics is much easier and more impactful now."

"The focus on visual aesthetics really helps make the content more digestible and engaging."

Learn efficient techniques for fast presentations.

"I learned so many useful keyboard shortcuts and techniques that saved me tons of time."

"The course showed me how to arrange items neatly and efficiently."

"Applying these methods helped me cut down my presentation creation time significantly."

Pace might be slow or basic for some users.

"Some parts felt a little slow if you already have basic PowerPoint skills, but it picked up later."

"While good for fundamentals, I was hoping for slightly more advanced techniques in [specific area]."

"The exercises were helpful, but maybe a bit simple for intermediate users."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in PowerPoint for Consulting and Business presentations with these activities:

Review Visual Design Principles

Show steps

Reviewing visual design principles will help you create more aesthetically pleasing and impactful slides, directly addressing a key learning objective of the course.

Browse courses on Visual Design

Show steps

Read articles or watch videos on visual design principles like balance, contrast, and hierarchy.
Analyze existing PowerPoint presentations, identifying examples of good and bad design choices.
Practice applying these principles to redesign existing slides or create new ones.

Review 'Say It With Charts'

Show steps

Reading 'Say It With Charts' will enhance your ability to select and design effective exhibits for your slides, as covered in the course.

View Say It With Charts: The Executive’s Guide to... on Amazon

Show steps

Read the book 'Say It With Charts'.
Pay attention to the different types of charts and their appropriate uses.
Practice creating different types of charts in Excel or PowerPoint.

Recreate Sample Slides

Show steps

Practicing recreating sample slides from consulting presentations will improve your PowerPoint skills and understanding of effective visual communication.

Show steps

Find examples of well-designed PowerPoint slides from consulting firms or business presentations.
Attempt to recreate these slides in PowerPoint, paying attention to layout, typography, and color choices.
Compare your recreated slides to the originals and identify areas for improvement.

Three other activities

Expand to see all activities and additional details

Show all six activities

Create a Slide Makeover

Show steps

Improving an existing slide will help you apply the principles of slide design and exhibit selection learned in the course.

Show steps

Find a poorly designed PowerPoint slide from an existing presentation.
Identify the slide's weaknesses in terms of layout, typography, color, and content.
Redesign the slide based on the principles learned in the course, focusing on clarity, visual appeal, and effective communication.
Compare the original and redesigned slides, highlighting the improvements made.

Review 'Presentation Zen'

Show steps

Reading 'Presentation Zen' will reinforce the course's emphasis on clear communication and aesthetic slide design.

View Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation... on Amazon

Show steps

Read the book 'Presentation Zen'.
Take notes on key concepts and principles.
Reflect on how these concepts can be applied to your own PowerPoint presentations.

Design a Presentation Template

Show steps

Designing a presentation template will allow you to apply the course's principles of slide structure, exhibit selection, and visual aesthetics.

Show steps

Define the purpose and target audience for your presentation template.
Choose a color palette, typography, and overall visual style that aligns with the purpose and audience.
Create master slides with consistent layouts and placeholders for content.
Design a variety of slide layouts for different types of content, such as text, images, charts, and diagrams.

Career center

Learners who complete PowerPoint for Consulting and Business presentations will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Management Consultant

A Management Consultant works with organizations to develop strategies and solve problems. They often need to create presentations that clearly and concisely communicate their findings and recommendations to clients. This course helps by providing techniques to structure presentations, select optimal visuals, and develop aesthetically pleasing slides, all essential for a management consultant to deliver impactful presentations. The course emphasizes the creation of quality slide packs, which is a key skill for this role as consultants often present their work via slide decks.

See salaries and explore the career path for Management Consultant

Business Analyst

A Business Analyst is responsible for analyzing data, identifying trends, and making recommendations for business improvement. They must communicate these findings clearly and persuasively, frequently through presentations. This course is beneficial by showing how to structure a presentation logically, use charts and graphs to showcase data, and design slides professionally. A business analyst looking to improve the impact of their reports and presentations would benefit from this course by learning to better control the message of their slides.

See salaries and explore the career path for Business Analyst

Project Manager

Project Managers oversee projects from inception to completion, which includes updating stakeholders on progress and findings. This course will be useful because it teaches the principles needed to create a quality slide deck. Being able to develop visually aesthetic presentations in a timely manner is extremely beneficial for Project Managers, who may need to frequently present information to teams and clients. This course's methods to structure presentations may be especially useful to project managers who are constantly planning with a team.

See salaries and explore the career path for Project Manager

Strategy Consultant

A Strategy Consultant works with clients to formulate business strategies and solve pressing issues, which often demands presentations. This course directly addresses the need for well structured and visually compelling presentations by teaching how to select optimal exhibits to convey a message effectively and how to develop slides that are both aesthetic and robust. A strategy consultant who takes this course will be prepared to deliver clear and concise presentations that support their recommendations.

See salaries and explore the career path for Strategy Consultant

Financial Analyst

A Financial Analyst examines financial data, creates reports, and provides recommendations. As financial information can be dense and difficult to understand, a financial analyst benefits from being able to make presentations clear and concise. This course is beneficial for Financial Analysts due to its focus on structuring presentations, selecting exhibit types such as graphs and charts, and developing visually aesthetic presentations. A financial analysts must be able to convey information in a way that is easy for others to understand and this course helps build a foundation for this skill.

