Sharing data, insights, and recommendations extracted from detailed analysis is a practice that consultants and heads of departments view as part of their everyday workload. Yet, effective communication techniques make a difference in whether the information disclosed is actionable, makes a lasting impact, or becomes critical for a decision’s outcome.
In this article, we will guide you through the process of creating a good report presentation, from general aspects to specifics by niche, recommended PowerPoint templates to use, and which aspects you should avoid in the presentation design process.
- What is a Report?
- What is a Report Presentation?
- Types of Report Presentations
- Do’s and Don’ts on a Report Presentation
- FAQs
- Recommended Report PowerPoint Templates
What is a Report?
A report is a formal, high-level document that compiles data, research findings, and recommendations tailored to a specific topic. Its core purpose is to grant stakeholders a detailed understanding of a situation and provide background for decision-making processes.
What is a Report Presentation?
We can define a report presentation as the visual and verbal method of communicating the key elements of a written report. Typically, report presentations happen in meeting or conference settings, where the scale of the report presentation depends on any of these three factors:
- Topic of the report presentation
- People or teams involved in the outcome of the report
- People or teams that must be aware of the information retrieved from the report
Depending on its topic, the amount of slides or specific slide design to include, which we shall mention in the upcoming section.
Types of Report Presentations
Business Report Presentations
Business report presentations focus on a business’s performance, strategy, and operations, conveying important information to stakeholders for decision-making purposes. These presentation slides are used during board meetings, business plan presentations, quarterly reviews, strategic planning sessions, and investor meetings.
A typical business report presentation should contain the following slides on its slide deck:
- Title Slide: Title, presenter’s name, date, and company logo.
- Agenda Slide: Outline of main sections.
- Executive Summary Slide: Key takeaways and highlights.
- Financial Overview Slide: Revenue, expenses, profit, and loss.
- Performance Metrics Slide: Key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Strategic Initiatives Slide: Current and future projects.
- Market Analysis Slide: Market trends and competitive analysis.
- SWOT Analysis Slide: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
- Recommendations Slide: Suggested actions and next steps.
- Q&A Slide: Invite questions from the audience.
- Conclusion Slide: Summary of key points.
Presenters must generally focus on clearly expressing the key points and insights, using charts and graphs to illustrate their findings easily. Opt for a SWOT analysis PowerPoint template to simply the SWOT representation process.
Academic Report Presentations
Academic report presentations communicate research findings, project outcomes, and scholarly work to academic peers and professionals. They are common at academic conferences, seminars, workshops, and in classrooms (post-graduate settings).
To build a high-quality academic report presentation, consider the following slides:
- Title Slide: Title, author’s name, institution, and date.
- Introduction Slide: Background and research question.
- Literature Review Slide: Summary of relevant research.
- Methodology Slide: Research methods and design.
- Data Slide: Key data and statistics.
- Analysis Slide: Interpretation of data.
- Results Slide: Main findings.
- Discussion Slide: Implications and significance.
- Conclusion Slide: Summary of findings and future research directions.
- References Slide: List of sources and citations.
- Q&A Slide
Avoid jargon at all costs unless specifically required by your tutor. Aiming to create an interactive presentation out of it can be a plus.
Technical Report Presentations
Technical report presentations detail technical data, research findings, and project updates (i.e., project status report templates) to a specialized audience, often in fields like engineering, IT, and science. They are used in technical meetings, conferences, project updates, and during product development cycles.
The slides a technical report presentation should include are:
- Title Slide
- Problem Statement Slide: Definition and scope of the problem.
- Objectives Slide: Goals of the technical work.
- Methodology Slide: Technical approach and procedures.
- Data Slide: Key data points and measurements.
- Analysis Slide: Interpretation of technical data.
- Results Slide: Main findings and outcomes.
- Technical Challenges Slide: Issues encountered and solutions.
- Recommendations Slide: Suggested actions based on findings.
- Future Work Slide: Next steps or future research.
- Q&A Slide
- Conclusion Slide
Diagrams, infographics, and graphs are handy for explaining complex data. Presenters should encourage the audience to ask questions about the topic and break down the complex elements into easy-to-understand chunks of information.
Sales Report Presentations
Sales report presentations provide insights into sales performance, trends, and forecasts to understand market conditions and sales strategies. Presenters who are looking how to make a presentation in the sales niche can apply it for sales meetings, quarterly reviews, strategy sessions, and performance evaluations.
