How to Craft a DE&I Presentation [Diversity, Equity & Inclusion]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- May 4, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
While we were deep into finalizing a DE&I presentation for a global consumer tech brand, our client, Emma, paused mid-review and asked something that stuck with us.
“What’s the one thing that makes a DE&I presentation actually land?”
Our Creative Director didn’t miss a beat...
“When it’s less about saying the right words and more about showing the right intent.”
That one-liner got a thoughtful nod from Emma. And honestly, it’s a question we’re asked more often than we expected. As a presentation design agency, we work on DE&I presentations throughout the year—internal rollouts, boardroom pitches, leadership offsites, employee town halls, hiring campaigns. Across industries and continents, there’s one pattern we keep noticing.
The intention behind most of these decks is strong. The message, not so much.
It’s not for lack of trying. It’s because most DE&I decks are caught in the classic trap: trying to be politically correct without being emotionally truthful. Checking boxes without cracking open real conversations.
So, in this blog, we’re breaking down exactly what it takes to craft a diversity, equity & inclusion presentation that resonates—one that not only communicates the commitment but shows people what living it actually looks like.
We’ll share what we’ve seen work, what often falls flat, and how to create a DE&I narrative that actually earns attention, respect, and movement.
Why the diversity, equity & inclusion presentation deserves a different playbook
We all know the basic expectations of a DE&I presentation. Show commitment. Display the numbers. Highlight initiatives. Maybe quote a respected voice or two. Wrap it up with a promise to do better.
That’s the safe route. And it’s also the one most people ignore the moment the deck is over.
Here’s why.
DE&I isn’t just another business strategy. It’s not a quarterly goal. It’s not a slide. It’s a trust issue.
People are not looking for polished statements. They’re looking for proof that leaders actually care. That the effort goes beyond lip service. That this isn’t about “adding diversity” like we add new features to a product.
And that changes everything.
When we work on any other type of deck—say a product pitch or a quarterly update—we’re focused on convincing stakeholders to adopt a new idea or direction. But when it comes to a diversity, equity & inclusion presentation, the ask is more profound: We’re asking people to believe that this time will be different.
That’s a tough sell. Because the audience has seen years of promises. They’ve heard the buzzwords. Some have lived through cycles of initiatives that started loud and ended in silence.
So, the baseline of skepticism is high. The moment you step into this narrative, you're already on the back foot.
Which is why the standard slide structure doesn’t work here.
You can’t rely on declarations. You have to build belief. And belief, as we’ve learned, is built through story, clarity, and proof.
How to craft a diversity, equity & inclusion presentation
1. Start with a real tension
DE&I decks that begin with values statements or mission slides rarely hit home.Why? Because they skip the tension.
Tension is what creates emotional engagement. Without it, we’re just broadcasting. With it, we’re storytelling.
And the best tension is not always in the stats. It’s in the contrast between the ideal and the actual. Between what we say and what people experience.
In one enterprise deck we crafted, the second slide showed a full-screen quote from an anonymous internal survey: “I feel like I belong here—until the leadership meetings start.”
That single sentence said more than 15 charts ever could. It immediately framed the conversation around a lived truth.
We’ve used similar techniques in other DE&I presentations:
Overlaying data points with emotional triggers (“We increased representation, but belonging scores dropped”)
Highlighting mismatches between external brand messaging and internal perception
Sharing brief audio clips of real employee reflections—raw, not rehearsed
This is the moment the audience decides whether this presentation is a branding exercise or a brave one. And you only earn that trust by showing where the pain lives.
2. Redefine what DE&I means—for your company
It’s easy to Google a definition of diversity, equity and inclusion. That’s not the point. The point is to make it yours.
Most organizations present DE&I as a universally understood concept. But in reality, it means very different things depending on who’s in the room—and what power dynamics are at play.
In one client engagement—a global B2B tech brand—the leadership team initially described equity as “fairness in hiring.” When we interviewed employees, we heard something else entirely:“Equity means not getting passed over because I didn’t go to an Ivy League school.”
So we reframed the message:“Equity, to us, means looking beyond privilege when we measure talent.”
That redefinition gave the entire deck a new voice. Suddenly, every initiative had context. Every policy had purpose.
Another time, for a manufacturing company with 70% blue-collar workforce, we asked them to describe what inclusion looked like. The answer that stuck:“When my manager asks how I’m doing—and listens.”
Simple. Clear. Human. And completely tied to the day-to-day experience of the people the presentation was for.
This is where most DE&I decks fall short. They try to sound right instead of being real.
Redefining these terms doesn’t dilute them. It makes them land.
3. Show progress and friction
There’s a temptation to only showcase the good. New ERGs, diverse hiring stats, leadership pledges, mentorship programs. That’s all valid.
But when the story becomes too sanitized, it stops feeling true.
One of the best DE&I decks we ever helped build had an entire section titled: “Where we stumbled”
It was three slides long. Slide one: A hiring initiative that missed its targets by 40%. Slide two: A mentorship program that failed to attract mid-level employees. Slide three: A quote from a manager admitting, “We thought this would work. It didn’t.”
No spin. No euphemisms. Just accountability.
And that vulnerability built more credibility than anything else. Because the audience wasn’t expecting it. They were expecting PR. They got honesty.
We’ve also worked with clients who were worried this level of openness might create reputational risk. It never did. In fact, it often led to more buy-in from skeptical teams.
Progress is important. But friction is what makes the progress believable.
4. Let your people speak
This is the slide where many decks come alive.
Not because the layout changes. But because the voice changes.
In every successful DE&I presentation we’ve worked on, there’s a moment when leadership stops talking—and the people impacted by the work take over.
Sometimes it’s through direct quotes. Sometimes it’s audio snippets. Sometimes it’s one-minute videos with real stories—unedited, unrehearsed.
At one client’s annual all-hands, we helped create a slide called: “The moment that changed my mind”
Each region submitted a one-sentence story from an employee about the moment they realized what inclusion meant to them. Some were funny. Some were hard to read. But all of them were unmistakably real.
The effect was electric. That slide had no graphs, no charts, no bullet points. But it got more applause than the CEO’s keynote.
Here’s the truth: DE&I is felt, not explained. So let the people feeling it do the talking.
5. Close with a bold ask, not a safe promise
This is where most DE&I presentations play it too safe. They end with something like:“We’re committed to change.”Or“We believe in a better future.”
Noble, but soft.
The best DE&I decks we’ve built end on action. And not just action by leadership—but by everyone in the room.
In one presentation for a private equity firm, the final slide asked: “Will you be the one to challenge silence in your team meeting this week?”
Another one ended with: “We don’t have a handbook for this. But we have each other. So, here’s what we need from you…”
That final “ask” changes the energy of the room. It transforms the audience from observers into participants.
It also sends a subtle message: this work isn’t being “done to you.” It’s being done with you. And you have a role to play.
No one remembers a closing thank-you slide. But they will remember being asked to do something that matters.
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If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.