Data and communicating it clearly are two very different things. Anyone who's sat through a presentation full of numbers can tell you that.
Once you have data to present: the fruits of a successful campaign or a lesson about what not to do next time, your job is to tell the story.
This post covers seven different approaches to showing your results, explain when each one works, and what kind of slide to use for each.
1. The Stats Grid: Several Numbers at a Glance
The stats grid is the most commonly used results format in business presentations. It shows multiple metrics side by side (typically three to six) each as a large, bold number with a short label and optional description beneath it.
It works because it respects your audience's time. They can scan the slide in seconds and get the full picture without reading a paragraph. The large number format makes results feel significant in a way that burying them in a sentence doesn't. These are best used if you'll go over the numbers verbally to make sense of them for your audience, or if your audience are already experts at understanding these numbers.
→ Our Impressive Results Slide
When to use this approach: Any situation where you have three to six clean metrics to report: campaign results, quarterly performance, project outcomes, product usage statistics. These should be the performance metrics you've been tracking to measure 'success.'
One thing to get right: The label under each number matters as much as the number itself. "312% increase" needs a label that tells the audience what increased and over what period. Without context, even impressive numbers are hard to evaluate.
2. The Dashboard + Walkthrough: Overview First, Story Second
This is a more structured approach that works particularly well for board meetings, leadership updates.
The idea is simple: you show all the key metrics on one dashboard slide so your audience has the full picture at a glance, and then you walk through each metric one-by-one on individual slides, adding the "why is this important" narrative that a number on its own can't convey.
→ Executive Summary PowerPoint Template
This seven-slide set is built specifically for this approach. The dashboard slide shows four key updates or KPIs with descriptive sidebar text for any important or unexpected insights or lessons. The walkthrough slides then give each metric its own moment: space for a chart or context that relates to the number, and narrative on what it means for what comes next. It closes with a next steps slide so the results conversation moves directly into action.
When to use this approach: Board meetings, company updates, quarterly reviews, and any time when you have a few metrics that each carry a story behind them.
Why this approach works: Showing everything at once first means your audience isn't waiting to see the full picture while you walk through each item. They already know where you're going, which makes the walkthrough feel like explanation rather than suspense.
3. The Before and After: Showing Change, Not Just Status
Numbers in isolation are hard to evaluate. A conversion rate of 4.2% sounds either great or mediocre depending on what it was before. A before and after slide solves this by putting the comparison front and center. You see both states at once and the gap between them tells the story.
This format is particularly powerful for results that represent improvement: a process that's faster now or a campaign that moved the needle.
→ Before and After Comparison Slide
This layout combines a full chart, and a highlight number on each side of the slide, so you can show the before and after clearly. Use a color, such as green, or your main brand color to make the 'after' stand out.
→ Current State to Future State Slide
Sometimes you need to describe your changes in a story or narrative form, and not through numbers. That's where this layout comes in. It can be used to compare now to the future (looking forward) or the past to now (looking back) to show any change that can be qualitatively described. Explain any features that makes sense for your story: how are customers interacting differently, how are your processes better, how are teams stronger, etc.
When to use this approach: This approach is best for campaign performance results, process improvement outcomes, or when you've truly seen a big change from the past and you want to make sure folks remember "how it used to be."
4. Charts and Progress Bars: When Trends Matter More Than Snapshots
Sometimes a single number doesn't tell the story: the trajectory does. A metric that's been consistently improving over six months is a different story from one that spiked last month and is trending back down. A chart shows this where a number doesn't.
Line charts are particularly effective for results that have been changing steadily over time. They communicate where you've been up to this point and where you are now in a single visual. They're clean and fast to read compared to text descriptions.
→ Column Chart with Projections
Another chart option is to show changes over time in a couple of dimensions and add an area at the end for your projection of the near future: this next quarter or this next year. This way you can include some information or data about what you're seeing behind the scenes (especially if it's exciting!), but if you don't have the full official numbers yet.
