# Consulting presentation template > A consulting presentation takes a client from a problem to a decision: it gives the answer first, backs it with analysis and ends with what the client has to decide. This template has nine slides: a cover, an executive summary, the situation in one chart, the causes, a prioritization of measures, three options compared, a roadmap, the business case and the decisions you ask for. Every content slide has an action title, a full sentence that states the finding. - Source: https://ai-presentations.com/templates/consulting-presentation/ - Updated: 21 October 2026 - Language: English - German version: https://ai-presentations.com/de/vorlagen/beratungspraesentation/ For consultants, advisory firms and freelancers who present findings to a client's management, and for internal strategy and finance teams who work the same way. ## Slide by slide ### 1. Cover: project, audience and date A consulting deck travels. The client forwards it to colleagues who were not in the room, so the cover names the project, the audience and the date and says who wrote it. - A project name that states the topic, not the firm - Audience and meeting date - Name of the firm or author - A confidentiality mark if the client expects one ### 2. Executive summary: the answer first Decisions are made on the first pages. Situation, problem, recommendation and the ask belong on one slide, so a board member who reads only this slide can still decide. The rest of the deck is the proof. - The recommendation in one sentence, with its number - The situation and the problem in two short sentences - The decision or budget you ask for ### 3. Situation: what happened, in one chart Before anyone argues about causes or fixes, the room has to share the facts. One chart, ideally a bridge or a trend, shows the problem. The title says what the chart shows, so nobody has to read the axes first. - One chart for the problem, not three - An action title with the number in it - A takeaway of two sentences next to the chart - Source and date of the data ### 4. Diagnosis: why it happened Each bar of the situation chart gets one cause, and each cause gets an owner. A cause nobody can change is background, not a finding. Three or four causes that add up to the problem convince more than ten that do not. - Three or four causes that add up to the gap on the previous slide - One number per cause - What the client can change about each one ### 5. Prioritization: from long list to short list Shows how many ideas were considered and why a few were kept. The reader sees the whole field, including what you dropped, so the question “did you look at X” is answered before it is asked. - All candidate measures on one page - Two criteria, usually impact and effort - The selected measures highlighted - The source of the assessment, for example workshops ### 6. Options: three paths compared A board decides between options, not between opinions. Three complete options, scored on the same criteria and with your recommendation marked, make the choice visible. Options that differ only in size are not options. - Two or three options, one of them your recommendation - Five criteria at most, the same for every option - Cost, effect and time as numbers; risk on a simple scale - The recommended option highlighted ### 7. Roadmap: who does what by when Turns the recommendation into a plan the client can hold you to. Parallel workstreams on one time axis show dependencies, and a first checkpoint after 90 days gives the board a point to stop or adjust. - Workstreams with start and end - An owner for each workstream - One early checkpoint and the final milestone - What the client has to provide and when ### 8. Business case: cost, effect and payback The CFO tests this slide hardest. Four numbers and the assumptions behind them let the CFO challenge the model instead of the conclusion. - One-off cost and recurring effect - Payback time and how it is calculated - The effect on the headline metric, for example the margin - Assumptions in a note, including what stays constant ### 9. Decision and next steps A consulting deck ends on the decision, not on a summary. Each ask has to be specific enough to answer with yes or no in the meeting: an amount, a name or a date. - Two or three decisions you ask for today - An owner and a date for the first step - The contact who answers follow-up questions ## Example deck The example is about Linden Row Advisory, an invented company. Every figure in it is invented too. 1. Restoring margin at Tessmar Packaging. Findings and recommendation. Linden Row Advisory 2. Four measures recover €4.2m of EBITDA a year by 2028 and pay back in 15 months. €4.2m more EBITDA a year by 2028. Since 2023 revenue grew from €170m to €184m, but EBITDA fell from €23.9m to €19.2m. We ask the board to approve four measures and a budget of €1.6m. 3. EBITDA fell €4.7m since 2023 although volume added €3.4m. Prices, materials, energy and labor cost €8.1m. Volume won back only €3.4m of it, so the margin fell from 14.1% to 10.4%. 