How to Storyboard a Presentation [A PowerPoint Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Apr 4, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Sep 2, 2025
Nick, one of our clients, asked us an interesting question while we were working on his sales presentation.
He said,
“How do you know what to put on each slide before you even design anything?”
Our Creative Director answered without missing a beat:
“We storyboard it first.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on dozens of storyboards every month, and in the process, we’ve observed one common challenge: most people jump straight into making slides without actually knowing the story they’re telling.
So in this blog, we’ll walk you through how to plan your slide-by-slide flow before you ever open PowerPoint. That’s the whole point of storyboarding a presentation, and it saves everyone time, energy, and a lot of ugly decks.
Let’s talk about why you need it in the first place.
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.
What is PowerPoint Presentation Storyboarding
PowerPoint presentation storyboarding is basically planning your presentation before you even open PowerPoint. Think of it like sketching out a roadmap for a road trip—you figure out where you’re starting, the key stops along the way, and where you want people to end up.
Instead of throwing slides together and hoping it makes sense, you map out the story, decide what each slide should say, and figure out how visuals and text will work together. Storyboarding forces your presentation to actually make sense instead of being a random collection of slides.
Example Storyboarding Scenario:
Let’s say a marketing team needs to pitch a new product. Instead of opening PowerPoint and winging it, they create a storyboard. It might look like this:
Slide 1 – Opening: Introduce the product and why it matters.
Slide 2 – Market Problem: Explain the problem with a short, punchy stat.
Slide 3 – Solution: Show how this product fixes that problem.
Slide 4 – Features & Benefits: Highlight key points with visuals, not walls of text.
Slide 5 – Example or Case Study: Share a story that proves it works.
Slide 6 – Call to Action: Make it obvious what you want the client to do next.
By storyboarding first, you avoid the classic trap: slides that look good but make no sense, or presentations that feel like a chaotic jumble of ideas.
When you finally open PowerPoint, designing slides becomes easy because the story is already written—you’re just putting it in visuals.
How to Storyboard a Presentation
Let’s start by clearing up a misconception.
Storyboarding a presentation is not just about sketching little slide boxes and scribbling “Intro” and “Stats” in them. It’s a strategic process. You’re mapping the logic, emotion, and visual rhythm of your narrative—before you add a single photo, chart, or bullet point.
And no, it’s not just for creative teams. It’s for salespeople, marketers, founders, product managers—anyone who needs to influence a room with a message.
Here’s how we do it, step by step.
1. Define Your One Big Idea
This sounds basic, but most people don’t do it.
Ask yourself: If the audience remembers only one thing from this presentation, what should it be?
This isn’t a tagline. It’s the core argument your entire deck will support.
If you’re pitching a product, maybe your big idea is “Our solution reduces your logistics costs by 30%.” If you’re introducing a new initiative, maybe it’s “This shift will grow our market share in untapped segments." If it’s a company overview, your big idea might be “We’re not just another SaaS company—we’re reshaping how mid-size businesses manage customer data.”
Whatever it is, it should be a clear, powerful idea that your entire presentation builds toward.
We call this your “north star.” Everything you include from this point on should either set it up, support it, or drive it home.
2. Break Down the Audience Journey
Now that you know where you want the audience to land, ask yourself where they’re starting.
Are they skeptical? Curious? Pressured? Are they aware of the problem? Or do you need to show them what’s at stake? Are they looking for proof, or are they just looking for clarity?
This is critical. The same information hits differently depending on how you build up to it.
Let’s say your goal is to introduce a new product. You don’t start with the product features. You start by highlighting a pain point that your audience can’t ignore. Then you show them why other solutions aren’t cutting it. Then—and only then—you introduce your product as the obvious answer.
That’s how storyboarding works. You’re building a sequence, not just slides.
We often sketch the emotional arc at this point. It usually looks something like this:
Start with alignment (This is what we’re all facing)
Create tension (Here’s what’s broken)
Deliver insight (Here’s what we’ve discovered)
Introduce the solution (Here’s what we’re offering)
Back it up (Here’s why it works)
End with impact (Here’s what happens next)
This arc keeps people engaged, because it respects how humans process information. We don’t just need data. We need direction, context, and resolution.
3. Map Out the Core Message Per Slide
Once you have the flow and the arc, now you get into the practical structure.
At this point, we create a slide-by-slide outline. This isn’t design work—it’s just about messaging.
We ask: What should this slide say? What’s the point here?
Each slide should carry one message. Just one. Not three half-messages crammed together.
It could be:
“The market is shifting fast.”
“Customers are dropping out because of poor onboarding.”
“Our approach keeps users engaged 3x longer.”
“This is the rollout plan, quarter by quarter.”
If you can't summarize the slide’s point in one sentence, it's not ready yet.
This exercise alone cuts the fat from most presentations. Suddenly, 30 slides shrink to 18, and they actually say something.
We literally write these points out in a column, slide by slide. No visuals yet. Just the message flow.
We sit with it. We tweak the order. We ask:
Does this feel repetitive?
Does Slide 6 actually belong after Slide 10?
Is the setup strong enough before we get to Slide 12?
This is where your logic gets tested. If there’s a gap or a leap, it’ll show here—and it’s much easier to fix in a storyboard than once everything’s already designed.
4. Add Visual Thinking, Not Design
Now that the messaging is tight, it’s time to think visually—but lightly.
We don’t jump into PowerPoint or Keynote yet. We just sketch, on paper or digital notes:
Will this message land best with a chart?
Would a visual comparison help here?
Should we show a quote, a photo, a stat, or a headline?
We’re not picking colors or fonts. We’re choosing the type of visual that best supports the message.
Think of it like this: if the slide’s message is the sentence, the visual is the punctuation. It either emphasizes the point or helps it land faster.
For example:
For “We’ve doubled our client base in 12 months,” show a simple bar graph with the growth.
For “Our users are frustrated with outdated interfaces,” show a quote pulled from user research.
For “This is the strategy,” sketch a flow diagram or timeline.
We’re not designing yet. Just choosing visual formats.
At this stage, the storyboard might look like this:
“The industry is in flux.” → supporting image of industry headlines
“This has created operational strain.” → visual showing process bottlenecks
“Other solutions patch the surface.” → comparison table
“Here’s how we approach it differently.” → simple diagram
“Let’s talk results.” → key metrics or testimonials
“Next steps.” → timeline or checklist
It’s rough, but it’s real. And it gives you a complete view of the entire narrative before anything gets built.
5. Gut Check with a Dry Run
This step is where the magic happens.
Once the storyboard is ready, walk through it like you're presenting it. Out loud. Yes, really. You don’t need slides yet—just read the key messages one by one, and visualize the supporting visuals.
You’ll immediately spot what’s off:
Does the flow feel natural?
Are you repeating yourself?
Are you jumping too fast between ideas?
Do you need a breather slide for emphasis?
Sometimes we even send just the storyboard to clients and walk them through the flow before we design. It gives everyone clarity. It also avoids the “Can we move this entire section after Slide 4” moment later in the design phase, which, trust us, is a nightmare.
If you feel confident after the dry run, great. If not, tweak it. That’s the beauty of this phase—it’s still fast and flexible.
6. Only Then, Start Designing
Notice how design is the very last thing? That’s intentional.
When the messaging is tight and the visuals are thought through, the design phase becomes pure execution. No second-guessing. No chaotic last-minute edits. Just focused, purposeful design that brings the storyboard to life.
And guess what? This approach cuts the number of revisions in half. It also makes sure that when the presentation goes live—in a pitch room, on a webinar, at a board meeting—it tells a clear, confident story.
Not just a deck. A message that moves people.
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.