Why QA Matters
Quality assurance (QA) is the most tedious part of building slides in consulting. BUT, it’s absolutely necessary (even if it pains me to say this). QA ensures your message is delivered professionally, your firm maintains credibility, and – maybe most importantly – you don’t look like an idiot in front of your manager.
As a junior consultant, you’ll hear about QA constantly in your feedback. It’s not about a lack of intelligence – it’s about not letting dumb mistakes through when building slides quickly. A misplaced decimal, a misaligned box, or an outdated client name can undermine an otherwise solid analysis. This is why a structured QA checklist is super powerful tool.
Below is a pretty comprehensive PowerPoint QA checklist, categorized into Content and Formatting, so you can systematically ensure your slides are bulletproof before they hit your manager’s inbox. You can use this to inspire your own QA checklist, picking the elements that are most important to your firm.
Content QA Checklist
- Action Titles: Every slide must have a clear, action-oriented title that conveys the key takeaway (e.g., “The latest marketing campaign has doubled revenue growth” instead of “Revenue growth”). However, some firms prefer to use subtitles to deliver the slide’s primary insight, that’s also fine.
- Logical Flow: If you read only the slide titles (or subtitles) in order, they should tell a coherent, structured story that is aligned with the overall deck’s conclusion.
- Clear Takeaways: Every slide should answer “so what?” Anything that doesn’t contribute to the takeaway should be eliminated (e.g., if a slide presents industry growth data, clearly state how it impacts the client’s strategy).
- Direct, Active Voice: Keep text concise, straightforward, and businesslike. Try to avoid passive form when possible because it makes your text less clear when the subject is unknown (e.g., The investment committee decided to expand the business“ instead of “a decision was made to expand the business”).
- Audience Consideration: Adapt the content to the specific audience – big picture vs. detailed, level of background info (e.g., a project manager won’t need background on the current tech stack, whereas the board of directors might).
- Show & Tell: Support statements with evidence (data, examples), but also spell out the key implications to avoid unnecessary mental gymnastics (e.g., Instead of just showing a revenue chart, add a brief summary explaining what the trend means).
- Data Accuracy: Verify that all numbers, statistics, and sources are correct and up to date. All notes and sources in the footer should refer to the correct superscript number in your slide.
- Consistency of Terminology: Ensure consistent use of terms (e.g., “we” vs. “firm and client”). Align on tone and framing to avoid a “Frankenstein’s PPT” (e.g., if Slide 1 refers to “Net Revenue” and Slide 5 calls it “Total Revenue,” choose one and stick with it).
Formatting QA Checklist
- Slide Layout Compliance: Ensure everything fits within the allowed slide area defined by your PowerPoint’s gridlines – no text or images should extend outside the preset margins.
- Footer and Page Numbers: Confirm that footers and page numbers are accurate and consistently formatted. (e.g., if page numbers are on the bottom right, they should be there on every slide).
- Font and Colors: Use your client’s corporate font family and color scheme.
- Typos & Grammar: Run a spell check and manually proofread. Ensure consistent word spellings throughout the deck (e.g., don’t switch between “organization” and “organisation”).
- Within- and Between-Slide Alignment: Avoid ‘slide jiggle’ by ensuring consistent alignment of text boxes, images, and charts.
- Search for Hidden Issues: Aggressively check for past client names, internal comments, or outdated notes in slide masters and speaker notes. Ideally, send only PDFs to the client. Remove all notes and comments before sending to the client (e.g., a hidden comment could accidentally reveal internal firm discussions).
- Consistency in ‘Idiosyncrasies’: Maintain uniform style choices (e.g., periods at the end of taglines, formatting of bullet points, tone of language). Be consistent with punctuation – if you use a full stop for some bullets, use them for all.
- Readability: Ensure text and visuals are legible and easy to understand (e.g., avoid font sizes smaller than 10pt for readability).
- Visual Appeal: Ensure slides are engaging and easy to read, using high-quality images and well-structured layouts (e.g., avoid excessive text, use concise bullet points and visuals instead).
- Draft Tags: Put draft tags whenever a document isn’t final (e.g., “DRAFT – FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY”).
- Consistent Sentence Type: If you start your bullets with an “…ing” verb, start all others with the same type of verb (e.g., “developing this program will…” vs. “It is recommended to develop this program because it will…”).
Final Thoughts
QA isn’t just about avoiding mistakes, it’s about demonstrating professionalism and attention to detail. Following this checklist ensures your slides are clear, compelling, and error-free. Don’t worry, with practice, QA will become second nature, saving you from endless manager revisions and making you stand out as a reliable consultant.