Answers
What has to be in an annual review deck?
Short answer: An annual review deck is six pages minimum: the year in one page (what changed and by how much), three evidence pages (what worked, what did not, what the numbers say), a miss page that names what failed without softening it, and a next-year page with three commitments and their measures. Anything else is appendix.
Which pages are non-negotiable?
The year-in-one-page is non-negotiable because it is the only page everyone reads. It carries the headline number, the single biggest change, and the sentence that explains why the year went the way it did.
The miss page is non-negotiable because a review that reports only wins is not a review — it is a press release. Name the target that was missed, the reason, and what changed as a result. Boards and teams trust the rest of the deck more when the miss page is honest.
The next-year page is non-negotiable because a review that ends in the past has no forward edge. Three commitments, each with a measure and an owner, is enough.
What does the evidence section look like?
Three pages, one question each: what worked and why (with the number), what did not work and what it cost, and what the numbers say that the narrative does not. The third page is the one that changes minds, because it is where the review contradicts its own story.
Each evidence page should carry one chart and no more. Two charts on one page means neither is being interpreted.
How do you present a miss without losing the room?
State the miss in the same format as the wins: target, actual, gap, cause, and the change made. Symmetry is what makes it credible — if misses get a paragraph of excuses and wins get a number, the deck reads as advocacy.
Do not put the miss on the last page. A miss buried after the appendix reads as concealment; a miss on page four, in the same format as everything else, reads as management.
Annual review checklist
- Year in one page: headline number, biggest change, why
- What worked, with the number and the cause
- What did not work, with what it cost
- What the numbers say that the narrative does not
- Miss page: target, actual, gap, cause, change made
- Next year: three commitments, each with a measure and an owner
- Appendix: segment detail, cohort tables, assumptions
The pack that ships these page types.
Individual at $39, Team · 5 seats at $199, 3-pack bundle at $99. Every pack is a native PPTX with typed slots, a fill prompt and the fill gates.
Browse the Editorial Navy Deck Kit column or read how a pack is filled, end to end.
Questions this page gets asked.
How many pages should an annual review deck be?
Six to ten argument pages plus an appendix. The year-in-one-page, three evidence pages, a miss page and a next-year page are the minimum; more pages are justified only when they carry a number the argument needs.
Should the annual review deck and the board deck share pages?
They can share the KPI wall and the trend pages, but not the framing. A board deck asks for a decision; an annual review explains a year that has already happened.
Where does the miss page go?
Immediately after the evidence pages and before the next-year page — in the flow of the argument, in the same format as the wins, not appended at the end.
Where the facts on this page come from.
Catalogue snapshot: 2026-10-24.
More answers on this kind of deck.
Next
Tell us what you need to produce.
We send the pack, the licence terms and a sample built from your own material.