Presentation Interview Case

Hi Push,

The key areas you will have to cover to prepare a written/presentation case are the following:

1. Learn how to define a plan of action and stick to that

The first thing you should do in a written case is to define a plan and allocate your time in the best possible way.

Assuming 30 minutes for the analysis, a good approach would include:

• Initial quick reading – 5-10 min (this may depend on the amount of material)
• Structure the approach – 5 min
• Make slides/answer to the questions adding detailed analysis and math – 10-15 min
• Final review – 5 min

You should practice to stick to the time allocated to maximize your final performance.

2. Practice graph interpretation

You may have to analyze graphs as part of the data provided. The best way to practice is to take graphs from online sources and use a timer to test in how much time you can understand the key message. McKinsey PST graphs are good practice for that.

3. Work on quick reading and quick understanding of key information

You won’t have time to read and prioritize everything, therefore you have to understand where to focus. The ideal way to practice is to use long cases such as HBS ones. You should then learn to absorb the key information of the case. Quick reading techniques could also help.

4. Practice quick math

You may have some math to do as part of the data analysis. GMAT and McKinsey PST math should work well to prepare for this.

5. Learn how to communicate your slides/answers

When you have to present your findings in the second part, I would suggest the same structure used for a conclusion in a live interview, that is:

1. Summarize the main questions you have to answer
2. Present your proposed answer and detail the motivation behind
3. Propose next steps for the areas you have not covered

As you will not be able to double-check hypotheses with the interviewer while you prepare the presentation, you should clearly state when you are making hypotheses and that you will have to verify them with further analysis.

When you have to prepare slides I would also recommend to work on:

A) Structure the order of the slides

Normally the structure for a 5-slide presentation is the following:

• First slide summarizes the question and provides the answer
• Second, third and fourth slide have the supporting arguments for the first slide
• Fifth slide has the next steps

B) Structure the content of each slide

There are three basic components for slides:

1. Title
2. Chart or data
3. Label for chart

Many people structure the title as the mere description of what the chart is about.

A great title instead shows the implication of the graph as well.

Example: say the graph is showing a cost structure for a division.

• A bad title would be: Cost structure from 2005 to 2015.
• A good title would be: Cost structure of Division XYZ is not sustainable”.
• A great title would be Cost structure of Division XYZ is not sustainable due to ABC, assuming you have insides on the cause.

The rule of thumb for the title is that if you read all the titles of the slides together you should get a clear idea of what is going on.

C) Present the slides

When you present, I would suggest the following steps for each slide:

1. Introduce the slide: “Let’s move to slide 2, which will show us why we have an issue with this division”
2. Present the main message of the slide: “As you can see, we have a cost structure which makes unfeasible to be competitive in this market”
3. Provide details: “The graph, indeed, shows how our fix cost is XYZ, while competitors can benefit from economies of scale. Indeed…”

In case you want to prepare in advance, I do a session exactly on that.

Before the session, I can send you the data source to work on. We can then simulate the presentation during the class, reviewing step-by-step all the improvements needed.

Please feel free to send me a message in case you have any questions.

Best,

Francesco

Hey, feel free to drop me a message to discuss further on how to approach such written cases.

Clearly the task requires prior knowledge of ITSM area or at least I would assume that. Without knowing the full scope of the case, hard to guide on you on the content.

But here's a general outline:

1. Have a nice title page upfront

2. Analysis- qualitative & quantitative

3. ITSM Approach 

4. Solution 

5. Next Steps (risks, pre-requisites etc)

Hi! To perform above average in this step, you need first to understand the principles of scoring and why this is different from a regular case study interview.

1. First difference guidance vs data availability. While you still have to match information to develop sensible recommendation, in this exercise you have no guidance in the process, including the filtering of the relevant information. Plus you will be likely to receive even more information vs normal interview (usually tables and charts). This means in the final presentation an outstanding candidate don’t just explains why he/she selected what is IN, but ideally you also have to explain the why and what is OUT. To fine tune this skills ,while you practise presenting conclusions, make sure you do include in/out rational for your solutions.
2. Second key difference is the number and depth of assumption you are allowed to build your conclusion on. While in a regular case interview the focus is normally to ‘validating’ your assumptions ‘as you go’ and then build recommendation on the refined info accordingly, here the focus is on the opposite process. You are entitled to more hypothesis and a broader scenario building – which you have to lock down to 1 in your final discussion. To make this practical in your training, use the ‘BA - Binary Approach’ to hyphotesis building a set of solutions (2+) on each.
3. Client-facing communication. Heavier focus is put here on that. Make sure you are ready to defend challenge / manage fictious ‘harsh beaviors’ of the interviews.
4. On-sell. Make sure you concude the interview with an agreement (on next steps or on the solution)

Feel free to reach for more tips on how to crack this step or to set your peformance apart from others in the process,        

Best
Riccardo

Hi Push,

Hard to fully advise without the prompt - this is a big topic! I'd recommend reaching out to a coach to help with ideation, layout, etc.

That said, in general make sure you do the following:

1. Be very clear on the problem at hand
2. Lay out your approach with structure and bucketing
3. Support your arguments clearly and concisely
4. Include a timeline/plan
5. Include risks + next steps
6. Make sure to showcase your industry knowledge + creative thinking here

Good luck!

To solve the case I would use the same approach used for oral case interviews but I’d go way deeper given that there is way more time and that likely is the expectation. I would also make sure you use (but don’t abuse) all the tools available to you to solve the case within the rules and guidelines they give you (e.g. if allowed make sure you do all the following - and more: reaching out back to them to ask clarifying questions, using spreadsheets or other software to model do analysis, do google searches for fact base etc).

Onto the written document itself I think the key in my opinion is to have it divided in two parts: main presentation and appendix. The main presentation is where you will present your recommendation to the interviewer(s) while the appendix is where you have all the back-up analysis that helped you come to that specific recommendation and eliminate others.

Indicatively the length of the main presentation should be 7-10 content pages (meaning you exclude from count cover, agenda and divider pages) if you have 30 mins to present, 15-20 if you have 1 hour. These times refer to presentation only time and do not include Q&A/discussion. You want it to keep it short and poignant.

I would organize the presentation into the following blocks:

-Executive summary (1 page all text that goes through the whole story)

-What we’ve heard from you and context (1-2 slides about problem statement, data behind it, and broader context)

-Decision framework (1 slide with decision framework dimensions and your assessment for each of them)

- [if you have long presentation time this goes here, otherwise in appendix] deep dive on each dimension of decision framework (1 page for each dimension of analysis and insights)

-Recommendation and impact summary (1-2 slides that provide your recommendation and it’s impact)

-Next steps (1 slide what would you do next to implement recommendation, what follow ups would you do)

General guidelines for the written presentation:

-The first thing you should do is to write your executive summary. You should write it as the story you would like to tell to the interviewer. Each sentence/paragraph should correspond to a slide you are going to present in your main deck. Each sentence paragraph ideally correspond closely to the main insight, and therefore title, of each slide of the deck. First write your story then design your slides, not viceversa. This because it’s easy to fall in the “trap” of getting “in love” with our own slides and adapt the story to fit the slides vs. telling the most clear and powerful story.

-Keep you titles consistent: either they are all action titles (Market growing at 5% YoY) or all descriptive titles (Market size evolution). Most consultancies prefer action titles

- Slides should present insights, not just data (e.g. don't just show that market growth is 5%, tell why it's relevant)

Style cheat-sheet (in no particular order):

- Minimum font is 12pt except for footnotes

- Put sources on each slide

- Make slides graphically appealing and consistent with each other (e.g. same colors for same metrics from slide to slide, consistent wording to indicate same concept)

- If you have access to any of the consultancy presentation try to mimic their format/style

- Max 1-2 key messages per slide

- One line slide titles are better than two line ones, fewer words are better than more, ~50 words max per slide (except exec summary)

- Align of objects within slide

- Don’t use abbreviations or not well-known acronyms (so ok to use EBITDA for example), if you have to, footnote them

- Make sure to do a spell check, twice (see title of your question)

- On graphs always remember to put unit of measure on both axis, and notable numbers on axis and magnitude (e.g. ‘000 widgets, $M, etc)

Please reach out directly if you have further questions or want advice

Hope it helps,

Andrea

Hello!

It´the classical written case, they are very common. 

If you look up those keywords in the Q&A you will find tons of entries with very insightful info. 

