A good question, huh? Here is our origin story:
CommsPlan emerged from the real-life experiences of our founder, a 20-year communications veteran who had worked in several Fortune 250 companies, McKinsey, and other professional services firms.
He observed three things over time:
Executives want their PowerPoint decks to look good but don't know how. And "good" is not the same as "pretty" -- most PowerPoint decks are for a meeting of executives, often over Teams and Zoom, and a leader needs to build understanding and buy-in on an idea or project. They do not need mind-blowing photos, animations, and design...they need a clear message, solid structure, and compelling storyline. Basically, the kind of deck McKinsey, Bain or BCG cranks out on an hourly basis.
Many comms professionals make lousy decks. Or -- gasp -- present their work in long Word documents. Someone more qualified can diagnose why this is, but comms pros are developed and rewarded for making great messaging, exciting campaigns, and audience impact -- not making PowerPoint slides. The problem is that you get to a certain level, and you or your boss (or their boss) need to showcase your strategy to the C-suite or top team, and they are used to seeing McKinsey-grade decks.
How you say it is as important as what you say. People are busy- they are looking at their email while you present on Teams, thinking about their personal commitments and their next meeting. Even if you have a great point, it will only be heard if presented in something short, compelling, and convincing. A great deck gets people’s attention and inspires confidence. Look, maybe you like PowerPoint, and maybe you don't, but the business world runs on it...you need good slides to succeed.
So we launched CommsPlan.io to:
Help comms pros focus on the things they love. -- messaging, campaigns, impact -- not making PowerPoint slides. Literally: download one of our decks, drop in your awesome ideas, change the colors to your corporate brand, and do your thing.
Help executives doing comms do it right. Most communications in a company happen without a comms pro anywhere nearby. We want to help them have a great impact and shine a light on their great ideas.
Provide other useful tools. We've been in the trenches and want to provide tools to help make corporate communications easier. Our layoff email example collection is a good example. Writing this kind of communication is really hard. Finding great examples is also very hard...so we scoured the internet for Fortune 100 example layoff emails so you can focus on your situation and do it well.
We're just getting started
We launched this site in 2024 to make CommsPlan a trusted partner to comms pros and business leaders. Please get in touch with us with your ideas, feedback, and questions -- we are in this for the long haul, and we will continuously improve and grow until we get it right.
We’re thrilled for you to join our journey towards clarity!