the state of financial presentations 2014 survey results

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Results from The State of Financial Presentations Survey 2014 By Dave Paradi of

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How good or bad are financial presentations? I wanted to hear the audience's perspective. So I conducted a survey in May and June of 2014 asking those who see financial presentations what they thought. This deck presents the results of the survey and what financial presenters can do to make their presentations more effective.

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Page 1: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Results from The

State of Financial

Presentations

Survey 2014

By Dave Paradi of

Page 2: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

How good or bad are

financial presentations?

As a presentation expert I

had my own ideas, but I

wanted audience

members to tell me what

they thought.

Dave Paradi Author of seven books, four

Kindle ebooks. One of thirteen

people in North America

recognized by Microsoft with

the PowerPoint Most Valuable

Professional Award.

Page 3: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

120 people completed the online survey

Page 4: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Who were the respondents?

Mostly professionals or

managers/executives

From corporate or

government organizations

Page 5: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

What annoys audience members about

financial presentations?

I gave them ten choices and asked them

to choose their top three.

Even though I asked them to choose only

three, people couldn’t contain

themselves. The average number of

selections was 3.6.

Page 6: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Here are the top four responses on what

annoys people about financial presentations

66.7%

50.8%

45.0%

43.3%

Too many numbers on the slide

Font too small

Too much information for the time

given for the presentation

Mostly tables of numbers and few

visuals such as graphs

% of respondents who chose that item

Page 7: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

The results didn’t surprise me

ABC Business Unit Sales Projections

all figures in thousands

Q1 2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2013 Q4 2013 2013 Total Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 2014 Total $ diff % diff

Product A 151 582 313 304 1350 376 387 427 533 1723 373 27.6%

Product B 151 221 252 213 837 278 148 421 363 1210 373 44.6%

Product C 460 388 279 229 1356 177 399 502 498 1576 220 16.2%

Product D 132 214 423 481 1250 450 582 199 179 1410 160 12.8%

Product E 260 183 567 126 1136 470 493 360 190 1513 377 33.2%

Total 1154 1588 1834 1353 5929 1751 2009 1909 1763 7432 1503 25.3%

I see spreadsheets on slides all the time

Page 8: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Next I gave people a free-form

area to add any additional

comments on what annoys them

about financial presentations.

They were eager to share.

Three themes emerged.

Page 9: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

It’s not about the numbers, it’s about what the

numbers mean

I # People don’t love numbers

as much as financial

presenters think they do.

Page 10: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Don’t use terms or acronyms the audience

doesn’t understand

EBITDA under

IFRS is $12.5

million

I’m sorry. I don’t

understand the

foreign

language you

are speaking.

Page 11: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Don’t read the text and numbers on the slide

Reading

your slides

Explaining

why the

numbers are

important

Page 12: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

I asked respondents to share

three words or phrases they hear

most often when people talk

about financial presentations.

I took all the responses and

created a word cloud.

Page 13: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results
Page 14: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

I wasn’t surprised that these two words were

the most popular. When people are

overwhelmed by numbers, they tune out.

Page 15: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

We also see people frustrated that their time

was wasted because they couldn’t figure out

the point of the presentation.

Page 16: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

So I asked the respondents what

advice they would have for

financial presenters that would

make the presentations more

effective.

Three main areas stood out.

Page 17: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

The numbers are not the story.

Numbers are used to support your message.

Numbers ≠ Story

Correct sequence:

Determine

the message

Select

numbers to

support the

message

Page 18: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Present the summary or conclusion,

not the details

Actual slide from a

presentation

The real message of all

those numbers

Page 19: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Use more visuals

Use graphs,

diagrams, timelines, and more

Page 20: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Financial presentations need a

clear message, focused content,

and effective visuals.

Here are some resources to get

you started.

Page 21: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Use a GPS approach to plan your message

Click on the map

image to read an

article that explains

how a GPS

approach results in

a clearer message

Page 22: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Focus on the insights from the analysis, not

the details of what was done

Click on the video

image to watch how

I explain moving

from data to

information to

insight in my

workshops

Page 24: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

Financial presentations don’t

have to be confusing and boring.

They can clearly communicate

important messages the audience

understands and acts upon.

You can read the full report of the survey

results on my website by clicking here

Page 25: The State of Financial Presentations 2014 Survey Results

To learn more about my

workshops or to book me

to speak to your

association or

conference, check out my

website at: Dave Paradi Author of seven books,

four Kindle ebooks.

One of thirteen people

in North America

recognized by

Microsoft with the

PowerPoint Most

Valuable Professional

Award.

www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com