2 2
3 3
What should be included in the first slide of a business presentation? 4 4
That's a pretty tough question. Typically you want to start with something easy, something that will tease your audience a little bit 5 5
and attract their attention. You don't want to present the most important facts about the company right from the offset. 6 6
You want to build up the momentum in your presentation and educate your audience about the topic that is being presented. 7 7
Having said that, let's open PowerPoint and start working on the slides' content. 8 8
The first slide of our presentation will be dedicated to the group's structure 9 9
We would like to introduce our audience to the firm that will be presented and include relevant, but not overwhelming information. 10 10
Let's organize the slide in the following way. 11 11
On its left side there will be a good looking scheme showing the entities within the group. 12 12
On the right side, we can include some text with bullet points describing the company's business and structure. 13 13
I will insert two rectangular boxes on the left side of the page. 14 14
Let's color the bigger one in light gray 15 15
and the smaller one 16 16
in white. 17 17
The bigger box will contain the group scheme, 18 18
while the smaller one will serve as a legend of the scheme. 19 19
Let's elect the two boxes and open the format object menu 20 20
Here we can change their line color to gray 21 21
and adjust their line width to 0.25. 22 22
Next, we'll introduce a shadow effect for the two shapes. 23 23
Let's click on shadow and add a shadow that is 24 24
80% transparent. 25 25
We can create a proper scheme describing the company structure by using the information available in the information source. 26 26
There is a table that shows us that the group is controlled by one entity, 27 27
which owns stakes in the rest of the Kinemax firms. 28 28
We have to show that in our scheme. 29 29
Our work needs to be perfectly clear. 30 30
The slides in a presentation have to be easy to understand, sophisticated, 31 31
but at the same time clear. This is very important. 32 32
For example, we can label the two elements on this slide in order to provide information about their content. 33 33
Two simple text descriptions would be sufficient. 34 34
I'll insert a text box 35 35
and adjust the text's font size to 11, 36 36
its color to dark blue 37 37
and I will put it in bold. 38 38
Let's type "Kinemax Group" inside this box. 39 39
Once we've placed the box in the right place, 40 40
we can copy it and write "Legend" within the coppied box. 41 41
Then we can position the new text box within the legend area. 42 42
The scheme that we will create will include all legal entities that are part of the Kinemax Group. 43 43
Let's start from the top and add a rectangular box. 44 44
The Format Shape menu will allow us to change the fill of the box to dark blue, 45 45
click on the Line Color tab 46 46
and select "No line"m 47 47
after which we can introduce a shadow effect that is transparent at 80%. 48 48
This box will denote the group's Holding entity - 49 49
Kinemax Sarl. 50 50
Let's adjust the text's font size to 12 51 51
and put it in bold. 52 52
Moving on, this is the first firm it should stay on the top of our scheme as it owns a controlling 53 53
stake in the other companies that are part of the Group. 54 54
The Kinemax group consists of six legal entities. 55 55
Therefore we need to copy the box five times. 56 56
Ok. Here are our five copies. 57 57
Let's select the copies 58 58
and open the Format tab, which will allow us to decrease their width to 1.5. 59 59
We have to order the five boxes in a symmetric way: 60 60
two boxes will stand on the left side 61 61
and three boxes will be on the right side. 62 62
The quick access toolbar buttons would help us to align them perfectly. 63 63
We can very easily align these objects by using the "Align to top", 64 64
"Align left" 65 65
and "Distribute vertically" commands. 66 66
In order to place the larger box exactly in the middle between the two columns we can select 67 67
these three boxes and use the "Distribute horizontally" command. 68 68
Perfect. Now our scheme is well aligned. 69 69
Each box that is part of the scheme will include relevant information about a given legal entity 70 70
that it represents. We can use a chronological pattern 71 71
in order to introduce the firms in the scheme. 72 72
Kinemax Italia Spa was the first foreign branch that was opened by the firm, back in 2010. 73 73
Then later in that same year 74 74
Kinemax entered in the UK market with Kinemax UK Ltd. 75 75
The company continued to expand its international presence through Kinemax Deutschland Sar and Kinemax Turkey AS. 76 76
The newest branch of the group is the Brazilian Joint Venture 77 77
Kinemax Brazil Ltda, which started to operate in 2012. 78 78
Let's decrease the font size of text and these boxes to 10, as we will need extra space for some additional details that will be included. 79 79
These companies are subsidiaries of Kinemax Sarl. 80 80
I'll color them in blue. 81 81
Kinemax Brazil is a joint venture. 82 82
We can use a different color for it. Let's say gray. 83 83
Each of these legal entities operates in a given country. Let's show that to our audience by 84 84
inserting the flag of the respective country in the top right corner of each box. 85 85
I'll go to the Insert tab and click on 86 86
"Picture", 87 87
which will allow me to import each country's flag. 88 88
I will adjust the height of the flags to 0.3. 89 89
By doing this they will have the same size. 90 90
The information source contains interesting details about the legal entities that are part of the Kinemax Group. 91 91
We know how many employees work for them, 92 92
when their operation started, the percentage of ownership that the holding entity has in each of them etc. 93 93
Let's add some of these details to our scheme. 94 94
For example, we can use this information in order to include a tiny purple box that will indicate the 95 95
year in which a given firm started to operate. 96 96
The text in the box will have a font size of nine 97 97
and will be in bold. 98 98
Let's remove its outline. 99 99
Very well. The holding entity Kinemax Sarl was created in 2009. 100 100
Let's type this in the purple box that we just created. 101 101
There is one problem though. When I type 2009 102 102
the number does not fit the cell and leaves its borders. 103 103
We already know how to resolve this issue 104 104
We can right-click on the box and open the Format Shape menu. 105 105
Here I will select the text box 106 106
where we can set the internal margins of the box to zero. 107 107
This provides enough extra space and the tiny numbers now fit in the box. 108 108
Let's copy the box for the other legal entities 109 109
and modify the year of start of operations for each of them. 110 110
The Italian and Uk firms started their operations in 2010, 111 111
the Turkish and German branches opened in 2011, 112 112
while the Brazilian JV was initiated in 2012. 113 113
This scheme demonstrates the relation between the firms in the Kinemax Group. 114 114
Let's emphasize that by using connector lines. 115 115
I will go to the Insert tab, 116 116
click on "Shapes" 117 117
and select an elbow arrow connector. 118 118
The beginning of the connector will be attached to the red dot that is at the bottom of Kinemax Sarl 119 119
and its end will be attached to the red dot that is part of Kinemax Brazil. 120 120
Let's right-click on the connector and open the Format Shape menu. 121 121
I'll modify its end type because 122 122
I prefer closed arrows. 123 123
Let's copy the connector 124 124
and use the red dots, which will allow us to link it with each of the other legal entities. 125 125
This shows that Kinemax Sarl controls the other firms. 126 126
The last detail that we will include in this scheme are the percentages that Kinemax Sarl owns in each of its subsidiaries 127 127
Let's add a text box 128 128
and type 100% inside it. 129 129
This is the percentage that the holding owns in Kinemax Italy Spa. 130 130
I'll reduce its font size to 8 131 131
and use Italics. 132 132
This text box can be used in order to show the percentage of ownership 133 133
in the other companies as well. 134 134
We have to be careful because 135 135
Kinemax owns 80% of its Turkish unit as well as 49% of the Brazilian Joint Venture. 136 136
Once the boxes are ready we can align them easily with the quick access toolbar buttons, 137 137
as I am doing right now.