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ANALYTICS & REPORTING

Quarterly review deck outline

Use when you need to structure a quarterly performance review before writing any slides.

quarterly-review-deck-outline.md
Download .md 
Outline a quarterly performance review for {{AUDIENCE}}. Structure only, plus the content brief for each slide.

Quarter: {{QUARTER}}
Results against targets: {{RESULTS_VS_TARGETS}}
What we said we would do last quarter: {{PRIOR_COMMITMENTS}}
What we actually did: {{WHAT_WE_DID}}
Next quarter proposal and budget ask: {{NEXT_QUARTER_PLAN}}

For each slide give: slide number, title as it will appear, the single message, the chart or table type and its exact axes, the numbers needed, and the likely challenge from the room with a one-line answer.

Required slides, in this order:
1. Position against target, stated plainly
2. What we committed to last quarter and what happened to each commitment, including the ones that did not happen
3. What worked, with the evidence
4. What did not work, with the evidence and the cost
5. What we learned that changes the plan
6. Next quarter plan with the reasoning
7. The ask, with what it buys and what happens without it

Rules:
- Maximum {{MAX_SLIDES}} slides including appendix.
- Slide 4 must be as detailed as slide 3. Do not shrink the failures.
- Every slide has one message. If a slide needs two, split it or cut one.
- No chart without a stated axis and unit. No metric without a comparison.
- Flag any number you were not given as "needs sourcing" rather than estimating it.

Fill in before running

Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.

  • {{AUDIENCE}}
  • {{QUARTER}}
  • {{RESULTS_VS_TARGETS}}
  • {{PRIOR_COMMITMENTS}}
  • {{WHAT_WE_DID}}
  • {{NEXT_QUARTER_PLAN}}
  • {{MAX_SLIDES}}

Getting a better result

  1. Fill in prior commitments verbatim from the last deck; the room remembers even when the deck does not.
  2. The anticipated challenge line is worth more preparation time than the chart.
  3. Build slide 7 first and work backwards - everything else is there to support the ask.

Questions about this prompt

When do I use this rather than starting on the slides?

Before a single slide exists. Deck writing usually starts from the charts you already have, which produces a review shaped by available data rather than by the argument. This fixes seven slides in order, including the ones about what did not work, and briefs each with its message and its likely challenge.

What do I need in front of me?

Results against targets, last quarter's commitments copied verbatim from that deck, what actually happened to each, the next quarter plan with its budget ask, the audience, and a slide cap. Verbatim matters on the commitments. The room remembers what was promised even when the new deck has quietly reworded it.

What comes back?

Per slide: number, title as it will appear, the single message, chart or table type with exact axes, the numbers needed, and the challenge likely to come from the room with a one line answer. That anticipated challenge column deserves more preparation than the charts, because it is where the meeting actually goes.

What is the mistake that costs me here?

Letting slide four shrink. The prompt requires the failures to be as detailed as the successes, and a review that skims them earns a harder budget conversation next quarter. Build slide seven, the ask, first and work backwards. Everything above it exists to make that ask answerable.