From Director to Partner in Deloitte: The Presentation that Made it Happen

Getting promoted in an organization like Deloitte is a challenge that not everyone is up for. Here’s how we helped our client overcome that and the presentation design that became the cherry on the top.

The Mission

Back in November 2019, we were contacted by the Country Director of one of Deloitte’s entities in Europe.

He participated in the training we did for Deloitte a few months ago for one of his teams. After that training, he wanted to contact us to help with probably the most important presentation in his life.

It was the beginning of 2020 in Prague, the Czech Republic when our client was invited to a progression meeting that was critical for his career. The stakes were high as the presentation was in fact an interview for him to go a few levels up in the Deloitte hierarchy.

As he, himself told us:

“This is a life and career-changing event for me!”

However, there was a serious challenge in front of us — none of us had any idea who the audience is. The meeting was private, and nobody knew who the jury was going to be. And that’s where the journey started…

We had to get really creative…

The first thing we did was brainstorm who these people might be. More importantly, how can we learn more about them. First, we decided to ask the organizers of the event but they refused to disclose that information.

Then we found something else that could help us — the participants from the previous years. Long story short, information about the jury was found in Deloitte’s intranet, which gave us huge insights about who our audience was. This means we now knew how to craft the story, so it resonates with them.

The main message our presentation had to send was the unparalleled contribution our client brought to Deloitte since he became part of them.

But there was one thing that made the real difference behind this presentation. The way he showcased the 3 separate initiatives he wanted to put in motion for the 3 years ahead. His goal was to affect the future of the entire company.

The 3 initiatives pointed out serious problems the customers of the company faced when operating their businesses. But to just raise a problem and offer a solution for it wasn’t enough for us.

The stories behind the problems were the real way to get the audience engaged. This way they could picture the real cause behind the issues and get curious about how the presenter planned to get them solved. So, what we did was to ask our client to tell those three stories so that we can immerse the jury and feel as they were next to him during those meetings!

Once we completed the script, we gave it to the design team with quite some requirements for them…

Nailing it with the design

We wanted to stand out and be shocking from the first slide.

The initial visual experience was completely on-brand, but we wanted the jury to see we are about to put up a show. The flying pieces of the circle and their motion were timed perfectly so the presenter can connect, start the slideshow, and get in front of the jury just when the final piece gets in position.

From there we used the help of the Morph transition in PowerPoint to create some stunning movements that yet again told the jury:

“This is not your typical corporate presentation!”

The results?

You’re looking at the presentation that helped our client win his promotion and become one of the new partners at Deloitte. Now he has the necessary resources to put his initiatives in action and go on to build a bigger and better future for his company.

The lesson?

Truly effective presentations can be the deciding factor whether you’re going to achieve your next big milestone and move forward in your career or get left behind.