Hartley Uniforms
Sales by region slide with four regions on vertical bars
Bars are for comparing things that sit side by side, and the first decision on a regional sales slide is what order to put them in. This one shows two quarters for four regions at Hartley Uniforms, a fictional workwear supplier, sorted so the weak region lands last.
What is on the slide
- Headline
- Sales by Region, with the framing line naming Western as the region worth the conversation.
- Eastern
- Q1 $810k, Q2 $890k.
- Northern
- Q1 $620k, Q2 $690k.
- Central
- Q1 $540k, Q2 $580k.
- Western
- Q1 $330k, Q2 $310k, the only region that fell.
- Chart
- Two series of vertical bars per region, an axis in thousands and a two item legend.
When this is the right slide
Vertical bars work when categories are few, the values share a unit, and the reader needs to rank them by eye without reading every label.
What to swap it for
Context: World Map with Regional Callouts. Swap to the world map with callouts when the regions are countries and the geography is part of what the audience needs to see.
What this slide shows
A headline reads Sales by Region with one framing sentence underneath, then a full width bar chart. Four categories run across the bottom in descending order of quarter one sales: Eastern, Northern, Central and Western. Each category has two bars, quarter one in the theme's brand colour and quarter two in the secondary, with a legend under the plot naming both. Values run from $890k at the top of Eastern's second quarter down to $310k at the bottom of Western's, and the vertical axis is labelled in thousands with a light grid behind the bars. Every bar starts at zero. The only region where the second bar is shorter than the first is Western, which the framing sentence has already named, so the eye confirms a claim it has been told rather than hunting for one.
Who this slide is for and when to use it
A sales meeting, a quarterly review or a board pack where territory performance is one section of several. The strength of the layout is that eight numbers can be compared without anyone reading a table. It has two limits worth knowing. Four categories with two series each is comfortable, and eight categories with four series each is a forest: at that point a small multiple, with one chart per region, communicates better. The second limit is that bars are poor at showing a trend. Two quarters is a comparison, six quarters is a trend, and a trend belongs on a line chart where the shape does the work rather than on sixteen bars.
How to adapt it
First, decide the sort order from the message. Largest to smallest suits a ranking, worst to best suits a turnaround discussion, and a fixed geographic order suits a slide that will be rebuilt every quarter and compared with its predecessor. Second, keep the zero baseline whatever the sort. Bars are read by length, so a truncated axis does more damage here than on a line chart. Third, when the regions are countries rather than internal territories, consider whether the geography carries meaning the bars cannot. A world map with regional callouts shows adjacency and reach, which matters for a distribution story and does not matter at all for four internal sales territories. If the point is the split of one total rather than the comparison of four, a share chart is the better shape. Whatever order you settle on, write the framing sentence after the chart is built rather than before, because the sentence should name the finding the bars actually show and a claim written in advance tends to survive into the deck after the numbers have moved.
What makes this slide work
The sort order is a decision, not a default
Regions run largest to smallest by quarter one, so the reader travels down the ranking and arrives at Western last. Alphabetical order would have put Central first and buried the finding in the middle of the chart. When the audience has to find the story themselves, the sort order is what decides whether they do.
Two quarters, side by side, not stacked
Grouping Q1 and Q2 bars lets the reader compare periods within a region and regions within a period from the same picture. Stacking them would have shown a half year total and hidden the fall in Western, which is the one movement on the slide that changes what anyone does next.
The framing line names the finding
Western is the region worth the conversation appears under the headline, so the slide states its own conclusion instead of leaving four regions and an implied question. The chart still carries the evidence, and a reader who disagrees can see the other three regions and argue with the claim directly.
Questions people ask
How should bars be ordered on a regional sales slide?
By value, unless there is a reason not to. Largest to smallest lets the reader rank by position rather than by measuring bar heights, and it puts the weakest region at the end where a presenter can land on it. Keep alphabetical or geographic order only when the same slide is rebuilt each period for direct comparison.
Grouped bars or stacked bars?
Grouped, when the two periods are being compared. Stacking answers a different question, which is what the two periods add up to, and it hides a fall inside a taller total. This slide groups Q1 and Q2 so that Western's decline is visible as a shorter second bar rather than absorbed into a half year column.
How many regions fit on one bar chart?
Four to eight categories, and fewer as you add series. Four regions with two quarters gives eight bars, which is comfortable. Eight regions with four quarters gives thirty two bars and no one reads them. When a chart gets that dense, split it into small multiples or show the top and bottom three with a note about the rest.
Should the values be labelled on the bars?
Not usually. The axis plus the framing sentence carries enough precision for a comparison slide, and labels on sixteen bars add clutter that competes with the shapes. If exact values matter to the audience, the honest answer is a table, because they will want to read them in a column rather than off the top of a bar.
When should this become a map?
When the regions are countries or territories whose position on the earth is part of the argument, such as expansion or distribution reach. Internal territories named Eastern and Western gain nothing from a map, and a map costs the reader the ability to compare two quarters, which is the whole purpose of this slide.
Can the same chart show a target?
Yes, as a third series, but check that the bars stay readable. Three bars per region across four regions is twelve bars and close to the limit. A cleaner option for target tracking is a scorecard table with plan, actual and variance columns, which handles targets as numbers rather than as a third shape competing for space.
Build your own in about a minute
The button below opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own, generate, then edit anything you like.
Make one like thisOther slide examples
Competitor benchmark slide drawn as a radar on six axes
A radar chart is persuasive and easy to rig, so the honest version scores every competitor on the same axes with the same method and says what the method was. This one benchmarks Pulse Payroll, a fictional payroll product, against two fictional rivals on six axes scored by the same ten payroll managers.
SaaS KPI slide example with eight numbers on one wall
A SaaS KPI slide has to let a board read the quarter in about twenty seconds, so the work is choosing the eight numbers, not arranging them. This one belongs to Lumen Ledger, a fictional bookkeeping product, and every tile carries a figure plus the line of context that stops it being read the wrong way.
Market share slide drawn as a donut with five slices
A market share slide is honest when the slices add to the whole market and dishonest the moment a category is quietly left out. This one covers a fictional regional pet insurance market, with four named insurers and every remaining company folded into one slice that is labelled as such.
Want the steps in the builder? Read Add charts, maps and diagrams to slides, then Change your presentation's theme, fonts and colours. For everything this generator can do, see the slide maker.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .