Webbo3 Power BI · Cohort 1 · Day 16 of 16
Day 16: Pod Presentations
Ten minutes in front of the client. Everything you built in three weeks, explained so that someone who is not a data person can act on it.
By the end of today you can
- Structure a ten-minute presentation around the client's questions
- Demonstrate a live Power BI report without getting lost in it
- Answer questions from the report, and say "I will check" when you should
- Know exactly how the presentation is marked
- Know what to do with your work after the course
A report nobody understands is a report nobody uses. Today your pod stands up and turns a .pbix file into a decision.
Your tutor plays Mrs Folake Adeyemi, the owner of Jade Hotels & Resorts. Each pod has ten minutes to present and five minutes for her questions. The other pods watch, and each gives one piece of feedback.
1. The Structure
Definition
A client presentation answers the client's questions first, then proves the answers, then tells her what to do. It is not a tour of everything you built.
Real-Life Example
A doctor does not start with every test she ran. She says "you have a mild infection", shows you the result that proves it, and tells you what to take. The tests are there if you ask.
| Minutes | What happens | Who (by seat) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 1 | Who we are, and her two questions in her own words | Story (9 or 10) |
| 1 to 3 | The two answers, in one sentence each, with a naira figure | Story (9 or 10) |
| 3 to 7 | Live demo: the Overview, then Festive Season, then Channels | Report (7 or 8), Measures (5 or 6) |
| 7 to 9 | How we know: the data, the cleaning, the model, in plain words | Data (1 or 2), Model (3 or 4) |
| 9 to 10 | What we recommend, and one thing we would look at next | Story (9 or 10) |
Picture the doctor: the answer first, the proof second, the advice last.
2. The Live Demo
- Open the file before you start. Power BI takes time to open; do it while the previous pod is finishing.
- Start every page with nothing selected. Clear the slicers before you present.
- Say what you will click, then click it. "Now I choose Festive on the slicer, and watch the revenue per day."
- Point at one number at a time. The client cannot read the whole page while you talk.
- Have a screenshot of every page in case the laptop or the projector fails. It happens.
Unless she asks. The client wants the answer, not the formula. If she asks how you worked something out, one sentence in plain words, then back to the page.
3. Answering the Client
These are the questions Mrs Adeyemi is most likely to ask, with the kind of answer that earns full marks. Your numbers must come from your own report; these come from the course data.
"So, did the festive season pay?"
Yes. Over the 24 festive days the hotels earned ₦3,231,292 a day in room revenue, against ₦1,669,809 a day for the rest of the year, about 1.9 times as much. The resorts gained the most. (Then show the Festive Season page.)
"Which booking channel costs us the most?"
Booking.com. It kept ₦21,764,550 in commission over the year, the most of any channel. Across all channels, commission was ₦48,922,660 of ₦646,956,000 room revenue, 7.6%. (Then show the Channels page.)
"Should we stop using the booking sites?"
Not without knowing whether those guests would come another way. We recommend pushing direct bookings, which pay no commission and brought ₦208,826,000 this year, and renegotiating the rate with the most expensive site, before dropping anyone.
"Why is this number different from my accountant's?"
Our report counts only Confirmed bookings, at the nightly rate on the booking, by check-in date. If the accountant counts payments received, or by check-out date, the totals will differ. We can check the difference with them.
"What would you look at next?"
Something the data suggests but does not prove, for example whether cancellations are higher on one channel, or how full each hotel is compared with its number of rooms.
"I do not know, and I will check it and send you the answer today" is a full-marks answer. A guess that turns out wrong is not. Write the question down in front of her.
4. How It Is Marked
The Pod Project is marked out of 100 (the brief has the full table). The presentation is 15 of those marks, judged like this:
| What the tutor looks for | Marks |
|---|---|
| Both questions answered in the first three minutes, with figures | 5 |
| A clear live demo: the right page, the right click, one number at a time | 4 |
| Every member speaks about their own part | 3 |
| Questions answered from the report, or honestly deferred | 3 |
5. Giving Feedback to Another Pod
Each pod gives one piece of feedback to the pod before it. Use this pattern, and keep it to thirty seconds:
- One thing that worked, specifically: "The per-day festive comparison was clear."
- One thing to try, specifically: "The channel chart had six colours; one colour would read faster."
6. After the Course
- Your portfolio. You now have three projects: Webbo Oil, PayLink and Jade Hotels. Take a screenshot of your best page from each and put them in one document, with two sentences on what each shows.
- Share it. Post your Jade Hotels overview page and tag Webbo3. Recruiters look for Power BI work they can see.
- Keep practising. Find a public dataset you care about (football, weather, food prices) and build one page a week.
- Your marks. Your tutor marks the three assignments and both projects; ask them about your certificate once everything is marked.
Tick Before You Move On
- ☐ My pod knows who says what, minute by minute
- ☐ Our .pbix is open and every slicer is cleared before we start
- ☐ We have a screenshot of every page in case the projector fails
- ☐ I can explain the part I built in thirty seconds
- ☐ I know the two answers, with their figures, by heart
Quick Recap
Answer the client's questions first, then prove them, then recommend. Demo slowly: say the click, make the click, point at one number. Answer from the report, or say you will check. Every member speaks; feedback is one thing that worked and one to try. Three projects are now your Power BI portfolio.
Final Scenario
Three weeks ago you opened Power BI Desktop for the first time and could not find the Get Data button.
Today you told a hotel owner that her festive season earns about 1.9 times as much per day, that Booking.com keeps the most commission, and what to do about it, and you could show her the cleaning step, the relationship and the measure behind every number.
That is what a data analyst does. Well done.
This is the last lesson of Webbo3 Power BI Cohort 1. Go back to Start Here any time to find a dataset or a lesson again.