how to make budget presentation

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5-Step Guide on How to Prepare a Convincing Annual Budget Presentation

• Reevaluate company and departmental goals
• Gather budgeting information
• Set up the annual budget
• Create a convincing budget presentation
• Present your budget and win!

Learn how to present your departmental budget and gain the approval of decision-makers.

Every year, leaders are responsible for creating an annual budget for their department. It’s one thing to grapple with the numbers, but presenting the budget can be a more challenging task.

If your annual budget isn’t convincing enough, chances are you won’t get everything you require to run your department the way it needs to. Anything less than what is required and you’ll have a rough time getting through the coming year.

We’ve put together a list of five steps designed to help you prepare an exceptional annual budget presentation that cannot go unnoticed. Using this step-by-step approach will help you convince executive leaders that every component of your budget is absolutely necessary to run your department and meet company goals.

1. Reevaluate company and departmental goals

Before determining your annual budget, go back and review your company’s and department’s goals . Note anything that’s changed from previous years. This is particularly important in the case of a changing economy and market or disruptions in business due to the pandemic and other unexpected events. As goals change, so must the budget—pay close attention to all historical data. As you develop your departmental budget, you want to ensure that it aligns with your department and the company’s overall goals and objectives.

2. Gather budgeting information

Allow plenty of time to gather all of the intel needed to create a detailed and accurate budget. Don’t merely go by the departmental expenses and payments made during the previous year. Your previous year's budget is important, but also pay attention to the actual records to identify shortfalls or a surplus in the budgeted items.

When creating a budget, you have different options on how you approach it and especially when presenting it. Of course, this can all depend on your industry, company, and specific department. Following are the different types of budgets that companies most often use:

Also, discuss budgeting with team members and other stakeholders to ensure that you cover all of your bases. However, every piece of budgeting information should be based on facts rather than opinions. That way, you’ll be sure to have a budget that’s appropriately allocated.

3. Set up the annual budget

Next, sit down to create the actual budget. Depending on your preferred method, or that of your company, you can use spreadsheets or budgeting software. Each budget typically includes the following basic elements:

In addition to the basic items, you may also want to consider additional and unexpected expenses that may occur. You may think of different scenarios that could arise and determine how they might impact your business and affect your budget. You may then tweak the budget as you see fit. This allows you to plan ahead and be well-prepared for any adversity that may surface.

4. Create a convincing budget presentation

Carefully setting up your annual budget and aligning it to your company’s and department’s goals will make the following creative bit easier. The worst thing to do is try to throw together a budget while creating the presentation. You must have your budgeting ducks lined up in a row first.

presentation tips

As you plan out your presentation, consider including the following to help you convince the decision-makers:

Budget presentation title

Budget presentation agenda

Executive summary

Company SWOT analysis

Business challenges

Budget plan and allocation

Budget process and timeline

Departmental deliverables

Steps following budget approval

There are many ways to make an effective and impactful presentation. It can be anything from a simple printed booklet to an interactive multimedia presentation. It doesn’t have to be over-the-top but should show that your budget is well organized, thorough, and fact-based.

5. Present your budget and win!

It doesn't matter how you choose to present your budget—you can use PowerPoint or other media—but it should include graphics and other information to make your case. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Keep it brief (not more than 10 slides).

Include charts, diagrams, graphs, etc. for better data visualization.

Showcase your problem-solving skills by giving solutions.

Show enthusiasm, but don't deliver a long speech.

Enhance your annual budget presentation

Unless you’re an experienced accountant or a natural penny pincher, you probably cringe at the thought of creating an annual budget. Even more so, it can be frustrating trying to get your boss to accept your budget. That’s why it’s critical to know how to create an impressive and convincing annual budget presentation that wins the approval of business stakeholders.

There are plenty of options available to help you enhance your presentations to showcase an annual budget that will garner a “yay” rather than a “nay.” At Capterra, we’ve done all the dirty work to compile a list of presentation software for you to easily compare and choose from. Our shortlist gives you the top-ranked suggestions, so you can see which software ranks the highest.

If you need help getting your numbers in order before you’re ready to present, take a look at the available budgeting software , including the best free budgeting software for small businesses .

Was this article helpful?

About the author.

Michelle Harris

Michelle Harris is a strategic content writer specializing in technology, healthcare. She is a Ph.D. candidate researching finance decision-making and holds graduate degrees in management and marketing. She is a frequent contributor trusted business resources including Capterra.

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20 Best Free Budget PowerPoint PPT Presentation Templates for 2024

Do you need to create a budget in PowerPoint? Are you unsure of where you can find high-quality budget presentation templates for an affordable price?

With premium budget PowerPoint templates, you can create a stunning-looking budget presentation in no time. 

Budget PowerPoint templates are essential for non-designers. They allow you to create the best  possible budget presentation. The premium budget presentation templates come with features such as added icons, free fonts, and various color themes. These work especially well if you're creating an annual budget presentation.

Top 5 Premium Budget PowerPoint Templates on Envato Elements (For 2024)

Premium budget PowerPoint templates offer a wide range of features and are the best value. Here are five top budget presentation templates from Envato Elements:

1. Business Budgeting

This premium budget PowerPoint has plenty of charts to detail your budget. Whether you're doing financial reports or a personal budget, you can make a great budget presentation. 

Here are the main features for Business Budgeting:

• 30 total slides
• 16: 9 widescreen HD
• PPTX and PPT files 
• help files included

2. Business Budget Forecasting

This premium budget template comes in the 1920x1080 format. It features a contrasting color theme with plenty of charts and graphs for your budgeting. This budget PowerPoint makes it easy to create budget forecasts. 

Here are a few of the main features for this premium budget presentation template:

• 20 unique slides
• fully editable 
• 1920x1080 size

3. Budget  

This budget PowerPoint features many charts and graphs that can be used for any type of budget and financial projection. The color scheme is yellow and blue, but can be changed to colors of your choosing. You'll receive a PPTX with your download. 

Here are a few features for Budget:

• 30 slides included
• 16:9 aspect ratio
• free fonts used
• fully editable

SAVINGS has a modern and sleek design. One great feature about this budget presentation is the two hundred and eighty vector icons that come with your download. There are twelve color variations to choose from if you don't like the default color scheme. 

Here's what you can expect from this premium budget PowerPoint template: 

• 17 unique slides
• 204 total slides
• easily editable
• PDF documentation

5. Dashi Marketing

If you want to present a budget PowerPoint with vector icons, this is the template for you. Included are two thousand five hundred vector icons. This budget PowerPoint is geared more toward professionals in marketing. Detailed charts and graphs are included for high level presentations.

Here are the main features for this budget presentation. 

• 10 color themes
• light and dark mode
• 31 vector business concepts
• 36 character positions

Don't quite have the budget for premium templates? We've got plenty of free budget presentation templates you can download below. 

20+ Best Free Budget PowerPoint PPT Templates to Download (2024)

Premium PowerPoint templates for a budget might be out of the question if you're on a tight budget. But you can still download high-quality budget presentation template for free.

Here's the deal. Every month Envato Elements offers 12 different hand-selected files, (fonts, presentations, videos, and more). Create a free account to download this month's free premium files now.

Here are the top 20 free budget PowerPoint templates available on the web: 

1.  Business Blur Background

This template has a blue light leak colored background for multipurpose use. The file size is 215 KB.

2. Cash Finance PowerPoint Template

This free budget presentation is 392 KB in size. It contains a green highlight color and an image of money in the background. 

3. Money In Pockets Illustration  

This is a basic PowerPoint template budget that can be used for your budgets. It features an illustration of a man with money coming out of his pockets. 

4.  Business Meeting Illustration

This free budget presentation has an illustration with three employees and top managers engineering a plan. It's got a file size of 594 KB.

5. Cash PowerPoint Template

This free budget PowerPoint can be used for budgeting, cash flow, and accounting. It's file size is 297 KB. 

6. Corporate Executive

The budget PowerPoint template is in ZIP format and a file size of 398 KB. This budget template has a business man silhouette with a blue curved line effect and gray background.

7. Free Balance Scale With Money Bags

The design for this budget template contains a balance scale and money bags. The file size is only 87 KB.

8. Finance money  

This budget PowerPoint template has a blue background with illustrations of coins, clocks, a business man, and arrows. The file size is 2.81 MB. 

9. Business Analysis Background

This template can be used for a budget PowerPoint. It comes with one file that's 2.48 MB.

10. Cash Flow

The file size for this free PowerPoint template budget is 510 KB. The design has an arrow watermark over dark money image background.

11. E-Commerce Fast Delivery

The aspect ratio of this budget presentation is 16:9. It's fully editable and has 135 different icons for you to choose from. 

12. Spark Business

This budget presentation template comes with twenty five slides. There are eighty customizable icons for you to add to the presentation. 

13. Make Money

This budget PowerPoint has vector graphics that are fully resizable. The slides are based on the master slides and the color theme can be changed. 

14. Bag Money

The background for this template is of a bag of money to represent savings. Three master slides come with the template

15. Free Personal Finance

The background of this template has a wallet with money coming out of it. This is a multipurpose finance and budgeting PowerPoint. 

16. Hot money

The download size for this PowerPoint budget template is 3.93 MB. There's a light background with three different money bag illustrations. 

17. Free Business Cash Money

The background image has spare change. You can use this for any budgeting or finance presentation. 

18. World Power Business

Included are four different resolutions for this budget PowerPoint. The download size is 4.33 MB. 

19. Abstract Dynamic Geometric

This budget template has a  colorful abstract geometric background design. It's got one hundred and thirty five icons for you to choose from. 

20. Finance World Map 

This budget PowerPoint template comes with three master slides, a main, print, and slide. The download size is 6.12 MB. 

21. Fractional Coins 

There are four different resolutions for this budget PowerPoint. Illustrated coins and a dollar sign are featured in the background. 

Now that you've got a budget presentation template, you're ready to edit it. Follow the five quick tips outlined below to start creating a professional presentation. 

Need help creating a budget that you'll stick to? Check out the five quick tips below. 

Best Budget Presentation PowerPoint Templates on Envato Elements (With Unlimited Use)

Envato Elements has a massive library of top-selling budget presentation templates that'll give you the confidence to create any type of budget. Pick one up today and get started making your best budget presentation yet!

Explore the hundreds of premium budget PowerPoint templates . on Envato Elements. For one low monthly fee, download as many PowerPoint templates as you want. You can also download all the other resources available on Envato Elements for your projects such as:

• presentation templates

All Elements design templates available come ready to use. They feature stylish designs and are fully customizable to help you make the best possible PowerPoint presentation possible.

Not sure where to find the top-selling budget presentation templates? In the following section, we cover the top five templates that you can download today. 

5 Quick Tips To Make Budget PowerPoint Templates in 2024

Here are five quick tips that can help you improve all your budget presentations: 

1. Include Images

When creating a budget PowerPoint, you may not think about adding images to your presentation. Images help add interest to any type of presentation and are needed to make it look professional. Add images to all your slides. 

2. Set Realistic Goals

When constructing a budget, it can be hard to set goals that you can actually meet. Make sure to create a budget that projects what you can actual save up for. In some instances it might be best to shoot for a smaller budget rather than a bigger one. 

3. Use Charts & Graphs

Visually displaying your budget on charts and graphs will help you and your audience understand the budget. Choose templates that have various charts and graphs so you can display your budget in a variety of different ways. 

4. Review Your Budget

Creating a budget isn't enough. You must follow through with your plan and review the plan. Unexpected expenses may come up and you may need to adjust the budget. Make sure to do a monthly review of the budget to be sure you're on track for your goals. 

5. Use Contrasting Colors 

Contrasting colors in your graphs and charts help make them "pop" visually. This helps make your presentation more engaging. Good colors to use are blue and orange. 

Looking for even more budget PowerPoint templates that weren't covered in this article? In the next section we'll go over even more great template designs that can help you create your next presentation.

Download Even More Budget PowerPoint Templates

Still can't find the perfect budgeting template for your next presentation. Envato Elements has plenty more high-quality templates that you can download that weren't featured in this article. View the below resources to find even more templates you can download right now. 

Need help learning Microsoft PowerPoint? Check out the resources below for even more great articles on using PowerPoint. 

Learn More About Making Great PowerPoint Presentations in 2024

Microsoft PowerPoint is an advanced presentation software. To help you navigate the software and get the most out of your presentations, view the articles below.

Start Creating Your Budget PowerPoint Presentation!

You've got all the tools and resources you need for your next budgeting presentation.

Save some time working with budget PowerPoint presentation templates . Focus on your content of the presentation and not the design. Envato Elements has a wide variety of PowerPoint presentation templates. Choose the one that best matches your needs and style. 

You'll find plenty of budget presentation ideas in the templates above. You're one step closer to creating a professional  presentation. Grab a stunning looking budget presentation template today!

September special: Business Transformation PPT Templates

Design Examples of Presenting Annual Budget Proposal in PowerPoint

• February 3, 2022
• Financial , Management , PowerPoint templates for download

Working on your annual budget proposal? Financial presentations and documents can be difficult to be absorbed, especially by non-financial audiences. If you want to communicate key financial information to stakeholders clearly and effectively, check our article for examples and inspiration on how to present corporate annual financial summaries and forecasts.

What is a company budget?

A budget is an estimation of the earnings and spending of an organization or its departments. Basically, it is a financial plan for a defined period, usually a year.

In case of a corporate budget, it can contain several subtopics:

• Revenue budget, with main revenue sources, sales distributions, and key growth drivers
• Expenditure budget with operational cost presentations, key cost drivers, OPEX, and capital expenditures
• Marketing budget allocation
• Sensitivity analysis and risk assessment
• Organization costs and structure

Why use graphics for budget proposal presentation?

It’s not enough to come up with a list of financial reports and annual budget goals. You have to explain clearly your data and map out how you’ll accomplish those financial goals or make your ideas come to life… within a reasonable budget.

When you need to make your case to managers or executives, a well-prepared budget proposal presentation is an essential tool used to communicate financial information to both internal and external stakeholders. A consistent way of showing financial highlights can help keep the numbers organized, making it easy to track revenue or plan for expenses.

Get inspired by examples of how you can illustrate the components of your budget proposal.

All visual examples presented below can be downloaded as an editable source. Explore the Annual Budget Financial Presentation for PowerPoint.

Presenting the current state of the business

To give a big picture of what you’ll be talking about, kick things off with an executive summary, strategic goals and targets overview, and corporate budget assumptions for the future period.

Such a general slide with an executive summary will help to see the broad view and give an entire perspective to your audience. You can list the common key indicators such as Market Description and Competitive Landscape Insights, Issues and Challenges, and Main Achievements.

You can use arrow shapes to present each item in your executive summary slide, as you can see below. Each point is illustrated by a related icon e.g. market description by globe symbol and achievement by peak icon.

To remind about strategic goals or sustainability targets effectively, you can replace bullet points with modern professional-looking diagrams. Here’s an example of goals summary with 6 highlighted ambitions for the next year:

Notice how nicely you can present six goals if they are distributed around a circle. It gives a feeling of concise integrated direction.

One of the ways to show the interdependence of sustainability targets is the Euler diagram, which illustrates the connection of three elements: People, Planet, and Profit. Simple design elements, like outline icons, neutral background picture, and color coding will help make your presentation more appealing and consistent:

If you need to illustrate the triple bottom line model in more detail, check this blog for visualization examples.

To give a quick insight into the financials, you can include the simple summary overview table. Not every table needs to scare your audience, so make sure you have enough white space between the numbers. You can list the common indexes such as Net Revenue, COGS, GM, OPEX, EBIDTA, EBIT, PBT versus LY and Budget:

Illustrating revenue highlights in the corporate budget proposal

To keep the audience engaged, try incorporating more visual elements into complex financial slides. Here’s an example of a dashboard with revenue highlights, showcasing sales breakdown by months and categories, and a data chart illustrating trend indicators:

The next slide illustrates the top-line key growth drivers analysis over two years. As an example, we outlined the following drivers: New Product Lines, Organic Growth, Emerging Markets, and E-commerce. With the help of stacked charts and color-coding, the information becomes much easier to follow:

Pie charts are useful when you need to show percentages of a whole. On the slide below you can see the key revenue drivers comparison, with the description of top revenue sources and the rest of them:

Design hint: Use rule of contrast to focus attention on the most important driver. Focus on one such thing per slide, not more. If you need to highlight more items, consider presenting each on separate slide.

Notice how we used color-coding to highlight the top revenue source by orange, versus the rest of the sources that have shades of blue color.