4. Four effects took €8.1m, and each traces back to a decision Tessmar can change: Prices: A third of revenue renewed at prices 4.7% lower on average, with no price floor in the contract.; Materials: Resin cost rose 6.7%, and only 55% of volume has a clause that passes the increase on.; Energy: Gas and power prices rose, and plant 2 vents process heat that could preheat its extrusion lines.; Labor and overhead: Wages rose 8.4% in two years, and long changeovers force extra shifts to deliver the same volume. 5. Four of eight candidate measures combine a solid EBITDA effect with manageable effort: Do first; Plan carefully; Fill in; Drop 6. Option B recovers 89% of the lost EBITDA at moderate cost and low customer risk: Criterion, A: Price review, B: Four measures, C: Close plant 3 7. The four measures run in parallel and reach full effect by the end of Q3 2028: Reprice weak contracts; Resin clauses; Heat recovery, plant 2; Shorter changeovers; Board review at day 90 8. A one-off cost of €1.6m pays back in 15 months and lifts the EBITDA margin to 12.7%: One-off cost €1.6m (counted up front); Effect a year at full run-rate €4.2m (reached in Q3 2028); Months to payback 15 (straight-line ramp-up); EBITDA margin 2028 12.7% (+2.3 pts on 2025) 9. Three decisions we ask for today. Together they start the program on 2 November. Approve the four measures and the one-off budget of €1.6m. Name one owner for each measure by 30 October. Start the price review on 2 November ## Tips - **Write action titles and read them in a row.** Take only the slide titles and read them one after another. If they do not tell the story, rewrite them. A good title is a full sentence with the finding and, where possible, a number: “EBITDA fell €4.7m since 2023 although volume added €3.4m”, not “EBITDA development”. - **Put the answer on slide two.** Clients with little time stop after the summary, so put the recommendation there and use the rest of the deck as proof. Keep each level of the argument to three or four items; ten causes are a list, not an argument. - **One message per slide, and the chart serves it.** If a slide needs two titles, split it. Pick the chart that carries the message: a bridge for a change, a line for growth, a matrix for a choice, a table with the same criteria for an options comparison. Delete every element that does not support the title. - **Make the numbers add up across slides.** The bridge total, the sum of the measures, the one-off cost and the payback should come from one model. A board member who finds one mismatch stops trusting the rest. Add the numbers up again before the deck leaves your hands. - **Read the first AI version like a junior's draft.** Give the AI your analysis, your numbers or an Excel file and read the result against it. The first result is a complete first version to refine, not a deck to send unread. The AI labels its assumptions, and you stay in charge of every figure, so check the numbers against your analysis before the deck goes out. ## Common mistakes - Topic titles such as “Market overview” where the reader needs the finding - Burying the recommendation after twelve slides of analysis - Three charts and three messages on one slide - Options that differ only in size, so the client has nothing to choose - Ending on “Questions?” instead of the decisions you need ## Brief for the AI A complete brief for the AI. Replace the [placeholders] with your facts. ```text Create a 9-slide consulting presentation for the management board of [client], presented by [firm] on [date]. Slide 1: cover with the project name, the audience and the date. Slide 2: executive summary with the recommendation in one sentence including its number, the situation in two sentences and the decision we ask for. Slide 3: a waterfall chart that bridges [metric] from [year] to [year] across [four drivers], with a two-sentence takeaway. Slide 4: the four causes behind those drivers, each with one number and what [client] can change. Slide 5: a matrix of [number] candidate measures by impact and effort, with the selected ones highlighted. Slide 6: a table comparing three options (A, B, C) on [effect], [one-off cost], [payback], ease of execution and customer risk, with B marked as the recommendation. Slide 7: a roadmap with the workstreams over [number] quarters and a checkpoint after 90 days. Slide 8: the business case with one-off cost, yearly effect, payback and the effect on [margin], with the assumptions in a note. Slide 9: the decisions we ask for today, each with an amount, a name or a date. Write every title as a full sentence that states the finding. Use my real figures; where one is missing, mark it as an assumption instead of inventing it. ``` [Open this brief in the editor](https://app.slaide.de/registrieren?prompt=Create+a+9-slide+consulting+presentation+for+the+management+board+of+%5Bclient%5D%2C+presented+by+%5Bfirm%5D+on+%5Bdate%5D.+Slide+1%3A+cover+with+the+project+name%2C+the+audience+and+the+date.+Slide+2%3A+executive+summary+with+the+recommendation+in+one+sentence+including+its+number%2C+the+situation+in+two+sentences+and+the+decision+we+ask+for.+Slide+3%3A+a+waterfall+chart+that+bridges+%5Bmetric%5D+from+%5Byear%5D+to+%5Byear%5D+across+%5Bfour+drivers%5D%2C+with+a+two-sentence+takeaway.+Slide+4%3A+the+four+causes+behind+those+drivers%2C+each+with+one+number+and+what+%5Bclient%5D+can+change.+Slide+5%3A+a+matrix+of+%5Bnumber%5D+candidate+measures+by+impact+and+effort%2C+with+the+selected+ones+highlighted.+Slide+6%3A+a+table+comparing+three+options+%28A%2C+B%2C+C%29+on+%5Beffect%5D%2C+%5Bone-off+cost%5D%2C+%5Bpayback%5D%2C+ease+of+execution+and+customer+risk%2C+with+B+marked+as+the+recommendation.+Slide+7%3A+a+roadmap+with+the+workstreams+over+%5Bnumber%5D+quarters+and+a+checkpoint+after+90+days.+Slide+8%3A+the+business+case+with+one-off+cost%2C+yearly+effect%2C+payback+and+the+effect+on+%5Bmargin%5D%2C+with+the+assumptions+in+a+note.+Slide+9%3A+the+decisions+we+ask+for+today%2C+each+with+an+amount%2C+a+name+or+a+date.+Write+every+title+as+a+full+sentence+that+states+the+finding.+Use+my+real+figures%3B+where+one+is+missing%2C+mark+it+as+an+assumption+instead+of+inventing+it.&utm_source=ai-presentations.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=template%3Aconsulting-presentation&utm_content=markdown) ## Frequently asked questions ### How do you structure a consulting presentation? Give the answer first: an executive summary with the recommendation, then the situation, the causes, the options, the plan and the business case, and end on the decision you ask for. This is the pyramid principle: the conclusion on top, grouped arguments below it, data underneath. The opening slide often follows SCQA, which stands for situation, complication, question, answer. Eight to twelve main slides fit a decision meeting; this template has nine. ### What is an action title? An action title is a slide title written as a full sentence that states the finding, such as “EBITDA fell €4.7m since 2023 although volume added €3.4m”. Read in a row, the titles of a deck should tell its story without the slide bodies. A label such as “EBITDA development” names the topic and leaves the finding to the reader. ### Can ChatGPT or another AI create a consulting presentation? A chat assistant can draft a storyline and action titles, but the analysis and the client's numbers have to come from you. The AI builds the slides themselves as an editable PowerPoint file from a brief like the one above; it plans the pages with you and builds them once you approve the plan. AI makes mistakes, so check every figure, name and claim against your own analysis before the deck goes to the client. ### Can I use my firm's PowerPoint template and brand? Yes. Upload your .pptx and the AI reads the theme fonts, colors, layouts and footers. New and changed slides come back as ordinary, editable text boxes, shapes and pictures. ### Can I use confidential client data in an AI tool? Check your client contract first. To create or change a document, Slaide sends your request and the content it needs through OpenRouter to language-model providers in the USA. Use of your content to train models is excluded by contract. If the contract does not allow processing in the USA, build the deck with placeholders and enter the real figures in PowerPoint afterwards. ### Are the numbers in this template real? No. Tessmar Packaging, Linden Row Advisory and all figures are fictional. The arithmetic is consistent: the bridge adds up to the 2025 EBITDA, the four measures add up to the €4.2m effect and the payback follows from the cost and the ramp-up, so the deck works as a model for your own numbers. ## Related pages - [Consulting proposal](https://ai-presentations.com/templates/consulting-proposal/): Propose the work in 8 slides: what you heard, the evidence, the approach in phases, the timeline, fixed fees per phase, the team and next steps. - [Executive summary](https://ai-presentations.com/templates/executive-summary/): Lead with the recommendation, the one number that matters, the options compared and the decision you need. Template with an 8-slide example. - [Steering committee](https://ai-presentations.com/templates/steering-committee/): A steering committee presentation template with 8 slides: status headline, key figures, schedule, budget bridge, workstreams, risks and the decisions you need. - [Strategy presentation](https://ai-presentations.com/templates/strategy-presentation/): A strategy presentation template with 9 slides: ambition, starting point, where to play, three moves, revenue path, what stops, roadmap and the decisions. - [Board presentation](https://ai-presentations.com/templates/board-presentation/): A board presentation template with the 8 slides a quarterly board meeting needs: summary, KPIs, revenue, EBITDA bridge, initiatives, risks and decisions. --- ai-presentations.com is published by Slaide (https://www.slaide.de), a sole proprietorship run by Nathalie Scholl in Heilbronn, Germany. [How this site is written, checked and corrected](https://ai-presentations.com/editorial-policy/).