Answer first

One sentence the deck must prove

Every major structure for persuasive business writing agrees on one rule. State the conclusion first, then support it. This lesson turns that rule into two things you write before any slide: one sentence the deck must prove, and three to five supporting points.

The one sentence names the decision you want, its cost or scope, and what it achieves. It is a recommendation, not a topic. “Peak season staffing” is a topic. “Approve a second shift for the peak” is a recommendation, because the audience can say yes or no to it.

A good one sentence passes three checks. The audience can say yes or no to it. It names a cost, a scope or a size. It states what changes if they say yes. If your sentence fails a check, add the missing part.

Practitioner guides on AI decks, such as one from Perceptis, start the same way. They write the one sentence and the supporting points before they ask any tool for slides. The supporting points become the middle of the deck, and Lesson 3 turns each one into an action title.

Write the opening with SCQA

Barbara Minto developed the Pyramid Principle at McKinsey. Its rule is to put the conclusion at the top and group the supporting arguments beneath it. Minto’s device for the opening is SCQA: situation, complication, question, answer.

The situation is what the audience already knows and accepts. The complication is what changed. The question is the one question the complication raises. The answer is your recommendation, which is your one sentence.

Each line leads to the next. The situation gets agreement, and the complication shows why the status quo will not hold. The question names the problem, and the answer resolves it. Four sentences can carry the first minute of a talk or the first paragraph of a memo.

Keep the situation short. A leadership team already knows its own business, and a long situation delays the answer. One sentence is often enough.

Choose three to five supporting points

Each supporting point is a reason the audience should accept the one sentence. Write each point as a full sentence that states a fact or an estimate. “Costs” is not a point. “The shift costs about $62,000” is.

Every point needs evidence you can show. If you cannot name the data behind a point, mark it [TBD] and find the data, or drop the point. Lesson 4 puts that evidence on the slide.

Test each point by removing it. If the case is as strong without it, cut it. If the audience would ask about it first, move it up. Three strong points carry a case better than six thin ones.

Expect the obvious objection, and answer it with a point. If your audience will ask why the cheaper option will not work, one supporting point should say why.

Pass the five-minute test

Nancy Duarte gave one test for presenting to senior executives in a 2012 Harvard Business Review article. Her advice is to imagine your slot has been cut to five minutes. Whatever you would say in those five minutes goes first.

Duarte advises leading with findings, conclusions, recommendations and the call to action. Tell the group how you will use the time. Answer the question you were invited to address before anything else. Supporting data comes after, and detail waits in the appendix from Lesson 1.

Run the test on your own deck. Cover everything after the first two slides. If a reader who saw only those two slides would know what you want and why, the deck passes. For a memo, run the same test on the first paragraph.

Choose the arc by audience

Duarte also wrote Resonate, a book about presentations that move a broad audience. It casts the audience as the hero and the presenter as the mentor. It borrows the conflict-and-resolution structure of film and literature, and it builds toward a call to action.

Duarte’s two pieces of advice point in different directions, and the difference is useful. A decision-maker with limited time needs the answer first. A broad audience you need to persuade to change may respond better to a story arc that builds toward the call to action.

Most work decks are the first kind. If you are asking for approval, money or a decision, lead with the answer. Save the story arc for talks such as a team meeting about a change that people must adopt.

Morgan’s case shows the difference. The leadership meeting needs the answer first, because Priya and the team must decide. If the shift is approved, Morgan will explain it to the warehouse staff. That talk could follow a story arc: what last peak was like, what changes, and what the staff can expect.

What the evidence says

Answer-first structure is expert consensus. Minto, Duarte and consulting practice agree on it, but Emeri’s research found no controlled test of it. The same holds for the Resonate arc. The course teaches both as expert advice, not as experimental findings.

That label tells you how firmly to hold the rule. You can depart from it when you know your audience well. If your leadership team expects background first, keep the situation to one sentence and reach the answer quickly.

Starter prompts

• Find my one sentence

  Copy prompt

  I am preparing a deck for [audience] about [topic]. Before any slides, interview me to find the one sentence this deck must prove. Ask one question at a time about the decision I want, its cost or scope, and the result it should achieve. Then write the sentence and 3 to 5 supporting points. Use only facts I give you. Mark anything I have not confirmed as [TBD].

• Draft my SCQA opening

  Copy prompt

  Here is my one sentence:
  
  [paste sentence]
  
  Here are my notes:
  
  [paste notes]
  
  Write a four-line SCQA opening: situation, complication, question, answer. The answer must be my one sentence, unchanged. Keep the situation to one sentence. Use only numbers from my notes. Do not invent any figure. If the complication needs a number I have not given, write [TBD].

• Run the five-minute test

  Copy prompt

  Here are the first two slides, or the first paragraph, of my deck:
  
  [paste]
  
  Act as a senior executive who has five minutes. Tell me what decision you think I want, what it costs and why it matters. If you cannot tell any of those three things, say which is missing. Do not rewrite my text.

Sources

• SCQA and the Pyramid Principle (summary of Barbara Minto), ThinkInsights (undated)
• How to present to senior executives, Nancy Duarte (first published in Harvard Business Review) (2012-10)
• Resonate (book page), Nancy Duarte (undated)
• How to make AI slides that don’t look AI-generated: a consultant’s guide, Perceptis (2026-09)