Visualize expenditure budget details clearly

If you want to include OPEX and CAPEX expenses overview and breakdown, here are several examples of how those concepts can be shown visually.

One way is to show an operational cost overview in a form of a modern-looking clean table, including Cost Center Overview, Description, and Value. In our example, we also highlighted total income to make it stand out:

To show more details, break your operational costs down in a pie chart by cost center category or analyze them using a bar chart visualization.

If you have many categories you’d like to put on a slide, we advise using a bar chart. Pie charts are effective when you want to show up to 5 elements.

To illustrate your CAPEX investment split by tangible and intangible assets, you can use such a table with comments aside:

Include a marketing budget overview

If you use too many figures on one slide , it will be hard to keep the attention of the audience. Here are the slide examples you can use to communicate the marketing calendar, budget allocation, and planned expenses for promotion.

You can use the marketing mix approach to present marketing budget allocations. Here you can see an example presentation of Marketing Mix 7Ps on one slide Product, Promotion, People, Price, Process, Place, and Physical Environment factors:

When you’ll be talking about planned marketing activities throughout the year, use a calendar table to make it easier for understanding. Also, you will be able to see a clear picture of how many resources you need to allocate each month to a specific activity:

If you want to give more details on planned expenses, you can illustrate ATL, TTL, and BTL as a percentage of the marketing budget, OPEX, and turnover using pie and bar charts:

If you are looking for inspiration on marketing concepts and model illustrations, browse through our marketing presentations category on the blog.

Design tricks to make corporate budget presentation attractive

A budget presentation can look eye-catching if you follow some basic design advice such as:

• consistency of color palette
• using one graphical style – expressed by one major type of shape and icon style
• organizing slide content within certain layouts
• avoid stuffing too much information into one slide
• applying the rule of contrast, I mentioned above, highlighting one key point per slide.

Resource: Annual Budget Proposal Financial Presentation

The graphics in this blog are a part of our budget proposal graphics collection. This deck contains budget presentation examples, 38 data charts, dashboards, and diagrams to present financial summaries and forecasts for a corporate organization. See the whole slide deck here:

Using concise, innovative visuals will make your presentation structured and consistent. To make your presentations even more engaging, consider also using this collection of professionally designed diagram layouts .

Subscribe to the newsletter  and follow our  YouTube channel  to get more design tips and slide inspiration.

infoDiagram Co-founder, Visual Communication Expert

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Creating a budget presentation in PowerPoint (+ 12 bonus tips from our best experts)

Investors, lenders, and all the company’s stakeholders are primarily interested in the revenue they get, so they tend to rely on exact numbers before real investments and other contributions. They have many different opportunities to invest in and consequently choose the one that is more likely to win. And that’s precisely when a budget presentation comes in handy as the most effective way to provide a compelling, professional, and differentiated description of the capital they could get after several investments.

If you are wondering how to present budget in PowerPoint, here is a quick guide for you.

How to make a budget for a project in a PowerPoint presentation

First and foremost, a budget presentation PowerPoint has to be clearly targeted toward equity investors and lenders with a lot of appropriate and suitable information. The budget plan presentation should be clear and concise to catch a person’s attention. They are looking for a high-quality project for their portfolio, so you should show you value their time and can fit all necessary info in a couple of sentences, diagrams, graphs, or tables.

Remember, you are the one looking for investors, so your budget presentation PowerPoint slides need to be credible and concise. You can design them on your own using budget presentation PowerPoint templates or opt for the services of a professional presentation agency to save time and sleep.

The main mistakes happen on the statistics and strategy slides of the budget PowerPoint presentation since few of them are easy to follow. Commonly, they are bland, boring, and not able to keep the audience’s attention. It would be frustrating to come up with such a budget planning presentation people worked on for a year.

Numbers. Numbers. Numbers.

But nothing really stands out.

Here’s how to do a good budget presentation:

• Research for previous budget planning PowerPoint presentations to have a confident database to rely on.
• Have a 10-minute conversation with the current team, ask critical questions, try to pull out a story, and incorporate that story in the investment presentation.
• Create a branded company look that resonates with investors. If you are new to presentation design, a pitch deck design service can help develop truly effective budget presentation slides.
• No matter what industry you are in, make a ‘Highlights’ slide that answers all why questions, demonstrates value drivers (+ threats to them), and calls to action.
• Create 3 or 4 different investment options for every investor to find the most affordable asset and proceed to cooperate with you.
• Make your credibility pop out from the proposed budget PowerPoint presentation and leave no questions to potential investors.

Whether you are trying to be compelling, sell assets, or increase your capital – concentrate on the important data and don’t delve into much detail on every budget PowerPoint slide. You would not prefer yawning, attention loss, or refusals from stakeholders, would you?

Some potential budget presentation PowerPoint slides include:

• Performance overview.
• Business summary.
• SWOT analysis.
• Current challenges.
• Budget plan.
• Budget allocation.
• Deliverables.
• Following steps.

To make the most out of each PowerPoint budget slide from the list, double-check every number for accuracy, use illustrative diagrams and charts, and, most importantly, keep the entire budget presentation ppt brief. Bear in mind that ten slides are more than enough to outline the problem, the proposed budget, and the exact ways the invested capital will provide a solution.

12 bonus tips on how to show budget in PowerPoint

Below are the top tips from our best experts to help you design a PowerPoint presentation that your investors will definitely remember, so read on!

Tip #1. Put yourself in the shoes of your investor

Before you dive into your PowerPoint budget presentation, take the time to understand your investors, their concerns, and expectations, and tailor your content accordingly.

Tip #2. Key financial metrics are important

These include revenue growth, profitability, revenue forecasts, etc. Clearly demonstrate how their investment will contribute to the success of your company.

Tip #3. Provide detailed financial projections

Be sure to present income and financial statements and visualize complex information with charts and diagrams for easy understanding.

Tip #4. Identify risk factors

Accept potential risks and uncertainties. Describe how your team plans to mitigate these risks and present contingency plans.

Tip #5. Display your budget breakdown

Investors value a clear understanding of spending, so take the time to display your budget breakdown, emphasizing major expenses and capital allocation.

Tip #6. Ensure your ppt is compelling

Structure your budgeting PowerPoint presentation as a narrative, and be sure to detail past successes, current accomplishments, and future potential for the company.

Tip #7. Focus on the ROI

Clearly communicate potential returns on investments to investors. Demonstrate how their investment will contribute to the overall growth and profitability of the company.

Tip #8. Be transparent about your estimates

Being transparent builds confidence and ensures that investors understand the basis for your calculations, so clearly articulate the assumptions underpinning your financial forecasts.

Tip #9. Practice as much as you can

Rehearse your presentation until you feel confident and comfortable delivering it. Anticipate possible questions and prepare thoughtful answers.

Tip #10. Emphasize key milestones and accomplishments

Highlight specific milestones and key accomplishments that the budget aims to achieve. Remember, investors want to see a roadmap to success.

Tip #11. Maintain clarity throughout your slides

In your company budget presentation, be clear about what you are asking from investors, whether it is funding for a specific project, expansion, or any other business need.

Tip #12. Encourage questions and discussion

Encourage investors to ask questions and participate in discussions. This will show that you are open and willing to address your concerns.

By following these tips on how to present a budget, you can create a persuasive presentation that not only effectively presents financial information but also matches the expectations and interests of your potential investors.

Still confused about how to design a budget presentation in PowerPoint?

Don’t hesitate to contact us any time of the day or night! Our design experts are online 24/7 to help take your presentation project to the next level.

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Types of presentations

Budget forecast presentation: A comprehensive guide

Learn how to develop realistic assumptions, build clear messaging, and present your data visually.

Raja Bothra

Building presentations

If you're here, you're probably looking for insights on how to create a killer budget forecast presentation that will impress your audience.

Well, you're in the right place.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll dive deep into the art and science of crafting an effective budget forecast presentation that not only conveys your financial plans but also leaves a lasting impact.

What is the budget forecast?

Before we plunge into the nitty-gritty of creating a budget forecast presentation, let's make sure we're all on the same page regarding what a budget forecast actually is. In its simplest form, a budget forecast is a financial roadmap that outlines your anticipated income and expenses over a defined period, typically a fiscal year. It serves as a valuable tool for businesses, individuals, and organizations alike, helping them make informed decisions, allocate resources wisely, and stay on course financially.

Benefits of budget forecast presentations

Now that we've got the basics covered, let's explore the myriad benefits of using budget forecast presentations. Understanding these advantages will give you a clearer picture of why crafting a compelling budget forecast presentation is worth your time and effort.

1. Strategic decision-making

• Budget : Your budget forecast provides a clear breakdown of your financial resources.
• Projection : It projects your financial position into the future.
• Compare : This allows you to compare projected income and expenses.

2. Resource allocation

• Select : You can select the resources needed for different stages of your plan.
• Expense : Managing expenses efficiently becomes easier.
• Variable : Variable expenses can be adjusted as per the forecast.

3. Enhanced credibility

• Credibility : A well-prepared budget forecast presentation enhances your credibility.
• Clarity : It brings clarity to your financial strategies.
• Confuse : Avoids confusion among stakeholders.

4. Improved planning

• Technique : Use advanced techniques for accuracy.
• Strategy : Align your budgeting and forecasting with your overall strategy.
• Graph : Visualize trends and historical data for better planning.

How to structure an effective budget forecast presentation

Creating a budget forecast presentation is both an art and a science. To make it easier for you to refine your approach, we've categorized all our content according to the number of 'stages' it takes to make your presentation shine. Let's dive into the key stages of crafting an impactful budget forecast presentation:

1. Start with a clear template

• Template : Begin with a budget forecast presentation template.
• Powerpoint : Consider using PowerPoint or Google Slides.
• Download : Download a forecasting PowerPoint template for ease.

2. Define your budget planning

• Annual budget : Outline your annual budget.
• Quarterly : Break it down into quarterly segments.
• Infographics : Use infographics to communicate effectively.
• Dashboard : Create a dashboard for a visual overview.

3. Lay out your financial forecast

• Forecasting Process : Describe your forecasting process.
• Assumption : Highlight key assumptions.
• Real estate : Discuss any real estate-related factors.
• Google slides : Explore alternatives like google slides and prezent.

4. Present your fiscal projection

• Preparation : Ensure meticulous preparation.
• Inform : Inform your audience of trends.
• Trend : Visualize historical data trends.
• Visualize : Use graphs and charts for clarity.

5. Engage your audience with graphics

• Graphic elements in the slide : Incorporate graphic elements.
• 4 Piece puzzle slide : Want a 4 piece puzzle? Use it.
• Manager : Address the concerns of managers.
• Milestone : Highlight milestones and tasks.

Do's and don'ts of a budget forecast presentation

While creating your budget forecast presentation, it's essential to keep some best practices in mind to ensure that your message is clear and impactful. Equally important is avoiding common pitfalls that can undermine the effectiveness of your presentation. Let's explore the do's and don'ts:

• Get started : Start early to avoid last-minute stress.
• Combine : Combine data sources for a comprehensive view.
• Baseline : Use historical data as a baseline for your forecast.
• Decision-maker : Tailor your presentation to your decision-makers.

Don'ts:

• Implication : Don't leave key implications unaddressed.
• Means the number : Avoid vague references.
• Number of divisions or graphic elements : Keep it simple and clear.
• Want a 4 piece puzzle : Unless it adds value, skip unnecessary visuals.

Summarizing key takeaways

• Budget forecast essentials : Budget forecasts are crucial financial roadmaps that help with decision-making and resource allocation.
• Strategic decision-making : Use forecasts to compare income and expenses strategically.
• Resource efficiency : Efficiently allocate resources and manage expenses.
• Enhanced credibility : A well-prepared presentation enhances credibility and clarity.
• Improved planning : Use advanced techniques, align with strategy, and visualize data for better planning.
• Structure : Begin with a template, define budget planning, present your forecast, and engage with visuals.
• Do's and don'ts :
• Do's : Start early, combine data, use historical data, and tailor to decision-makers.
• Don'ts : Avoid vague references and unnecessary visuals.
• Summary : Mastering budget forecast presentations is key to financial success for businesses and individuals.

1. What is the ideal format for a budget forecast presentation?

When creating a budget forecast presentation, selecting the right format is crucial. It's recommended to use a powerpoint template or Keynote deck to ensure a professional and organized look. This can make the process more efficient compared to starting from scratch.

2. How can I visualize my budget forecast effectively in my presentation slides?

To convey your budget forecast ppt effectively, consider using diagrams and infographics. These visual aids can enhance your presentation's clarity and help your audience analyze the different scenarios you present. Including icons in your slides can further refine the results and make the content more engaging.

3. What are the key stages to follow when preparing a budget forecasting presentation?

The process of creating a budget forecasting presentation can be broken down into several stages. To make it easier, you can select 4 stages that suit your needs. These stages typically involve gathering data, predicting revenue, analyzing outcomes, and refining the results.

4. How can I maximize the revenue projection in my budget forecasting presentation?

To achieve a revenue projection that's higher than expected, it's essential to have a strong capability to predict market trends accurately. Additionally, presenting your forecast in an HD quality powerpoint presentation can enhance your audience's confidence in the sustainability of your projections.

5. What is the recommended timeline for completing a budget forecasting presentation?

The timeline for creating a budget forecasting presentation may vary depending on the complexity of the data and the number of 'stages' you choose to include. On average, it is advisable to allocate sufficient time to analyze different scenarios thoroughly, ensuring that the outcome meets your presentation's objectives.

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Budget Proposal Presentation

It’s not enough to come up with a list of goals or brainstorm a list of ideas for your business. You have to map out how you’ll accomplish those goals or make your ideas come to life… within a reasonable budget. 

When you need to make your case to managers or executives for additional resources, a budget proposal presentation is an essential tool. Your presentation should explain your idea, what obstacles you may come across, and why your desired budget is necessary for your project. 

Use a budget proposal presentation to:

• Gain funding for your department
• Explain the budget for a new project or initiative
• Fund new hires for your team

A Budget Proposal Presentation

Every slide in your budget proposal presentation serves an important function. You might present numerical data in easy to read, memorable graphics like timelines, bar graphs, Gantt charts, Venn diagrams, and sales funnels to drive your point home. Each of these features can be added to your template with one click. Some potential slides to include are:

Pro Tips for Your Budget Proposal Presentation Template

Make the most of your budget proposal presentation with these easy tips.

A budget proposal doesn’t have to be much longer than ten slides. Outline the problem, propose your budget, and explain how the budget will help you achieve your goal.

Remember to include a mission statement in the beginning of your presentation. Use one or two sentences to explain the purpose of your budget proposal.

Budget proposals are number-heavy presentations. Use diagrams and charts where you can to make it more readable.

Before you present your budget proposal, double check all your numbers for accuracy.

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• Presentations

Budget Presentation

Used 4,920 times

Use premade budget presentation slides to produce comprehensive reports fast with our free budget presentation template.

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Prepared by:

​ [Sender.FirstName] [Sender.LastName] [Sender.Company] ​

Current State

Table of contents, business challenges, initiatives, budget allocation, budget timeline, expected roi, deliverables.

Existing budget:

Yearly revenue:

Compared to last year’s budget:

+25% / -25%

The main factors and tendencies influencing and hindering the budget:

Declining demand

Growing niche competition

Constant TA stimulation

Local economy fluctuations

Ideas and actions to streamline and boost budgeting:

Implement smart tech for improved revenue and budget analysis and forecasting

Streamline budget tracking tools to get more control over budgeting

Add new budget planning scenarios

Rethink cash flow and profit goals

How the budget is distributed at the moment:

General budget

Technology and tools

Marketing and promotion

Maintenance and administration

Workflow management

Backup budget

The timeline of budgeting highlights and events January-April 2022:

Jan 2022:

Major budget reallocation

Funds raised during the [event.name] ​

Investment secured from (investor.name)

Feb 2022:

Major project expense

Investment opportunity gained from (investor.name)

(Highlight)

March 2022:

April 2022:

Specify budget consumption percentages by specific aspects:

Return on Investment rates you expect to see in future fiscal periods:

Q 1 – $0.00

Q 2 – $0.00

Q 3 – $0.00

What budget initiatives are expected to bring to the table:

Budgeting predictions, revenue forecasts, and more profit opportunities.

Integration of AI, Big Data, and Machine Learning tools (PM and Software Team):

Acquisition of new data tracking solutions (PM and Software Team):

Better control over budgeting and optimized budget allocation.

