The Ultimate Quarterly Board Deck

What's inside this Google Slides board deck template

Board meetings are stressful, especially when preparing that infamous quarterly meeting deck as part of your strategic financial planning. This board deck template aims to make this process a little bit easier on busy CFOs and CEOs. In it, you'll find 40+ Google Slides to set you up for success. These include slides on:

Company initiatives and status updates

A high-level recap of company initiatives and their status, our slides can be used to frame where your company currently stands. Share what’s working (recent wins, milestones) and what’s not (issues that need solving, long-term strategy concerns). Highlighting these updates provides context, keeps the board aligned on priorities, and ensures the meeting focuses on what’s most important.

Updates by departments

Including updates from departments adds depth to your board deck. It helps the board see how each team contributes to the company’s overall performance and strategic goals. These updates also provide an opportunity to address specific challenges and celebrate wins across the organization.

Some board deck examples by department:

• Marketing teams share metrics on campaign performance, lead generation, and brand awareness.
• Sales teams highlight pipeline growth strategies, deal closures, and regional performance trends.
• People teams report on hiring progress, retention rates, and updates on employee engagement initiatives.

Core key performance indicators (KPIs)

Core KPIs are the heart of the board deck. They give the board a clear picture of your company’s performance and its ability to meet objectives. You can use our slide templates to showcase your company’s core KPIs, such as ARR, monthly burn, customer acquisition costs, and churn rates, in a comprehensive way. Sharing these metrics gives board members the chance to identify trends, ask targeted questions, and provide actionable feedback.

Financial summary information

The financial summary—budget vs. actuals, balance sheet, cash flow—gives the board a clear understanding of your company’s financial health. It’s a critical section of the deck because it sets the tone for discussions about strategy, investments, and risk. With our financial summary slide templates, you’ll be able to provide the context necessary for the board to focus on forward-looking growth opportunities. 

Appendix/databook examples 

An appendix or databook provides the nitty-gritty details that support the main points of your deck. It offers board members the opportunity to explore key data and demand forecasting without cluttering the main presentation. Our slide templates guide you through the process of what to include based on your objectives, such as detailed financial reports, key operational metrics, or scenario analyses tied to strategic decisions.

But the deck is only the beginning. Explore our tips and tricks below to ensure that your quarterly board presentation, along with your team and CEO, puts their best foot forward.

Planning for a quarterly board meeting presentation

You and your CEO don't want to be scrambling together a deck and talk track last minute for the board meeting. Stay ahead of the curve. Here's our recommended timeline when planning for the board meeting.

• 1 month out: The CEO and CFO share key topics with board members and get a pulse on 2-3 major strategic topics.
• 3-4 weeks out: The CEO shares the initial agenda and deck skeleton with the executive team.
• 2 weeks out: The CEO and CFO consolidate and review slides from the cross-departmental executive teams.
• 7-10 days out: Practice the full run of show with your executive team. Fill in any gaps that come from that meeting.
• 3-5 days out: The CEO shares the finalized deck with board members. 
• Week of: The CEO calls each board member to address any outstanding questions. 
• Day of: Take a deep breath—you've done the hard work.

Top tips showing the right amount of data to the board

How much data is too much data? How many charts and financial figures should you be sharing in the main deck vs. the appendix? You have questions, we have answers. Here are 4 tips and tricks to keep in mind when sharing data in your quarterly board decks:

1. Send the appendix/data deck ahead of time. It will answer all of the questions upfront that may derail the meeting.
2. A picture is worth a thousand words. Wherever possible, use visuals (graphs, charts, scoring systems, etc).
3. Start with the high-level takeaways and be prepared to drill down. Don’t try to share everything on a slide all at once. Let the board ask questions, and you will shine.
4. Always share context on the numbers. Is $1M good, bad, or on track? Using visual cues—such as red/yellow/green—is a simple way to share a lot of context at once around your numbers.

What to present when presenting a new plan

Looking to get the buy-in of your board on a new plan? Make sure you have a compelling story to tell. 

Short-term vs. long-term

Share the short term through the long term.

An annual plan should be shown alongside a long term (3 or more years) plan, and broken down by quarter. Don’t forget to sum the years appropriately so the board can clearly identify the timeline.

