Presentation Training Online · Storylining, Slide Design & PowerPointIdeas that are easy to follow are the ideas that convince.
In this online presentation training, your team learns how to build impactful presentations that are audience-centric and easy to follow, both logically and visually.
What your team learns in the online presentation training
Participants learn methods that turn complex content into a clear line of argument, earn attention from the first slide, and land the message. Everything is applied straight away to their own topics, so what they take away works on Monday morning.
Relevance from the first minute
The audience sees immediately why the topic matters to them and what they get out of it.
A clear line of argument
Four proven structures that turn any topic into a storyline people can follow.
Slides that carry a message
The difference between a slide that shows information and a slide that makes a point.
Clear structures for logical arguments
Session I introduces four structures that turn a topic into an argument people can follow. One of them is the Hero's Journey: it moves between what is true today and what could be possible, and walks the audience step by step towards a decision.
The standard format: two live online sessions of four hours
The online presentation training runs as two live sessions of four hours, held on separate days. Attention stays high on screen, teams across time zones can join, and the days in between give participants room to try Session I out on a real presentation.
Understand
The Hero's Journey as a presentation structure, analysed on a well-known keynote.
Apply
Build a short presentation, present it, get structured feedback.
Extend
Pyramid, decision tree, five sentences, and when each one fits.
Design
Gestalt principles, colour and hierarchy, applied live on real slides.
Storylining: how to structure presentations
How do I build a presentation so that my audience wants to follow from the very first minute?
Four structures, learned and applied
Participants learn and apply four practical structures for communicating ideas in an audience-focused, logical and easy-to-follow way:
The Hero's Journey
A powerful narrative structure for communicating ideas and proposals, famously used by speakers such as Steve Jobs.
The Pyramid Structure
Leading with the key message and supporting it with logically structured arguments underneath.
Recommendation & Decision Trees
Structuring complex decisions and recommendations so the reasoning behind them stays visible.
The Five-Sentence Structure
Communicating the results of an analysis clearly and concisely, in five sentences.
Practice: from a topic to a short presentation
Every participant takes one of their own topics through a structure and builds a three to five minute presentation from it.
Build
Take the topic into the structure and draft the short presentation.
Pair up
Present to each other in breakout rooms and exchange structured feedback.
In the group
A few participants present to everyone, with feedback from the group and the trainer.
Why these four: each one fits a different situation. Knowing all four means participants can choose the right shape for a pitch, a status update, a recommendation or an analysis result, and stop rebuilding every deck from scratch.
Result of Session I: participants have four concrete tools for turning a topic into a clear, audience-focused storyline, and have applied one of them to a real presentation of their own.
Slide design: clarity, comprehension and impact
The principles of good communication, applied to the visual design of your slides.
Design principles that make slides work
- Ten PowerPoint best practices for working efficiently
- Creating visual hierarchy through statement, context and content
- Using colour and contrast to guide the audience's attention
- Crafting clear and memorable slide headlines
Gestalt principles that create meaning
Four principles that explain why some slides are understood in seconds while others need a minute of explanation:
Practical slide design exercises
Three hands-on exercises on the slide types that come up most often in business presentations:
Data visualisation
Turn a chart into a statement the audience grasps in seconds.
Roadmap slides
Show a plan over time so the phases and the milestones read at a glance.
Cinematic slides
Use full-bleed imagery and one strong line to carry an emotional moment.
Optional module: how to use AI effectively in the presentation design process, from first draft to finished slide.
Slide review & Q&A
We close by rebuilding two or three slides from a real context together, live. Which message should this slide carry? What distracts from it? And how do we make the point readable in seconds? Everyone sees the moves and can apply them to their own decks the same week.
Result of Session II: participants can see why a slide fails, and they have concrete moves for turning an information slide into a message slide.
What your team takes away from the two sessions
Communication that is understood faster, convinces more often and builds trust with the people who decide.
The audience perspective
Presentations are built from the audience's point of view, with relevance and benefit up front.
A deliberate structure
Your team picks the structure that fits the situation and gets complex content to the point faster.
Storytelling and design together
Story and slides reinforce each other, so the message lands calmly and clearly.
Good to know
Participants join from their own laptop with PowerPoint open, camera on, in groups of up to twelve so everyone gets airtime. A topic that is coming up anyway makes the exercises even more useful, and the sessions work just as well without one.
Jörn Steinz (MBA)
Before he trained others, he presented himself, every single day. As a consultant at Accenture and as a manager in corporate development at XING AG, he lived in PowerPoint for years: management and client presentations under time pressure, in front of critical decision-makers, with real consequences.
That is where this training comes from: structures and practical moves that proved themselves in day-to-day work. Since 2012 he has been training specialists and leaders in companies with SkillDay, in English and in German, always on real topics and always with feedback people can use the next day.
Good to know about the online presentation training
Who is this training for?
Specialists and leaders who regularly present to internal or external audiences. No prior knowledge is required.
How long is the training?
Two live sessions of four hours each, held on separate days. Attention on screen holds far better in blocks of this length, and the gap gives participants time to apply Session I to a real presentation before slide design starts.
Which language is the training delivered in?
English or German. Materials, exercises and feedback are provided in the language of the group.
Does it work across time zones?
Yes. The sessions are scheduled around the location of the participants, which makes the format a good fit for teams spread across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Is there real practice, or is it a lecture?
Every session is hands-on. Participants build a short presentation in Session I and work through three slide design exercises in Session II, with feedback throughout.
Is there an on-site version?
Yes. The same content also runs as an in-house training day at your location. Online, the two-session format reaches distributed teams more easily.
Could this help your team too?
If your team presents to clients, management or colleagues in other countries, let's talk about what these two sessions could look like for your group. Content, examples and timing are adapted to your topics and your locations.
SkillDay · Hamburg · jsteinz@skillday.com · +49 (0) 175 566 4329