Creation of new budget planning scenarios (Top Manager, Budget Specialist, Finance Department):

Financial resilience and competitive edge in the market.

Setting of new cash flow and budgeting goals (Top Manager, Budget Specialist, Finance Department):

Optimized budgeting and new market outreach opportunities.

Specify parts of the budget that should cover summarized budgeting milestones

Specialists to wield new tools

Acquisition of new tech licenses

Financial research and planning

Maintenance of new tech solutions

Thank you for your attention, and have a rich fiscal period.

Care to rate this template?

Your rating will help others.

Thanks for your rate!

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Budget Presentation Slides and PowerPoint template

• Post author By Bizinfograph Staff
• Post date September 23, 2024
• No Comments on Budget Presentation Slides and PowerPoint template

Introduction to Budget Presentation Slides and PowerPoint Templates

Overview of Budget Presentation Templates

Budget presentation templates are designed to help users convey financial data effectively, whether for internal reviews, stakeholder meetings, or financial planning sessions. A budget presentation often requires the use of clear, well-structured budget slides to present key financial information, such as revenues, expenses, and allocations. Using a PPT or Google  template, users can quickly create visually appealing budget idea without starting from scratch. These templates come pre-designed with charts, graphs, and placeholders for data, making it easy to update financial details and customize the presentation to fit the specific needs of the company or project.

Benefits of Using Budget PowerPoint Templates

Using a budget PowerPoint template saves time and ensures consistency across your financial presentations. With pre-made budget slides, you can easily input data, visualize it through charts and graphs, and customize the layout to suit your audience. These templates offer flexibility by allowing for quick adjustments and updates, making them suitable for both internal meetings and external presentations. By using a budget template that includes elements such as budget allocation, actual and budget, actual vs. planned budget comparisons, and performance tracking, you can focus on delivering insights rather than designing slides from scratch. Google Slides versions of these templates also allow for collaboration, making it easier for teams to work together on a budget idea.

Types of Budget Presentation Templates

Project budget and corporate budget templates.

Project budget templates are designed to present the financial scope of specific projects, outlining projected expenses, resource allocation, and timelines. These PowerPoint templates help project managers track their budget plan by including budget slides for comparing projected versus actual spending. In contrast, corporate budget templates focus on the entire organization, breaking down budget allocations by department or initiative. These templates are especially useful for quarterly or annual reviews where a comprehensive financial overview is required. By using a ppt template for either project-specific or corporate-wide budgets, companies can maintain clarity and focus in their financial presentations.

Marketing Budget Templates

Marketing budget templates are essential for outlining the financial resources allocated to marketing activities. These budget slides typically cover various categories such as advertising costs, social media spend, and content creation expenses. With a budget template, marketing teams can easily present the financial breakdown of their campaigns and projects, tracking ROI and performance. Using PowerPoint or Google Slides, marketing managers can customize the budget presentation to highlight the allocation of funds across different marketing channels. This helps demonstrate how the marketing spend aligns with overall business goals and contributes to achieving revenue targets.

Event Budget Templates

Event budget templates are tailored to the needs of event planners and organizers, helping them manage the financial aspects of conferences, workshops, or corporate events. These budget slides typically include line items for venue costs, catering, marketing, and logistics. By using an event budget PowerPoint template, organizers can clearly present estimated versus actual expenditures, ensuring that the event stays within the set budget. The templates also provide a way to compare past event costs, helping planners adjust future budgets accordingly. Google Slides versions offer the added benefit of collaborative planning, allowing teams to work together in real-time to fine-tune the event’s financial plan.

How to Create an Effective Budget Presentation

Step-by-step guide to building a budget presentation in powerpoint.

Creating an effective budget presentation slide in PowerPoint presentation Slides or Google Slides begins by selecting a budget template that matches your presentation needs. Start by outlining the key financial elements you want to cover, such as income, expenses, and variances. Once you have your data organized, choose a template with pre-designed budget and actual slides that include charts, graphs, and tables. Input your data into the budget analysis template and customize it with your company’s branding, colors, and fonts. Ensure that your budget  ppt includes a balance of textual explanations and visuals to make the data more engaging. You should also add summary slides to emphasize key takeaways from your financial analysis.

Customizing Budget Templates in PowerPoint and Google Slides

Once you have chosen a budget PPT template or Google Slides template, customization is key to making the presentation your own. You can modify the color schemes, fonts, and layout to align with your brand guidelines. It’s essential to personalize the budget slides template by adding company logos, relevant charts, and specific financial data. When presenting a budget plan, ensure that the visuals are clear and that you use graphs such as bar charts or pie charts to represent budget allocations or budget performance. Both PPT and Google Slides allow you to edit and update these templates easily, ensuring your financial data is always current and tailored to your audience’s needs.

Key Components of an Effective Budget Presentation

H3: budget allocation and comparison slides.

In any budget presentation, presenting a clear breakdown of the budget allocation is critical. Budget slides should highlight how funds are distributed across various departments, projects, or initiatives. A comparison slide is also useful for showing actual vs. planned budget figures, providing insights into whether spending is aligned with the initial projections. Using a PowerPoint template with pre-built comparison charts or graphs allows you to visualize financial variances effectively, making it easier for stakeholders to assess financial performance. These slides help decision-makers identify areas of over- or under-spending, allowing for better financial planning and management.

Budget Performance and Analysis

One of the most important elements of a budget presentation is the analysis of budget performance. Budget performance slides help present how closely actual spending aligns with the original budget plan. These slides often feature visual representations, such as graphs or trend lines, that show deviations from the projected budget. Using a PowerPoint template, you can highlight key financial performance metrics and suggest corrective actions if spending exceeds or falls short of expectations. Google Slides also allows for collaborative analysis, enabling teams to contribute to the financial review process by updating data and making adjustments in real-time.

Projected vs. Actual Budget Slides

A projected vs. actual budget slide is crucial in comparing the financial goals set at the beginning of a project or fiscal year with actual expenditures. These budget slides help present variances and provide a detailed breakdown of where adjustments were necessary. PowerPoint templates for this purpose often include side-by-side comparisons, using bar charts or tables to highlight discrepancies. This allows for a clear analysis of how well the financial plan was executed, offering insights into future budget planning and forecasting. Such slides are critical for performance reviews and identifying areas for financial improvement.

Best Practices for Presenting Budget Data

Visualizing budget data with charts and graphics.

Visual elements such as charts, graphs, and icons are essential for presenting financial data in an understandable format. Budget slides that feature visual representations of financial information make it easier for stakeholders to grasp key figures. When using a budget PowerPoint template or Google Slides, leverage bar charts for expense comparisons, pie charts for budget allocation, and line charts for tracking trends. This type of data visualization simplifies complex financial data and enhances engagement, ensuring that your audience can follow the presentation without becoming overwhelmed by numbers. Customizing the charts with brand-specific colors and labels also adds a professional touch.

Highlighting Key Financial Insights

A successful budget presentation does more than just display numbers; it communicates the story behind the data. Use budget slides to highlight key financial insights such as major variances, areas of cost savings, or overspending. By incorporating budget icons or using color-coded text, you can draw attention to the most critical elements of your financial review. Using a PowerPoint template with built-in features to emphasize key points can make your presentation more dynamic and impactful. This ensures that stakeholders leave the presentation with a clear understanding of the financial health of the project or organization and the necessary next steps.

Free and Editable Budget Templates for PowerPoint and Google Slides

Finding free budget powerpoint templates.

There are many online resources where you can find free budget PowerPoint templates to create a professional budget presentation. Websites like SlideModel, Slidesgo, and PresentationGo offer a wide selection of ppt templates tailored for various budget needs, including marketing, event budgets, and overall budget plans. These budget slides come pre-designed with charts, tables, and icons, allowing you to download and customize them according to your financial data. Using a free budget template helps save time while ensuring your presentation maintains a high standard of design and clarity.

Customizing Free Budget Templates

After downloading a free budget template, you can fully customize it using PowerPoint or Google Slides. Input your financial data into the template, adjusting colors, fonts, and layouts to suit your brand or presentation style. Customizing a budget slide to reflect your company’s specific needs allows you to present complex financial data in a clear and engaging way. For instance, you can modify the budget allocation chart to highlight key spending areas or customize a budget comparison slide to show differences between actual vs. planned budget performance. This flexibility ensures that your budget presentation is tailored to your audience.

Conclusion: Creating Effective Budget Presentations

Importance of clear budget presentations.

A clear and concise budget presentation is crucial for communicating financial data to stakeholders. Using a PowerPoint template or Google Slides template helps ensure that your presentation is both organized and visually appealing. Budget slides should be structured to highlight key financial takeaways, such as budget allocations, variances, and performance metrics. Visual aids, like charts and graphs, simplify complex data, making it easier for your audience to understand the overall financial picture. By ensuring clarity and structure in your presentation, you provide decision-makers with the information they need to make informed financial choices.

Final Thoughts on Effective Budget Presentation Templates

Using a well-designed budget PowerPoint template or Google Slides theme greatly enhances the effectiveness of your budget presentation. These templates allow you to focus on the financial data and insights while ensuring the design is professional and visually engaging. Customizing budget slides to reflect your organization’s needs and incorporating visuals such as charts, graphs, and icons will make your budget presentation stand out. Whether you’re presenting a marketing budget, event budget, or corporate financial plan, using a budget template ensures that your audience leaves with a clear understanding of the financial outlook and strategic recommendations.

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5 Presentation Strategies To Win Critical Budgets

In 2021, businesses will continue to face unprecedented challenges. Budgets will come under intense scrutiny as strategic goals must be met while resources remain stretched. In this fluctuating business landscape, how senior business leaders present their objectives to upper management, C-suite, and board of directors’ level is crucial for securing the dollars necessary to realize their plans. Here’s how to structure a budget-winning argument for your next business PowerPoint presentation:

1. Start with the Big Picture

Budget presentations to executive level must be approached differently than presenting to other colleagues. In this arena, time is limited, so presentations should focus on the bottom line. What are your company’s needs and how will your plan achieve them? Stick to answering these two questions in your opening salvo. This is your executive summary, and it needs to be direct and attention-grabbing. How is your plan going to solve their problem(s)?

Stay focused on your end goal, e.g., increased profits, rather than how you arrived at it. If they have questions about the details, they’ll ask. (More on this below.) In this section of your business PowerPoint presentation, stick to your recommendations and the implications of those.

Finally, emphasize how your plan integrates into your company’s overarching objectives. Your presentation must make plain how your plan aligns with the company’s goals. If it does not, you won’t get the budget allocation you need.

2. Present a Clear Evaluation of the Options

When it’s time for leadership to allocate dollars, make it an easy, clear choice for them. This is the portion of the business PowerPoint presentation where you explain how you arrived at the funding level you’ve requested.

Show them a clear evaluation of different investment options. (Use good, current data to back up your financial models. This information may be changing on a monthly basis, so it’s key that your information is as up to date as possible.) Demonstrate how each investment option you’re proposing will work toward achieving your end goal and thus the company’s. Outlining contrasting options will help them understand what they stand to gain and lose based on the funding choices they make.

You don’t need a lot of slides for this portion of the presentation. But you do need strong visual representations of your data so you can make your case quickly and easily. You want visuals that get right to the point. Show them what their return on investment could be and when they can expect it. Keep the focus on results rather than processes. Use examples when appropriate but avoid hypotheticals as they may not stand up to questioning.

Always include timelines and key dates in your presentation – and be prepared to show how they might be shortened. If there are factors preventing shortening of timelines, be ready to explain those too. Include what your competitors are doing, including key dates for their initiatives. It’s important to show an understanding of how changes in the marketplace may impact your proposed activities.

Complete this portion of your business PowerPoint presentation with your suggested primary solution. Even though you’ve demonstrated several options, you want to make clear what you believe to be the right decision, i.e., the budget you want. This shows your confidence in and enthusiasm for the plan you’ve presented. Finally, explain how you, your team, and participating departments are uniquely positioned to achieve the results you’ve outlined.

3. Be Ready to Play Defense

Although it’s important to have a well-rehearsed, carefully crafted business PowerPoint presentation for your budget presentation, it’s more important that you are ready to defend your position. Expect leadership to interrogate your plan, your data, and your thought process. Be ready to answer questions while you present. This audience asks what they want to know as soon as they want to know it. There’s no waiting for a formal Q&A at the end of the presentation.

Demonstrating your consideration of broader market conditions will be imperative given the current business environment. Be ready with your analysis of key trends in your sector. This may not be information you include as part of your business PowerPoint presentation, but it will be necessary to have it at hand in case your audience wants to know. This should include any competitors entering the marketplace or bringing new products to it. Show that your approach can be changed if market forces should change.

If possible, do a test run of your presentation with colleagues or members of your team before the big day. Have them question your presentation from every angle. Practicing your pitch will enable you to enter the boardroom with the confidence you’ll need to convince.

If you begin your presentation without fear of interrogation, you’ll be better prepared to face the questions when they inevitably come. Think of it as an opportunity to gird your proposal, making it stronger than it was before. Your leadership team may be privy to changes in the marketplace that you are unaware of; allow them to be a resource for you.

You won’t be able to anticipate every concern these executives are facing but knowing that they will question you will help you prepare and respond with confidence. If you’re able to pivot to meet their needs, demonstrating your willingness to flex your thinking to address concerns, you’ll be more likely to receive your budget allocation.

4. Remind Them Why They Need You

Finish your business PowerPoint presentation with a review of your top headlines. Remind your audience how your plan will give the company a competitive edge. Then remind them how your plan aligns with your company’s overall goals.

Finally, be prepared to ask for other resources you might need to carry out your plan. If you’ve given an effective presentation with confidence, your audience may ask you how they can help you achieve it. Be prepared to tell them what other resources you might need to help make your proposal a success.

5. Enlist Professional Business PowerPoint Presentation Advice

To get the green light on your next big budget proposal, start with professional business PowerPoint presentation design. Outsourcing the design and production of your presentations has many benefits, including creative design expertise, low-stress development, and advanced technical knowledge. eSlide has been the “go-to” resource for senior executives at top companies around the globe for more than 20 years. Get in touch with our team today to earn the budgets you need for tomorrow.

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Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

1. setting the stage for your budget presentation, 2. tailoring your message, 3. key components, 4. using charts and graphs effectively, 5. making it clear and concise, 6. anticipating questions and objections, 7. interactive elements and activities, 8. tips for a confident delivery, 9. reinforcing your budget message and next steps.

When it comes to delivering a budget presentation, setting the stage is crucial for capturing your audience's attention and conveying your message effectively. In this section, we will explore various insights from different perspectives to help you create a compelling and impactful presentation.

1. Understand Your Audience: Before diving into the details of your budget, it's essential to understand who your audience is. Consider their level of financial knowledge, their interests, and their expectations. This understanding will guide you in tailoring your presentation to resonate with your audience.

2. Craft a Compelling Opening: Begin your budget presentation with a captivating opening that grabs your audience's attention. You can start with a thought-provoking statistic, a relevant anecdote, or a compelling quote. This will set the tone for the rest of your presentation and engage your audience from the start.

3. Provide Context: To help your audience grasp the significance of your budget, provide them with the necessary context. Explain the current financial landscape, any challenges or opportunities your organization is facing, and how the budget fits into the larger strategic goals. This will help your audience connect the dots and understand the relevance of your budget.

4. Use Visuals: Visual aids such as charts, graphs, and infographics can enhance the clarity and impact of your budget presentation. Use visuals to illustrate key data points , trends, and comparisons. This not only makes the information more digestible but also adds visual interest to your presentation.

5. Break Down the Numbers: Budgets can be complex, so it's important to break down the numbers in a way that is easy to understand. Use clear headings, subheadings, and bullet points to organize your information. Additionally, consider using real-life examples or case studies to illustrate how the budget allocations will translate into tangible outcomes.

6. Address Potential Concerns: Anticipate any potential concerns or objections your audience may have and address them proactively. This demonstrates that you have thoroughly considered different perspectives and increases the credibility of your presentation. Be prepared to provide supporting evidence or alternative solutions to alleviate any concerns.

7. Engage in Q&A: encourage audience participation by allowing time for questions and answers. This fosters a sense of collaboration and ensures that any doubts or uncertainties are addressed. Be prepared to provide clear and concise responses that further reinforce your budget's validity and effectiveness.

Remember, setting the stage for your budget presentation is not just about delivering information but also about creating a memorable and impactful experience for your audience. By incorporating these insights and using examples to highlight your ideas, you can deliver a compelling budget presentation that effectively communicates your message.

