How to Make a QBR Presentation: Slide Outline and What to Say

A QBR, or quarterly business review, is a meeting where you look back at the last three months, explain the results and agree what to do next quarter. The presentation is the spine of that meeting. If it is clear, the meeting ends with decisions. If it is a pile of charts, it ends with “let’s discuss offline”.

This guide shows you a QBR slide outline you can follow, what each slide should say, and the mistakes that make QBRs run long.

Two kinds of QBR

• Internal QBR. A leader presents the quarter to the board, the CEO or other business heads. The focus is results, risks and resources.
• Client QBR. A vendor or account manager presents to a customer. The focus is value delivered, service levels and the plan for the next quarter.

The outline below works for both. For a client QBR, replace “revenue” with “outcomes delivered for you” and keep your own margins out of it.

The golden rule: lead with the answer

Most QBRs start with background and reach the point on slide 12. Reverse it. Slide 2 should tell the room whether the quarter was good, bad or mixed, and slide 3 what you need from them. Everything after that explains and proves.

The QBR slide outline

A QBR of 15 to 22 slides is a good size. The outline below has 18; use the slides that fit your business.

Opening (2 to 3 slides)

1. Title and agenda. Quarter, presenter, three agenda points.
2. The quarter in numbers. Four to six headline figures against target.
3. Highlights and lowlights. Three of each, in plain words.

Results (6 to 8 slides)

4. Revenue against target, by month. Shows the shape of the quarter, not just the total.
5. Revenue by business unit or region. Where the result came from.
6. Gross and EBITDA margin. Explain any movement of more than one percentage point.
7. New, lost and retained customers. The customer story behind the revenue.
8. Pipeline and bookings. What is already in hand for next quarter.
9. Key wins of the quarter. Two or three named wins, with the number.
10. People. Headcount, hiring and attrition in one slide.

Execution (3 to 4 slides)

11. OKR or goal scorecard. Each objective with a status colour.
12. Projects status. Key projects, owner and status.
13. Risks and mitigations. The top five, with an owner each.
14. Market and competition. Only what changed this quarter.

Next quarter (3 to 4 slides)

15. Priorities. Three, not ten.
16. Targets. The same measures as slide 2, so you can compare.
17. Decisions needed today. Specific approvals, money or people.
18. Appendix: P&L summary. Detail for those who want to check.

How much time to spend

If the meeting is 45 minutes, a useful split is about 10 minutes on results, 10 on what explains them, and 25 on decisions and plans. Most QBRs reverse this and run out of time before the decisions, which are the only part that changes anything.

Tips for each slide

• Write the title as a sentence. “Revenue grew 12% but margin fell 2 points” beats “Revenue and margin”.
• One chart per idea. If you need two charts to make a point, you have two points.
• Show the target on every chart. A bar with no target is just a number.
• Name the cause. “Delayed dispatches in the North region” is useful; “operational challenges” is not.
• Be honest about misses. Rooms trust a presenter who names the problem before they are asked.
• Keep the appendix. Move anything that is “nice to know” there so the main slides stay short.

Common QBR mistakes

• Too many slides for the time available.
• Starting with company history that everyone already knows.
• Reporting activity (“we ran 14 campaigns”) instead of outcomes (“campaigns produced 320 qualified leads”).
• Targets that change from quarter to quarter without explanation.
• No decisions slide, so nothing happens after the meeting.

Save time with a ready-made QBR deck

If you build a QBR every quarter, start from a finished structure. The Quarterly Business Review PPT template has 22 animated slides following the outline above, including an OKR scorecard, pipeline slides, a risks slide and a decisions slide, with charts linked to Excel (right-click, Edit Data). It is included in every SmartSearch pass.

For single slides, see the KPI dashboard PPT templates, roadmap slide templates for next-quarter priorities, and the SWOT analysis PPT templates for the market slide. To put your own brand colours on any deck in one click, use Deck Finisher.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a QBR presentation be? For a 45 to 60 minute meeting, 15 to 20 slides plus an appendix is plenty. If you cannot present a slide in two minutes, split it or move it to the appendix.

What should a QBR include? Results against target, what explains them, customers and pipeline, risks, priorities for the next quarter and the decisions you need.

What is the difference between a QBR and a monthly review? A monthly review tracks numbers and actions. A QBR steps back: it looks at the whole quarter, the trend and the strategy, and sets the next quarter’s direction.

Who should attend a QBR? The decision-makers who can approve what you ask for, plus the owners of the main results. Everyone else can read the pack.