Northgate Council digital forms rollout
Hero number slide built on one figure, 3,400 hours saved
A hero number slide works when one figure is the whole point and everything else on the canvas would dilute it. This one carries 3,400 staff hours saved a year at Northgate Council, a fictional local government, with the measurement spelled out underneath so the number cannot be waved away.
What is on the slide
- Eyebrow
- NORTHGATE COUNCIL, with the framing line noting one year after 38 paper forms moved online, measured against the 2025 baseline.
- The number
- 3,400, filling the upper half of a brand filled canvas.
- Label
- Staff Hours Saved a Year.
- Method
- Counted across 38 forms that used to be rekeyed by hand, at six minutes a lodgement and 34,000 lodgements a year.
When this is the right slide
One number carries a slide when the figure is surprising on its own and the audience will remember nothing else from the minute you spend on it.
What to swap it for
Metrics: Hero Stat + Narrative. Swap to the hero stat with narrative when the context needs a paragraph, for example when the measurement method has to be defended in the room.
What this slide shows
The whole canvas is filled with the theme's brand colour and carries four pieces of text. At the top, a small uppercase eyebrow reads NORTHGATE COUNCIL. Under it, a single framing sentence says the measurement is one year after 38 paper forms moved online, against the 2025 baseline. The figure 3,400 then fills the upper half of the slide at display size, with the label Staff Hours Saved a Year centred beneath it, and the method line under that: 38 forms that used to be rekeyed by hand, six minutes a lodgement, 34,000 lodgements a year. The slide has no chart, no icon and no secondary statistic, and the page number in the footer is the only other mark on it. Because the layout fills the canvas with brand colour, the text sits in the reversed colour of the theme rather than in the usual ink, which is a per slide colour mode rather than a change to the deck.
Who this slide is for and when to use it
It suits a moment rather than a document. A council briefing, a conference talk, an all hands, or the opening of a results section, where the presenter wants one figure to land and be remembered. It is a poor slide for a pre read, because a reader flicking through a PDF gets one number and no argument, and it is a poor slide for a board pack where every claim needs a plan and an actual. The other failure mode is using it for a number that is not surprising. Three thousand four hundred hours is worth a full canvas because it is larger than most people would guess; a figure the audience could have estimated themselves belongs in a tile on a wall of eight.
How to adapt it
First, choose the unit your audience budgets in. A council thinks in staff hours, a hospital in bed days, a retailer in dollars per store, and the same underlying saving reads as bigger or smaller depending on which one you pick. Second, keep the method line even when it costs you elegance. The temptation with a hero number is to let the figure stand alone, and the result is a slide that cannot survive a question. Third, add the comparison only if it is short. Against the 2025 baseline is eight words and earns its place; a full before and after would not fit, and that story belongs in a two panel layout where each side gets its own figure. If the context genuinely needs a paragraph, move to the hero stat with narrative layout, which keeps the number large and gives the explanation a column of its own.
What makes this slide work
The arithmetic is on the slide
Six minutes multiplied by 34,000 lodgements is 204,000 minutes, which is 3,400 hours. Both inputs sit under the figure, so a sceptical reader can check the claim in their head during the pause after it appears. A hero number with no visible method invites the question that derails the next three slides.
The number is a count, not a percentage
Hours are concrete, divisible and easy to convert into what the council cares about: staff time returned to other work. A percentage improvement would have been smaller on the page and harder to act on. The label names the unit and the period in four words, Staff Hours Saved a Year, so nobody has to ask whether it is a monthly figure.
Nothing competes with it
The canvas is brand filled with the figure occupying the upper half, one label, one method line and one framing sentence. There is no chart, no second statistic and no logo lockup. That is what makes the layout work at the back of a room and what makes it fail the moment a second number is added beside it.
Questions people ask
When does one number deserve a whole slide?
When it is surprising, when it is the conclusion rather than the evidence, and when you are speaking rather than sending. A number the audience could have guessed does not earn the canvas. A number that reframes the discussion does, and the pause after it appears is part of the design, which is why nothing else is on the slide.
Should a hero number show the method?
Yes, in one line. This slide gives six minutes a lodgement and 34,000 lodgements, so the figure can be checked without a handout. Without that line the first question is always how the number was produced, and answering it verbally costs more attention than printing it would have. Keep the method to inputs, not to a methodology paragraph.
Is a percentage or a count better?
A count when the base is small or unfamiliar, a percentage when the base is large and well known. Hours saved is a count because staff time is what the audience allocates. A 14% efficiency gain would be true and forgettable. If you use a percentage, name the base in the same breath, since a percentage without its denominator is not a measurement.
Can two numbers share a hero slide?
Not on this layout, and usually not at all. Two large figures split attention and neither is remembered. If two numbers must appear together, use a two panel layout where each gets half the canvas and its own label, which is a different slide with a different job: comparison rather than emphasis.
How long should you stay on a slide like this?
Long enough to read it twice, which is around fifteen to twenty seconds of speaking. The common mistake is to click past it while still talking, which wastes the emphasis the layout was chosen for. The second common mistake is to stay for two minutes, by which point the room wants the detail that the next slide should be carrying.
Does the figure need a comparison to mean anything?
It needs a baseline, which is not the same as a full comparison. Here the framing line names the 2025 baseline in a few words. A side by side of before and after would be a different slide with two panels. If your figure only makes sense next to another figure, that is a sign the story is a comparison and not a hero number.
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