Hi there!

In general action verbs are a very good idea, because they allow you to convey your message in a clear and concise way. Indeed, they help you grab the reader's attention. Here are some tips on writing a good action title:

- Be specific and informative, highlighting the key slide concept (e.g. key data points)

- Keep them short (better if they fit in 1 line)

- Use keywords that your audience is interested in

However, there may be different reasons why action titles are not used, among which:

- The partner / Associate Partner you are working with doesn't like them (this actually happened to me during my experience in consulting)

- They do not fit the customer communication style

- The slide content does not require an action title (e.g., when you have a list of things, you can use a title without a verb)

Truth is that there is no golden rule. I would say that in general you can prefer action verbs but that you will have to assess if that is correct case by case (according to your superiors' and customers' preferred communication style, slide content, …).

Hope this helps,
Francesca

Hi there!

That's a really cool question!

First of all, the approach differs a lot from firm to firm. My wife was in BCG while I was in McKinsey and I was surprised to see a significantly different methodology in how to write the lead / action title between the firms. 

A few things to keep in mind for McK specifically:

• Ideally have a 1 line lead - espcially since the new slide format and the visual identity changed 2-3y or so ago.
• Think of the lead as a sentence where a subject does something to an object. 
• The action title should tell a story from page to page. Usually when you do a storylining doc before you even start the presentation, you have a dot-dash / bullet point list of the main points in the storyline. These point before then the action title. The content of the page is meant to provide supporting evidence for the action title
• Aim to quantify. Avoid using words like ‘significantly’ which don't actually give an indication of scale. 

You can get significantly better at this just by reading Barbara Minto's ‘The Pyramid Principle’. And if you're in McKinsey, ask seniors about a memo called ‘Clarity is good’ which are internal guidelines for communication that are not public - these are an amazing resource to improve your top down communication. 

Best of luck!
Cristian

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Hi there,

Feel free to reach out to learn how to do this - I have run trainings for consultants at major corporations (e.g. PwC, Kearney, etc.) on exactly this type of topic.

In general, action verbs are recommended. However, there are instances where they are not needed.

It depends on the purpose/goal/context.

There's not really a way to answer this in this Q&A without an actual powerpoint in front of me. It all depends and is a skill/technique learned over time through experience/training….essentially you need the title that best works for what it's trying to do (there's no easier way to explain this without a full example)

===========Here are some PowerPoint Tips===========

I recommend that you start to approach it this way: boil down good vs bad design into principles, determine the key things to check in a slide, identify what small tweak changes a slide from looking average to awesome.

For example:

1. Always align items on your slide
2. Look to keep even spacing and sizing between multiple items (i.e. if I have 4 icons down the left column, I make them the exact same size, and set them all to be equidistant from each other)
3. Use colors to highlight focus areas and draw the eye - but don't overuse colors! (Maybe my first column will be dark blue with white text, if it's asking the key questions we have. Or maybe if I have a "summary" or 3 takeaways on a slide I'll bold + add color to the specific words/phreases that each takeaway is really addressing)
4. Identify what you are trying to achieve from the slide and then pick your template - there are probably 5 template I cycle through based on what I need. Coloring + content make them look different from each other, but boiled down, they're all quite simple (i.e. a table slide, a sequence slide, a 3 key takeaways slide, etc. etc.)

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/powerpoint-skills-4072

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/why-are-powerpoint-presentations-made-by-consultants-considered-good-when-most-pages-are-so-crowded-8494

Hi,

Plenty of great points already mentioned by other coaches. I would add one more point thats more practical for you as a junior consultant:

• Ask your manager on what he prefers/likes
• Ask your manager to send you previous decks that he has made, and then take a look at his style

The above can help you greatly not only in terms of headlines but also formatting etc.

There are firm standards, and there is also the standard of the person that is going to write your evaluation :)

All the best!