How I Make End of the Year Reports and Presentations Pop

During the first quarter of the year, you may find yourself working on projects that call for recapping the work you’ve accomplished over the last year. This usually means creating reports and presentations that share data and information in a meaningful and well-thought out way. Whether it’s an annual budget review, sales report, marketing presentation, or financial report, you want to make sure that these projects are visually appealing and well written.

As an entrepreneur who works with clients to help boost their revenue through social media and digital marketing, I’ve worked on items like these for over 10 years – I know a thing or two when it comes to bringing some pizazz to these projects to help make them memorable. If you want to learn how to make your yearly reports, presentations, and recaps pop, I’m sharing my expertise.

Filter out the fat

Most reports are bogged down with facts and figures that aren’t relevant to the presentation topic. While you want to be thorough, it is important to make sure that your report isn’t bogged down with filler. Create your report using information that is vital to your topic and hone in on the pillars you are addressing.

Pillars are topics and talking points that make up your report and help you share the data. Think of them as categories. Write down your pillars first, then compile the information in your report around those pillars. This helps you strategically hit all of your targets without sharing data that isn’t relevant to the subject of your presentation.

Creative Tools

When building your report, you want to work smarter, not harder. Opt for programs or applications that are easy to use and format. While there are a lot of creative tools available, my favorites for creating reports are Canva, Power Point, and Microsoft Word. All three have pre-designed templates that make it easy for you to enter information, no design experience is required.

Selecting the right paper for your document can also make all of the difference. A high-quality paper can help your presentation hit the right mark.

Visual Appeal

In order for your reports to pop, they need to be visually appealing. Use easy-to-read fonts and go for a less is more approach. Your color scheme should be one that reflects the brand standards and identity of your company, and you should stick to no more than three hues.

In terms of photos, when selecting images, go for clear, well-lit photos, and avoid clipart or emojis. Canva offers stock photos for use with their platform, and there are sites like Unsplash that allow you to use their royalty free stock images for non-commercial use.

And even though many professionals are working remotely, a big end of the year presentation may call for the presentation decks to be printed out at your workspace. Utilizing your printer to print off big presentations allows you to make notes, edits, and comments before or during a presentation! So, remember to keep some decent paper around – I always op for Boise Paper’s line of Boise POLARIS^® Premium papers – which have a wide selection based on your need.

Know all the details

When presenting your reports in-person or virtually, it is important that you know the data that’s being shared. Instead of reading verbatim from your document or presentation, study the facts and figures so that you can share them in a compelling way.

Creating yearly reports and presentations can be stressful, but when you use pillars while being strategic and thought-provoking, your reader or audience will appreciate your hard work.

This is a guest blog post from Danyelle Little of The Cubicle Chick, a career and work-life balance expert.