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John Burress

Updated for 2025.

In today's job market, you are only as good as your presentation skills. As the competition for high-level consulting and management positions becomes increasingly cutthroat, you need a powerful way to make your message stand out from the rest.

My name is John Burress and I'm excited to introduce you to the McKinsey presentation system. During my time as a corporate strategist, I've used McKinsey presentations to significantly grow many leading businesses using the same techniques you'll learn under my instruction.

Read more

Updated for 2025.

In today's job market, you are only as good as your presentation skills. As the competition for high-level consulting and management positions becomes increasingly cutthroat, you need a powerful way to make your message stand out from the rest.

My name is John Burress and I'm excited to introduce you to the McKinsey presentation system. During my time as a corporate strategist, I've used McKinsey presentations to significantly grow many leading businesses using the same techniques you'll learn under my instruction.

Recent studies reveal that over 80% of clients intuitively prefer presentations that use the McKinsey system due to its unique mechanics and ease of understanding.

My multi-faceted intensive course will guide you through the intricacies of management consulting presentations and cover a wide range of topics so you can begin utilizing the system for your own clients. You will graduate with a deeper understanding of the principles and best practices needed to compete in today's job market.

Topics include:

· Exploring the basic blocks of a McKinsey-styled presentation

· Learning storytelling for business

· Writing powerful key messages

· Building smarter storyline

· What's a storyboard and why do you need one

· Using dot-dash storyline and pyramid principle to craft a compelling storyline

· How to build a presentation like a management consultant from scratch

· Working with tables, words, and graphics

· Understanding simple and complex charts

· Managing presentation nerves

· Setting up your room for presentation

· Tips for handling a Q&A section

· Essential body language techniques of public speaking

Forbes reports that 70% of successful Americans report that presentation skills were critical to the development of their careers. Are you certain your skills are up to par?

If you're ready to move into the upper echelon of effective communication and presentation success, sign up today. I look forward to meeting you soon.

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Learn how to build a presentation like a management consultant from scratch
  • Explore the basic blocks of a mckinsey-styled presentation
  • Understanding storyboarding for business
  • Writing powerful key messages
  • Using dot-dash storyline and pyramid principle to craft a compelling storyline
  • Working with tables, words, and graphics
  • Using simple and complex charts to visualize insights
  • Apply plan-do-check-act cycle to create a management consulting presentation yourself
  • Managing presentation nerves
  • Setting up your room for presentation
  • Master the system that covers almost everything you need to create compelling, memorable, and persuasive business presentations
  • Tips for handling a q&a section
  • Understand essential body language techniques of public speaking
  • Learn how to write cover page, agenda, and executive summary like a management consultant
  • Learn the complete consulting presentation list to give an outstanding business presentation
  • Understand how to prioritize findings from many analyses
  • Tips for finding the right data quickly
  • Show more
  • Show less