A successful sales report presentation features the following slides on its deck:
- Title Slide
- Agenda Slide
- Sales Performance Slide: Sales figures and trends.
- Target vs Actual Slide: Comparison of targets and actual sales.
- Sales by Region/Product Slide: Breakdown of sales data.
- Sales Pipeline Slide: Status of sales leads and opportunities.
- Customer Insights Slide: Key customer trends and feedback.
- Competitor Analysis Slide: Competitive landscape.
- Strategies Slide: Current and future sales strategies.
- Recommendations Slide: Suggested improvements and actions.
- Q&A Slide
- Conclusion Slide
As a recommendation, in our experience, it’s a good practice to include a sales dashboard slide highlighting the key sale metrics. It would be beneficial if a new sales strategy were implemented and the team wanted to extract conclusive data from it.
Marketing Report Presentations
Marketing report presentations analyze marketing campaigns, strategies, and performance metrics to assess the impact and plan future initiatives. We can come across this kind of report and presentation in situations like marketing meetings, marketing plan presentations, campaign reviews, strategy sessions, and performance evaluations.
Consider to list the following slides to create an effective marketing report presentation:
- Title Slide
- Agenda Slide
- Campaign Overview Slide: Summary of marketing campaigns.
- Performance Metrics Slide: Key metrics like ROI, conversion rates, and engagement.
- Audience Insights Slide: Data on target demographics and customer behavior.
- Channel Performance Slide: Performance by marketing channel (e.g., social media, email).
- Competitor Analysis Slide: Competitive landscape and benchmarking.
- Strategies Slide: Current and future marketing strategies.
- Recommendations Slide: Suggested improvements and actions.
- Q&A Slide
- Conclusion Slide
This is a type of report presentation where you should encourage audience participation due to the importance of the creativity factor in new campaigns. Use infographics to represent dense groups of data related to social media reports. Strategy presentation templates are also a good fit to enhance your report presentation slide deck.
Additionally, we include on this following link a Free Social Media Report PowerPoint template for users to create professional-looking slides in seconds.
Project Report Presentations
Project report presentations detail project progress, challenges, and outcomes, providing updates to stakeholders and ensuring alignment with goals. Typical use cases of these report presentations are project meetings, status updates, and post-project reviews.
To create a slide deck for project report presentations, consider to include these slides:
- Title Slide: Title, presenter’s name, date, and project name.
- Agenda Slide
- Project Overview Slide: Summary of project goals and scope.
- Timeline Slide: Key milestones and project schedule.
- Progress Slide: Status of project phases and tasks.
- Challenges Slide: Issues encountered and mitigation strategies.
- Budget Slide: Financial status and budget adherence.
- Risk Management Slide: Identified risks and their management.
- Next Steps Slide: Upcoming tasks and milestones.
- Q&A Slide
- Conclusion Slide
Gantt charts, progress bars, and budget graphs are excellent presentation tools for showcasing key information in project presentations. Be sure to include the exact dates for project updates.
Non-profit and NGO Report Presentations
Non-profit and NGO report presentations highlight the organization’s activities, achievements, and financial status, communicating with donors, volunteers, and the public. They are a key element of transparency in relationships with the public and donors, and they are used in board meetings, fundraising events, annual reviews, and community outreach.
To create this kind of report presentation, we need to include these slides:
- Title Slide
- Agenda Slide
- Mission Slide: Organization’s mission and goals.
- Activities Slide: Summary of recent activities and programs.
- Impact Slide: Data on the impact and outcomes of programs.
- Financial Overview Slide: Income, expenses, and budget status.
- Donor Recognition Slide: Acknowledgment of key donors and supporters.
- Challenges Slide: Issues faced and solutions implemented.
- Future Plans Slide: Upcoming projects and initiatives.
- Q&A Slide
- Conclusion Slide
Harness the power of storytelling. Include success stories, impact charts, infographics, and program photos. Highlight the outcomes and benefits this organization has brought to its target community. Annual Report PowerPoint templates can speed up the design creation phase of your report presentation.
Healthcare Report Presentations
Healthcare report presentations provide data on patient outcomes, research findings, and healthcare initiatives aimed at improving medical practices and policies. They are used in medical conferences, healthcare meetings, research symposiums, and policy briefings.
The slides we must count on for building an effective healthcare report presentation are:
- Title Slide
- Agenda Slide
- Background Slide: Context and objectives of the report.
- Methodology Slide: Research methods and data collection.
- Data Slide: Key statistics and findings.