You may consider also reviewing the content with a coach, to get feedback a priori and be ready for the questions you will be asked. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for reaching out. 

This is a classic way to test your presentation and analytical skills. I had this kind of exercise when I interviewed for Monitor Deloitte. Do you need to present slides or just your answers?

Whatever, that's always good to sketch some drafts, but don't lose you time doing this.

What I would advise is the following:

1- take some samples of short case studies with graphs and quotes from clients and try to solve them in 30' and present them to a friend that prepares for consulting or a preplounge expert. I can send you some examples of this if you reach out to me by PM.
2- try to focus on prioritizing. Usually, there will be too much information and graphs for 30 minutes. Take your time (3-5') to go through all the material and select your priorities.

3- focus on the quant questions but do not neglect the qualitative part. Take assumptions and be ready to defend them.

4- do not neglect the presentation itself. Be prepared as if you were in front of client (i.e. with a strong story line) but be ready to be challenged by your interviewers, have your backup with your calculation method and your assumptions.
Best of luck and do not hesitate to reach out to me if needed.
Best,
Norah

Hi Anonymous,

I would recommend you to focus on 5 areas to crack a presentation case; I have reported them below with some suggestions on how to prepare for each of them.

1. Learn how to define a plan of action and stick to that

The first thing you should do in a presentation case is to define a plan and allocate in the best possible way your time. Assuming 30 minutes for the analysis, a good approach would include:

• initial quick reading – 5 min
• structure the approach – 2.5-5 min
• make slides/answer to the questions adding detailed analysis and math – 15-20 min
• final review – 2.5-5 min

You should then practice to stick to the time allocated, in order to maximize your final performance.

2. Practice graph interpretation

You will normally have to analyse graphs in a presentation case. The best way to practice is to take graphs from online resources and use a timer to test in how much time you can understand the key message. McKinsey PST graphs could be a good practice for that.

3. Work on quick reading and quick understanding of key information

You will not have time to read and prioritize everything, so you have to understand where to focus. The ideal way to practice is to use long cases such as HBS ones, and practice on reducing the time needed to absorb the key information that can answer a defined question. Quick reading techniques could also help.

4. Practice quick math

You will normally have math to do in a presentation case. GMAT and McKinsey PST math should work well to prepare on this.

5. Learn how to communicate your slides

You normally have to present your findings at the end of a presentation case. I can apply the same structures of final sum up in a live interview case, that is:

1. Sum up the main questions you have to answer
2. Present your proposed answer and detail the motivation behind
3. Propose next steps for the areas you have not covered

As you will not be able to double check hypothesis with the interviewer as in the live case before the presentation, it could make sense to clearly state when you are making hypotheses and that you will have to verify them with further analysis.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi there,

in addition to all the comments and explanations, find below an exemplary practice case that can be used for such a presentation interview format.

https://www.preplounge.com/de/case-sammlung/candidate-led-ueblicher-stil/schwierig/business-strategy-home-delivery-solution-for-retailer-chain-332?lang=en

Best

This is a written case. 

I see there are lots of answers below in terms of how to approach it. 

Reach out if and I can send you a couple of examples of written cases if you'd like to practice.

Best,
Cristian

Hi Anonymous,

although the kind of interview may be different for different firms, you will be likely required to (i) read some written material, and (ii) after 30-60 minutes present your findings, potentially with slides. This could be done either on your own or with peers. The steps to analyse to perform well would be the following:

1. Define an action plan and stick to it
2. Practice graph interpretation
3. Work on quick reading
4. Practice math
5. Learn how to communicate the final results

At the following link you can find a more detailed description of the previous steps:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/written-case-712

To clarify better what you will do, I would also ask HR some more details of the expected tasks, they will likely be glad to clarify.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

I really hope that by now Victor went through the process! But I think that the answer given will help other people going forward. As an additional help you can look here:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/recieving-case-one-week-before-interviews-and-preparing-presentation-1180

Here's a quick guide to cracking the presentation case:

1. skim through the presented case file in the first 10 minutes - note the major areas covered. 95% of what you are given will not be used directly.

2. get to the hypothesis ASAP. For example, if your case is about a quarterly profit report, design a sample slide deck on paper, say, slide 1: major financials (rev, costs, historicals, etc) slide 2: major obstacles / challenges and slide 3: major opportunities.