See salaries and explore the career path for Financial Analyst

Marketing Manager

Marketing Managers are responsible for developing and implementing marketing strategies and campaigns. To effectively communicate their plans and results, they must be able to create engaging presentations. This course focuses on techniques and tools to create aesthetic slides and choose the right visuals for the message. A marketing manager may find that this course can help them effectively communicate their ideas and plans and to better create presentations to pitch to clients.

See salaries and explore the career path for Marketing Manager

Sales Manager

Sales Managers lead sales teams and are often tasked with presenting sales strategies and results. They must be able to deliver clear and persuasive presentations that highlight key data, often through slides, to ensure their message is well received. This course helps develop skills in structuring information logically and visually, which are extremely useful to a sales manager who must often share crucial information to their sales team, especially since this course will teach you to select the most optimal exhibits.

See salaries and explore the career path for Sales Manager

Training Specialist

Training Specialists develop and deliver training programs to employees or clients and presentations are an essential part of their work. The course helps a training specialist by providing instruction in developing high quality slide packs and in how to create visually aesthetic presentations. The techniques taught in this course to weave a compelling story are particularly relevant for a training specialist seeking to engage their audience by clearly conveying information.

See salaries and explore the career path for Training Specialist

Product Manager

Product Managers are responsible for guiding the success of a product by gathering input from customers and making sure products meet market demand. This role requires clear and concise presentations to a broad audience. The skills to develop visually aesthetic presentations in a timely manner, which are taught in this course, are essential for a product manager because they frequently need to communicate strategies and concepts through slide decks.

See salaries and explore the career path for Product Manager

Market Research Analyst

Market Research Analysts study consumer behavior and market trends, often presenting their findings to stakeholders. This course may be useful by providing instruction on how to effectively use data visualization and presentation techniques. With skills learned from the course, a market research analyst can more effectively convey the results of their research and make a stronger case for their recommendations. The course's lessons on using visuals and charts will be especially useful.

See salaries and explore the career path for Market Research Analyst

Public Relations Specialist

Public Relations Specialists manage communication between a company and the public. They often need to create presentations for press conferences or stakeholder meetings. This course may be useful by teaching the principles of creating quality slides and techniques to develop aesthetic slides. Public relations specialists who take this course may more clearly communicate messages and ideas to large audiences.

See salaries and explore the career path for Public Relations Specialist

Academic Researcher

An Academic Researcher conducts research and presents findings at conferences and in publications. This course may be useful because it teaches how to structure presentations and select optimized exhibits. Since academics often present their research in presentations, the lessons on how to develop a slide and how to display charts and graphs would be most beneficial to an academic researcher.

See salaries and explore the career path for Academic Researcher

Grant Writer

Grant Writers are in charge of preparing persuasive proposals to secure resources. This often requires presentations to donors and stakeholders. This course teaches how to structure presentations and select the best visuals to convey information, helping a grant writer become more effective when communicating with stakeholders. The course’s focus on developing visually appealing slides in a timely manner would also benefit a grant writer who has strict deadlines and limited times to prepare their presentations.

See salaries and explore the career path for Grant Writer

Data Scientist

A Data Scientist analyzes large datasets to extract meaningful insights, then communicates those insights to stakeholders. While their work is technical, clear communication is key, and Data Scientists frequently use presentations. The lessons of this course, especially on selecting optimal exhibits to convey messages effectively, may be beneficial to data scientists who must often explain complex results through charts and graphs to non technical stakeholders.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Scientist

Human Resources Generalist

A Human Resources Generalist manages various aspects of the human resource function within an organization. This may include presenting on policies, training programs, or other initiatives. This course, by providing techniques to create aesthetic slides, may be useful, as a Human Resource Generalist often needs to communicate ideas through presentations. The course may help teach them how to present information in a well structured and engaging manner.

See salaries and explore the career path for Human Resources Generalist

Reading list

We've selected two books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in PowerPoint for Consulting and Business presentations.

Presentation Zen

Save

Emphasizes simplicity and clarity in presentation design. It provides a framework for creating visually appealing and engaging presentations that focus on the message, not just the visuals. It's a valuable resource for understanding the principles behind effective communication and can help you apply the course's concepts to real-world scenarios. This book is commonly used by business professionals.

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation...

Kindle Edition

Say It With Charts: The Executive’s Guide to Visual...

Save

Focuses on the effective use of charts and graphs in business presentations. It provides guidance on selecting the right type of chart for different types of data and how to design charts that are clear, concise, and visually appealing. It useful reference tool for the quantitative slide development section of the course. This book is commonly used by business professionals.

Say It With Charts: The Executive’s Guide to Visual...

Paperback

Check price

Say It With Charts: The Executive’s Guide to Visual...

Kindle Edition

Check price

PowerPoint for Consulting and Business presentations

What's inside

Learning objectives

Syllabus

Traffic lights

Save this course

Reviews summary

Practical powerpoint skills for business

Activities

Career center

Reading list

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