name: big-idea description: The single-sentence thesis a deck advances. The Answer in SCQA. Under 20 words, memorable, actionable.
Big Idea
The Big Idea is the single sentence the deck exists to deliver. It is the Answer in SCQA. Everything else — every block, every loop, every slide — earns its place by serving it.
Tests it must pass
- One sentence. Under 20 words. If you need a paragraph, you do not have an idea yet.
- Specific enough to be wrong. "We should be more strategic" fails. "Re-package now, re-price in Q3" passes.
- Repeatable. A colleague who heard the deck once should be able to say it back tomorrow.
- Actionable. It implies who decides, by when, what changes.
- Earns disagreement. A real Big Idea makes some part of the room push back. If the room only nods, the idea was too safe.
Construction formula
[Point of view] + [What is at stake] = Big Idea
Examples:
- "Re-package now, re-price in Q3 — re-packaging recovers the at-risk MRR; re-pricing waits until the new package proves out."
- "Build, do not buy — the build cost is recovered in 14 months and we keep the data leverage that the acquisition would surrender."
Failure modes
- Topic, not Idea. "Q3 strategy" is a folder name. "Q3 strategy hinges on packaging, not pricing" is a Big Idea.
- Two ideas. "We should do A and also B." If A and B are independent, the deck is two decks. If they are entangled, name the entanglement.
- Hedged Idea. "We might consider exploring..." A hedged Big Idea cannot be argued for.
- Inherited Idea. A Big Idea borrowed from a previous deck without re-testing it against current evidence.
Where it lives in the deck
- Stated explicitly in the executive summary.
- Echoed in the opener slide title.
- Restated as the closing ask.
- Implied (but not buried) in every block opener.
Canonical phrasing
If the Big Idea cannot be repeated tomorrow, the deck did not happen.