Gold feature
Build the presentation your board will remember
Give it your topic and your rank. State6 writes a model of what each section of a strong presentation must cover at your level, coaches every section you write, and turns the finished piece into a PowerPoint deck with your script in the notes. Built on STANCE, the six step structure for a ten minute board presentation.
Build your first presentation →Part of Gold. Pay once for 90 days, no subscription.
40 sec filmSee the builder at work
From topic to deck in forty seconds. With sound.
What you get
From a blank topic to a rehearsed deck, one section at a time
Most officers know what they think about their topic. What they lack is a structure the panel can follow and a sense of how much to say at each step. The builder gives you both, then coaches what you write.
A topic, if you need one
No topic set by your force? The builder suggests six, pitched at your rank. Switch on the inspection context and some of them are grounded in your force's HMICFRS findings, so you rehearse on the ground a panel is likely to test.
A model for your rank
Before you write a word, you see what each of the six sections must cover for a strong answer at Sergeant, Inspector or Chief Inspector level. Not a script. A brief to aim at.
Word targets that fit ten minutes
Every section carries a target, from 60 words for the opening to 400 for the assessment. Hit them and the whole piece lands between 900 and 1,190 words, comfortably inside ten minutes.
Coaching on any section
Send a section for AI Coaching and get told what a panel would hear, what is missing for your rank, and what to cut. Then rewrite and send it again.
Your force's picture built in
Switch on the inspection context and the model draws on your force's published HMICFRS findings, so your evidence section speaks to the problems your panel already knows about.
A deck with your script in the notes
Make slides turns the six sections into a board ready PowerPoint. The slide carries the point. The speaker notes carry your full words, so you rehearse from the same file you present.
The six steps
STANCE, the shape of a presentation a panel can follow
Most board presentations fail in the same way. The candidate builds towards a recommendation the panel has been waiting eight minutes to hear. STANCE puts your position second, then earns it.
- SSituationState the problem in two sentences. What is happening, and why the board should care.60 to 80 words
- TTake a positionSay what you would do, first. A board does not want to be led to the answer.60 to 80 words
- AAssessmentThe evidence for your position. What the data, the inspection picture and the people on the ground tell you.300 to 400 words
- NNavigate the optionsThe alternatives you weighed and why you rejected them. This is where judgement shows.200 to 280 words
- CCost and RiskWhat it takes to deliver, what could go wrong, and how you would know early.250 to 300 words
- EEnd with ImpactClose on the outcome for the public and the force, in words a panel will remember.30 to 50 words
The framework in full, with timings and the common mistakes at each step, is free to read at how to structure a police promotion board presentation.
Presentation topics
The topics boards set, and where each one tests you
Some forces set the topic in advance and some let you choose it. The families below come up again and again because they sit in every force's plan and in its inspection picture. Enter one of them, or your own, and the builder writes the model for your rank.
Officer wellbeing and absence
Whether you can separate genuine support from recording it, and what you would stop doing to make room for it.
Retaining experienced officers
What a leader at your rank can actually influence, and honesty about the levers you do not hold.
Violence against women and girls
How you would prioritise it against other demand, and how you would know whether victims saw any difference.
Neighbourhood policing and public confidence
Visibility against response demand, and what the public in your area would notice within ninety days.
Standards, culture and challenging behaviour
Whether you would act early on what others let pass, and how you protect public trust while treating the officer fairly.
Demand, resourcing and what does not get done
Deciding openly what your team stops doing, and how you carry that decision upward.
Investigation quality and victim care
Where standards slip under pressure, and the supervision that catches it before a victim does.
Leading change the team did not choose
Taking a position on a decision made above you, and keeping people with you while you deliver it.
Calibrated to your rank
The same six steps. A different altitude at each rank.
The commonest failure a panel sees is a presentation pitched one rank too low. A sergeant candidate who talks like a good constable. An inspector candidate who solves the problem with their own team and never mentions the partners, the budget or the force. The model you build against is written for the rank you are going for.
Sergeant
Team level. How you would lead a shift or a unit through the problem, hold standards and look after the people doing the work.
