Class · Pyramid Presentations in Business

Session agenda

120 minutes: 90 of interactive content and 30 of applied in-class assessment.

0–15'Why do we present differently in business?
Academic logic (bottom-up) vs. executive logic (top-down).
15–40'The pyramid principle (Barbara Minto)
Governing thought, vertical and horizontal logic.
40–60'SCQA: how to open a presentation
Situation, Complication, Question, Answer. Interactive builder.
60–75'MECE and ordering ideas
Group without overlaps or gaps; order by importance.
75–85'Action titles and storytelling with data
85–90'Worked example + Quiz
Before/after, applied to a course project.
90–120'Final in-class assessment
Build the executive pyramid for your ML project.

0–15 min

1. Why do we present differently in business?

At university we learn to communicate bottom-up: context → method → results → conclusion. It is the logic of the scientific paper, which builds suspense and makes the reader go through the whole journey before finding out what happened.

In business, the listener (a manager, a committee, a client) has little time and has to make a decision. They need the conclusion first. That is why executive communication is top-down: the answer at the start, and the details only if they ask for them.

❌ Academic logic (bottom-up)

"We collected 10,000 records, cleaned the data, did EDA, tried 4 models, tuned hyperparameters, compared metrics… and therefore we recommend the XGBoost model."

The decision-maker waited 5 minutes to find out what to do.

✅ Executive logic (top-down)

"We recommend deploying the XGBoost model to anticipate customer churn: it could prevent ~CLP 120 million in losses next quarter. Three reasons support this…"

The decision-maker knows what to do within 10 seconds.

BLUF — Bottom Line Up Front. It is the writing standard of the U.S. Army and of the consulting world: put the conclusion at the top. If your audience read only the first sentence, would they understand what you propose and why?

15–40 min

2. The pyramid principle

Barbara Minto developed it at McKinsey and published it in The Pyramid Principle (1987). It is the standard communication method in consulting.

The core idea: every message should be organized as a pyramid under a single governing thought.

Governing thought
(your recommendation / answer)
Argument 1
Argument 2
Argument 3
data · charts
data · charts
data · charts

Vertical logic

Between levels there is a question–answer dialogue. Each idea raises a question ("why?", "how?") that the level below answers.

Horizontal logic

Ideas on the same level are grouped logically: by deduction (a chain of reasoning) or by induction (ideas of the same kind).

The "so what?" test. For every data point, ask yourself "so what?" until you reach the actionable implication. That implication (not the data point) is what goes at the top of the pyramid.

"The model has an AUC of 0.86" → so what? → "we can detect 8 out of 10 customers who will churn" → so what? → "we can focus retention efforts and reduce churn by 10%".

40–60 min

3. SCQA: how to open without losing your audience

Before delivering the recommendation, Minto proposes a short introduction that "hooks" the audience with a frame everyone shares. This is the SCQA pattern:

S — Situation

A fact about the context that nobody disputes.

C — Complication

Something that changed, or a problem that puts the situation under strain.

Q — Question

The question that naturally arises from the complication.

A — Answer

Your main message: the top of the pyramid.

🛠️ SCQA builder

Write each part and watch an executive opening take shape. (Preloaded with an example from a course project.)

Situation Complication Question Answer (main message)

60–75 min

4. MECE: grouping without overlaps or gaps

MECE = Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive. Your arguments should not overlap with each other (exclusive) or leave important gaps (exhaustive).

❌ Not MECE

1. The model is accurate · 2. The model has a good AUC · 3. It reduces costs
(1 and 2 overlap; the "how it gets implemented" is missing).

✅ MECE

1. It detects churners well (performance) · 2. It explains the drivers of churn (interpretation) · 3. It plugs into the retention campaign (action)
No overlaps, and it covers performance + interpretation + action.

Ordering within a group

Once the ideas are grouped, order them by an explicit criterion:

By importance (most relevant first): the most common in business.
By time (steps in a process: first, then, next).
By structure (by area, region, segment).

