AI critiques
Storymakers reviews of every deck.
Each deck reviewed by an AI editor through the Storymakers lens — narrative arc, opening hook, closing call-to-action, and action-title quality. With a one-line verdict, top strengths and weaknesses, and three concrete fixes per deck.
1086 reviewed decks
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most common opening verb across 3405 suggestions↑ Top 5 on closing
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- “A solid, clearly-structured Roland Berger advocacy deck with declarative titles and a punchy close — useful as a Storymakers exemplar for action-title discipline and section dividers, but not for opening hooks or tight SCQA framing.” — RolandBerger, 2022
- “A disciplined Deloitte industry POV with a strong answer-first opening and a rallying close — usable as a Storymakers exemplar for S→C→A→R framing and call-to-action craft, but the middle analytical pillars are a cautionary tale on MECE sprawl and topic-label titles.” — Deloitte, 2021
- “A well-structured thought-leadership report with a clean six-pillar MECE spine and mostly insight-bearing body titles — use its divider architecture as a Storymakers exemplar, but not its opening or its generically-titled recommendations.” — Deloitte, 2022
- “Polished investor-day deck with strong action titles and a clean opening/closing thesis pair, but missing an explicit Complication and pillar signposting — use the title craft and closing pages as exemplars, not the overall narrative architecture.” — JPMorgan, 2022
- “A competent investor-day deck with strong quantified action titles and a clean closing arc, but front-matter-heavy and missing explicit MECE pillars — useful as a teaching example for action-title craft (p.9, p.13), not for overall structure.” — JPMorgan, 2025
- “Solid, disciplined analytical consulting report with a clean MECE five-finding spine and a rare, well-built closing playbook - use the recommendation slides (p25, p31, p41) as action-title exemplars, but not the persona or data sections, where titles regress to topic labels.” — Accenture, 2019
- “A solidly-built thought-leadership report with answer-first framing and a clear call to action, but over-long openings and under-signposted middle acts keep it from being a Storymakers exemplar — use p.22-30 as a teaching example of analysis-to-recommendation flow, not the deck's overall structure.” — Accenture, 2022
- “A competently structured Accenture thought-leadership report with a clean four-act story and a strong closing call to action - useful as a teaching example for section architecture and audience-segmented recommendations, but its delayed thesis and figure-caption titles keep it out of Storymakers-exemplar territory.” — Accenture, 2025
All reviewed decks
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250114 FRE prsn JPM SFO 0
“A competent investor-day narrative with a strong, memorable close but a context-heavy opening and missing complication act — useful as an example of declarative action titles and a portable closing equation, not as a model of full S-C-A-R structure.”
↓ No explicit 'complication' slide — the deck never states the tension or why-now that justifies the strategic reset
78
closing
2022 global technology
“Solid investor-day technology narrative with disciplined action titles and quantified callouts, but it reads as a capabilities tour rather than a Storymakers arc — use p.4-10 as a teaching example for action-title craft, not the overall structure.”
↓ No explicit Complication — p.4 frames expense growth as 'driven by investments' (a positive), missing the chance to set tension before resolving it
78
closing
20240220 Barclays US Consumer Bank Investor Update
“A competent investor-update deck with a clean three-pillar resolution and solid analytical titles, but it buries the thesis in the opening and lacks an explicit tension act — use p.11-15 as a MECE-pillar teaching example, not the overall arc.”
↓ Opening buries the thesis — p.2-4 set context but the 2026 RoTE promise only appears on p.7
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closing
Barclays Global Financial Services Conference 2023
“A disciplined, action-title-led investor update with a clear three-pillar spine but a missing Complication and a soft close — use the title craft and pillar structure as a teaching example, not the full SCQA arc.”
↓ No Complication/tension slide — the deck jumps from Purpose (p.3) to Thesis (p.4) without establishing why change is urgent
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closing
Client Creditor Overview Q4 2023
“A disciplined investor-relations deck with a clean two-act arc and metric-laden action titles — a good exemplar of answer-led analytical writing, but weak on Complication and pillar scaffolding, so use it to teach title craft and quantitative spine rather than full SCQA narrative design.”