When to use this approach: Quarterly reviews where trend over time matters, goal tracking updates, and when you need to show momentum or direction rather than just a point-in-time number.
A note on strategic titles: When using charts on results slides, lead with the insight as a headline above the chart, for example, "Revenue grew 23% in Q2", rather than leaving the audience to draw their own conclusion from the visual. The chart proves the point, but the headline should clearly state it.
5. Labeled Columns: Results With Narrative Context
Not all results are numerical. Sometimes the most important outcome of a project or period is qualitative: something we learned or how the team evolved. A column layout gives you space to present these kinds of results in a structured way.
Three or four columns, each with a short label and a brief paragraph, lets you cover multiple dimensions of a result.
→ Simple Executive Summary Slide
A three-column layout for presenting results is a golden number: easy to fit on the slide and not overwhelming in quantity. Here, all three columns cover the same result, answering what you did, how you did it, and what the result was. However you can also use the three column layout to cover three different topics: results from user surveys, research, and product feedback: each column with a finding from that context.
→ Decisions and Consequences Slide
This layout is amazing for when you need to show the direct results and consequences of a certain decision that was made or direction that was taken. This layout makes things obvious: what the results or consequences were for each of several decisions taken. You can use it to describe impact, ROI, or challenges related to a new direction or process.
When to use this approach: Research readouts, user feedback summaries, retrospectives, staff survey results. When you don't have numbers, but have narrative to tell the story.
6. The Single Big Stat: When One Number Is the Whole Story
Sometimes you don't need a grid of six metrics. You have one result that's significant enough to carry a slide on its own. Giving it the entire slide rather than sharing space with five other numbers is a deliberate design choice that signals to your audience: this is the one matters.
This slide shows a single statistic or percentage on one side with a large decorative arrow that shows three results or outcomes folks can expect, given this number or percentage. For example, what does it mean for the team now that sales are up? What does it mean for sourcing? What does it mean for customer support? What does it mean for the company. Show one number and what it means.
When to use this approach: When you have one result that's the headline of the whole presentation. It could be a campaign that delivered 4x return, a product that reached a million users, or a process change that cut time in half.
7. A Quote or Image: Results Told Through a Human Voice
Numbers can tell you what happened, but a customer quote can tell you what it meant - or perhaps why it happened. For results that include customer impact, user satisfaction, or human outcomes, a powerful photo or a single quote from a real person can be more persuasive than a metric.
This approach is common in sales results presentations, customer success reviews, and any context where the point isn't just that the numbers improved but that real people experienced something better.
→ Simple customer quotes slide
A clean quote layout is our favorite - you want it to be simple enough that the words carry the slide without competing clutter or text.
When to use this approach: Customer success results, user research outcomes, employee engagement results. There are lots of situations when the most compelling evidence of success is what someone said rather than what a spreadsheet shows.
A practical note: quotes work best when they're specific. "It saved us hours every week" is more convincing than "it was really helpful." If you're gathering quotes specifically for results presentations, ask your customers or users to be specific about what changed and by how much.
Choosing the Right Approach
- Several metrics to show at once » Stats Grid
- Metrics that each need explanation » Dashboard + Walkthrough
- Showing improvement over a baseline » Before and After
- Trend or progress toward a goal matters » Progress Charts
- Mix of qualitative and quantitative results » Labeled Columns
- One standout metric that's the headline » Single Big Stat
- Human impact is the most compelling evidence » Quote Slide
Regardless of which format you choose, results slides are most effective when they lead with the insight rather than leaving the audience to draw their own conclusion. A chart showing an upward trend is good. A chart with a headline that says "Conversion rate increased 40% after the redesign" is better. Your audience shouldn't have to work to understand what they're looking at, your slides should be titled to make that instantly clear.
Browse the results slides section to find additional results layouts that fit what you're presenting.