- Analysis Slide: Interpretation of data and implications.
- Results Slide: Main findings and outcomes.
- Recommendations Slide: Suggested actions or policy changes.
- Challenges Slide: Issues faced and solutions implemented.
- Future Research Slide: Areas for further investigation.
- Q&A Slide
- Conclusion Slide
If you need to share a patient’s data concerning a newly developed technique or as findings from research, be sure you are authorized to disclose that information.
Environmental Report Presentations
Finally, environmental report presentations focus on environmental research, sustainability projects, and ecological impact assessments to inform stakeholders and promote environmental protection. We can attend these kinds of presentations at ecological conferences, policy briefings, project reviews, and community meetings.
Include the following slides in your deck to create an outstanding environmental report presentation:
- Title Slide
- Agenda Slide
- Background Slide: Context and objectives of the report.
- Methodology Slide: Research methods and data collection.
- Data Slide: Key statistics and findings.
- Analysis Slide: Interpretation of data and implications.
- Impact Slide: Environmental impact and sustainability metrics.
- Recommendations Slide: Suggested actions and policy changes.
- Challenges Slide: Issues faced and solutions implemented.
- Future Plans Slide: Upcoming projects and initiatives.
- Q&A Slide
- Conclusion Slide
Video presentations are ideal for adding an extra emotional factor and connecting with the audience about the importance of environmental causes, and they are also applicable to any kind of consulting report. Another key approach is to include testimonials from well-accredited sources or individuals affected by the environmental factor.
Do’s and Don’ts on a Report Presentation
Do’s:
- Do start with a clear objective.
- Do use visuals to support your message.
- Do practice how to start your presentation.
- Do engage with your audience by asking questions and inviting feedback.
- Do end your presentation with powerful graphics
Don’ts:
- Don’t overload slides with text.
- Don’t ignore your audience’s needs and interests.
- Don’t rush through the presentation.
- Don’t rely solely on the slides; use them to complement your speech.
FAQs
How long should a report presentation be?
The length depends on the context and audience, but 15-30 minutes is a standard time for most report presentations.
What tools can I use to create a report presentation?
Common tools include PowerPoint, Google Slides templates, and Keynote. Specialized data visualization tools like Tableau can also be useful.
How can I make my report presentation more engaging?
Use storytelling techniques, interactive elements, and visual aids to engage your audience.
Should I distribute copies of the report?
It’s often a good idea to provide copies or a summary handout for the audience to follow along and refer to after the presentation.
Recommended Report PowerPoint Templates
In this section, you can find a list of curated report presentation slides to make your work easier. You can work with any of these designs or opt to use the ones presented above.
1. Expense Report Presentation Slide
This Expense Report PowerPoint Template is perfect for detailed financial presentations. Easily document and display expenses, including lodging, meals, supplies, parking, and airfare, with clear sections for reporting periods, submission details, and expense descriptions. Ideal for corporate reporting, budget reviews, and financial audits, ensuring organized and professional presentations.
2. Business Progress Report Slides for PowerPoint
This Business Progress Report Template is designed to track project milestones and performance metrics. Listing a profile section for team members and a color-coded progress indicator allows for clear visualization of project status. It is ideal for team meetings, stakeholder updates, and performance reviews, ensuring a concise and effective presentation.
3. Book Report Presentation Slide Deck for PowerPoint
This Book Report PPT template is ideal for structuring narrative elements in presentations. We can outline a story’s theme, setting, and characters with visual aids to enhance understanding. This template is perfect for writers, educators, and marketers to convey story concepts effectively, ensuring a cohesive and engaging presentation.
4. Annual Report Template for PowerPoint
This Annual Report slide deck is designed for clear financial analysis. It features sections for detailed descriptions, bar charts, and pie charts to represent expense data visually. Perfect for financial reviews, investor presentations, and budget meetings, this template ensures a comprehensive and professional overview of total expenses, facilitating informed decision-making.
5. Business Annual Report PowerPoint Template
A slide deck designed to showcase key financial metrics and achievements. We include sections for displaying significant figures, percentages, and growth indicators, making it perfect for annual reports, investor meetings, and financial reviews. With clear and visually appealing graphics, this template ensures a concise and impactful presentation of financial performance highlights.
6. Financial Dashboard Report Template for PowerPoint
Accurately represent financial information that’s critical for your organization by implementing this PPT report template. It is a data-driven layout containing different boxes to showcase KPIs; managers and team leaders can use this template to align organizational efforts toward a strategic goal.