↓ Weak 'Complication' act — p.13 'Adapting to a world in transition' is the only tension slide and it's abstract ('Ready to seize opportunities') rather than naming specific pressures
76
closing
Next Generation Manufacturing Tech Innovation
“Textbook BCG diagnostic-to-prescription build with strong action titles and a dual-audience CTA, but buries the thesis behind six slides of front matter — use the country-case section (pp.20-28) and the split-audience recommendation block (pp.55-58) as teaching exemplars, not the opening.”
↓ Answer is buried: no thesis in the first 5 slides, and the entire executive summary is compressed into a single slide (p.7) labelled 'At a Glance' — a topic label, not an insight
75
closing
AI at Work: What People Are Saying
“A well-executed survey-findings deck with mostly strong action titles and a correctly placed recommendation slide, but it reads as an ordered sequence of findings rather than a Storymakers-style argument - useful as a title-writing exemplar, not as a structural one.”
↓ No section dividers; 8 consecutive analyze_data slides (pp.4-11) flow without pillar signposting
75
closing
Mining Investment Fragile Conflict
“Compact 8-page executive brief with a coherent S→C→A→R spine and strong numeric titles, but it asks questions instead of leading with the answer and ends on a metaphor rather than a decision — useful as a short-form arc example, not as an opening or closing exemplar.”
↓ P.2 'Central questions' delays the thesis — opening should lead with the answer, not the questions
75
closing
Lebanon Economic Vision
“A textbook McKinsey government strategy report with a genuinely strong SCQA diagnosis chapter, but the 1,274-page length, procedural opening, and topic-label-heavy sector dives bury the storyline — use the first 22 slides as a teaching example of analytical build-up, and the rest as a cautionary tale on appendix-as-deck.”
↓ The 1,274-page total length is itself the biggest narrative failure — the story ends at p.149 and the remaining ~1,100 pages of appendix-as-deck dilute every editorial choice that came before
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closing
What if inflation rates remain at current levels? Roland Berger Institute
“A well-titled, coherent thought-leadership paper with a clear point of view at the end, but it reads as an analyst's essay rather than a Storymakers deck — use pp.2-6 as a teaching example for action titles, not as a structural template.”
↓ No 'so what' for a business audience — the deck diagnoses inflation but never translates implications into client actions
75
closing
Understanding the path to digital marketing maturity
“Solid mid-tier exemplar of a research-report deck with disciplined action titles and a complete arc, but buries its sharpest insight on p.7 — useful as a teaching example for declarative titles, less so for opening-hook craft.”
↓ Lead is buried: the punchy '2% are mature' insight sits on p.7 instead of p.2 or p.3 where it would set the tension
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closing
20240220 Barclays UK Investor Update
“A competent investor-update deck with a clean pillar structure and a committed recommendation, but underpowered in complication-setting and answer-first opening - use pp.5-9 as a teaching example of MECE pillar-prefixed titles, not as a full narrative exemplar.”
↓ No explicit complication / 'why now' slide - the deck moves from context straight into framework, weakening narrative tension
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closing
Thought you knew the Scope 3 issues in your supply chain? Think again.
“A well-structured thought-leadership report with a strong hook and a clean five-action closer, but its analytical middle leans on figure-label titles and its conclusion softens the punch - useful as a teaching example for SCQA pacing and imperative recommendation blocks, not for action-title discipline.”
↓ Figure/Table slides (p.9, p.10, p.12, p.13, p.17) use chart-label titles ('Figure 1: Distribution of upstream emissions by supplier tier') instead of action titles stating what the data proves
74
closing
AI-Enabled Engineering Excellence
“A well-argued BCG executive perspective with strong action titles and a legible S-C-A-R arc, but the middle sprawls across overlapping frameworks and the close lacks a punchy restatement — use its opening and title craft as Storymakers exemplars, not its pillar structure or landing.”
↓ No mid-deck section dividers — pillars are implied by title prefixes ('Challenges |', 'Measuring value |', 'Getting started |') rather than visibly MECE.
74
closing
Altagamma 2017 Worldwide Luxury Market Monitor
“A polished Bain market-monitor with strong insight-bearing action titles and named thematic pillars, but under-tensioned and under-actioned — use pages 9-18 and 41 as teaching examples of quantified headlines and on-a-page synthesis, not as a Storymakers arc exemplar.”
