KPI presentation: a practical guide for managers

The way you show your accomplishments makes or breaks your career. If you’re on the executive track, it means the stakes are in the millions. Have you ever wondered why people just throw KPIs on the slide and hope for the best? For most people, a KPI presentation is presenting metrics by dumping numbers on a PowerPoint slide. However, a good presentation works differently.

A good KPI presentation PPT is not just about data. It’s also about how you present that data. And that’s exactly what this article is all about. Let’s dive right in and start with the most important part — KPI presentation don’ts!

Mistakes in KPI Presentation

If you want to create a company’s KPI presentation, ask yourself, “What do I, as a presenter, want the audience to look at?”. We will not go deep into the design theory but make sure you avoid making the following mistakes in your KPI PowerPoint presentation.

1. No hierarchy

All the objects and text should not be too similar in font size, style, and color. Make sure the most important metrics stand out as a clear object. Randomness is confusing for the viewer.

2. Proximity is a problem

It is not only about everything being too crowded. It also means that you should group items clearly and logically in meaningful ways. It’s hard to know what’s related when you do not create those connections.

3. No alignment

Make sure the information on each presentation KPI PowerPoint slide is balanced. Create some visual patterns for numbers to align them. Do not throw on many random images/photos as well.

4. Indirectly related material

You definitely don’t want to try to explain the whole campaign KPI on the same slide. If you want to present every bit of this info, it is better to create an additional report for your visual aids. Most importantly, each slide of your KPI PowerPoint presentation has to tell a cohesive story. Follow the ‘one idea per slide’ rule to be consistent.

5. Numbers without context

Pure metrics are useless. You know what these numbers belong to but not your audience. However, these data points can be powerful weapons when used correctly.

So how to show your KPIs in PowerPoint presentation the right way?

1. Start with one message

When you’re presenting KPIs, do not start by opening your PPT. Instead, ask yourself: “What message do I want the audience to take away from my presentation on KPI?” The answer has to fit into a concise sentence that covers your objective, metrics, results, and $ impact.

2. Expand to the full story

Here, you provide a brief overview of the campaign, show the most impactful results, and state how those created a sales boost.

3. Rehearse

Once you’ve written a story, read it out loud several times. If it doesn’t make sense or sound like your voice – change it. Read it to a colleague or friend, get their feedback, and change it again.

4. Add Visual Aids

Once you’re satisfied with the story, it’s time to open your slide design program or send content to a custom presentation designer you’ve hired.

How to present KPI in PowerPoint?

When time is limited, strong visuals help keep everyone engaged. Best practices suggest limiting the number of images to two when including text on a slide. If there is no text, there should be up to four images on each of the KPI presentation slides. If each KPI has its own slide, we recommend emphasizing how each one relates to the other KPIs and the general business goals.

How to present KPI report in another way?

Apart from creating and sharing a company KPI presentation, the other ways of presenting KPIs to managers and executives include:

• Sending a report with KPIs via email.
• Distributing a PDF with KPIs.
• Displaying KPIs on a dashboard.
• Utilizing mobile dashboards or reports to share KPIs.
• Building your own KPIs with dashboard tools.

Now, let me ask the same question from the beginning of the article: “What do you, as a presenter, want the audience to look at?” If you get this one wrong, read this article again or outsource the task to a professional presentation design service. If you get this one right, you now know how to make KPI presentation and can present all data the best way.