DEI Slide [How to be inclusive and intentional]

While working on a DEI slide for one of our clients, Amelie asked us something that was unique:

"How do we show we care about diversity... without sounding like we're just ticking a box?"

Our Creative Director replied instantly:

“You make it less about you and more about who’s missing in the room.”

We’ve built dozens of DEI slides for companies across sectors: from startups still figuring out hiring practices to legacy giants battling the ghosts of a very homogenous past. And every time, we notice the same pattern.

Most DEI slides look and sound like HR PowerPoint theatre. Shiny. Vague. Polished to death.

What’s missing? Intentionality. Inclusion that feels human, not templated.

In this blog, we’re going to show you how to create a DEI slide that reflects values that show up in action.

In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.

The DEI Slide Trap

Let’s be honest. The average DEI slide is a minefield of empty calories.

Stock photos of happy multiracial teams? Check.

A pie chart showing gender diversity? Check.

Buzzwords like “belonging” and “allyship” sprinkled like parsley? Double check.

On the surface, it looks like progress. But anyone with half a brain and a pinch of honesty can smell the performance. And when your audience feels like your DEI commitment is just a checkbox or a slide you had to include, it actually does more harm than good.

We’ve seen this go wrong more times than we’d like. A senior leadership team that's 90% male, using a slide that says “We believe in diverse voices.” A global company claiming to value inclusion… in a single language. A slide packed with stats but no soul.

The problem isn't that companies don’t care. Many do. The problem is that they don't know how to communicate it, intentionally, clearly, and most importantly, authentically.

Here’s the irony: The DEI slide is supposed to be the most human part of your entire deck. And yet, it often ends up being the most robotic.

This happens because of one core mistake: We confuse saying the right thing with doing the right thing.

So, the DEI slide becomes a ritual. A PR moment. A visual seatbelt. Something that makes people feel safe without actually making people feel seen. And that’s the trap.

Let’s dig into what a real, intentional DEI slide looks like and how to build one that doesn’t insult anyone’s intelligence.

Building an Intentional DEI Slide

1. Start With the Why — Not the Optics

Before you even open PowerPoint, ask yourself one very uncomfortable question:

“Why do we care about DEI, really?”

And don’t accept the first answer that sounds polished. Go deeper. What’s driving this commitment?

Where does it show up? Where does it still fall short?

We once worked with a tech firm based in Berlin. Their DEI slide had a beautifully worded vision statement — all the right phrases about equity, inclusion, representation. But when we asked the founders why they wrote it that way, they paused. One of them finally said, “We hired a DEI consultant who told us this is what we should say.”

We deleted the entire slide.

Then we asked them to tell us a real story — when they felt DEI mattered in their day-to-day work. That’s when the truth came out. A team lead had once made a hiring decision that went against the grain — choosing a candidate from a nontraditional background. That person ended up outperforming everyone’s expectations and reshaped how they built their team moving forward.

That story became the core of the new slide.

Because your DEI slide doesn’t need to prove you’re perfect. It needs to prove you care.

2. Show Progress, Not Perfection

Here’s where most DEI slides go wrong: they try to look done.

As if DEI is a box you can check off after reaching 50% diversity in your workforce. It’s not. It’s a process. A hard, messy, constantly evolving one.

And you know what? That’s okay. Showing your progress — even if you’re still early in the journey — builds more credibility than pretending you’ve nailed it.

We helped a fintech client revamp their DEI slide by doing something refreshingly honest: including two columns side-by-side. One titled “Where we are” and the other “Where we want to be.”

Simple. Human. Vulnerable without being weak.

For example:

Where we are	Where we want to be
27% women in leadership	40% women in leadership by 2026
No formal support for neurodiverse employees	Launching mentorship & accommodations program in Q4
DEI policy last updated in 2019	DEI council launching monthly policy reviews

It was one of the most shared slides in their investor deck. Why? Because it showed intention. And the humility to say, “We’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.”

You don’t earn trust by looking finished. You earn it by being real.

3. Choose Language That Doesn’t Sound Like a Press Release

We’ve seen so many DEI slides that sound like they were written by a committee afraid of saying anything wrong. So they end up saying... nothing.

Avoid words that are vague or overly corporate. Words like diverse, empowered, driven by purpose — they’ve been used to the point of meaninglessness.

Say what you actually mean.

Instead of:

“We strive to build a culture of inclusion where everyone feels they belong.”

Try:

“We know we still have work to do, but we’re committed to building a place where your background, identity, or ability doesn’t put you at a disadvantage.”

One sounds like an ad.The other sounds like a conversation.

Speak like a human. And if your audience is global, be even more careful. Words that sound progressive in one region can feel performative in another. Context is everything.

4. Use Visuals That Reflect, Not Decorate

A lot of DEI slides rely on feel-good images — hands of different skin tones, smiling group shots, the obligatory Pride flag during June.

Here’s a rule we live by: Don’t use visuals to pretend diversity. Use visuals to show your reality.

If you have internal event photos, use them — with consent, of course. Show your actual team, your real workspaces, your community moments. Nothing beats truth.

And if you don’t yet have visual diversity? That’s a signal too. Don’t hide it. Acknowledge it in your message and speak to what you're doing about it.

Charts and graphs are fine too — but only if they’re telling a real story. A bar chart with “50% gender parity” means nothing if the context is missing. Where is that parity? Intern level? C-suite? Tech roles? Add clarity, not decoration.

Also, check your color palette. If your DEI slide has poor color contrast or fonts that are hard to read, it already signals a lack of inclusion — visually. Accessibility is not a detail. It's part of the message.

5. Align the Slide With Actual Action

This is where the rubber meets the road.

We always ask our clients: “Can you back up everything on this slide with a real example?”

If not, we don’t use it.

A DEI slide that lists 10 values and delivers on none is worse than a slide that lists 3 and actually lives them. Your audience might not fact-check you in the room — but the people you hire, partner with, or sell to will eventually know.

So keep it honest. If you’ve launched a new parental leave policy to support working mothers, say that. If you’ve hosted difficult conversations about race or gender identity at work, say that. If you’ve failed in the past and learned something, say that.

People relate to action, not aspiration.

6. Don’t Make It Just One Slide

This might sound like it contradicts the whole idea of a “DEI slide,” but stay with us.

Your values should bleed through the entire presentation. Not just one slide labeled “Inclusion.”

If your product is designed with accessibility in mind, say so. If your hiring process is restructured to reduce bias, mention it on the team or talent slide. If your leadership includes underrepresented voices, show that in the org chart.

Because diversity doesn’t live on one slide. It lives in everything you do — or it doesn’t.

The DEI slide is just the signal. The rest of the deck is the proof.

7. Speak to the Audience That Matters Most

Here’s the final mindset shift we encourage:

Stop building the DEI slide for optics. Start building it for the people you want to include.

If your goal is to hire better, speak to future employees. If your goal is to get funding from values-aligned investors, speak to them. If your goal is to show transparency to your community, speak in their language.

You’re not trying to impress everyone. You’re trying to resonate with the people who care.

And those people don’t want perfection. They want proof of effort. They want to feel seen. They want to know that if they walk into your office, your culture won’t eat your words for breakfast.

That’s what a good DEI slide does. It doesn’t check a box. It opens a door.

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