↓ Weak complication: no slide frames the 'so what / what's at risk' — the deck jumps from context straight to analysis without a tension beat
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closing
Tested, Trusted, Transformed An exploration of the Corporate Affairs Function and its Leaders
“A competently structured research report with a memorable title device and a strong Five Maxims close, but titles carry topics not insights and the middle lacks narrative tension — use the bookend thesis and Five Maxims as teaching examples, not the interior title discipline.”
↓ Action titles are overwhelmingly questions or topic labels rather than insights (p.9, p.11, p.13, p.14, p.25) — a reader skimming the title stream cannot reconstruct the argument
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closing
AI in financial reporting and audit
“A competent KPMG thought-leadership deck with a real narrative spine and several strong action titles, but the analytical middle is over-built and the close under-delivers — useful as a partial exemplar of answer-first openings (p.4-5) and tension-then-resolution (p.21→24), not as a Storymakers structural template.”
↓ Multiple slides default to figure-caption titles ('Figure 6…', 'Figure 9…', 'Figure 10…', 'Figure 11…') instead of insight statements
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closing
Rail industry cost and revenue sharing (2011)
“A rigorous, MECE-disciplined UK government-policy advisory deck with an admirably explicit recommendation thread - use the numbered-pillars structure (10 practicalities, 8 options) and the recommendation->timeline close as Storymakers teaching examples, but not the overall arc, which buries the rail-industry context in an end-of-deck appendix and opens too slowly to surface the thesis.”
↓ Background-on-the-industry section (p.134-170, 37 slides) sits at the END rather than the front, so context that should have set up the stakes instead trails the recommendation and dilutes the close
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closing
Facts, scenarios, and actions for leaders Publication #3 with a focus on Emerging Stronger from the Crisis
“A competent crisis-era BCG update with a clear framework spine and explicit recommendations, but the duplicated section dividers and topic-label transitions make it a decent analytical-build example rather than an exemplary Storymakers narrative.”
↓ Duplicate section divider titles on p.15 and p.30 ('COVID-19 Context and Development') collapse the MECE structure
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closing
Deloitte Gen Z and Millennial Survey 2022
“A competently-titled, MECE-organized thought-leadership survey deck that teaches strong action-title and callout discipline but diffuses its opening across four slides and buries its recommendations under a generic triple-header — use the per-slide titles as a teaching example, not the overall arc.”
↓ Four-slide executive summary (p.2-5) dilutes the opening — the thesis should land on one slide
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closing
2020 cb investor day
“A polished, on-message investor-day deck with disciplined action titles and a clean thematic spine, but it is a confidence narrative rather than a Storymakers SCQA arc — useful as an exemplar of title discipline and pillar sequencing, not as a model for tension-and-resolution storytelling.”
↓ No real Complication/tension — every slide reassures ('strong', 'well-positioned', 'substantial'), so the narrative lacks the SCQA pivot that would earn the resolution
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closing
2023 Deutsche Bank FIG Presentation upload vf
“A competent investor-update deck with a clear thesis, disciplined action titles, and a proper three-beat close — use the opening and closing as Storymakers exemplars, but not the middle, where the Complication is soft and the four-pillar structure announced on p.5 is never used as the body's spine.”
↓ Complication is underdeveloped — p.6 'Strong start into 2023 despite volatile environment' gestures at tension but never frames a real obstacle the strategy must answer
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closing
Green by Default
“Well-structured Accenture thought-leadership report with clear MECE pillars and several sharp action titles — use the sectioning (p.15/20/25) and insight-title examples (p.4, p.5, p.10) as teaching exemplars, but flag the repeated generic recommendation titles and soft closing as common pitfalls to avoid.”
↓ Three identical generic titles 'Practical considerations to help your business make a start' on p.19, p.24, p.29 — insight-free and undifferentiated
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closing
Innovation Unleashed Building a culture that drives sustained growth
“A well-structured Accenture thought-leadership deck with a clear S-C-A-R spine and strong stake-setting numbers, but weakened by topic-label titles on pivot slides and a case-study run that doesn't map back to its own framework — useful as a teaching example of quantified stakes and paired CTA, not of action-title discipline.”
↓ p.4 quote slide ('Culture eats strategy for breakfast') is a cliché that breaks the momentum from the 82% stat on p.2 to the data on pp.5-7