75–85 min

5. Action titles and storytelling with data

Titles that state, not label

Each slide should be titled with its message, not its topic. If someone read only your slide titles, they should understand the whole story.

❌ Topic title

"Variable analysis"

✅ Action title

"Inactivity and high balance are the main predictors of churn"

Storytelling with data

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic (Storytelling with Data, 2015) sums up good practice: choose the right chart, remove distractions, direct attention with color to the data point that matters, and pair every chart with a sentence that says what to look at.

A chart without a message is a Rorschach test: everyone sees what they want to see. Tell your audience what they should conclude.

85–90 min

6. Worked example (before / after)

The same information, two ways of presenting it to an executive committee. Switch between them:

❌ Bottom-up

"Good morning. We worked with a dataset of 10,000 customers and 15 variables. We found missing values and outliers, which we cleaned. We did exploratory analysis: we plotted distributions and correlations. Then we tried logistic regression, a decision tree, random forest and XGBoost. We tuned hyperparameters with cross-validation. XGBoost got the best AUC (0.86), followed by random forest. The most important variables were inactivity, balance and country. Therefore, we recommend using XGBoost and focusing retention on inactive, high-balance customers."

✅ Top-down (pyramid)

Recommendation: "Deploying the churn model to prioritize the riskiest 20% of customers can reduce churn by 10% next quarter. Three reasons support this:

It detects churn well: the model identifies 8 out of 10 customers who will churn (AUC 0.86).
We know why they leave: inactivity and high balance are the main triggers.
Acting pays off: retaining the prioritized segment costs less than reacquiring the customers we would lose.

Next step: launch a pilot retention campaign for that 20% and measure the impact."

The technical details (cleaning, EDA, model comparison) move to the backup slides, available if anyone asks.

Quick quiz

Check the essentials. Your score updates automatically: 0 / 5

1. In an executive presentation, what should you start with?

2. What does MECE stand for?

3. What is the correct order of the opening framework?

4. A good slide title (action title)…

5. The "so what?" test is used to…

90–120 min · 30 minutes in class

Final assessment: build your executive pyramid

Take the results of your course project (for example, your churn or credit default model) and put together a 1–2 minute pyramid-style message for a non-technical executive committee.

30:00 Suggested in-class working time.

Step 1 — Opening (SCQA)

Situation Complication Question

Step 2 — Main message (top of the pyramid)

Recommendation / answer, with an impact figure if possible

Step 3 — Three MECE arguments

Argument 1 — Performance (does it detect well?) Argument 2 — Interpretation (why does it happen?) Argument 3 — Action/value (what do we do and what is it worth?)

Step 4 — Call to action

Concrete next step

Your executive summary will appear here…

Self-check before presenting

Does my first sentence already state my recommendation? (answer-first / BLUF)
Did I include a business impact figure?
Are my 3 arguments MECE (no overlaps or gaps)?
Did I apply the "so what?" test to every data point?
Did I avoid unnecessary technical jargon for a non-technical committee?
Did I close with a concrete action?

Assessment rubric (100 points)

Criterion	Description	Points
Message first (answer-first)	The recommendation comes at the start, clearly stated and with quantified impact.	30
SCQA opening	Situation, complication and question are linked together and relevant to the business.	20
MECE arguments	Three non-overlapping arguments that cover performance, interpretation and action.	25
Action orientation	Closes with a concrete, actionable next step ("so what").	15
Communication	Clear language for a non-technical audience; no unnecessary jargon.	10

Minimum passing score: 60 / 100. Suggested presentation time: 1–2 minutes per student or group.

References

Minto, B. (1987). The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking. Pearson.
Nussbaumer Knaflic, C. (2015). Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals. Wiley.
Duarte, N. (2010). Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences. Wiley.
Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2007). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Random House.
U.S. Army (2002). Effective Writing for Army Leaders (DA Pam 600-67): origin of the BLUF practice.