Inspector
Across teams and partners. Resourcing, priorities, the relationships beyond the station and the risk you carry on the force's behalf.
Chief Inspector
Strategic. Where the problem sits in the force's plan, what it costs, what the public and the PCC will see, and what you would do to fund it.
Coaching on every section
Write it, send it, hear what the panel would hear
Each section has its own coaching. You write your Assessment, send it, and the coach tells you where the evidence is thin for an inspector, where you have described the problem again instead of assessing it, and which sentence is doing no work. You rewrite and send again. The coaching is about the section in front of you, not a generic list of presentation tips.
Coaching uses your AI Coaching credits, the same ones that coach your spoken answers. Your sections save as you write, so you can leave a presentation half built and come back to it on your next rest day.
What the coach is not
It does not score you. STANCE is a structure for the room, not a marking scheme, and no panel marks against it. Scores out of five with a descriptor breakdown belong to the STARR and PEEL reviews of your spoken answers. The presentation coach makes the piece you will deliver stronger, and leaves the judgement to the panel.
The deck you walk in with
Six sections in. One PowerPoint out, with your script in the notes.
When all six sections are written, Make slides builds a board ready deck. A title slide, then one slide per section carrying three to five short points, with your full written section in the speaker notes beneath it. Rehearse from the notes, present from the slides, and if your force does not allow slides in the room, you still have the cleanest rehearsal script you will ever hold.
Title slide
Your topic and rank, in the State6 navy and gold.
Six section slides
Each carries three to five short points, not the paragraph. The panel reads the point while you speak.
Speaker notes
Your full script under every slide. Print them, or rehearse from the presenter view.
Making the slides costs no credits. Your presentation also exports to a PDF for your portfolio alongside your saved answers.
The maths
Ten presentation builds, inside Gold
10
presentation builds, each one a rank calibrated model for a topic of your choice
6
sections coached individually, up to three rounds each, one AI Coaching credit a round
0
credits to make the slides, every time, for every finished presentation
Gold is £149.99 for 90 days and also includes the voiced Mock Board, the STARR and PEEL reviews and AI Coaching on every answer. There is no subscription. When the 90 days end your saved work stays in your account.
Walk in with a presentation you have already delivered six times
Build your first presentation →Part of Gold. £149.99 once, 90 days, no subscription.
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Common questions
Straight answers
What does the presentation builder actually do?
You give it your topic and your rank. It writes a model of what each of the six STANCE sections must cover for a strong answer at that level, drawing on your force's inspection picture if you want it to. You then write each section against that model, with a word target for each, and send any section for coaching. When all six are written, Make slides turns them into a PowerPoint deck with your full script in the speaker notes.
Is my presentation scored?
No. STANCE is a State6 framework for structuring a board presentation, not a marking scheme. Panels do not score against it. The builder gives you a model to aim at and coaching on what you have written. Scoring out of five with a descriptor breakdown belongs to the STARR and PEEL reviews for your spoken answers.
How long is a board presentation, and does the builder fit it?
Most forces set ten minutes. At a natural speaking pace of about 120 words a minute, the six word targets come to between 900 and 1,190 words, which is seven and a half to just under ten minutes spoken. Hit the targets and you finish inside the time without rushing.
What if my force sets the topic in advance?
Then you enter that topic and build against it. If your force gives you no topic, the builder suggests six. With the inspection context switched on, two or three of them are grounded in your force's HMICFRS findings and the rest are pitched at your rank, so you rehearse on ground the panel is likely to walk you onto.
What do I need to build a presentation?
Gold. Gold includes ten presentation builds, and each build is one model generated for one topic. Coaching on your sections uses your AI Coaching credits. Making the slides costs nothing extra. Access runs for 90 days from purchase with no subscription. The Met's promotion process has no presentation stage, so the builder is not part of the Met version of Gold.
Can I use the slides in the board room?
The deck is a standard PowerPoint file. Whether you may present with slides is your force's decision, so check your invitation. Even where slides are not allowed, the deck with your script in the notes is the cleanest rehearsal tool you will have.
Your topic. Your rank. Ten minutes that decide the board.
Start with the framework for free at Learn STANCE, or go straight to building.
Free resources