HomeResourcesGuidesAndrew PershJune 16, 202613 min read

The Complete Guide to McKinsey-Style Presentations with Claude

Everything it takes to build McKinsey-style presentations with Claude: the method behind the format, the exact copy-paste prompts, the skills worth saving, and the handoff that turns a storyline into a board-ready deck.

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The Complete Guide to McKinsey-Style Presentations with Claude cover

What this guide to McKinsey-style presentations with Claude covers

McKinsey-style presentations with Claude come down to one habit: do the thinking in Claude with real consulting discipline, then build the slides in a tool made for design. This page is the hub for that workflow. It walks the method that makes a deck read like top-tier consulting work, gives you the exact prompts to run, points you to the skills worth saving, and shows how a storyline becomes an editable board deck. Everything you need is here. The links send you deeper, they do not replace the substance on this page.

Read it top to bottom and you have a repeatable system. Frame the question, draft the storyline as action titles, build MECE bodies, attach one exhibit per slide, then render the deck. The same loop produces a board pre-read, a pitch book section, or a single rescue slide. If you only want the artifacts, jump to the prompts library, which is the heaviest part of the page.

The McKinsey method, in plain terms

The format is a set of rules, not a template. Learn the rules and you can brief Claude to follow them. These are the seven that matter.

Action titles

Every slide title states the so-what as a full sentence, not a topic label. Read in order, the titles tell the whole story on their own.

Pyramid Principle

Lead with the answer, then the supporting arguments, then the detail. The reader gets the recommendation in the first ten seconds.

SCQA

Open the deck with Situation, Complication, Question, Answer. It sets up why the work matters before any analysis lands.

MECE

Body points are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive: no overlap, nothing missing. Three to five points per slide, never more.

One message per slide

Each slide makes a single point. If a slide is making two, it is two slides. The action title is that one point.

Exhibit-led

One chart, diagram, or framework per slide does the proving. The body text supports the exhibit, it does not repeat it.

Ghost deck first

Write all the action titles before building any slide. The titles alone are the argument; only then do you fill in exhibits and bodies.

Claude is good at all seven once you name them in the instruction. The McKinsey presentation skill for Claude packages the rules into a single file so you do not have to restate them each time.

The workflow with Claude, end to end

A McKinsey-style deck moves through five stages. Claude carries the first four, the thinking. The fifth, the rendered deck, is the handoff to Oria. Keep Claude inside this order rather than letting it jump to a finished-looking answer.

The McKinsey-style presentations with Claude workflow: frame, storyline, MECE body, exhibits, then a board deck in Oria

Frame. Force one decision question and a hypothesis before any analysis. This single step prevents a confident answer to the wrong question.

Storyline. Write the action titles as full sentences. Read top to bottom they must hold together as one argument before any slide is built.

MECE body. Fill each slide with three to five non-overlapping points that support its title. No overlap, nothing missing, never more than five.

Exhibits. Attach one chart or diagram per slide that proves the title. The exhibit does the arguing; the body text supports it.

Board deck. Paste the storyline into Oria, which renders each slide as editable, on-brand PowerPoint elements with design options to choose from.

For the full slide-building walkthrough, see how to make McKinsey-style slides with Claude.

A prompts library for McKinsey-style decks

These are the exact prompts, grouped by stage. Copy a block, replace the bracketed parts, and run them in sequence inside one conversation so each builds on the last. Any prompt you reuse weekly, promote it to a saved skill. For more, see the Claude prompts for McKinsey slides.

Stage 1: Frame the problem

Force a decision question and hypothesis

You are an engagement manager at a top strategy firm. Restate the brief below as one specific decision question. State your single best hypothesis for the answer in one sentence. Then list the 3 to 5 MECE branches that would prove or kill it. Do not solve anything yet. Brief: [paste]

Set up the SCQA

Write the opening of this deck as Situation, Complication, Question, Answer. One or two sentences each. The Answer is the governing message of the whole deck and must be a full sentence a partner could say out loud. Topic: [paste]

Stage 2: Build the storyline

Draft the action-title storyline

Turn this analysis into a storyline of 8 to 12 slides. For each slide write an action title that states the so-what as a full sentence, not a topic label. The action titles, read in order, must tell the whole story on their own. Number them and add nothing else yet. Analysis: [paste]

Pressure-test the storyline

Read these action titles in order. Do they tell a complete, logical argument on their own, with no gap and no leap? Name the single weakest link and rewrite that one title. Then confirm the sequence now holds. Titles: [paste]

Stage 3: Build MECE bodies

Write a MECE body for one slide

For the slide titled "[action title]", write 3 to 5 supporting points. They must be mutually exclusive (no overlap) and collectively exhaustive (nothing material missing). Each point is one short line that supports the title. If you cannot keep them MECE, tell me the slide is really two slides and split it.