Setting the Stage for Your Budget Presentation - Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

In this section, we will delve into the importance of understanding your audience and how to tailor your message accordingly. When delivering and presenting your budget information and messages , it is crucial to consider the diverse perspectives and needs of your audience.

1. Gain Insights from Different Points of View:

To effectively communicate your budget information , it is essential to gather insights from various stakeholders. This includes understanding the perspectives of executives, department heads, finance teams, and other relevant parties. By doing so, you can identify their specific concerns, priorities, and expectations, allowing you to tailor your message accordingly.

2. craft a Compelling narrative :

Once you have gained insights from different points of view, it is important to craft a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience. This involves presenting your budget information in a way that aligns with their interests and goals. For example, if you are presenting to executives, focus on the strategic impact and long-term benefits of your budget proposal. On the other hand, if you are presenting to department heads, emphasize how your budget allocation supports their specific objectives.

3. Use a Numbered List for In-Depth Information:

When providing in-depth information about your budget, using a numbered list can be an effective way to organize and present your ideas. This allows your audience to easily follow along and grasp the key points. For instance, you can use a numbered list to outline the different budget categories, explain the rationale behind each allocation, and highlight any anticipated challenges or opportunities.

4. Illustrate Ideas with Examples:

To enhance understanding and engagement, it is beneficial to illustrate your ideas with relevant examples. This helps your audience visualize how the budget information translates into real-world scenarios . For instance, if you are proposing an investment in marketing initiatives, provide examples of successful campaigns from the past and how they contributed to business growth . This makes your message more tangible and relatable to your audience.

By tailoring your message to your audience's needs and preferences, you can effectively deliver and present your budget information. Remember to gather insights from different points of view, craft a compelling narrative, use numbered lists for in-depth information, and illustrate ideas with examples. This approach will ensure that your audience understands and appreciates the value of your budget proposal.

Tailoring Your Message - Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

When it comes to structuring your budget presentation, there are several key components to consider. It's important to approach this task with a clear and organized mindset, as it will greatly impact the effectiveness of your message.

Now, let's move on to the numbered list format to provide in-depth information about the section. Remember, this is just an example and not the actual title of the section:

1. Clearly Define Goals and Objectives: Start by outlining the specific goals and objectives that the budget aims to achieve. This sets the foundation for the rest of your presentation and helps your audience understand the purpose behind the numbers.

2. Break Down revenue and expenses : Provide a detailed breakdown of the revenue sources and expenses included in the budget. Use charts, graphs, or tables to visually represent the information and make it easier for your audience to grasp.

3. Highlight Key Assumptions: Identify and explain the key assumptions that underpin your budget projections. This helps your audience understand the basis for your financial forecasts and builds trust in the accuracy of your numbers.

4. Discuss risk Management strategies : address potential risks and uncertainties that may impact the budget. Present strategies and contingency plans to mitigate these risks, demonstrating your proactive approach to managing financial challenges.

5. Showcase cost-saving initiatives : If applicable, highlight any cost-saving initiatives or efficiency measures that have been incorporated into the budget. Use real-life examples to illustrate how these initiatives can lead to tangible savings.

6. Communicate Impact on Stakeholders: Discuss how the budget will impact various stakeholders, such as employees, customers, or shareholders. Emphasize the benefits and potential challenges associated with the proposed budget allocations.

Remember, this is just a starting point, and you can tailor the structure of your budget presentation to suit your specific needs. By incorporating these key components and providing insightful examples, you can deliver a comprehensive and engaging budget presentation.

Key Components - Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

Visualizing data is a powerful way to communicate your budget information and messages to your audience . Charts and graphs can help you to show trends, patterns, comparisons, relationships, and proportions in your data. They can also make your presentation more engaging, memorable, and persuasive. However, not all charts and graphs are created equal. You need to choose the right type of visualization for your data and your purpose, and design it in a clear and effective way. In this section, we will discuss some tips and best practices for using charts and graphs in your budget presentation. Here are some of the topics we will cover:

1. Choosing the right type of chart or graph. Depending on the type and amount of data you have, and the message you want to convey, you can choose from different types of charts and graphs, such as bar charts, pie charts, line charts, scatter plots, etc. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages, and some are more suitable for certain situations than others. For example, bar charts are good for comparing discrete categories, pie charts are good for showing proportions of a whole, line charts are good for showing trends over time, and scatter plots are good for showing correlations between two variables. You should also consider the number of data points, variables, and dimensions you want to display, and avoid cluttering your chart or graph with too much information.

2. Designing your chart or graph for clarity and readability. Once you have chosen the type of chart or graph, you need to design it in a way that makes it easy for your audience to understand and interpret your data. Some of the aspects you need to pay attention to are the title, labels, axes, scales, legends, colors, fonts, and shapes. You should use descriptive and consistent titles and labels, and avoid using jargon or acronyms. You should also use appropriate and consistent scales and units, and avoid using 3D effects, unnecessary grid lines, or misleading axes. You should use colors, fonts, and shapes that are simple, contrasting, and meaningful, and avoid using too many or too similar colors, fonts, or shapes. You should also use legends to explain the meaning of your colors, fonts, or shapes, and place them near the chart or graph, or within it if possible.

3. Using charts and graphs to tell a story. charts and graphs are not just visual aids, they are also storytelling tools. You can use them to highlight the main points, insights, or recommendations from your data, and to support your arguments or persuade your audience. You can also use them to create interest, curiosity, or emotion in your audience, and to engage them in a dialogue. To do this, you need to think about the purpose, context, and audience of your presentation, and choose the most relevant and impactful charts and graphs for your message. You should also use clear and concise captions, annotations, or narratives to explain your charts and graphs, and to emphasize the key takeaways or actions. You should also use transitions, animations, or interactions to guide your audience through your charts and graphs, and to create a logical and coherent flow.

Here are some examples of charts and graphs that you can use in your budget presentation, and how they can help you to communicate your information and messages effectively :

- A bar chart can help you to compare the budget allocations, expenditures, or revenues of different departments, projects, or categories. For example, you can use a bar chart to show how much each department spent or received in the last fiscal year, or how much each project is allocated or expected to generate in the next fiscal year. You can use horizontal or vertical bars, depending on the number and length of the labels. You can also use stacked or grouped bars, depending on the level of detail you want to show. You can use different colors to represent different departments, projects, or categories, and use a legend to explain them. You can also use captions or annotations to highlight the most important or surprising values, or to show the percentage or difference between them.

- A pie chart can help you to show the proportions or percentages of the total budget that are allocated, spent, or received by different departments, projects, or categories. For example, you can use a pie chart to show how the total budget is divided among different departments, or how the total revenue is composed of different sources. You can use different colors or shades to represent different departments, projects, or categories, and use a legend or labels to explain them. You can also use captions or annotations to show the exact values or percentages, or to highlight the largest or smallest slices, or the changes from the previous or expected values.

- A line chart can help you to show the trends, changes, or fluctuations in the budget allocations, expenditures, or revenues over time. For example, you can use a line chart to show how the budget or revenue has increased or decreased over the past or projected years, or how the expenditure has varied over the past or projected months. You can use one or more lines, depending on the number of variables or dimensions you want to show. You can use different colors, styles, or shapes to represent different variables or dimensions, and use a legend or labels to explain them. You can also use captions or annotations to show the exact values or changes, or to highlight the peaks, troughs, or turning points, or the differences or similarities between the lines.

- A scatter plot can help you to show the relationship or correlation between two variables that affect the budget allocations, expenditures, or revenues. For example, you can use a scatter plot to show how the expenditure or revenue of a department or project is related to its performance, efficiency, or quality. You can use one or more sets of points, depending on the number of variables or dimensions you want to show. You can use different colors, styles, or shapes to represent different variables or dimensions, and use a legend or labels to explain them. You can also use captions or annotations to show the exact values or correlations, or to highlight the outliers, clusters, or trends, or the differences or similarities between the sets of points. You can also use a line or a curve to fit the data and show the direction and strength of the relationship.

Using Charts and Graphs Effectively - Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

In this section, we will explore the importance of effectively communicating financial information and how to ensure clarity and conciseness in your budget presentations. clear and concise communication is crucial when delivering financial information as it helps stakeholders understand the key messages and make informed decisions.

To begin, let's consider the different perspectives involved in financial communication. From the perspective of the finance team, it is essential to present accurate and comprehensive information that reflects the financial health of the organization. This includes providing an overview of the budget, highlighting key financial metrics, and explaining any variances or trends.

From the perspective of the audience, which may include executives, board members, or other stakeholders, it is important to present the information in a way that is easily understandable and actionable. This means avoiding jargon or technical terms and using plain language to convey complex financial concepts .

Now, let's dive into some strategies for making financial information clear and concise:

1. Structure your presentation: Start with an introduction that sets the context and objectives of the budget presentation. Then, organize the information into logical sections, such as revenue, expenses, and investments. Use headings and subheadings to guide the audience through the content.

2. Use visual aids: Incorporate charts, graphs, and tables to present financial data in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand format. Visual aids can help highlight trends, comparisons, and key insights. For example, a line graph can show revenue growth over time, while a pie chart can illustrate the distribution of expenses.

3. Provide context: When presenting financial information, it is important to provide context to help the audience interpret the numbers. Explain the assumptions, methodologies, and benchmarks used in the budgeting process. Additionally, consider including historical data or industry benchmarks to provide a benchmark for comparison.

4. Use examples: Illustrate key concepts or ideas with real-life examples to make them more relatable and understandable. For instance, if discussing cost-saving measures , provide specific examples of successful initiatives that have resulted in significant savings.

5. Summarize key points: At the end of each section, summarize the key takeaways to reinforce the main messages. This can help the audience retain the information and make it easier for them to refer back to specific points later.

Remember, effective communication of financial information requires a balance between providing sufficient detail and avoiding overwhelming the audience with excessive information. By following these strategies, you can ensure that your budget presentations are clear, concise, and impactful.

Making it Clear and Concise - Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

One of the most challenging aspects of presenting a budget is anticipating and responding to the questions and objections that may arise from your audience. Whether you are presenting to your boss, your team, your clients, or your stakeholders, you need to be prepared to address their concerns and convince them of the value and feasibility of your budget proposal. In this section, we will discuss some strategies and tips for handling questions and objections effectively and confidently. We will cover the following topics:

1. How to prepare for questions and objections in advance

2. How to listen and acknowledge your audience's concerns

3. How to provide clear and relevant answers and explanations

4. How to use evidence and examples to support your budget proposal

5. How to handle difficult or hostile questions and objections

Let's look at each of these topics in more detail.

The best way to deal with questions and objections is to anticipate them before you present your budget. This will help you to avoid being caught off guard and to have ready-made responses that address the most common or important concerns. To prepare for questions and objections, you can do the following:

- Review your budget proposal and identify the potential strengths and weaknesses, benefits and costs, risks and opportunities, and assumptions and limitations of your budget plan. Think about how your audience might perceive or challenge these aspects of your budget.

- Research your audience and understand their needs, expectations, goals, preferences, and perspectives. Try to put yourself in their shoes and imagine what questions or objections they might have about your budget proposal. Consider their level of knowledge, interest, and involvement in your budget project.

- Prepare a list of possible questions and objections that your audience might raise and write down your answers and explanations for each of them. Use clear, concise, and positive language and avoid jargon, technical terms, or vague statements. Focus on the benefits and value of your budget proposal and how it aligns with your audience's needs and goals.

- Practice your answers and explanations with a colleague, a friend, or a coach and ask for feedback on your content, delivery, and tone. Make sure your answers and explanations are accurate, relevant, and persuasive. Refine your responses based on the feedback and rehearse them until you feel confident and comfortable.

When you present your budget, you should expect and welcome questions and objections from your audience. Questions and objections are not necessarily a sign of rejection or disagreement, but rather an opportunity to clarify, explain, and persuade your audience of your budget proposal. To handle questions and objections effectively, you need to listen and acknowledge your audience's concerns. Here are some tips for doing so:

- Show respect and appreciation for your audience's questions and objections. Thank them for their interest, attention, and feedback and express your willingness to address their concerns. Avoid interrupting, dismissing, or arguing with your audience and maintain a positive and professional attitude.

- listen actively and attentively to your audience's questions and objections. Pay attention to their words, tone, and body language and try to understand the underlying reasons, emotions, and motivations behind their concerns. Ask clarifying questions if needed and paraphrase or summarize their main points to confirm your understanding.

- Acknowledge your audience's questions and objections and show empathy and validation for their concerns. Recognize and affirm their feelings, opinions, and perspectives and show that you care about their needs and goals. Avoid being defensive, judgmental, or patronizing and admit your mistakes or limitations if any.

After listening and acknowledging your audience's questions and objections, you need to provide clear and relevant answers and explanations that address their concerns and convince them of your budget proposal. Here are some guidelines for doing so:

- Structure your answers and explanations using a simple and logical format. Start with a brief introduction that summarizes your main point or message, then provide supporting details or evidence that back up your point or message, and end with a conclusion that reinforces your point or message and links it to your audience's needs and goals.

- Use clear, concise, and positive language that matches your audience's level of knowledge, interest, and involvement. Avoid jargon, technical terms, or vague statements that might confuse or bore your audience. Use simple, direct, and assertive language that conveys your confidence and credibility. Use positive language that emphasizes the benefits and value of your budget proposal and avoids negative words or phrases that might trigger resistance or hostility.

- Provide relevant, specific, and accurate information and evidence that supports your budget proposal and addresses your audience's concerns. Use facts, figures, data, statistics, examples, testimonials, or case studies that demonstrate the validity, feasibility, and effectiveness of your budget plan. Avoid making unsupported claims, assumptions, or generalizations that might weaken your argument or invite further questions or objections.

- Tailor your answers and explanations to your audience's needs, expectations, goals, preferences, and perspectives. Focus on the aspects of your budget proposal that are most important or relevant to your audience and show how your budget plan aligns with or supports their needs and goals. Highlight the benefits and value of your budget proposal for your audience and address any potential costs, risks, or trade-offs. Use language and examples that resonate with your audience and appeal to their logic, emotions, or values.

One of the most effective ways to persuade your audience of your budget proposal is to use evidence and examples that support your budget plan and illustrate its benefits and value. Evidence and examples can help you to:

- Provide factual and objective information that validates your budget proposal and shows its credibility and reliability.

- Provide specific and concrete information that clarifies your budget proposal and shows its feasibility and applicability.

- Provide illustrative and compelling information that enhances your budget proposal and shows its impact and attractiveness.

To use evidence and examples effectively, you need to:

- Choose evidence and examples that are relevant, specific, and accurate. Select evidence and examples that are directly related to your budget proposal and your audience's concerns and questions. Use evidence and examples that are specific and detailed enough to support your point or message. Use evidence and examples that are accurate and up-to-date and cite your sources if needed.

- Present evidence and examples in a clear and organized way. Use headings, bullet points, tables, charts, graphs, or images to display your evidence and examples in a visually appealing and easy-to-follow way. Use transitions, connectors, or signposts to link your evidence and examples to your point or message and to guide your audience through your argument or explanation.

- Explain evidence and examples in a meaningful and persuasive way. Interpret and analyze your evidence and examples and show how they support your point or message and address your audience's concerns and questions. Emphasize the benefits and value of your evidence and examples for your audience and show how they relate to their needs and goals. Use language and tone that convey your confidence and enthusiasm and appeal to your audience's logic, emotions, or values.

Sometimes, you may encounter questions or objections that are difficult or hostile, such as:

- Questions or objections that are unclear, vague, or ambiguous

- Questions or objections that are irrelevant, off-topic, or distracting

- Questions or objections that are repetitive, redundant, or already answered

- Questions or objections that are personal, inappropriate, or disrespectful

- Questions or objections that are aggressive, confrontational, or accusatory

To handle difficult or hostile questions or objections, you need to:

- Stay calm and composed and avoid reacting emotionally or defensively. Take a deep breath, pause, and smile and maintain a positive and professional attitude. Avoid escalating the situation or engaging in a conflict with your audience and focus on the content and purpose of your budget presentation.

- Clarify and reframe the question or objection and redirect it to your point or message. Ask clarifying questions or paraphrase or summarize the question or objection to confirm your understanding and to make it clear, relevant, and respectful. Reframe the question or objection in a positive or constructive way and redirect it to your point or message and to your audience's needs and goals.

- Answer or address the question or objection briefly and confidently and move on to the next point or question. Provide a clear and relevant answer or explanation that addresses the question or objection and supports your budget proposal. Use evidence and examples to back up your answer or explanation and to show the benefits and value of your budget proposal for your audience. Avoid dwelling on the question or objection or giving too much or too little information and move on to the next point or question.

