1. Take a step back and think clearly about the message you want to leave the audience with. Think top down rather than bottom up and ask yourself ‘if I had to summarise this whole piece of work in less than 20 words what would they be’.
2. Then, layer the information to be presented – always have the detail as a back up but only share the top level information to start with, the message you want the audience to take away – this should include a summary of the work and if there are any, recommendations and conclusions.
3. Pay particular attention to the language – simplify the words, use commercial terminology wherever possible and avoid technical jargon.
4. Don’t be scared of stating the obvious – what’s obvious to you is a culmination of the extensive time you’ve spent immersing yourself in the data – often your audience won’t have had this luxury, so don’t assume they will make the connections you have made.
These steps are particularly important when dealing with senior management, who may not only be furthest away from the detail, but often have very little time to absorb detail as they flit between meetings and making decisions. Just say it how it is. Instead of ‘Our analysis shows that in the periods observed there has been an increase in revenues of 6.34% within the consistent store network’, try ‘like for like sales are up over 6%’. Much more succinct, simpler and to the point!
Steve Hulmes
Head of Demarq Academy