Check MECE across the deck

Review the body points across all slides below. Flag any two points that overlap, and any obvious gap the argument needs but does not cover. Propose the minimal fix for each. Slides: [paste]

Stage 4: Specify exhibits

Pick the right exhibit per slide

For each slide below, name the single best exhibit type to prove its action title: waterfall, 2x2 matrix, SWOT, bar chart, line chart, process flow, org chart, or funnel. In one line, say what the exhibit must show. One exhibit per slide, no more. Slides: [paste]

Spec a waterfall bridge

Write the build spec for a waterfall slide that proves "[action title]". List the starting bar, each increase and decrease as a labelled step in order, and the ending bar. Mark the one step that matters most so it can be the accent. Use my real figures below; do not invent numbers. Figures: [paste]

Stage 5: Communicate and defend

Write the executive summary slide

Write a one-slide executive summary of the deck below using Situation, Complication, Resolution. Make the Resolution about 60 percent of it. Bold the lead sentence of each part so a reader can skim only the bold text and still get the whole argument. Keep it under 150 words. Deck: [paste]

Prep the board Q&A

Generate the 10 hardest questions a board will ask about the recommendation below, ordered by likelihood. For each, give a crisp two-sentence answer I can deliver from memory. Recommendation: [paste]

Tip

Run these in order in one conversation. By the time you reach the exhibit prompts, Claude already holds the framing, the storyline, and the bodies in context, so the specs it writes are grounded in your work rather than generic.

Skills worth saving

A skill is one markdown file you upload to a Claude Project so a method runs the same way every time, without you re-explaining it. Once a storyline or MECE prompt earns its keep, promote it. Here is the storyline skill in full, ready to drop into a project:

mckinsey-storyline/SKILL.md

# McKinsey Storyline Skill Use when: you need a board-ready storyline from raw analysis. Method: 1. Restate the ask as one decision question and one hypothesis. 2. Write 8 to 12 action titles, each a full so-what sentence. 3. Order them so the titles alone tell the whole argument. 4. For each slide, add 3 to 5 MECE supporting points. 5. Name one exhibit per slide that proves the title. Output: - The numbered action titles, read as one continuous argument. - The MECE body points under each title. - The exhibit type and what it must show, per slide.

Build a small set and they behave like a slide-writing operating system. The ready-made pack is the Claude skills for McKinsey slides; for the broader strategy library, see the 21 strategy skills for Claude. If you are new to skills overall, the consultant's guide to Claude covers the basics.

Building specific slide types

The method is the same for every exhibit-led slide: one action title, one exhibit that proves it, MECE supporting points. The two most common consulting exhibits have their own step-by-step guides.

Waterfall chart slide

A bridge that walks a number from a start to an end through labelled increases and decreases.

SWOT analysis slide

A four-quadrant grid of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, each point earning its place.

From storyline to a board deck in Oria

Do not ask Claude to render the slides. Ask it for the storyline, then build the deck in Oria inside PowerPoint. Three steps:

Run the storyline and MECE prompts above to get action titles, body points, and an exhibit spec per slide.

Paste that storyline into Oria's Text to Slide. It renders each slide as native, editable elements in your template.

Pick from the two to five design options per slide, then refine wording in PowerPoint. The deck stays on brand and editable.

Common mistakes to avoid

Topic titles ("Market overview") instead of action titles that state the so-what.

Building slides before the action titles hold together as one argument.

Body points that overlap or leave a gap, breaking MECE.

Two messages on one slide instead of splitting it into two.

A slide with no exhibit, or three exhibits competing on one slide.

Pasting Claude text straight into PowerPoint and shipping it raw.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a presentation McKinsey-style?

Three things. The titles are action titles that state the so-what as a full sentence, so the titles read in order tell the whole story on their own. The structure follows the Pyramid Principle: answer first, then the supporting arguments, then the detail. And every slide carries one message proven by one exhibit, with the body points MECE so they do not overlap and nothing is missing. Claude can produce all three once you instruct it to.

Can Claude actually write the storyline, or just bullets?

It writes the storyline well once you force the discipline. Ask for action titles as full sentences and require that the titles, read top to bottom, hold together as an argument. Claude is strong at compressing analysis into one governing message and laying out a SCQA flow. It is weak at building the editable, on-brand slides themselves, which is the handoff to Oria.

Do I need a Claude skill, or are prompts enough?

Prompts are enough to start. Promote a prompt to a saved skill once you find yourself pasting it every week. A skill is one markdown file you upload to a Claude Project so the method runs the same way every time without re-explaining it. The McKinsey skill set on this page packages the storyline, MECE, and exhibit steps for you.

How do I get from a Claude storyline to a finished deck?

Do not ask Claude to render the slides. Ask it for the storyline with action titles and MECE body points, then paste that into Oria inside PowerPoint. Oria builds each slide as native, editable elements in your corporate template, with two to five design options per slide. You keep the thinking in Claude and the design in Oria.

Which slide types does this method cover?

Every exhibit-led slide a board deck needs: waterfall bridges, SWOT grids, 2x2 matrices, org charts, market-sizing funnels, and process flows. The method is the same each time. One action title, one exhibit that proves it, MECE supporting points. The how-to guides linked on this page walk specific slide types end to end.