In Part 1, my first suggestion is that you see numbers as stories. So if your deck has plenty of numbers, instead of just rattling off those numbers from the screen, tell the audience what those numbers mean. And if I may add: tailor your story to the audience. The level of detail can vary. Executives tend to want the punch line right away while technicians may want to hear about the thinking behind the numbers.
My second suggestion is to use bullet points in your deck so you can be more spontaneous as you deliver your presentation, rather than reading from copy-pasted text from a Word document.
Here’s the challenge. Boil down your content into bullet points, then expound each point in your own words. Don’t forget to exude confidence as, remember, you own the deck. You’re friends with the numbers. You’re crushing it!
Example: you are presenting a business case for buying a new machine for quality control. On the benefits slide, a bullet point simply says “Reduce rework.” You tell the decision-makers in the audience:
“Right now, the production line is so fast that when defect X appears, the line produces 10,000 defective pieces before our people notice it. Then we stop the line, isolate those 10,000 pieces, and spend Y hours repairing what can be repaired and throwing away the rest.
“But with this machine, we will be able to detect the defect after only 100 pieces, thus we save on cost of rework.”
This brings me to my last suggestion: anticipate questions.
Those decision-makers would likely ask for the cost of the rework. Do your homework and you can say “Php Z per unit” rather than stammer “I’ll get back to you” (which won’t sit well with busy approvers).
In fact, be ready for another question down the road: how much would the quality-control machine cost and what is the payback period?
So practice your presentation and pretend you’re an executive listening to yourself. What questions pop into your mind? This takes critical thinking, curiosity and foresight. Have the answers in your fingertips. If there are so much data to memorize, then keep short notes handy.
When you do all three: see the numbers as stories, use bullet points to force you to expound, and anticipate questions so you have the answers ready, your reporting days are over. You will shine as an expert.
And you know how employers value experts.
June 14, 2024
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