3. It's usually on paper, so design rough slides on paper and then whiteboard it if needed.

4. it's usually a 60min long exercice. Spend 5 mins skimming through the papers to knnow what's presented. ~15-20mins designing a framework for presentation (what will you present), ~15-20mins filling the right data points. 10mins creating slides on paper and ~5-10mins practiicng your deck delivery.

Hi, thanks for your question! Not sure if you only mean the presentation case, but also interview cases in general, so brief intro on case studies as part of interviews:

• The interviewer typically presents you with a brief case description and question: "Our client is a large logistics company, and recently profitability has gone down. You are hired as a consultant to improve the situation"
• You then are supposed to come up with an initial structure on how you would tackle this problem, i.e., to solve the case. Everything happens on paper, and you sit across the interviewer at the same table.
• Once you establish the structure, you then start going through it (interviewee led cases). You ask relevant questions along the way, resembling the situation of you as a consultant working with the client.
• In the end, you (hopefully) come up with a solution, and then summarize your findings, again orally or on paper.
• For interviewer-led cases (McKinsey), the interviewer takes a more active role and asks you specific and more detailed questions about the case at hand. Once you master the interviewee-led case type, the interviewer-led case should be "easier". While the individual tasks may be more difficult in the interviewer-led case, I typically find candidates to have the most difficulty with establishing the structure and leading the case.
• You will need to calculate something at some point which is also done on paper.

Hope that helps, good luck with your interviews!

Hi Maros,

I agree with Andrea’s points. I have reported below two additional suggestions on content and presentation:

Content of the slides

There are three basic components for each slide:

1. Title
2. Chart or data
3. Label for chart

I will focus mainly on the title point, as that’s what usually people design incorrectly. Many people indeed structure the title as the mere description of what the chart is telling. A great title, instead tells the implication of the graph. Eg say the graph is showing a cost structure for a division. A bad title would be: Cost structure from 2005 to 2015. A good title would be: Cost structure of Division XYZ is not sustainable”. A great title would be Cost structure of Division XYZ is not sustainable due to ABC, assuming you have insides on the cause. The rule of thumb for the title is that if you read all the titles of the slides together you should get a clear idea of what is going on.

For graphs, I would suggest to keep it simple when possible. Column bar graphs, line graphs and histograms should usually be enough.

Finally, be sure to add the proper label and/or unit measures.

Slides presentation

When you present, I would suggest the following steps for each slide:

1. Introduce the slide: “Let’s move to slide 2, which will show us why we have an issue with this division”
2. Present the main message of the slide: “As you can see, we have a cost structure which makes for us not feasible to be competitive in this market”
3. Provide details: “The graph, indeed, shows how our fix cost is XYZ, while competitors can benefit from economies of scale. Indeed…”

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Always focus on the core message and build your recommendation around it.

That means touch uppon the following points:
1. Conclusion
2. Quantitative + Qualitative proof 
3. Assumptions behind it
4. Big picture: i.e. next steps, market framing etc.

Hi,

The basic steps are the following:

1. You collect the information quickly (make sure you've bookmarked the valid statistical information sires)
2. You make a structure. The classical structure is:

• 1st slide: context, objectives
• 2nd slide: key recommendations
• 3-x slides: Arguments with supporting analysis
• Final slide: next steps / roadmap, etc

Here I've uploaded some written case samples that may help

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zor4m49eyx5qxal/AABeUN6mtiGkWhEklRjszX2Oa?dl=0

I also found useful the  following sources:

• Written cases you'll be able to find in google or in case books. I've seen a couple in "Vault Guide to the Case Interview" and "Insead Business Admission Test"
• Harvard cases - either buy or try to find online. You can find a couple of MIT cases here for free: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/Pages/Case-Studies.aspx Unfortunately free cases don't have the prep questions.

Good luck!

Hi Push,

Sounds like a written case! The good news is that by having solved the usual cases, you've already tackled one big chunk of the preparation! In theory, you just need to apply the technics you already know, + 80-20, plus time management, create a nice structure, and be correct in your math!

Regarding the presentation, keep it short and simple: around 5 slides where in the beginning, you state the problem and your hypothesis, then proceed with your arguments and close with an overview / 

Hit me up if you have any further questions! Good luck with your interview;)

Cheers,

GB