One of the challenges of delivering a budget presentation is to keep your audience interested and engaged throughout your talk. Budgets can be complex, technical, and sometimes boring, so you need to find ways to make your information and messages more appealing and memorable. In this section, we will explore some interactive elements and activities that you can use to enhance your budget presentation and connect with your audience. These include:

1. Using visual aids . Visual aids can help you illustrate your budget data and concepts in a clear and attractive way. They can also capture your audience's attention and make your presentation more dynamic. Some examples of visual aids are charts, graphs, tables, diagrams, images, icons, and animations. You can use tools like PowerPoint, Excel, or Google Slides to create and display your visual aids. Make sure that your visual aids are relevant, accurate, simple, and consistent with your presentation style and theme.

2. Asking questions . Questions can help you stimulate your audience's curiosity and involvement in your presentation. They can also help you check your audience's understanding and feedback on your budget information and messages. You can ask questions at different stages of your presentation, such as at the beginning, during transitions, or at the end. You can use different types of questions, such as open-ended, closed-ended, rhetorical, or hypothetical. You can also use tools like polls, surveys, or quizzes to collect and display your audience's responses.

3. Telling stories . Stories can help you humanize your budget information and messages and make them more relatable and memorable. They can also help you illustrate your points, examples, and scenarios in a vivid and engaging way. You can use stories from your own experience, from your organization, from your industry, or from other sources. You can also use tools like anecdotes, metaphors, analogies, or jokes to make your stories more interesting and humorous.

4. Inviting participation . Participation can help you create a more interactive and collaborative atmosphere in your presentation. It can also help you involve your audience in your budget information and messages and make them feel more valued and empowered. You can invite participation by asking for your audience's opinions, suggestions, or questions. You can also use tools like brainstorming, discussion, or role-playing to encourage your audience to share their ideas and perspectives. You can also use tools like gamification, rewards, or incentives to motivate your audience to participate more actively and enthusiastically.

Interactive Elements and Activities - Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

Delivering Your Budget Presentation: Tips for a Confident Delivery

When it comes to delivering your budget presentation, confidence is key. A well-delivered presentation can effectively communicate your budget information and messages to your audience. In this section, we will explore various insights and tips to help you deliver your budget presentation with confidence.

1. Understand Your Audience: Before diving into your budget presentation, it's crucial to understand your audience. Consider their level of financial knowledge, their interests, and their expectations. Tailoring your presentation to meet their needs will ensure better engagement and understanding.

2. Start with a Compelling Opening: Capture your audience's attention right from the start. Begin with a compelling opening that highlights the importance and relevance of the budget information you are about to present. You can use a relevant anecdote, a thought-provoking statistic, or a compelling quote to grab their attention.

3. Use visual aids : Visual aids such as charts, graphs, and infographics can enhance the clarity and impact of your budget presentation. They provide a visual representation of the data and make it easier for your audience to grasp complex information. Use relevant examples and real-life scenarios to illustrate your points effectively.

4. Keep it Structured: Organize your budget presentation in a logical and structured manner. Divide your presentation into sections or topics and provide a clear outline at the beginning. This will help your audience follow along and understand the flow of your presentation.

5. Use a Storytelling Approach: Incorporate storytelling techniques to make your budget presentation more engaging and relatable. Share real-life examples or success stories that demonstrate the positive impact of effective budget management . This will help your audience connect emotionally with the information you are presenting.

6. Be Clear and Concise: Avoid jargon and complex terminology. Use simple and concise language to ensure that your audience understands the budget information you are presenting. Break down complex concepts into easily digestible chunks and provide clear explanations.

7. Practice, Practice, Practice: Rehearse your budget presentation multiple times to build confidence and familiarity with the content. Practice in front of a mirror or with a trusted colleague to receive feedback and make necessary improvements. The more you practice, the more comfortable and confident you will become.

8. Engage with Your Audience: Encourage audience participation and engagement throughout your budget presentation. Ask questions, seek their opinions, and address any concerns they may have. This interactive approach will keep your audience involved and interested in the presentation.

Remember, delivering a budget presentation is not just about sharing numbers and figures. It's about effectively communicating the importance and impact of your budget decisions. By following these tips and incorporating relevant examples, you can deliver your budget presentation with confidence and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Tips for a Confident Delivery - Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

The conclusion of your budget presentation is your last chance to reinforce your budget message and persuade your audience to take the next steps. You want to leave a lasting impression on your listeners and make them feel confident about your budget proposal. In this section, we will discuss some tips and strategies to help you craft a powerful and effective conclusion for your budget presentation. We will cover the following points:

1. Summarize your main points and key messages. Remind your audience of the main goals, objectives, and benefits of your budget plan. Highlight the most important or compelling facts, figures, or arguments that support your budget proposal. Use clear and concise language to restate your main points and key messages. For example, you could say something like: "To recap, our budget plan will help us achieve our strategic goals of increasing sales, reducing costs, and improving customer satisfaction . We have shown that our budget plan is realistic, feasible, and aligned with our organizational vision and values."

2. Emphasize the value proposition and the call to action . Explain to your audience why your budget plan is the best option for them and what they need to do next. Show them how your budget plan will solve their problems, meet their needs, or create opportunities for them. Use persuasive and motivational language to appeal to their emotions, logic, or values. For example, you could say something like: "Our budget plan is not only a smart investment, but also a great opportunity for us to grow and innovate. By adopting our budget plan, we will be able to deliver better products and services to our customers , increase our market share and profitability, and enhance our reputation and brand image . The next step is to approve our budget plan and start implementing it as soon as possible."

3. Address any potential objections or concerns. Anticipate any questions, doubts, or criticisms that your audience might have about your budget plan. Acknowledge their perspectives and provide clear and convincing answers or solutions. Use factual and credible evidence to back up your claims and refute any counterarguments. For example, you could say something like: "You might be wondering how we can afford our budget plan, given the current economic situation and the limited resources we have. Let me assure you that our budget plan is well within our financial capacity and that we have taken into account all the possible risks and contingencies. We have conducted a thorough analysis and projection of our revenues and expenses, and we have identified several sources of funding and savings that will enable us to execute our budget plan without compromising our quality or performance ."

4. End with a memorable closing statement. Wrap up your conclusion with a strong and memorable closing statement that summarizes your main message and leaves a positive impression on your audience. Use a catchy phrase, a quote, a story, a joke, or a call to action that will capture their attention and make them remember your budget presentation. For example, you could say something like: "As Nelson Mandela once said, 'It always seems impossible until it's done.' Our budget plan might seem ambitious or challenging, but it is not impossible. It is doable, and it is worth doing. Together, we can make it happen. Thank you for your time and attention.

Reinforcing Your Budget Message and Next Steps - Budget presentation: How to Deliver and Present Your Budget Information and Messages

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5 Ways to Put Together a Presentation on a Budget

Producing content has never been more accessible as the internet provides a series of free tools and resources you can use. You don’t need any extra resources if you want to create a great presentation!

Free Resources

Not familiar with graphic design or have the programs for it? Use Canva or Freepik, it is free!

Don’t have photos? Use Unsplash, Pexels, and FreePik. Even mobile phones and entry-level cameras are more often coming equipped with state of the art camera technology. Even older phones can record decent video and shoot great photos. You can get thousands of photos for free in seconds!

Don’t want to produce a video? There’s likely a video about your subject matter you can reference on YouTube, Vimeo, Kanopy, or any other hosting site. You can get experts or fully produced films and have them highlight points without extra work!

Do you need more information for your presentation? You can find a lot of free resources at your local library, and did you know you can access a lot of local libraries for free from the comfort of your own home if you have a Kobo device? (We’re not sponsored, we swear!)

Now onto the fun part – how do you create a great presentation on a budget?

How Do You Create a Catchy Presentation?

Overall, less is more! Have you heard of the 10-20-30 rule in PowerPoint? A PowerPoint presentation should have 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 points.

Our suggestion is to go through a site like Unsplash and source 10 images. Using those images, you can create bold backgrounds, place a transparent black square atop and put your text ontop. That immediately looks very dynamic. But you don’t want to do that for every slide.

You can vary by having the image cropped or to the side, or some slides without the images. But with a couple key images sprinkled throughout your presentation, it will be eye-catching and bold.

You can create a good presentation and get audience engagement very simply this way. Even if your audience has more questions, it is probably good they’re asking since they’re engaged!

We talk about this in detail below, but the biggest aspect of a great presentation is also you ! If you’re a great public speaker or even just a very concise one, a presentation is just a visual or an accessory to the information you provide.

Also, you should know your audience! Cater to your target audience—and that’s not necessarily every person in the room, though the room dynamic can be a powerful factor in a successful presentation. You should keep in mind their demographic, interests, even sense of humour when putting together your presentation.

You could even talk to members of the crowd before the presentation to help you feel less nervous and get to know those who will be engaging in your work. Do they have any particular needs? You could ask them why they attended or what information they are looking for.

By doing this early, you can slow down at a slide where the question may be addressed. You could even do a shout-out to the person who asked and say it was a good question. This type of encouragement helps the audience trust and engage with you.

What Should Be Included in a Budget Presentation?

Really, the biggest tip of a budget presentation is this: make sure before you start sourcing free resources that you have your presentation scripted out and preplanned. It will help you have a general direction of what resources you exactly need.

A budget presentation shouldn’t also be a lengthy process because it is a budget one. They can be just as efficient and time respective if you plan as much as possible before you take a pen to your slides.

Free photography is helpful for a good presentation. Again, you can get free photos fairly easily on Unsplash, Pexels and Freepik. You do not need a good camera or a hire a photographer! Just type in words relevant to your subject matter and thousands of photos are available to you. You can get many search queries returned to you in seconds, and see other photos that are like the few photos you like and find better photos organically this way.

You may want some motion in your work. This will be easy with Prezi, as you can animate infographics. Did you know that you can create video with PowerPoint? You can animate more complex graphics or charts this way. We have an article that goes in depth here, but here is our general tips to setting up video in PowerPoint.

The first thing you’ll have to do is adjust your slide size to the correct social media format for video. Square or 1:1 video format is usually 1080×1080 and up, and most other video formats are in 16:9. Make sure you know which platform you are exporting to before you start creating slides in your presentation.

The first step is to create a new PowerPoint file. In the file menu, go to Design > Page Setup > Custom. In this dialogue box, make sure the dimensions are the size of your desired video. We recommend 1080×1080 or up because most social platforms do take square format, but you can search online for the current sizes.

Facebook is 16:9 – so 1080×1920 usually works, Twitter is 1200×628 usually and Instagram is 1080×1080, unless it is a story in which case it is 1920×1080. Then, design as you normally would make a presentation and let out your inner design flair to make an engaging, succinct and eye-catching presentation that will turn into dynamic video.

Use your creative mind or you can also use PowerPoint’s Designer tool. You will want to storyboard or draw your information out and see how it may translate into videos before you start.

How to Make a Budget Presentation Interesting

Don’t forget the biggest and most important part of the presentation – you ! Simply reciting dry facts without any passion or humor will make people less likely to pay attention to your presentation. A presentation after all is not just a bunch of slides. It is a mixture of your personality and the energy of the audience as well. If you’re shy, remember to breathe! Replace your ums and ahs with small breaths. Use those moments of pause to help you relax. Give yourself time when you need it.

One of our personal tips is to talk to your audience before your presentation. If you talk to a few people beforehand, even ask some people why they’ve come to attend your presentation, they can let you go off-script and talk to people during your presentation. When writing a speech, see it from the audiences perspective. What might they not understand? What might seem boring? Use WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) to guide you.

Also, if you practice your presentation with others beforehand, you can make sure that you don’t read instead of talk. You can only get better by practicing, so you can knock the ball out of the park infront of your audience. Nervous and inexperienced speakers tend to talk way too fast. Consciously slow your speech down and add pauses for emphasis. 

Would you be able to understand someone if they spoke too fast? Make sure you breathe and try to after an “uhm” or “ah”.  This way, you can give yourself some relaxation and you can use your natural pauses to get to a place of calm. You don’t need to be nervous! Also, nothing is worse than a speaker you can’t hear. 

Even in the high-tech world of microphones and amplifiers, you need to be heard. Projecting your voice doesn’t mean yelling, rather standing up straight and letting your voice resonate on the air in your lungs rather than in the throat to produce a clearer sound.

Have you ever been in a store where you’re trying to get help but no one will glance over at you? The moment someone locks eyes with you, even if they do not ask you if you need help, you can immediately sense that you can trust and talk to that person. It is no different in a presentation

Can you summarize your idea in fifteen words? If not, rewrite it and try again. Speaking is an inefficient medium for communicating information, so know what the important fifteen words are so they can be repeated. Make sure you can tell your idea simply. You can repeat those words throughout the presentation. 

A long winded answer or a short concise summary can make or break a presentation. If you don’t know your speech without cues, that doesn’t just make you more distracting. It shows you don’t really understand your message, a huge blow to any confidence the audience has in you.

If your presentation is going to be a longer one, explain your points through short stories, quips and anecdotes. Great speakers know how to use a story to create an emotional connection between ideas for the audience.

Any gestures you use need to be an extension of your message and any emotions that message conveys. Planned gestures look false because they don’t match your other involuntary body cues. Also, you can use statements like, “that’s a really good question,” or “I’m glad you asked me that,” to buy yourself a few moments to organize your response. It also encourage the audience member to ask more questions.

The biggest tip is: Don’t fumble with your Prezi or hooking up a projector when people are waiting for you to speak. Most likely that will make you not able to troubleshoot the most basic of things while people watch you! Come early, scope out the room, run through your slideshow and make sure there won’t be any glitches.

Also, apologies are only useful if you’ve done something wrong. Don’t use them to excuse incompetence or humble yourself in front of an audience. You should apologize if you are late or shown to be incorrect. You want to seem confident, but don’t be a jerk about it. If someone calls you out during the presentation, listen to them.

Remember that you are always learning and people respond positively to someone who is willing to correct themselves. While some might admire your steadfastness, it is ten times likelier an apology is much more effective, genuine and authentic.

Sounds impossible? With a little practice you can inject your passion for a subject into your presentations. Enthusiasm is contagious. Learn a couple jokes, tell personal stories, ask your audience questions, wear something extravagant. A presentation can be formal but humorous as long as you stay true to your tone!

How Do You Present a 5-Minute Presentation?

The last of our 5 tips is how do you present a short presentation? This requires some work, but all it takes is flexing your editing muscle. Try to make each slide only about 20 seconds each, but take pauses between each slide and remember to engage your audience! Talking to your crowd between these quick-paced slides is always helpful.

Reducing the amount of information on your slides might seem like you may not get your audience to understand, but ask yourself: do you want your audience to read the slides or get the information from you? Neither answer is incorrect, but it is a question you should ask before designing a slide. Considering people’s varying reading times and how much time you have to present your slides. By having bite-sized information and being the prime speaker of your slides, you can actually keep things on track and on time by speaking.

Remember, it is not to be quick or rush, but it is meant to make everything bite-sized and easy to retain as an audience member! If you need inspiration, there are plenty of large topics covered in a short amount of time on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. By keeping key information, most people can follow along. And if they can’t, that’s what Q&A is for!

You do not need a whole production team or generate new content in order to create a great presentation. There are plenty of tools and free resources online that can help you. The biggest part you should focus on is your performance and your subject matter. That can make a low-budget presentation better than even highly produced ones!

Keep practicing, and remember that there’s resources out there to help you create the best presentation! With all the information out on the internet, you can start at any point and get to a point where you like your slides after some hard work. It does not require a large budget at all. We hope the 5 tips and information we give in this article helped you on your way and start your project!

Author:  Ryan

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Budget PowerPoint Template

Number of slides: 10

Individuals, small businesses or large corporations, all are in need of solid budgeting practices in order to ensure financial success. Tracking income, spending, saving and forecasting need to be looked at clearly and realistically. This slide pack provides you with all the necessary tools and graphics to create a budget managing plan and present it clearly to your stakeholders. You will easily be able to break down your expenses, solve any budgeting problems and track your spending against saving.

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PowerPoint Template for Budget Presentation

Expenses breakdown pie chart slide.

What are your recurring monthly expenses? How much do you have to pay on each of them? This slide will help you visualize where your money goes and you will be able to identify potential saving opportunities. Compare your current expenses breakdowns with your previous ones and see any improvements or degradations.

