Slideshow Presentations 101

Overview

Sometimes, clients need us to compile data into a slideshow presentation. A slideshow can also be referred to as slide presentation or PowerPoint (PPT). These documents need to be organized and formatted in a professional manner so the client can present the slides to others.

What is a slideshow presentation?

A slideshow usually consists of images and text. They can also include videos and special effects. Often, slideshows are projected onto a large screen during meetings, so you need to make sure the information is easily readable at a relatively far distance. The most common tools used to create slideshows are (1) Google Docs and (2) Microsoft PowerPoint. For this document, I will be using Google Docs because it is free and available to all analysts.

How to create a slideshow

1. Go to Google Slides and click on template gallery in the top right corner. Select a professional template, for example, “General presentation” or “Your big idea”.
2. Scroll through the templated slides and decide which ones to keep, duplicate, or delete. This will vary depending on the request details. A good rule of thumb is to keep all the “Section Title”, “Intro”, and “First Point” slides. For example, if your request asks for direct quotes, you would keep the slide that has been templated for quotations.
3. Select a theme that reflects the request. For example, using red and white for a request about Coca-Cola. Another example would be using green for an environmentally friendly request.
4. Create a concise and informative title for your document and first slide.
5. Create a shareable link that allows anyone with the link to edit the content. Add this to your sources in the Wonder editor.
6. As you research, start writing your findings in bullet-point form into the slideshow. Citations can be added at the bottom in the “speaker notes” section. For example, the slide reads “quote” [1], then we need to add the citation to the speaker notes as [1] www.url.com
7. Add pictures, videos, and/or audio when possible. Transitions and special effects can be added, but should be done in a professional manner.

BEST TYPES OF SOURCES FOR SLIDESHOW REQUESTS

Slideshow presentations require pictures and hard data. Sources with images, and graphs will be very helpful in creating a great presentation that captivates the audience’s attention. Other valuable sources include interview or news articles that can be used to provide the client with direct quotes. Annual reports and financial statements also add to the value and credibility of slideshows.

HOW TO STRUCTURE SLIDESHOW RESPONSE

The slideshow writeup should include:

1. The insights must be high-value content from the findings in the slideshow. They should not summarize what you did.
2. An executive summary highlighting important findings from the slideshow. These should not be a copy/paste of your insights.
3. A link to the slideshow at the end of the executive summary.
4. A methodology if you could not find some of the data, made assumptions, calculations, or triangulations.