Reporting · 8 slides
A steering committee presentation reports status to the people who decide on budget, scope and dates, and asks them for decisions. This template has eight slides: a status headline, key figures, the schedule, a budget bridge, workstream status, risks and issues, and the decisions you need today.
For program and project managers, PMO leads and sponsors who report to a steering committee on a project with a budget, milestones and open decisions.
8 slides
What each slide has to achieve and what to put on it. Scroll through, or open the deck and present it.
Committee members see many decks. The title says which program this is, which meeting it belongs to and how current the figures are.
The committee has little time. One slide with the overall status, the main reason and the decisions means a member who reads only this slide knows what is asked of them.
Four numbers answer the questions every committee asks first: are we on schedule, on budget and on track to deliver, and what is open.
Members decide by dates. A bar per site, phase or release with today marked shows what is done, what slipped and what is still ahead.
A total overrun invites a debate about the total. A bridge from budget to forecast shows what it is made of, so the committee argues about items and not about the sum.
A status table shows where to ask questions without reading a report. Each row ties a status to a next milestone and a named person.
Committees exist to help with what the team cannot solve alone. This slide lists only the critical items, so help can be offered the same day.
A steering committee that leaves without decisions has only listened. The last slide turns the status into questions the committee can answer yes or no.
Brief
Copy the brief or open it straight in the editor. Replace the highlighted parts with your own facts, or attach your files and the numbers come from them.
Create an 8-slide steering committee presentation for [the steering committee of a warehouse system rollout at Fernhill Retail Group], meeting date [28 October 2026]. Slide 1: title with the program and the date. Slide 2: status headline: [amber, 68% complete against 71% planned], with the two decisions needed. Slide 3: four key figures: [progress 68%, forecast €7.3m against a €6.4m budget, 2 of 4 centers live, 3 open critical issues]. Slide 4: a schedule by site [list the sites and go-live dates], with today marked. Slide 5: a budget bridge from budget to forecast with each variance: [returns +€0.5m, carrier link +€0.3m, hypercare +€0.2m, license deal −€0.1m]. Slide 6: a status table by workstream with red, amber or green, next milestone and owner. Slide 7: the critical issues and the main risk with impact, next step and owner. Slide 8: the decisions needed, written as yes or no questions, and the date of the next meeting. Use action titles and a restrained black and white style. Use only the figures I give you and mark anything you had to assume.
Members who read the status in advance spend the meeting on decisions. A deck read for the first time in the room gets questions about the figures instead of the choices.
Put what you need on slide 2 and repeat it on the last slide. The committee's time is the scarcest resource in the project, so do not spend it on what happened last month.
A committee can approve or reject, it cannot design. Offer a recommended option, the alternative and the consequence of each, and say which you prefer.
Amber once is information, amber for the third meeting in a row is a decision. Add the status of the last meeting as a small label next to the current one.
A forecast that finance disputes in the room costs the whole meeting. Reconcile figures beforehand and print the date of the data on the slide.
FAQ
Lead with the status and the decisions you need. Then show key figures, the schedule, budget against forecast, status by workstream and the critical risks and issues. Eight slides cover it. Keep detail for an appendix and show the committee only what is off plan.
It decides what the project lead cannot decide alone: changes to budget, scope or deadline beyond the lead's limits, conflicts between departments, go or no-go at stage gates and the response to critical risks. It does not run the project; that stays with the project lead.
A status report informs and can be read on its own. A steering committee presentation prepares decisions, so it is shorter, leads with status and the decisions needed, and shows only exceptions: variances, critical issues and risks. Keep the full detail in the status report.
Eight slides or fewer. Plan 30 to 45 minutes for the meeting and keep at least half of it for discussion and decisions. If the status needs more than ten minutes to present, send it in advance and open the meeting with the decisions.
Yes. Upload your company's .pptx and the AI builds the committee slides, from the status headline and key figures to the budget bridge and the decisions, in that file's fonts and colors. The result is an editable PowerPoint file made of ordinary text boxes, shapes and tables.
No. Fernhill Retail Group, the people and all figures are fictional. The arithmetic is consistent: a budget of €6.4m plus €0.5m, €0.3m and €0.2m minus €0.1m gives a forecast of €7.3m, which is €0.9m or 14% over budget.
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