Problem Solving Slide

Money management is a fairly difficult topic. It is easy to get hooked up in unprofitable contracts and unnecessary recurring expenses. To solve those issues, it is important to first identify your problem, and afterward, come up with a solution that is going to generate a positive impact.

Previous Spending and Saving Line Chart

This simple graph will help you easily visualize how your budget has fared in the past. You will be able to identify events with shifts in the spending/saving diagram. Any seasonal changes will also be reflected in this timeline and you’ll be able to optimize your operations accordingly.

Budgeting is essential in order to gain financial stability

Reflect often on your income and spending in order to ensure growth for your business

Master Analysis and Problem Solving

Looking at your previous spending breakdown, you can identify issues and work towards solving them in order to save and invest more money

Optimize your operations

Cut down any unnecessary expenses and look at saving opportunities without compromising on the quality of your services

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How to make a financial presentation interesting in 7 steps

Let’s face it; financial data has a reputation for being boring and a financial presentation can fill even the most devoted professionals with dread.  

To change this perception, you need to create a financial data presentation you’re excited to give . Hold the interest of your audience instead of making them feel like they are being held captive. Use these tips to make a financial presentation interesting and make sure people listen to what you have to say.

1. Communicate the story behind the data

People respond to stories better than data and figures. When you plan your business presentation, plan to tell the who, what, when, where and why behind the numbers. Data will appeal to people's analytical brains, but to maintain their interest you also have to use examples to explain who the numbers affect, where the figures come from and why they are important.

You don't need to be a born storyteller to do this, you just have to go a bit deeper. So rather than simply saying 'These are the projections for next year' or 'these are our business goals', go further and and talk about where that projection has come from, what has and can still influence it, and why it's important for your audience to know.

But, remember this: keep it simple. In the words of the great Steve Jobs :

'That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity.'

2. Follow the 10-20-30 rule

PowerPoint presentations used to be great, but overused and, quite frankly, poorly-made presentations have branded them an instrument of evil in meeting rooms around the world.

But, there is hope.

Guy Kawasaki's 10-20-30 rule is simple: a presentation should include:  ten slides , last twenty minutes, and use thirty point font .

By following this process, you keep the presentation concise and it forces you to get to the point. This sets up ideal conditions for your audience to tune in to what you're saying.

3. Hide your notes and bullet points

There’s nothing wrong with a handout or takeaway, but if you put your whole business presentation on the handout or on the screen behind you, your audience will read ahead and then tune you out. It's a fact of human nature and we've all done it at least once in our careers.

Make sure your handouts and slides don’t detract from what you're saying. Remember that you and what you have to say are the main event. Keep your slides simple and then expand and explore with your own commentary.

In the words of Mary Angelou : 

'People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'

4. Make it picture perfect

Too much text will kill any presentation. People just don't respond to blocks of uninterrupted information. To make a financial presentation interesting, slides ensure you have at least a few interesting and relevant graphics. A well-designed, simple presentation will catch your listeners’ eyes and attention.

If design isn’t your thing, apps for finance like Roambi  or Collabmobile turn data into attractive visuals that will back up what you have to say. And, if it's appropriate, throw in a funny picture or gif to illustrate a point. We're all human and making us crack a smile during a data-heavy presentation can be refreshing.

5. Channel the pros

Once you’ve planned what to say and what materials you will use, you have to know how you're going to say it. This means learning to communicate with your audience by taking some tips from the masters .

Warren Buffet, financial investment guru, talks about finances all the time, and if you watch his talks online, he’s a charming, relatable speaker , not boring at all. When Steve Jobs spoke , he took technical information and made it interesting.

How you talk affects how people listen, so work on your public speaking abilities even if you only present in the meeting room.

6. Arrange for discussion

People are more interested in conversation than a speech. To engage your audience in your presentation, allow time for discussion. They might have plenty to say or nothing at all, but it's always good to offer the floor for comments, questions and suggestions for improvement. Interaction reigns in the attention of the audience since they have to participate and prove they've been listening.

7. Open and close

Steve Jobs began keynotes with ‘I have four things I want to talk about today.’ Guy Kawasaki's talks always consist of ten points. By doing this, they are letting their audience know how long their talk is going to last so that the audience know how long they have to concentrate for.

Letting them know what to expect in terms of how much material you have to cover gives your audience something to watch out for and helps them to follow along, knowing there's a fixed endpoint. On your final point, include a ‘and just one more thing’ to let them know you're coming to a close.

If you have a lot to cover, try to find a way of condensing it down into fewer points because if you start your presentation by telling the audience you have 25 things to cover then you're in for a collective groan and disengagement (plus, it's not good for business productivity ).

Make a financial presentation interesting

Financial presentations don’t have to be boring and a meeting about finance no longer has to fill your colleagues with dread.

Giving meaning to your numbers, making your financial information visual and interesting to look at and engaging with your audience will help ensure your finance meetings become the highlight of your colleagues calendars, not the dread of their diaries.

You might not get it right the first time, but as long as you're always trying to improve, you'll get there - and your audience will thank you for it.

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Top 30 Budget Presentations to Onboard New Fundings

Deepika Dhaka

You spend months creating and finalizing your budget for the following year. But are you always confident that the board members will agree to your allocation of funds?

Not really, unless you convince them.

So how you communicate your budget to upper management is critical for obtaining the required funds. The easier it is for the board to understand your strategic plan, the less explanation your budget proposal needs.

Therefore, we present our exclusive collection of budget presentation templates. With these handy designs you can present your budget effectively and illustrate that you’ve taken all aspects and the end goals of the company into account, before creating the final plan of action. 

The graphics in these complete decks and one-pagers visualize how your data relates to one another. Therefore, utilizing these PowerPoint frameworks can answer various budgetary questions even before they are asked.

Let’s explore these pre designed layouts, to come up with the best budgetary plan for your organization! 

Template 1: Budget Proposal Presentation

Creating and adhering to a budget is one of the essential elements of operating a successful business. But unfortunately, a majority of people dread making a budget plan. Don’t worry! 

Here is a budget proposal with 69-slides to help you. Utilizing this simple deck will help you describe every aspect of your plan from scratch. You can also utilize it to explain financial performance, funding updates & loan proposals, timeline, milestones, etc. Therefore, download it now!

Download this presentation

Template 2: Social Media Advertising Budget

We’re all aware of the importance of social media marketing for our business. But, do you have a good idea of how much you should be investing in it? This exclusive PPT deck with 32-slides will help you keep track of your social media advertising budget. You can present in-depth research results of different campaigns, platforms, roadmaps, and funding with this template. So download it now to get your budget approved quickly!

Template 3: Annual Budget Project Proposal Presentation

Introducing a pre-designed 35-slides budget presentation for you! With the aid of this template, you can highlight critical areas such as direct and indirect cost elements, project budget, and revenue forecasts. Additionally, it covers all the aspects to help the investors decide whether your project merits funding or not. So download this template now!

Template 4: Actual Expense Vs Budget Presentation

Do you find it challenging to stick to your budget? But what if we tell you there is a way to create a more effective one to hang on to? Presenting this actual expense vs. budget complete deck to build a realistic financial plan. This template consists of visually appealing charts, bar graphs, tables, and diagrams that explain your proposal easily. Hence, grab it now to make a convincing slideshow! 

Template 5: Cost Vs Budget Presentation

Utilize this easy-to-understand PPT format and turn your confusing old data into a clear report. You can represent your actual cost, budget, differences in figures, and percentage of variance in a tabular form with the help of this template. It also aids in the identification of errors and anomalies, allowing you to make an informed decision in the future. Download it now to highlight your findings with minimal effort!

Template 6: Capital Budget Presentation

Using this full PowerPoint deck, you can show a measurable approach to determining long-term economic and financial success. This PPT presentation includes creative slides on channel marketing budget, planned/actual cost comparison, product launch budget plan, event budget, product launch marketing budget, and more. It also includes several types of charts to display your data, thereby making it a must-have tool in your arsenal!

Template 7: Budget Presentation

Employ this introductory budget presentation if you’re new to the business and are looking for a predesigned financial plan layout. This content-ready deck contains 40-slides and encircles all the relevant information with slides like revenue cost, performance budget, cash flow, capital budgeting, cost accounting finance, income statement, and many more. The PowerPoint visuals can also help your audience analyze where you stand with your finances. Additionally, it encompasses all the suited templates to display a realistic budget. Download now!

Template 8: Sales Budget Presentation

A sales budget is for keeping track of your sales objectives. Hence, you must prepare an effective presentation to clarify them and more. This sales financial plan template is one such design that can help you do so with ease. It covers various topics like channel marketing budget, planned/actual cost comparison, product launch budget plan, etc. that you can also utilize to share important information. So download this editable PPT deck now! . 

Template 9: Revenue Budget Presentation

Here's a well-structured design to present a compelling and informed budget that enables you to stay on top of your game. Using this complete PowerPoint deck, you can present long-term profitable ideas, vision, and more. This design contains professional slides with graphs, tables, and charts to impress your audience with its colorful, eye-catching theme. So get started today and see how effective this layout is!

Template 10: Gap Analysis Budget Control Presentation

This PowerPoint presentation can help you shed light on all the gap-related issues and the changes to consider. This complete deck with 17-slides also lets you talk about the change management cost, control, and budget to reduce any gap. Therefore, use it now to become a pro at presenting.

Template 11: Change Management Budget Presentation

Budgeting for change management is tricky and difficult to justify. But we have developed an exclusive template to simplify this process. This stunning deck includes slides for all the stages of change management, such as budgeting, cost, and financial plan. It also displays the project change log to track total, open, and approved change requests. So download it now to bring your next project to life!

Template 12: Quality Management Budget Presentation

A quality management budgeting ensures that all your expenditures are used to improve the quality of your product or service. You can use this handy template to do so with ease. 

It includes and presents information on topics like quality cost reports, trend charts, comparisons, cost-benefit analyses, etc. Therefore, download this PPT deck now!

 Download this presentation

Template 13: Production Budget Presentation

Most budgets are represented in terms of money, but the production budget is expressed as units or quantities of the product. So you can use this layout to display the identification process and estimation of manufacturing costs. It also covers the relevant production costs and budgeting slides to relate the data. Therefore, grab it now!

Template 14: Marketing Budget Presentation

Here's an exclusive template to assist you in creating a robust marketing plan that works for your business. You can use this content-ready layout to manage your marketing expenses as it involves the functions like business campaigning, public relations management, and more. It also helps to compare the forecasted budget with the actual marketing expenses of the business. So grab it now for creating successful campaigns!

Template 15: Forecast Vs Actual Budget Presentation

This comprehensive framework consists of features that help you forecast the budget effectively and compare it with actual expenses. Moreover, it lets you highlight the department-wise and product-wise comparisons with the help of charts and graphs. Therefore, this helpful template can help you anticipate where your money goes each month, allowing you to make the necessary changes. Grab it now!

Template 16: One-Page Funding and Budgeting Template

Explore our stunning one-page budgeting infographic for assistance. This framework showcases the revenue and expenditures of the whole financial year most effortlessly. Moreover, the design is created with a minimalist approach to make it more precise. So grab it now to create a realistic budget and stick to it without confusion.

Download this template

Template 17: One-Page Annual Project Budget Template

What's the easiest way to establish a successful annual project budget? The answer is— this one-page PowerPoint template. This infographic design assists you in keeping your finances in order. It allows you to quickly calculate the income from various sources, including interest, refunds, savings, etc. It also includes columns for budgeted and actual amounts to make an easy comparison and find the variations. Grab it now!

Template 18: One-Page Production Budget Template

Do you ever feel like you spend too much on producing a film yet don't see the desired success? Worry no more! This production budget one-pager can help you understand what amount you should spend on individual overheads. By keeping it as a blueprint, you can avoid exploiting financial resources to a great extent. This holistic framework also covers the company name, producer's name, shoot location, shoot days, above-the-line expenses, and production expenses. Download this editable template now!

Template 19: One Page School Operations Budget Template

Here is an easy-to-use template that allows you to define your school's most progressive education system. Utilizing this design assists you in presenting your expenses for school operations, payroll, services, supplies and materials, and other operating costs. In addition, with the help of this document, you can also outline the taxes you pay. Hence, it is the ideal layout to describe how you provide the best with the available resources.

Template 20: One-Page Sales Budget Template

This PPT slide plays a pivotal role in determining whether or not your sales budget is serving the purpose for which it is made. It touches upon all the relevant areas, such as the company's sales variance table, annual sales budget by quarters, and actual and budgeted sales by business units. If you need to add any sales-specific details to this template, you can surely do so as it is editable. So download it and get started today!

Template 21: One Page Retirement Budget Template

Check out this PPT template that can help you stay as you plan because all necessary details have been taken care of! By turning to this document, you can allocate the funds wisely towards necessities, luxury, and future emergencies. It aims to help you identify the income and expenses breakup post-retirement. So get it now to ensure a comfortable life in your old age.

Template 22: One-Page Personal Budget Template

If you're not sure where to begin when making your personal budget, this simple template can be helpful. With the help of this design, you can consider your short-term and long-term goals. It can also assist you in keeping a record of your net worth and cash flow. Moreover, this framework also allows you to jot down the strategies to achieve your goals and your investment plans. So download it right away to make incredible savings most effectively!

Template 23: Different Department Budget Template

Here is a fantastic template for you and your staff. This exclusive sheet helps you track your actual and estimated budget to find out the variations. In addition, you can use this planner in various ways to monitor your spending and make adjustments as needed. So, take charge of your money today by downloading the departmental budget sheet!

Template 24: One-Page Post Event Budget Analysis Template

Consider making your post-event budgeting process simpler with this handy one-page template. It explains everything in a crisp, clear, and digestible format with its visually appealing structure. This document can evaluate the event's success by defining the number of attendees, tickets sold, revenue, profits, etc. You can also take advantage of this design by integrating social media statistics to show your event's current trends and in-depth analysis. Get it now!

Template 25: One-Page Budget Advocacy Template

This well-crafted page displays all the information in a visual format that captures the readers' attention and saves you a lot of time and effort. It also includes pre-designed charts that highlight the information about the budget evaluation process, the share of spending, and the quarterly income and expenses summary. With this handy design, you can confidently approach decision-makers and ask for your resources to get the job done. So don't put it off any longer; download it now and express your ideas!

Template 26: One-Page Budget for Raising Funds Template

Employ this PowerPoint template to make the best budget presentation to raise venture capital. This one-pager template is significant for startups to pitch to potential investors to fund various projects. It contains the details of the idea and the innovator. It further allows highlighting the key milestones with stages and tabulates the required funds and the expected revenue information. Get it now to give a solid presentation and increase your chances of obtaining funds.

Template 27: One-Page Budget for Church Ministry Template

Here's a well-crafted template that summarizes the financial year plan of the church ministry.

Utilize this simple layout to highlight the budget and actual expenses. It considers the revenue, benevolence, pastoral ministry, staff, worship committee, and other expenses for drafting a budget. So download it now to create a realistic plan for the next financial year!

 Download this template

Template 28: One-Page Manufacturing Company Budget Template

This content-ready slide covers a pre-developed order of budget for a manufacturing company. It can save your time and effort as it comprises all the essential details. You can optimize this format to jot down your company details, budgeted date, and budget amount. Furthermore, it is fully customizable, so you can easily modify it in line with your unique requirements.

Template 29: One-Page Annual Budget with Income and Expenses 

You can utilize this budget presentation to showcase the annual expenditures and income. This spreadsheet comes in two parts: planned and actual income, which allows you to compute the gap between them. Also, calculating the expenses done on the house, transportation, and other areas can become easy with the assistance of this slide. Download it now!

Template 30: One-Page Event Budget Template

Grab this stunning template to make the most of your budget and have a fantastic event.

This comprehensive structure allows you to maintain all the essential data of your upcoming events. Take advantage of this design to record and track your organization's data for sales analysis, event budget, and financial statements. So download this sheet to ensure your event goes off without a hitch. Download it now!

Now you know how to create budget presentations that are more than just numbers on a slide. Download your favorite, complete deck or one-pager to provide exciting and informative experiences to your audience. We'd want to hear about your experience working with the best budget presentation templates in the industry.

P.S: If you want to achieve estimates and control costs for your next venture, check out this guide packed with stunning project budget templates.

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Making Budget Presentations

Taking the Fear Our of the Library Budget Presentations Laying the Groundwork Preparing a Budget Presentation Citizen Support- Rallying Stakeholders Making the Budget Presentation- Do's & Don'ts Follow Up Budgeting Best Practices

BACK TO ADVOCACY LIBRARY

Taking the Fear Out of Library Budget Presentations

Creating and presenting a library budget is not just a matter of assigning numbers to line items on an Excel spreadsheet and presenting it to a group of officials. Far from it. Library budgeting is an ongoing activity, with many parts and many people involved. It is a cyclical process of listening to the community, working with decision-makers, telling compelling stories about your library – and bringing all these elements together in a budget presentation and then starting all over again. We have tapped into the wisdom of veteran librarians with years of experience drafting and presenting budgets in “good times and tough economic times.” The examples offered are from “real budgets.” We have included everything from a Glossary of Terms for those new to library budgeting to the “Do’s and Don’ts of Making a Budget Presentation.” There is a great feature on library budget presentations from the perspective of a decision-maker with years of experience listening to presentations and helping librarians hone their budgeting skills.

BACK TO TOP

Laying the Groundwork

Identifying community priorities.

Library directors don’t create their budgets in a vacuum. Even in today’s challenging economic times when libraries are lucky to keep their doors open and basic services covered, library directors and staff need to be continually attuned to what their community needs.

Most “formal” community needs assessments are done during a library’s strategic planning process – but it should be an ongoing task to pay attention to community needs and priorities.

What is happening in your community that your library can address with its programs or services? How can the library be a partner in solving local problems or addressing challenging issues? For example,

• Helping schools deal with dropout prevention?
• Assisting residents in finding jobs?
• Helping New Americans master essential skills and get access to critical programs and services?

Look to community partners to help share the library’s burden of meeting community needs.

• Can local social services provide funding for early childhood development or literacy programs?
• Are there federal programs or grants to support the library in assisting New Americans who are integrating into the community and acquiring essential skills?
• Are there small businesses or corporations who are willing to fund library programs or services such as a Summer Reading Program or a homework help center?
• Showing that you’ve formed strategic partnerships to meet the community’s needs illustrates that your library is nimble, creative and willing to stretch beyond the limitations of a prescribed budget.

The strategic plan comes from your community's priorities; the budget comes from your plan. Show how you’ve listened to what the community and your decision-makers want from the library and planned accordingly:

• If a community’s priority is to have a library presence in every neighborhood, you may need to recommend that all branches should be open but with limited hours.
• If the priority is efficiency and budgeting cuts, closing branches and extending hours at fewer branches may be the way to go.
• If helping individuals find jobs is a critical issue, access to computers and a mix of daytime and evening hours is essential.
• If low elementary and high school academic scores in your community is a problem, funding homework help centers should be part of your budget.
• If small businesses in your community are closing, creating a small business resources center shows how your library is supporting the local economy.

Start with the premise that a library is providing local services that are important locally. Unlike many other units of government (e.g. schools or transportation), budgetary decisions pertaining to libraries are almost always made at the local level. Stay current with what’s happening in the community from a local political perspective and reflect this perspective in your library budget.

Provide opportunities (a bulletin board, comment cards, Library Appreciation Week, etc. ) for library customers to share their stories about how your library is meeting their needs. Anecdotes from “real (voting) citizens” are powerful statements to include as part of your budget presentation.

Where Budgets and Friends Meet

Presenting an annual budget isn’t just the job of the library director. You’ve got Friends!

A Library Friends organization can be one of the most powerful allies a library has as the director prepares for and presents an annual budget. A good Friends group can:

• Help the library director determine what should be in the annual budget. A well-balanced Friends group reflects the geo-diversity of the neighborhoods the library serves. Friends Board members can give the library director valuable input about the community’s needs and what budgeting priorities are within their own neighborhoods.
• Mobilize a powerful Advocacy Committee that will work throughout the year to advocate on behalf of the library with local decision-makers. Friends Board members represent their neighborhood communities and develop relationships with their elected/appointed representatives. A good Friends advocate is a strong voice and a valuable tool in the budgeting process – and stays connected throughout the year.
• Develop position papers that present the library’s current economic position, its value to the community, funding needs, gaps and opportunities to expand capacity. The library’s budget spreadsheet is made up of line items and numbers. A library platform or a “Return on Investment” piece tells the full story of the library and all its value to citizens (in general as it supports specific populations), schools, businesses, the local economy…a good library platform tells it all! Two great examples of this include the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library's 2010 Advocacy Plan and the San Francisco Public Library Advocacy Report.
• Represent the library to constituent groups. Friends Board members often speak and represent the library with neighborhood groups, broadening community understanding and appreciation for the library’s value. A well-prepared Friends Board member has a lot of credibility because of their dedicated volunteer status.
• Advocate at the grassroots level. Friends Board members attend city and county meetings and offer testimony on behalf of the library. They connect with decision-makers regularly, keeping the library visible throughout the year.
• Be the literary voice for the library. Friends Board members often write op-ed pieces for local newspapers and “letters to the editor.”
• Open doors. From an elected official’s standpoint, Friends Board members can create links to groups and entities where an endorsement is sought. This mutual “back-scratching” can benefit the library and the elected official, creating a relationship that can have long-term positive effects for the library.
• Demonstrate how money talks! Broadly-based private funding from Friends groups demonstrates to local officials that supporters of libraries are powerful, spread out and ready to fight for their library.
• Mobilize other library supporters. Friends groups organize grassroots support of bonding measures, state or local set-asides or other ballot issues that have long-term effects on libraries.
• Fill the gaps. One of the biggest roles a library Friends group plays is to provide funding for library programs and services that are not covered by public funding of the library’s budget. This can be anything from funding a summer reading program to conducting a capital campaign.
• Sing the song of success. When successes are achieved (fending off budget cuts, renewing ballot measures, etc.) Friends can go back to library supporters and say “Look what you have done through your support – you made this possible.” There’s nothing sweeter than success achieved through a grassroots effort.

Coalition Building & Strategic Partnerships

Strength in Numbers: Leveraging Strategic Partnerships and Coalitions

Presenting a successful library budget can be greatly enhanced by demonstrating that your library has partners who work together to deliver programs and services to the community. Working with strategic partners, or in coalition, indicates that your library is finding creative ways of sharing resources and delivering added value by collaborating with other organizations.

• If your library works with schools, arts groups, history centers, museums or other community-based organizations, show how these partnerships allow the library to “deliver more with less” and enhances the services of your partner organizations.
• Demonstrate that your library shares goals with community agencies. Does your library work with a community organization, such as a workforce development program? Show the number of individuals who receive help with resume writing, learning job skills, using the Internet for finding jobs…and then describe how your library works with the community agency to achieve shared goals.
• Tell the story of how partnering with small business owners has an economic impact on the community. Share anecdotes and quotes as part of a handout, or your budget presentation.
• Libraries often share programming with community arts organizations. In your budget presentation, share information on how such a coalition appeals to private funders, lifting some of the financial burden from the public sector.
• Media partners are visible, powerful allies. If your library offers sponsored programming or events with local radio or TV stations, or newspapers, illustrate the power of these partnerships by highlighting attendance, sharing audience quotes and demonstrating that your library understands the value and impact of sharing the stage with a media partner.
• Schools and school media centers are under terrific pressure to provide needed resources for students, with shrinking budgets. Partner with area schools through homework centers or providing books and other resources that will be used in classes or programs. When you present your budget, show how this collaboration allows schools to expand their resources and your library to work with targeted groups of key customers.
• Defending a budget is as much about impact as it is about the bottom line. Look for and nurture partnerships that will allow your library to offer new, exciting programs and services and repeat (over and over) the success stories about how creative partnerships have a strong economic and “quality of life” impact on the community.
• “Back-scratching “can be a rich feature of a partnership or coalition. Share the success and spread the word about community partnerships. Speak or write in support of your strategic partners and ask them to do the same for your library. Having members of an arts organization, or a history center at budget hearings sends the message that the library is a strong community player.
• Other community organizations face the same challenges as the library. Reach out to your counterparts in other organizations and learn from them, as they learn from you. There are always strategies and tips to share and support to be enlisted.

Preparing a Budget Presentation

The decision-maker speaks.

Qualities of the Successful Budget Proposal

• The best budgets are always tied to the best spending plans. Instead of just asking for more, budget presentations must tie performance and justification to requests for increases.
• Decision makers look for the level of production per unit. When an increase is granted, how will the additional dollars translate into improvements? If additional staffing dollars are granted, how will the services be improved? Make sure that your budgeting authority can see, in real-world terms, how the money improves the work.
• In public library systems, budget analysis needs to be weighted to reflect how dollars will make the most impact in the places that are most in need. Not all things are equal and not all things are fair; understand that the delivery of the dollars need to be weighted with demographics in mind.
• The library world can sometimes be insular. Good budget directors will work with executive librarians out to ensure that a budget is responsive to constituents.
• Is the budget proposal balanced? The proposal for the year will reflect an increase, a decrease, or a status quo proposal - the librarian needs to be able to discuss the cause of any changes with the budgeting authority.
• Be ready to discuss changes both within the library and outside influences that may be driving changes in budget proposals.
• Decision makers will be most likely to approve budget proposals that are able to show balance between financing, spending, and performance.

Cautionary Tales

• Any lack of direct or frank responses to questions, or even the hint of holding back, will foster negative responses from budget authorities.
• Lack of preparation. Do not assume that wide public support will result in an easy proposal process, be ready for tough questions at every step.
• During the public presentation, know when to say that you don't know the answer and that you will get the answer to the budgeting authority as soon as possible.
• Be careful of committing to specific numbers in a public forum - if forced, offer a range and agree to follow up at a later date.
• If you know that you have opposition to your proposal ahead of time, avoid any type of confrontation. Ask your opponent to meet one on one at a later time to work out any concerns or reservations.

Best Practices for the Executive Librarian's Proposal

• Start your presentation with simple graphs and charts that anyone can understand - the lowest level of detail. You may have your whole proposal approved at a minimal level of discussion.
• Be prepared to add layers of detail should the need arise, but do not offer anything more than you have to. Work in stages with your detail and supporting materials.
• Dollar amount changes, year-over-year, with brief explanations of each line item that reflects a change.
• Service differences, year-over-year, with a similar level of detail to dollar changes.
• Staffing differences based on pay-grade with the same level of detail about changes year-over-year.
• A direct assessment of the changes and the forces driving the changes (dollars, services, staffing, and performance).
• If the questions require the next level of detail, if possible, try to refer them to the departmental Accountant or to the Assistant Librarian.
• If there are lots of questions, try to get the budget authority to send their questions, in writing, so that they may be answered with the level of detail they deserve - this puts the responsibility back on the questioners.
• Only offer what is needed AS it is needed. Offering too much information can tend to lengthen the questioning period.
• Remember, start with broad information and be ready to drill down, but at some point, the authority should be willing to move the questioning out of the public venue if it has many detailed questions.
• Be a good listener. Restate the questions to make sure that they are really what the authority wants to know.
• A good Budget Director will have worked with and coached the person making the proposal in advance, obviating many possible pitfalls.
• Know how to say NO. Keep the budgeting authority realistic and on track, some things just can not be done. Make a compromise offer of what you can do with the resources allocated and offer to report back periodically.
• A great deal of compromise may be required. Always remember that your ideal may not match perfectly with those of your budgeting authority.
• Positivity, no matter the circumstance, is critical
• Prepare and present a document that summarizes what the library is NOT doing or could be doing better. Use data from other systems and offer comparisons with similarly sized systems. Use per capita or per unit service comparisons to strengthen your arguments.

Do's & Don'ts in Making a Library Budget Presentation

From the Decision-Maker’s Perspective

• Once this executive-level presentation has been completed, the nature of the questions should be assessed and the next step will depend on the result of the assessment:

Don’t…

• Under-prepare. Do not assume that wide public support will result in an easy proposal process, be ready for tough questions at every step.
• Avoid giving a direct or frank response to questions. Even the hint of holding back will foster negative responses from budget authorities.
• Fake an answer! Know when to say that you don't know the answer and that you will get the answer to the budgeting authority as soon as possible.
• Commit to specific number in a public forum capriciously- if forced, offer a range and agree to follow up at a later date.
• Respond to confrontation publicly if you can help it. If you know that you have opposition to your proposal ahead of time, ask your opponent to meet one on one at a later time to work out any concerns or reservations.

Executive Librarians Speak

It’s easy to get caught up in the many details of budgeting, but for the Executive Librarian, the most important issues in successful budget proposal planning are community issues – how to best serve our constituents. Consider the following to ensure that you create and present a successful budget:

Never become so invested in the details of the budgeting process that you are caught off guard by a big-picture question.

Statistics, by themselves, do not tell the whole story:

Some years, there simply is NO money - no amount of pressure or support will be able to change this fact:

Be sure to demonstrate to the budgeting authority that you continuously strive for improvement, not just during tough times.

Best Practices from the Viewpoint of Executive Librarians

Within the Library Community:

• Forming panels of library administrators to advise on spending streams creates an environment of teamwork.
• Brown-bag budgeting sessions with senior team members can be very illuminating.
• Foster library ecosystem thinking among administrators - keep them thinking about the system as a whole, rather than focusing too closely on their own area of responsibility.
• Help administrators to think like the budgeting authority/decision makers: how will what you are proposing "pay off"?
• Look for opportunities to build cooperative purchasing agreements.

Outside the Library:

Utilize Friends groups:

• To teach patrons about the best ways to communicate with elected officials,
• To keep the public informed about the library's important events and organizational changes.

Utilize patrons:

Keep your budgeting authority up to date on what's happening at the library.

In some cases, early distribution of budget summary information (e.g. usage trending, connection to political priorities, etc.) can be very helpful.

• Maintain good relationships with your vendors.
• Library Trustees (especially those representing the governing body) are a critical way of keeping elected officials informed about the library.
• Request that the governing body include time in their regular meeting agenda each month for a report by the Library Director. This prevents the feeling that “the only time we ever hear from you is when you want something.”
• When times get tough, your vendors will appreciate knowing that they won't stay that way - things will improve.

If a cut has to be made, be prepared to do it.

10 Things I Know to be True about Budgeting for Libraries

• Budgeting is a year-round exercise. Decision makers need to hear about your services all year – not just when they’re voting on a new budget. It’s easier to get and hold their attention when they’re not being deluged.
• You can’t make responsible decisions without the right information. Decide what you need to know and collect that data. If you know you need to reduce hours, for example, find out what days and times you’re busiest with circulation, visits, phone calls and other electronic communication. And then think about the data your library should collect next year: what will you need to know to tell the library’s story?
• Budget staffs have long memories. Do not play fast and loose with the numbers. If you eliminate 5 FTE by cutting 10 hours of service, you can’t ask for 8 FTE to replace those hours in the future. The budget folks will remember and you will look like a bad manager at best and deceitful at worst.
• It’s easier to build up than tear down… and it helps you focus on the future. If you’re facing substantial cuts, make a list of all the resources the library will still have – buildings, staff, technology, collections. Then study your usage data and design a new library system with the available resources.
• We cannot afford irrelevant excellence. We all have those things our libraries do well that aren’t as important as they once were. It’s just human nature to want to do those things we’re comfortable with and good at. Have staff at all levels help you find and eliminate those programs or processes that no longer support your service plan and are draining your resources.
• Even in bad times, you are building for the future. It’s tempting to drastically cut or even eliminate training funds when times are bad. Don’t. You’ll need motivated, skilled staff to get through hard times and prepare for the future.
• A communication plan is essential. What will you tell staff, the library board, elected officials, the public about the budget … and when? What formats will you use? Who will speak for the library? People need to trust that you will tell them what you can, when you can.
• You need to think like your audience. Whether you’re justifying a budget request to elected officials or explaining service cuts to the high school parent-teacher association, you must consider your audience and recast the message to resonate with them. Remember, if a library’s materials budget is cut by 20% and circulation remains level, it will look to some people like a good business decision.
• It’s not always about the numbers. Nothing beats an anecdote from a constituent in making the case for your budget. Letters, emails, phone calls, testifying at a budget hearing – these are all opportunities for decision makers to hear what’s important to the community. Elected officials and other decision makers expect you to fight for the library’s budget. What will sway them is hearing from the public.
• You can’t say “thank you” too often. Even when your budget is being cut, make sure decision makers are thanked publicly for the difficult work they’re doing. At a time when they’re getting hammered from all sides, they will appreciate and remember positive words from your supporters.

Graphs to Tell the Story

Graphs can help us tell our library's story.

TREND Graphs show this library OVER TIME - are we getting better or worse?

COMPARISON Graphs show US VS. SIMILAR facilities or standards (at one point in time) - are we leading or falling behind?