Compare scenarios

Increase your chance of approval by showcasing multiple versions of your plans, especially best case, worst case, and most likely. Include visual aids, such as charts and tables, so board members can grasp your vision at a glance. This allows reviewers to see the effect of risk vs. reward in a compelling way.

Compare versions

If your board deck presentation is an update to a prior plan, show where and how it differs across each version so everyone sees what’s changing. Focus on highlighting key shifts since the plan was implemented—both wins and losses. Guide board members through changes made that are going well, any course corrections that have taken place, and lingering problems that need to be addressed. (Always include potential solutions in your board reporting.)

Key questions for a quarterly board presentation

The ability to address key financial questions not only provides transparency but also forms the foundation for strategic decision-making. Some important questions your board deck presentation should cover include:

• What were the quarter's financial results, and do the financial reports indicate significant changes in revenue, expenses, or profitability compared to the previous quarter and the same period last year?
• How closely did the actual results align with the key budget assumptions, and what major variances occurred, along with their underlying reasons?
• How is the company's cash flow and liquidity being managed, including any notable changes in working capital or cash conversion cycles?
• What progress has been made on previous quarters' strategic initiatives, and are there any adjustments to the plan based on market conditions or internal factors?
• What are the key risks facing the company, and how is the organization mitigating them, with any notable changes in the risk landscape since the last board meeting?
• What is the outlook for the next quarter and the remainder of the fiscal year, including any changes to previous guidance and the factors that may impact future performance?

How to set up the ultimate board meeting presentation deck

Preparing a board deck presentation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With a clear structure and thoughtful preparation, you can create a deck that informs and engages your board effectively. Here’s how.

1. Focus on the details

First off, it’s important to include specific KPIs and metrics from the previous period to give the board a clear picture of performance. Metrics like revenue growth, gross margin, and customer acquisition costs provide measurable insights that steer discussions and decisions. Keeping these metrics consistent from meeting to meeting allows the board to track trends over time and assess the impact of strategies.

2. But take a step back

While details matter, don’t forget to zoom out and address the big picture. Highlight major developments, such as launching a new product or entering a new market, and explain how they align with your company’s overall strategy. 

Make sure to also address any challenges, such as supply chain disruptions or increased competition. Providing the board with a broader context gives them the chance to participate in meaningful, forward-looking discussions.

3. Show, don’t tell

Visuals make board deck presentations more engaging and much easier to understand. Instead of overwhelming the board with raw data, use charts, graphs, or infographics to illustrate trends and comparisons. A simple bar chart showing revenue growth by quarter can convey more in seconds than a table full of numbers or walls of text.

4. Create a clear meeting structure

A well-structured meeting keeps everyone on track and ensures key points are covered. Start your deck with an agenda slide that outlines the flow of the meeting, followed by company updates, financial performance, and strategic priorities. You might allocate 15 minutes to reviewing KPIs, 20 minutes to department updates, and 25 minutes to discussing strategic initiatives, leaving time for some Q&A at the end.

5. Share details early

Send the board materials a few days before the meeting so members have time to review and prepare. This gives them space to study the data, come up with questions, and think about opportunities or challenges they want to discuss. Sharing the deck early also sets a professional tone, showing the board you value their time and input.

Common pitfalls to avoid during a board meeting

Now that you have a strong foundation, let's dig into what you should MAJORLY avoid doing during any board meeting:

Don’t wait until the last minute. Board prep should start about a month before the board meeting takes place.

Don’t create too much new work for the board meeting. Design a set of standard KPI slides and use them for managing your business and reporting out to the board.

Don’t forget to practice your mental math. If you don’t know the answer to an on-the-spot question, you can often share parts of it (e.g., it’s roughly 20% of last quarter’s number).

Don’t be too precise. Accuracy is good, but too much precision can dilute the message. Know the board's materiality threshold and report on it (e.g., $millions vs. $thousands).

Additional resources

• Designing & presenting effective financial reporting dashboards
• PSA: Not all metrics are KPIs - best practices
• 10 KPIs finance leaders need to track for organizational health
• Everything an FP&A leader should have on their finance dashboard

Grab your free quarterly board deck template for Google Slides