This workshop is designed for managers, officers, analysts, and specialists at all levels of the organization, who are responsible for developing decks and presentations for managers and senior executives. Whether you have some or no experience with developing decks, you will learn techniques to design and make presentations that are brief, while addressing the executive’s concerns and achieving the desired outcome.

Developing slides has become a requirement for many briefings and verbal presentations. In many cases, a PowerPoint deck is used, and is either a stand-in for a briefing note, or is an aid to that note, thus a deck requires the same amount of thought and analysis to support effective communication and decision making.

This course is designed to give participants the skills they need to craft a well thought-out deck, both in terms of the underlying analysis and the attention paid to the look and feel of the deck. In the first part of the workshop, we will identify the steps needed to create a meaningful deck. Participants will then be invited to develop a deck, which can either be shared with the group, as a formal presentation, or merely shared with the group. Feedback will be provided on all of the completed deck. Participants’ decks can either be based on a topic of their choice, or on a standardized case study.

• Understanding the strategic context for the PowerPoint (central agencies, departmental plans, etc.)
• Analysis of the situation and policy analysis: thinking of considerations and implications
• Fearless advice
• Understanding the audience
• Selling skills, especially features, advantages and benefits
• Writing a briefing note as a precursor: answering what? So what? Now what?
• The mechanics of the PowerPoint application for both drafting and display
• The protocols, tips and tricks of designing a PowerPoint deck
• Understanding delivery