• "similar" may be based on municipal population, service population, annual circulation transactions, geographic location
• local governments often want comparisons to neighbors, even though not "similar"
• standards may be State quantifiable standards

Create "Normalized" Statistics:

• Permit comparisons among libraries of different sizes (including ours if we've grown!)
• Personnel costs per FTE: shows what each full-time equivalent staff member costs in pay and benefits - so we don't have to be concerned with size of staff, how many are part-time, etc. (No matter how many hours we're open, the number of FTE's = total staff hours/40.)
• Are we over/under staffed? Circulation per FTE: shows how many circulation transactions each full-time equivalent staff member handles annually
• Cost per circ.: shows operating costs expended for each circulation transaction. (with or without personnel costs)
• Municipal allocation/Equalized Assessed Value: shows funding in relation to community wealth
• Municipal allocation per capita: shows funding per citizen.
• Municipal allocation plus State funding per circ.: compare to cost per circ to see shortfall

Determine Other Info Important to Our Audience: Funding besides municipal allocation (how are we doing at generating other revenues?), Population changes inside/outside of municipality, etc.

(Equalized Assessed Value is available from local, county or State government. All other info above is available from State's agency in charge of libraries.)

Group the statistics to make graphs with IMPACT!

TREND Graphs

• Support Graph (PDF) : municipal support per capita vs. per $1,000 in EAV (trend, last 5 years)

COMPARISON Graphs

• Facility Offerings Graph (PDF) : number of public access pc's, hours open per week, volumes of print material
• Circulation Graph (PDF) : circulation in various categories (Adult, Child, Total), along with cost per circulation transaction.
• Staffing and Pay Graph (PDF) : number of FTE's (Full-Time Equivalents) and total personnel costs per FTE

Other possibilities:

• Programs (COMPARISON or TREND) Graph: number of programs and total annual program attendance. Or, normalize to: number of programs per capita and attendance per program.
• Expenditures and Support (TREND) Graph: total operating and materials expenditures and municipal allocation (are they rising/falling together?)
• Summarize graph results in a box below each graph, so no one misses the message!

Remember: this info can also help in planning!

• At what point will we need more personnel? When our Circ/FTE gets too high…
• How much will another person cost? Use Personnel Cost/FTE to estimate…
• If circulation grows (due to expansion, population growth, etc.) how much will our expenses go up? Use Cost/Circ. (adjusting as necessary for personnel costs!)…..

Use the Right Data to Get Your Budget Passed!

Powerful data in your budget presentation can pave the way to support from your funding sources. It can tell your story – where you have been, where you are now, and where you hope to go with library services in your community. It can give them reasons to support your efforts, and ways to justify this to constituents. Some things to consider:

• The Public Library Association prepares an annual report with extensive data on library services ( www.pla.org ). Information includes annual funding and expenditures, collection size and services, etc. for a large sample of libraries in the U.S. and Canada.
• Many states collect similar data through their library oversight departments and make it available to the public – for example, Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction has annual data going back many years for every library in the state, available in Excel format on their website. Even if your library is not in Wisconsin, this information can show how libraries of various sizes serve their communities.
• More local data may also be available from your library consortium or city and county library service.
• Don’t forget non-library data! You may want to compare your library’s budget requests to cost of living increases or discuss how rising unemployment drives increased need for your services, etc.
• Consider presenting information on the market value of your library’s services to the community. Check out: www.maine.gov/msl/services/customcal.htm to see what a bargain libraries are!
• Here is an example of a chart that would give some perspective on how the “Presenting Library” stacks up to others on key indicators (data from PLDS Statistical Report 2009, for libraries serving population of 25,000 to 49,999). Note how we have provided the conclusion that we’d like drawn from the information presented:

As this chart shows, high materials expenditure achieves exceptional circulation. Yet total expenditure and FTE's are responable.

• Wisconsin, for example, has Quantitative Standards for Materials Expenditures, Hours Open, etc. based on population served. Any library anywhere could measure itself against such standards.
• A chart or graph that demonstrates meeting or exceeding many standards while failing at others can be a powerful way to support funding for those areas.
• You can compare your library to those in similarly-sized communities or those with similar circulation.
• Budgeting authorities are often especially interested in how your library compares to those in neighboring communities.
• Restating total Materials Expenditures into Materials Expenditures per Capita makes it possible to compare libraries serving different sized populations.
• Restating total Operating Expenditures into Operating Expenditures per Circulation enables you to show how economically you deliver your services (or use it to support a request for funding for efficiency improvements, like self-service kiosks).
• Funders concerned with your personnel costs may be reassured by seeing your Staff Costs per Circulation, or FTE per Public Service Hour compared to those of similarly-sized libraries.
• Finally, remember that all this data can do more than just directly support your budget request. It can also help you to gain the perspective (which you can also share with funding authorities and patrons) that will enable your library to continually monitor its performance and strive to improve its services to the community.

Citizen Support- Rallying Stakeholders Around the Library

It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t believe in libraries. Getting people to raise their voices in support of the library is another story. Rallying stakeholder support is a powerful tool in passing library budgets, keeping libraries open and keeping a library’s value to the community highly visible.

There are several ways to bring individual citizens and constituent groups out in support of the library and plenty of things stakeholders can do to apply critical pressure on the library’s behalf.

• Grassroots advocacy efforts are one of the oldest and most effective tools for persuading decision-makers. Libraries of all sizes should have Advocacy Committees made up of citizens from every neighborhood.
• The Advocacy Committee should meet with the Library Director and be educated on all aspects of the library’s budget, library needs, the budgeting cycle and all of the library’s sources of funding. An advocate who knows what they’re talking about is really powerful.
• Anyone speaking in public on the library’s behalf should have talking points and fast facts about the library and its budget needs.
• Supporting the library’s budget isn’t just the task of an Advocacy Committee. Library supporters from all neighborhoods should be encouraged to attend public meetings and budget hearings and, if appropriate, give testimony.
• Central and branch libraries should post notices about budget hearings and public meetings that focus on library issues.
• Even if citizens don’t speak at public meetings, their presence is valuable. A self-identified group of library supporters carries a strong message: “I’m a library supporter…and I vote.” This is what decision-makers need to see and hear.
• Buttons abound…libraries across the country have developed buttons for getting their message across. Wearing a button that tells anyone and everyone that you are a library supporter spreads the word quickly and pervasively.
• Constituent groups served by the library can form a strong advocacy group. Teenagers who use the library for homework help can learn about the civic process by testifying on their library’s behalf, or by meeting with their elected official (make sure they’re prepared!). Seniors who view the library as the go-to place for life-long learning are often eager to speak up for the library. New Americans have powerful, emotional stories to tell about how the library impacts their lives and the importance of supporting the library’s budget.
• Working with the media is another powerful tool to encourage support of a library’s budget. Press releases, Letters to the Editor, Op-Ed pieces focusing on facts and impact are great ways to garner support for the library and its needs.
• Choose well-known, respected community leaders to write or speak on the library’s budget. (For an excellent example of “two mayors” speaking on behalf of a library’s budget, read the Viewpoints article from the Saint Paul Pioneer Press (PDF) .
• Keeping information about the library and how it supports the community should be an ongoing priority…not just when the budget is on the table.

Making the Budget Presentation- Do's & Don'ts

Budget presentation 101 and beyond.

Considering that your budget presentation is an opportunity both to improve your audience’s understanding of library operations and to achieve passage of your funding request, a well-designed presentation is well worth the work!

Let’s assume that you will be presenting your budget request in person and have decided to do so via a handout and a PowerPoint presentation. Here are suggestions for a basic presentation, then how to “rise above” that level for a more powerful presentation. There is also a PowerPoint template showing, slide-by-slide, how to structure your presentation to maximize your audience’s understanding and support.

At a minimum, your budget presentation should…

• Start (both the hand-out and the Power Point) with the Library’s Mission Statement, to remind your audience of the library’s purpose and role in the community.
• Current Budget
• Current Year’s Projected (or Actual, if the entire year’s transactions are already known) revenue and expenses.
• Next Year’s Budget (the one you’re submitting for funding)
• Then, two columns for “Change in $$” and “Change as a %.” There is some variation in how this is done, but it is recommend that you compare Next Year’s Budget to Current Year’s Projected, as this is more current than the budget created a year ago.
• Then, you will need some analysis of these figures. The most basic way to do this is to group revenue and expenditure accounts, such as Personnel (salaries, wages, benefits), Materials/ Programming (books, periodicals, speaker fees), etc. Then discuss your budget rationale for each group, for example, “Health insurance premiums increased 14%, but we plan to reduce hours and freeze wages so we can hold Personnel costs steady for next year.”

Following these steps would constitute a bare minimum presentation. This may be sufficient but it can waste an opportunity to showcase your achievements or garner support for your challenges!

Let’s expand our presentation –so that it stimulates the response we seek – better understanding and stronger support.

To start on this path, carefully determine one or two key messages you would like to convey to your audience related to this budget . For example, you may wish to show how the community has increased its demand and response to Library programming. Or, you may wish to convey that limited funding has left you with stale collections that are of diminishing value to the community.

• Your library can’t do everything for everyone, and your funding authority has multiple demands on it, as well. Focusing your presentation on a couple of issues can make it possible to reach a consensus on what is most important in your budget request.

Next, you’ll need to decide how to get those messages across to your audience.

• show increases in numbers of programs offered per capita and numbers of attendees, both for just your library over some period of time
• compare your library’s programs (numbers or, perhaps, variety)and cost per capita to those of similar libraries.
• Finally, you would show exactly how your proposed budget will enable you to improve this service (e.g., another weekly story hour costs $1,000/yr).
• compare your collections (size, age) to those of similar libraries or accepted standards
• compare materials expenditures and annual circulation per capita, either to those of similar libraries or for just your library over a period of time (or both!).
• Finally, you would show (again) exactly how your proposed budget will enable you to make the improvements you seek (e.g., 3-year plan to update geography reference materials at $5,000/yr).
• See the Using Comparative Data and the Graphs to Tell the Story sections of this website for more ideas.
• Consider a brief handout that gives a snapshot of your library for the past year. This handout is a good take-away for your audience to be able to think about what the library has accomplished in the past year in a succinct format.
• As you think about how best to convey your message, remember your audience. Consider how much time will you have, how comfortable they may be with numbers/charts/graphs, whether they are likely to be overwhelmed if you provide too much data or suspicious if you provide not enough, etc. In general, limit the number of PowerPoint slides, and keep each one “short and sweet.”
• Note that the beauty of this “message” approach is that your presentations will offer a fresh perspective from year to year as your messages change, enabling you to build over time a fuller understanding within your audience of the library’s services and needs.

Finally, remember to maintain an upbeat, “can do” attitude throughout your presentation. Keep in mind the Mission Statement and the community you serve. If presentation is done at a public meeting, you should have encouraged Friends, etc. to attend to demonstrate support for the Library’s service to the community. Whatever response you get from your funding authority, be sure to thank them for their attention.

Check out the PowerPoint Budget Presentation to view a template for structuring your budget presentation.

Qualities of A Successful Budget Presentation

Best practices for budget presentations.

• Be ready to answer the most unexpected of questions (e.g. “What could you do with half of that?”).
• Understand that the budget details, about which you care deeply, will never be as important to the budget authority; accept this and figure out what is important to its members.
• Remember that your presentation has to be layered – the budget authority might approve your proposal without a single question, having only seen the executive summary.
• Remember that you better have a second (and possibly a third) layer of detail to present to your budget authority. They just might have a lot of questions for you.
• Avoid any kind of public confrontation – agree to meet personally with a questioner who isn’t satisfied with your answer.
• Do not commit to a specific number in an open forum; if you’re backed into a corner, agree to a range or to discuss it at a follow up meeting.
• Balance is the key for budget authorities who are accountable to voters – if financing, spending, and performance are balanced, your budget will appeal to everyone.
• Know that people who work with numbers for a living want to see how things compare with other things (e.g. year-over-year, per capita performance, increase of total services, etc.); give them what they want.
• Use whatever tools you need to get your message across, but be sure that your message gets through. Graphs and charts, PowerPoint presentations and executive summaries are great visual aids, but if your message is muddled the process of approval will be unnecessarily complicated.

Main Street Library At a Glance

PowerPoint for Main Street Library

Description and Purpose of Activity

The Main Street Public Library strengthens community, supports literacy, provides access to information, and fosters lifelong learning and enrichment.

Library activities include selecting, purchasing, cataloging, processing and circulating books, magazines, newspapers, audiobooks, DVDs and music CDs for the use of the community. Library staff members strive to fully answer requests for information and to locate needed items and articles. They actively participate in community efforts to improve literacy by offering programs for all ages, particularly pre-school children and their caregivers. The Library is also a place where free access to the Internet and computing is available. The Library provides outreach bookmobile service to daycares and other stops within the City and offers a large number of electronic resource subscriptions.

Accomplishments & Highlights 2009

• Increased service levels, experiencing the busiest days in the library’s history, following a trend that began in 2007.
• Working with the local work force center, developed a Business and Employment Resource Area in the library. The collection for this Resource Area was provided with the assistance of the Friends of the Library.
• Replaced furniture in the Teen area with assistance from the Friends of the Library. Finished repainting Teen area and added display shelving and slat wall (end cap display) in many places throughout the library.
• Continued to gather information (particularly related to fundraising) and plan for a library expansion.

Initiatives in 2010

• Continue to implement the steps outlined in the 2008-2012 Library Long-Range Plan; evaluate progress towards goals and revise as needed. Major goals of the plan are: foster lifelong learning support information literacy and collaboration; the library as a welcoming, accessible and convenient public gathering place; diverse collections of print, media and electronic resources; information related to work and employment, school, business and personal life; developing a library facility that will support the services the Main Street Library community needs
• Cut county bookmobile stops and proportionately reduce bookmobile staff hours accordingly.
• Cut Sunday hours in order to reduce staff expenditures.
• Celebrate the centennial of the Carnegie Library Building.
• Continue to contribute substantially to the economic vitality of the community.

Once the Budget Presentation Is Over

• Once your budget has been approved, the cycle begins again. There are steps you should take to smooth the way for the next budgeting process.
• Say “Thank you!” to decision-makers who have been part of the budgeting process. Call or write and let them know that you appreciate their time and consideration of your library’s needs.
• Thank your Advocacy Committee members and other volunteers and stakeholders for their support of your library in the budgeting process.
• Let your staff know your appreciation for their efforts in creating your library’s budget. Share any specific feedback you may have received from decision-makers.
• Debrief the process with your staff. What went well? What could have made the process more efficient? What should you change in the next budgeting process?
• Begin again the ongoing progress of scanning the community to monitor needs, priorities, challenges and opportunities for providing service. Keep a budget file that you add notes to that will help inform the next budgeting process.
• If you are requested to come back with a revised budget, respond quickly. You should always go into a budget presentation with a “Plan B” in the event that your budget doesn’t receive approval.
• Budgeting can be a stressful process. When your presentation is over, celebrate your efforts with your staff so that everyone feels they’ve participated in a good team effort.

Budgeting Best Practices

Best practices for creating a successful budget.

• The library budget is the result of local money funding an important local function. Remind your budgeting authority how its library returns value to the community and aligns with the community’s priorities during every budget cycle (and at every other opportunity).
• A community’s priorities are the priorities of the community’s library – library patrons and their elected officials need to know exactly how everyone benefits by supporting this community asset. Patrons (voters) need to let politicians know that they support libraries. Politicians will gain votes using the same message to voters.
• Understand how to use comparative data (from similar library communities or against your own library’s historical data) that support your budget narrative. Have a strong understanding of contemporary and past budget events in your community; learn how to use statistical trends to support your arguments.
• Your profession is collegial and filled with people who love learning and helping others – remember there are many librarians out there who are willing to share their experiences with you. Your greatest resource for budgeting advice could be your professional colleagues.
• Work with the community’s representatives – board members, Trustees, Friends groups, and elected officials. Whether the economy is waxing or waning, these groups support and care about libraries and will help you to align the budget with the community’s priorities.
• Budgeting is a year-round practice that requires constant attention; teach staff members and non-staff supporters always to keep their eyes open for opportunities to fine-tune the processes and efficiencies of your library.
• The community’s library is always about the future of the community – your budget proposal relates directly to the youth of your community.
• Always keep your message positive - be ready and willing to compromise.
• You have multitudes of patrons who will never set foot in your library (accessing the library’s resources via the Internet). Figure out creative ways for reaching these cyber-patrons to ask for their support.

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