Page 139 - The McKinsey Mind

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114 The McKinsey Mind

most logical set of recommendations imaginable still needs evi-
dence to back it. Therefore, at this point, it’s appropriate to look at
the complement to your presentation’s organizational structure:
the exhibits you use to communicate your analyses.
These days, exhibits can be more than just charts on paper.
They can be three-dimensional scale models, product samples, or
Web pages, just to mention a few possibilities. Whatever form it
takes, a good visual aid can be an incredibly effective communica-
tions tool. A picture is, after all, worth a thousand words. With
charts, you can express in one image data and concepts that might
take pages of text to describe. Not only that, but your audience
often will absorb your point more readily when they can see it
(and, in the case of physical models, touch it), rather than just hear
it or read it.
Whether you are using good old black-and-white charts or
rainbow-hued, three-dimensional computer animations with musi-
cal accompaniment, the lessons that McKinsey alumni learned still
ring true. Most importantly, keep it simple. You’re trying to com-
municate a set of recommendations, not show off an art project.
While you may sometimes want to put together pretty pictures to
impress your audience, the visual should not get in the way of the
message. If you actually want it to do so, then you are not trying to
communicate so much as obfuscate.
Each of your charts should have just one message for the audi-
ence to absorb, and the simpler, the better. That way, not only does
your audience know what you’re saying, you do, too. It’s unlikely
that you’ll get confused in the middle of your presentation if your
slides have only one clear message. When Sylvia Mathews was
White House deputy chief of staff, preparing presentations for the
President, she kept that principle foremost in her mind. Hey, if it
works for the President of the United States . . .