If you work in Finance, you will have to make presentations to those in the wider business.
Sometimes these will be in small group meetings where they are slightly less formal.
Other times it might be to a much larger audience.
These days with more and more hybrid working, it’s likely that you will have to present online through one of the many online platforms.
Irrelevant of the size of presentation or the format, there are 3 things in my experience that will help make you better at presenting as a finance professional.
Get Clear On Your Goals
I’ve been fortunate to train hundreds of people on presenting.
Some take time to get clear on their goals ahead of a presentation.
They however tend to be in the minority.
Many won’t take the time to do this.
Being clear on your goals helps you to present the content that will give you the biggest chance of success.
It will help you to choose the most appropriate words to get the responses that you want.
Really Consider Your Audience
Different audiences need different things.
When I’m training people, I quite often come across the situation where people have a standard presentation that they deliver to every audience.
Rather than taking this and breaking it down into smaller different presentations they present the same thing to everyone.
Instead it’s much better to segment your audience.
A simple two by two matrix where you segment your audience based on importance and impact works well in my experience.
Cut Down Your Slides
Slides and presentation are often seen as being the same thing.
They’re not.
What you communicate is your presentation.
The slides are there to support your presentation.
Perhaps to highlight an important point or show results of some research or a case study.
Use slides sparingly and definitely don’t use as your script.
Always ask what your slide is adding.
If using slides think in terms of one point per slide.
And remember that fewer slides means you can focus on your audience.
While presenting can be challenging for finance professionals, often it’s the small changes in your approach that makes the difference.