How to Automate Data-Driven Presentations
Seamlessly update your slides with the latest, most relevant information.
Data plays a vital role in presentations; you can’t show benchmarks, trends, or growth without it. Yet the process of adding data to slides often makes it feel more like a burden rather than an asset. Apart from being tedious, these edits can be repetitive — especially for QBRs and other reports that require regular updates.
These tasks basically amount to manual data entry, and you can ditch them by connecting your presentation to a live data source. It’s possible to have a series of slides that automatically refresh like a dashboard.
On that note, sometimes you can embed a dashboard into a slide (see Microsoft PowerBI and PowerPoint as one example). But while you can take advantage of dashboards and their live connections to data, their self-service nature isn’t well-suited to presentations. Dashboards don’t relate insights in plain English, nor do they put numbers in context. That’s a job for presentations.
Your application will mainly determine how to connect your presentation to a live data source. Certain methods work for PowerPoint, whereas others work for Google Slides. Plus, you can exchange either of these applications for a product with built-in data automation. Read on to find the right solution for you.
METHODS FOR POWERPOINT
With a market share reported to be as high as 95%, Microsoft PowerPoint has been the leading presentation software for over 20 years. It’s typical for users to create tables and charts in Microsoft Excel and add them to PowerPoint. This tactic alone may be enough for some people, however you can step up your game with special settings and add-ins.
Microsoft Excel: Whenever you copy an item from Excel and paste it into PowerPoint, it’s important to insert it as a Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object. This format keeps the files in sync so you only have to update the spreadsheet with new results. The changes will reflect on your existing charts and tables, it won’t be necessary to replace them. You can automate things even further with Supermetrics and Analytics Edge, two add-ins that can schedule data imports into Excel.
think-cell: Are you unsatisfied with Excel and PowerPoint’s available charts? think-cell may be a great fit for you. This add-in can elevate your presentations with better graphics and styling. All think-cell users have the flexibility to link and visualize data from their Excel files, and Tableau customers have the bonus option to tap into data from their workbooks.
DataPoint: This add-in is a tried-and-true mechanism for automating reports in PowerPoint. DataPoint connects the application to an array of data sources, allowing you to forgo the workarounds in Excel (or Tableau). On top of embedding data straight into slides, it can generate presentations in bulk with a mail merge tool
METHODS FOR GOOGLE SLIDES
Google Slides is a free, cloud-based alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint. Perhaps not surprisingly, the service can load data from Google Sheets and Google BigQuery. That being said, external platforms aren’t off limits either — users can set up other integrations using third-party add-ons.
Google Sheets: Anyone can embed their tables and charts from Google Sheets into Google Slides. The process just takes a few clicks, and unlike Excel and PowerPoint, the files are linked from the start. Consider introducing more automation with Supermetrics or one of its competitors. These add-ons can schedule data imports into your spreadsheets and eliminate your manual updates altogether.
Google BigQuery: If your organization uses Google BigQuery to warehouse your data, the following method may come in handy. Thanks to Google Apps Scripts, you can configure Google Slides to display results from Google BigQuery. This technique involves a lot of programming and templatizing, but when done properly, it can crank out new reports at lightning speed.
Vizzlo: With Vizzlo, you can create beautiful, on-brand charts and infographics for Google Slides. Use their online editor to visualize data from Google Sheets and insert live embeds into your presentations. Vizzlo is also available for PowerPoint as a clean and modern alternative to think-cell.
Sparrow & Dokin: These two add-ons can import live sales data into Google Slides without a “middleman” spreadsheet. Given that Sparrow and Dokin have similar functionality, the decision to adopt which one will ultimately come down to your integration requirements. Sparrow connects with marketing platforms, while Dokin connects with CRM or financial software.
OTHER METHODS
Both Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides tend to be the go-to presentation solutions since they come with major software suites. But despite their convenience, they largely rely on extensions to automate content. As a result, their configurations are more prone to breaking — and when they do, they can be harder to restore. So if you have heavy automation needs, you may be better off using a specialized application with native capabilities.
Evidence: Are you a software developer or analytics engineer? Evidence may be the perfect match for you, especially if you’re willing to drop the traditional 16x9 slides. The open-source platform takes a “Business Intelligence as code” approach to report creation, enabling you to script data-driven summaries with SQL and markdown. You can build reusable components and templates that work with variables and loops. All of your development is backed up with version control to ensure stable and consistent updates.
Rollstack: Nothing takes on the Sisyphean chore of updating presentations quite like Rollstack; this application is designed to keep data current in the same location where it’s presented. And because it has advanced automation features, it requires absolutely no engineering expertise to use. Rollstack can embed and sync data from a wide range sources including spreadsheets, BI tools, SaaS products, and data warehouses. It integrates with Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides, along with Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
Matik: If you’re ready for an all-in-one enterprise platform, look no further than Matik. The product provides a simple yet sophisticated framework for creating and automating data-driven content. Matik supports both PowerPoint and Google Slides as output formats, making it possible to continue editing files outside of the platform. Furthermore, it’s optimized to issue presentations at scale. Users can easily adapt their material for different groups and send out emails with personalized attachments.
LET YOUR DATA DO THE TALKING
Besides automating updates, you can utilize a live data connection to blend numbers into your commentary. This means you’re not limited to charts or scorecards, you can share data in written format as well.
Check out the below slide template from Matik. All of the text in double curly brackets {{ }} are variables for specific data points. Upon exporting the presentation, these variables will display the relevant results for each recipient of the report.
Notice how the notes beneath the purple values are also coded with variables; they’re in place to add helpful context and elaborate on the presentation’s findings. These statements don’t merely cite data, they directly address the reader and set a conversational tone.
Not only can you verbalize results, you can mention reader details like their name and location. This is particularly useful for client-facing reports such as proposals and account reviews.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Automation can’t succeed without a lot of upfront planning. Moreover, you shouldn’t expect it to do everything for you. While it can save a lot of time with updating results, there’s no way to automate a thoughtful analysis. Any presentation you create must have tailored observations. Your readers won’t be persuaded or fooled by generic messaging, even if it references their own data.
Although automation may take a little extra effort to implement, it can pay off in the long term. In addition to boosting your team’s productivity, it can standardize your presentation structure and layout. Automation has the potential to transform your presentations for the better and make a lasting impression on internal and external audiences alike.
