How can you balance technical details with business insights in BI presentations?

1 Know your audience

The first step to balance technical details and business insights is to understand who you are presenting to and what they need to know. Different audiences may have different levels of familiarity with the data, the tools, and the context. For example, a technical team may appreciate more details on the data sources, the methods, and the code, while a business team may care more about the outcomes, the implications, and the actions. Therefore, tailor your presentation to suit your audience's expectations, interests, and goals.

2 Use visuals wisely

Visuals can be powerful tools to illustrate your data and insights, but they must be used properly in order to be effective. To make the most of visuals, it's important to follow some best practices. When selecting a chart or graph, choose the right type for your data and message – such as bar charts for comparison, line charts for trends, and pie charts for proportions. Additionally, avoid clutter and noise by using simple colors, fonts, and labels, removing unnecessary gridlines and borders, and limiting the number of elements on each slide. It's also beneficial to add annotations and highlights like titles, captions, legends, arrows, circles, boxes, contrast, color or size to emphasize differences or changes. Finally, provide context and interpretation with scales, axes, units to show magnitude and direction of data; benchmarks, baselines or targets to show reference and gap; as well as captions, bullet points or notes to summarize findings and insights.

3 Tell a story

Structuring your presentation as a story is one way to balance technical details and business insights. To tell a story, start with a hook, such as a quote or problem, to capture your audience's attention. Then provide an overview of your main points and objectives. After that, use data, evidence, and analysis to build your case. Once you've done that, deliver your insights and show the value and impact of your data and analysis. Finally, end with a call to action such as a question or challenge to motivate your audience to act on your insights and recommendations.

5 Get feedback and improve

The final way to balance technical details and business insights is to get feedback and improve your presentation based on the comments and suggestions from your audience or peers. To do so, seek feedback from different perspectives, such as those with different backgrounds, roles, and levels of expertise in your topic or domain. Ask specific and open-ended questions that focus on the content, structure, visuals, and delivery of your presentation. Incorporate the feedback you receive and make changes by reviewing it to identify strengths and weaknesses, prioritize areas that need improvement, and adjust your message to enhance its impact.