Member-only story
The Pyramid Principle
Dashboards, reporting documents and PowerPoint decks are all forms of business communication. Analysis is an important aspect of business communication. And generally speaking, business communication can get pretty boring, really fast. For that reason, it is important to structure your business communications in a way that highlights the most important information first, then gets into the details and supporting elements.
The Pyramid Principle is a communication technique developed by Barbara Minto for the purpose of improving the clarity and impact of business communications. It is essentially a top-down approach to presenting information. Some people consider it to be the gold standard of business presentation and communications.
Minto believes that it is best to grab the audience’s attention with the important insights first. Then drill down into a more detailed picture once the main idea is understood. Presenting your message in this way helps to ensure that the important stuff gets to the audience while their attention is fresh.
Structuring your communications according to the pyramid principle should help them to be more logical, persuasive and easier to understand. A document might start with the main point, then present the key arguments, followed by the supporting evidence.
