How to Make Your Next HR Data Presentation Pop [15+ Tips]

As an HR professional, you have access to people data that you can use to transform your company's culture and kickstart engagement. And through HR analytics and reporting, you can unite departments and empower people to do their best work. Sounds pretty great, right?

But if all that HR data lives in siloes or you're one of the 25% of HR professionals who struggle with executive reporting, change will be slow and decisions will be made without all the facts.

That’s where HR analytics presentations come into play. With an effective HR presentation, you can package all that good HR analysis into a powerful story that persuades company leaders and positively influences business strategies.

Read on to discover our pro tips for building presentations with your HR data analytics, including advice from experienced HR pros and the expert graphic designers at BambooHR. Through data, reporting, and attention-grabbing HR presentations, you can secure your seat at the table when it comes time to make decisions.

4 Fundamentals of HR Analytics Presentations

Think of HR data as the building blocks of your presentation. Your job is to figure out how to incorporate those building blocks to your advantage. Here are some tips on how to thoughtfully structure your HR analytics presentation and make key data points stand out:

1. Align the Presentation with Company Goals

Your leadership team needs to know that the HR data you’re presenting will impact the company’s goals and overall mission. Try to connect each data point to a key objective. For example, if one of your company’s initiatives is to improve employee retention, you can speak to employee satisfaction and how it directly affects that initiative.

2. Tailor the Presentation to Your Audience

For your HR analysis to resonate well, it should be relevant to your audience. Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself these questions: Why do I care? What can I do about it? For example, your finance team may find more value in compensation trends, whereas your managers might want to dive deeper into performance metrics.

3. Include the Financial Impact of HR

Money talks. When possible, include dollars and cents as they relate to overall financial goals. What’s the cost of labor for each employee? How much could the company save on office space if more employees went fully remote?

4. Build the Presentation Around the Key Takeaways

HR Manager Jenny Wells expressed the importance of defining key takeaways. She says, “I try to structure HR presentations by always starting with what I want the audience to take away from it.” And at the end of her talks, she makes it a point to circle back.

Best Practices for Using Visuals in HR Analytics Presentations

A picture is worth a thousand words—and that's especially true when it comes to HR presentations.

Any HR analysis is likely chock-full of numbers. But by incorporating visuals and other elements, you’ll be better able to bring your HR data story to life and do so in a way that your audience can understand. To make sure your message hits home, consider incorporating the following best practices into your HR analytics slides:

• Keep it simple. If your audience is trying to read a block of text on your slides, they’re likely not listening to you speak. Keep the amount of words to a minimum, and prioritize key takeaways on your slides.
• Add visual interest. Illustrate your main points through data visualizations, such as pie charts, graphs, flow charts, and videos. These will keep your audience engaged and help make your HR data more digestible.
• Use visual hierarchy. In a nutshell, this means making the most important information stand out against less important information. Visual hierarchy patterns incorporate different fonts, colors, shapes, and page layout principles.
• Weave in some humor. HR data may fire you up, but the standard HR analysis might not be as riveting to others in your organization. Add a witty (and office-appropriate) image, meme, or quote to liven up your presentation.
• Provide short snippets. Use bullet points and numbered lists, but keep them short and sweet. For instance, you may know 10 reasons why an organization should switch to e-signatures, but four or five points are probably plenty.

5 Methods for Engaging Employees in Your HR Analysis

It’s not always easy to get a roomful of employees involved and engaged. Try using these tips to increase audience participation and attention, so your people can absorb the information they need:

1. Arrange Discussion Groups

“Pairing people for discussions and forming small groups really helps all people participate,” says Stan Kimer, an HR Consultant with more than 30 years in the field.

Small groups allow your audience to dive deep into the HR data you’re presenting, and a discussion format encourages deeper critical thinking. Consider giving each small group discussion questions to kickstart the conversation.

2. Reward Participation

HR consultant Joshua Evans recommends not only facilitating participation, but rewarding it: “Work to involve the audience by asking non-rhetorical questions, playing games, or even offering prizes for participation.”

3. Vary Your Presentation Style

You probably don’t love the idea of staring at a screen for an hour, right? Neither does your audience. Alternate between slides, discussion, activities, and hands-on education to keep your audience engaged.

4. Incorporate Handouts and Interactive Elements

To hold the attention of your remote, hybrid, or in-person audience, consider adding a handout to your presentation. That way, they can take notes, jot down questions, and reference key insights later. You could also incorporate some fun, short quizzes or live surveys to which your audience can respond online using virtual tools, such as:

• AhaSlides
• Poll Everywhere
• Mentimeter
• Slido

5. Work the Room

One thing our experts all agreed on: stepping away from the whiteboard to engage with the audience. Moving around the room is a great way to capture attention and is much more effective than staying in one location and lecturing from a single spot.

For remote audiences, online whiteboards like Miro, Mural, and Stormboard are engaging and Zoom-friendly. Also, be sure to balance slide time with face time during virtual presentations—the extra eye contact helps make your audience feel like they're in the room with you.

How to Measure the Success of an HR Analytics Presentation

As with anything in work and life, understanding the success of your HR presentation will help you improve future HR reporting efforts and pinpoint any action items that came from the discussion. Here are some strategies to measure the success of an HR presentation:

Use Surveys and Evaluations

Several experts suggest ending an HR data presentation with a short questionnaire or evaluation. Here are some sample questions to include in your survey:

• Did you learn something new from this presentation?
• Do you have any follow-up action items after attending this presentation?
• What are your key takeaways from this presentation?

For full participation, make your surveys quick and easy. You could even conduct a brief evaluation using a mobile survey app, so everyone can use their smartphones to provide feedback on the spot.

Follow Up

Schedule time to speak with your attendees afterward. That way, you can get a feel for how well they absorbed the information. In terms of interaction, try framing your conversations like this:

“I wanted to follow up on your question about ____ in the HR presentation. Do you have any additional questions?” or “I noticed you didn’t get a chance to ask your questions during the HR presentation. Is there anything I can clarify for you?”

Seek Hard Metrics

You can also try to measure the success of your HR presentation using hard metrics. For example, if your presentation was about career development opportunities, you could measure how many employees participated in development initiatives like leadership training or a mentorship program.

Let Your HR Software Be Your Guide

Once you've created your first successful HR presentation, the rest should be a piece of cake. You can use your first one as a template for subsequent data presentations, and make any adjustments you need along the way. And don't forget to use your HRIS to your advantage. Software like BambooHR puts detailed reports at your fingertips. Thanks to the integrated analytics and user-friendly design, you can find reliable data for a presentation from your dashboard in just a few clicks.