How to Make Presentations Like EY [Ernst & Young]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Sep 5, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 11
A few weeks ago, our client Andrew asked us a simple but sharp question while we were working on his corporate deck. He said,
“How do firms like Ernst & Young always make their presentations look so professional and convincing?”
Our Creative Director didn’t hesitate for a second. He replied,
“Because their slides look as confident as their numbers.”
We work on many presentations throughout the year and in the process, we’ve observed one common challenge: most companies struggle to balance substance with clarity. They either overwhelm people with data or oversimplify to the point of losing credibility.
So, in this blog, we’ll break down how you can create presentations like EY that feel sharp, structured, and persuasive without drowning your audience in detail.
In case you didn't know, many corporate presentations are outsourced to our agency. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
What Makes the Ernst & Young Presentations Stand Out
Let’s be honest. EY presentations are not flashy. They don’t try to win you over with dramatic visuals or overcomplicated infographics. They stand out for a different reason: clarity.
Every slide feels deliberate. The hierarchy is clean, the flow is predictable, and the message is never buried under decoration. That’s what gives them authority. You don’t doubt their credibility because their slides make it obvious, they know what they’re talking about.
Three things set Ernst & Young presentations apart:
Structure first, design second
They spend time on narrative and logic before polishing visuals. The design only amplifies the message.
Confidence in simplicity
They don’t cram data to prove expertise. Instead, they highlight the right data that actually matters to decision-making.
Consistency everywhere
Fonts, colors, layouts, even spacing—it’s all consistent. Nothing feels improvised. That consistency makes the brand feel dependable.
If you’ve ever sat through one of these decks, you walk away thinking less about the slides and more about the message. That’s intentional.
Here’s a reference example of an EY presentation…
How to Make Presentations Like EY
If you study the EY presentations, their slides don’t scream for attention, but they command it anyway. The reason? They’ve mastered the art of being clear, confident, and structured. And here’s the truth—you don’t need a billion-dollar brand name behind you to do the same. You just need discipline in how you approach every part of your presentation.
Let’s break it down step by step.
1. Start With a Solid Narrative
EY doesn’t begin their decks by opening PowerPoint and dragging shapes around. They start with story. Every strong presentation starts with a clear answer to three questions:
What is the one thing the audience must remember?
Why does it matter now?
What action should they take after this presentation?
That’s it. If you can’t answer those, you’ll end up with slides that confuse more than they convince.
Take a strategy presentation as an example. Instead of listing ten priorities, EY frames the narrative around a single guiding theme. That theme might be “Resilience in a Shifting Market” or “Unlocking Growth Through Digital.” The rest of the slides simply flow from that core message.
Your audience should never wonder, “Why are we seeing this slide?” EY avoids that mistake by aligning every single point with the overarching story.
2. Data is Sharp, Not Dumped
One of the biggest traps companies fall into is thinking credibility equals more data. You’ve seen those slides—fifty numbers, twenty charts, and enough footnotes to rival a research paper. Nobody remembers them.
EY takes the opposite approach. They don’t show you everything. They show you the right thing. That distinction matters.
If they’re presenting market analysis, instead of dropping the entire dataset, they’ll highlight three metrics that actually affect decision-making. And they’ll make those numbers impossible to ignore. Large fonts, bold placement, uncluttered space around them.
Think about it: when a partner says “Our research shows 72% of mid-market companies are prioritizing automation this year,” that one stat lands because it’s not competing with fifty others.
So if you want to present like EY, you need to edit ruthlessly. Your goal is not to impress with quantity, but to persuade with clarity.
3. Visual Consistency Builds Trust
Consistency is not decoration. It’s branding. EY presentations don’t use five different fonts or three random shades of blue. They stick to a style guide like it’s gospel.
That’s because consistency subconsciously signals reliability. If your slides look uneven or improvised, the audience will assume your thinking is uneven too. On the flip side, when every slide feels aligned, you come across as methodical and dependable.
Here’s how EY gets it right:
One typeface across all slides, usually clean sans-serif.
A defined color palette (yellow, gray, black, white).
Standardized layout grids that make every slide look balanced.
Visuals that are simple, functional, and not ornamental.
It’s not about being fancy. It’s about being disciplined.
4. Simplicity Without Losing Depth
This is the real art. EY manages to keep slides simple without watering down substance. That’s harder than it looks.
For example, imagine a slide on “Global Risk Trends.” Most companies would either flood it with ten charts or dumb it down to three vague bullet points. EY takes a middle path. They use one chart that actually matters, a short headline that explains the takeaway, and a couple of supporting bullets. Enough to show depth, but not so much that you drown in it.
Simplicity here is not about stripping things away for the sake of minimalism. It’s about removing what doesn’t serve the point. There’s a difference.
5. Authority in Tone
Slides alone don’t make the presentation. The delivery matters. EY consultants speak with the same authority their slides reflect. The tone is confident, direct, and free of jargon unless it’s industry-specific and necessary.
This tone shows up in the writing too. Slide headlines are declarative, not descriptive. Instead of writing “Market Conditions,” they’ll write “Market Conditions Demand Faster Adaptation.” Notice the difference? One informs, the other persuades.
When you create your slides, write like you mean it. Each headline should be able to stand alone and communicate the core idea without needing someone to explain it.
6. Logical Flow is Non-Negotiable
Ever sat in a presentation where the slides jumped from topic to topic with no clear connection? That never happens in an EY deck. The flow is intentional.
The structure typically looks like this:
Context: What’s happening in the world or industry.
Problem: Why this matters for the client or audience.
Solution Approach: How EY frames the response.
Data Support: Numbers and proof that back up the point.
Implications: What the audience should do with this.
This kind of logical sequence makes it easy for audiences to stay engaged. Even if they zone out for a moment, they can rejoin the flow without feeling lost.
If you want to model this, map your presentation like a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Each section should set up the next.
7. Avoid the “Template Trap”
Ironically, many people think the way to present like EY is to just copy a template with yellow highlights and call it a day. That’s surface-level thinking.
What makes EY presentations work is not the look, but the process behind it. They don’t let templates dictate their story. They let the story dictate how the template is used.
This means you can’t just download a “corporate style” template and expect results. You need to do the hard work of structuring your content, editing your data, and writing clear headlines. The template is just the wrapper.
8. Confidence in White Space
Here’s something subtle but powerful—EY decks are not afraid of empty space. Many companies feel the need to fill every inch of a slide. EY uses white space strategically.
White space does two things: it directs attention to the important parts, and it makes the deck look clean. For example, if they want to highlight a single stat, they’ll put it on the slide with nothing else around it. That emptiness forces you to focus.
Don’t fear the blank areas. They’re part of the design.
9. Case Studies That Actually Work
EY often uses case studies in their presentations, but they don’t drown you in details. Instead, they focus on the problem, the intervention, and the measurable outcome. Three steps, that’s it.
Why does this work? Because audiences don’t need the entire backstory. They just need to see evidence that your solution produces results.
If you’re building your own presentation, ask: “What’s the one result from this case that proves our point?” Put that in the spotlight. The rest is context, not content.
10. Discipline Over Creativity
This might sound odd coming from a creative agency, but EY’s decks prove that discipline beats creativity in presentations. Creativity matters in campaigns, ads, or pitches that need to wow. In professional presentations, what matters more is structure and discipline.
EY’s creativity shows up not in wild visuals but in how sharply they frame ideas. Their discipline ensures every slide has a purpose. That combination is what makes them effective.
If you want to match that, ask yourself before finalizing a deck: “Does every slide earn its place?” If the answer is no, cut it.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
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.