KPI dashboards in PowerPoint: present metrics that drive decisions

Most teams rely on “live” dashboards like GA4 or Tableau. They feel productive. They are usually a trap.

When you need money from an investor or a decision from a partner, they do not want a login. They ask for the deck.

PowerPoint is where the money moves. A live dashboard allows people to get lost in the noise. A slide forces them to look at what matters.

We run Maatix, a digital marketplace. We use these KPI decks every week to track sales, vendors, and cash. Here is the brutal truth on how to build one that works.

The Golden Rule: One Question Per Slide

Do not clutter a slide with ten different charts. It confuses people.

Every slide must answer exactly one question.

• Wrong: A slide titled “Sales Data” with 4 charts.
• Right: A slide titled “Why did vendor sign-ups drop?” with 1 chart.

Use this pattern for every single metric:

1. Number: What happened. (120 new vendors)
2. Direction: Is this good or bad? (+25% vs last month)
3. Action: What are you doing about it? (Fixing the email sequence)

If a slide does not tell me what to do next, delete it.

Step 1: Pick Your Target

You cannot build one Kpi Dashboard deck for everyone. Decide who is in the room.

• For Investors: They care about burn rate, growth, and big risks. Keep it to 5 slides.
• For Managers: They care about traffic costs and campaign results. Go deeper into the data.
• For Clients: They do not know your internal acronyms. Use plain English.

If you try to please everyone, you will confuse everyone.

Step 2: Kill the Vanity Metrics

You do not need 30 KPIs. You need the 5 that actually drive revenue.

If a number goes up but your bank account stays the same, it is a vanity metric. Cut it.

For a marketplace business like ours, we track:

• GMV/Revenue: Real money.
• Active Buyers: People who spent money recently.
• Active Vendors: People with items for sale.
• Funnel efficiency: Sign-up to First Sale.

For your business, pick the metrics that prove you are making money. Ignore the rest.

Step 3: The 5-Slide Spine

Do not send a 40-page report. No one reads the appendix. Use this structure:

1. The Scorecard: Revenue, orders, and cash health. One glance.
2. The Funnel: Where are customers dropping off?
3. The Channels: Which ads are making money vs burning money?
4. The Supply: Are you running out of stock or vendors?
5. Next Steps: 3 bullet points on what you will do this week.

Step 4: Keep Data Out of PowerPoint

PowerPoint is for stories. Excel is for data. Do not mix them.

1. Export data from your tools.
2. Clean it in Excel.
3. Make a simple chart.
4. Paste the chart as an image into PowerPoint.

If you try to link live data to PowerPoint, it will break 5 minutes before your meeting. Keep it static. Keep it safe.

Step 5: Design for Speed, Not Beauty

Your slides do not need to be pretty. They need to be readable.

• Colors: Use grey for neutral. Use green for good. Use red for bad. That is it.
• Fonts: Make them big. If I have to squint, you failed.
• Rounding: No decimals. “$10,432.50” should be “$10k”. Precision implies false confidence.

Don’t Start from Zero

Your time is expensive. Do not waste three hours aligning text boxes.

At Maatix, we have specific templates for specific meetings. Do not reinvent the wheel. Use these to move faster.

1. For Weekly Check-ins (The “Review”) If you need to check progress against targets every Monday morning, use this. It focuses on “Plan vs. Actual.”

• KPI Review PowerPoint Presentation Template

2. For the “Standard” Executive Dashboard This is the workhorse. Good for investors or board meetings. It covers the core health metrics without the clutter.

• KPI Dashboard PowerPoint Presentation Template

• Dashtfy KPI Dashboard

3. For Detailed Monthly Reports If you need to send a report that explains the “why” behind the numbers (the story), use a report-style layout.

• Dashi KPI Dashboard Report

4. For Better Charts Sometimes you just need a better way to show a complex trend. This kit has the specific visualizations that Excel handles poorly.

• Data Visualization PowerPoint Presentation

Use a template. Fill in your data. Spend the rest of your time fixing the business, not the slides.

The Common Traps

Avoid these mistakes.

• No comparison: “We made $10k” means nothing. Is that up or down from last month? Always show the trend.
• No context: Don’t title a slide “Revenue.” Title it “Revenue is down because of the holiday.”
• No action: If the last bullet point isn’t a task for a human, the meeting was a waste of time.

Start simple. Use a proven template. Answer the hard questions. Move on.