Syllabus

Welcome
Introduction
What you should know before watching this course
Why do consultants use PPT so much
Read more
Using exercises
Preparation: learning principles
Explore presentation apps
Download the presentations from McKinsey, BCG and Accenture
Free gift worth $199
Plan
What is management consulting
What’s consulting project
Understand PDCA (Plan Do Check Act)
Identify main building blocks
The basic building blocks
Headline
Keep vertical and horizontal logic MECE
Storyboard
The basic storyline in business contexts
Build dot dash version of storyline
Write first, format later
The Pyramid Principle: logic in writing and thinking
Bonus: The thought process in McKinsey reports and presentations
Analyze your audience’s knowledge level
Audience checklist
Do
Combine the best of written and oral presentation skills
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the plain English test
Cover page
Agenda
Agenda checklist
Executive summary
Communicate the main message in < 2 lines
Use down-to-earth language
Remember why you are paid to be there
Checklist to display information effectively
Headline checklist
Maintain the logic flow
Using active phrasing examples
Use ellipsis to support the flow
Produce the most important data to support headlines
Body is a more detailed explanation of the headline
Avoid lengthy and dense bullets of text
Using columns
Layout design
Graphs tend to be poorly presented
Why management consultants love data
Data visualization apps for management consultants
How to choose among words, tables, graphics
Graphics or exhibits
Main types of charts
Other types of charts
Key graph elements
Each chart form is best equipped to illustrate one of five comparisons
5 basic kinds of comparisons
Component comparison
Item comparison
Time series comparison
Frequency distribution comparison
Correlation comparison
Typical amount in a consulting presentation
Secondary y axis
3D chart
Review chart checklist
Chart checklist
Diagram
Bonus: Editable PowerPoint diagrams
Tables
Table checklist
Table vs. Chart
Bonus: IBCS STANDARDS for free (Worth $49)
Words
Find the right data quickly
Kicker
Kick checklist
Version management
Prioritize findings from many analyses
Appendix
Legal disclaimer
Theme
Color
Design principles
Font
Font size
Image
Video
Background
Animation
Pace information flow
Present the data in tables and charts
Slide chooser
Check
In summary, when faced with a deadline, remember the following guiding principle
Presentation checklist
Use these questions to review your slides
How to choose meeting room
Minimum legible font size
Set up your room for presentation
Location checklist

Save this course

Save Management Consulting Presentation Essential Training to your list so you can find it easily later:
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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 Management Consulting Presentation Essential Training with these activities:
Review Consulting Frameworks
Refresh your understanding of common consulting frameworks to better grasp the strategic thinking behind McKinsey-style presentations.
Show steps
  • Identify key consulting frameworks.
  • Research each framework's purpose and application.
  • Summarize the frameworks in your own words.
Review 'The McKinsey Way'
Gain a deeper understanding of the McKinsey approach to problem-solving and communication, which forms the basis of the presentation style taught in the course.
Show steps
  • Read the book 'The McKinsey Way'.
  • Take notes on key concepts and strategies.
  • Reflect on how these concepts apply to presentation design.
Create a Storyboard Template
Solidify your understanding of storyboarding by creating a reusable template for structuring consulting presentations.
Show steps
  • Research different storyboard formats.
  • Design a template with key sections.
  • Test the template with a sample presentation topic.
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
Practice Chart Selection
Improve your ability to choose the right chart type for different data sets and insights, a crucial skill for effective consulting presentations.
Show steps
  • Find sample data sets online.
  • Determine the best chart type for each data set.
  • Create the charts using presentation software.
Review 'Say It With Charts'
Enhance your understanding of data visualization principles and techniques to create more impactful charts and graphs in your presentations.
Show steps
  • Read 'Say It With Charts'.
  • Identify key principles for effective chart design.
  • Apply these principles to improve existing charts.
Design a Mock Consulting Presentation
Apply the principles learned in the course to create a complete consulting presentation from scratch, reinforcing your understanding of the entire process.
Show steps
  • Choose a relevant business problem.
  • Develop a storyline using the pyramid principle.
  • Create slides with compelling visuals and data.
  • Practice delivering the presentation.
Tutor Other Students
Reinforce your knowledge by explaining presentation concepts and techniques to other students, solidifying your own understanding in the process.
Show steps
  • Offer tutoring sessions to classmates.
  • Prepare explanations of key concepts.
  • Answer questions and provide feedback.

Career center

Learners who complete Management Consulting Presentation Essential Training will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

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 Management Consulting Presentation Essential Training.
Provides insights into the problem-solving methods and communication strategies used by McKinsey consultants. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how McKinsey approaches projects, which is directly relevant to the course's focus on McKinsey-style presentations. Reading this book will help you understand the underlying principles that drive effective consulting presentations. It useful reference tool for understanding the consulting mindset.
Classic guide to creating effective charts and graphs for business presentations. It provides a comprehensive overview of different chart types and their appropriate uses. It also covers design principles for creating visually appealing and informative charts. This book adds more depth to the course's section on working with tables, words, and graphics.

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