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How to say it

How to describe charts and trends in presentations

Walk stakeholders through business metrics, spikes, and plateauing curves.

  • Presentations
How to describe charts and trends in presentations

Direct Answer & Key Takeaway

Walk stakeholders through business metrics, spikes, and plateauing curves. Orient the audience to what the chart represents in one sentence, point directly to the anomaly or trend, and explain the underlying business driver.

The moment

You are presenting quarterly numbers or system performance metrics to executives. You need to highlight turning points on slides without reading every axis.

General advice

Orient the audience to what the chart represents in one sentence, point directly to the anomaly or trend, and explain the underlying business driver.

The full technique is in the app

Step by step, with practice in four formats and a review of your own answer by the AI coach.

Open the technique

Phrases that work

  • As you can see on this slide, churn dropped significantly in Q2.

    Як ви бачите на цьому слайді, відтік клієнтів суттєво знизився в другому кварталі.

    Leads with the business conclusion before unpacking the graph.

  • We noticed a sharp spike in sign-ups immediately following the campaign.

    Ми зафіксували різкий сплеск реєстрацій одразу після запуску кампанії.

  • Growth plateaued around mid-summer due to seasonal enterprise budget freezes.

    Зростання сповільнилося в середині літа через сезонне заморожування бюджетів.

  • This upward trend reflects our improved onboarding conversion funnel.

    Цей висхідний тренд відображає покращення конверсії онбордингу.

In a real conversation

YouTurning to user retention: as you can see, the curve flattened in June and surged by 25 percent in July following the v2 redesign.

DirectorWhat was the main driver behind that July lift?

YouReducing the registration flow from six steps to two eliminated most drop-offs.

Common mistakes

  • Instead ofHere is a graph. In January it is 10, in February it is 12, in March it is 11...

    SayAs you can see on this slide, churn dropped significantly in Q2.

    Reading numbers chronologically bores stakeholders; summarize the macro trajectory.

  • Instead ofThe line goes up and down randomly.

    SayWe noticed a sharp spike in sign-ups immediately following the campaign.

    Vague descriptions undermine your analytical competence.

Great presenters do not read charts; they interpret them. Highlight the inflection points, explain why they occurred, and connect them to strategic business goals.

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