What do audiences think of financial presentations? The results of this survey in March 2016 tell presenters of financial information what annoys the audience and gives suggestions on how financial presentations can be more effective.

1. Results of the 2016
State of Financial
Presentations
Survey
By Dave Paradi of

2. Financial presentations
are required in almost
every organization. They
differ from many other
presentations due to the
focus on data. If we want
financial presentations to
be more effective, we
need to know what
audiences think about
them.
Dave Paradi
Author of eight books, four
Kindle ebooks. One of fifteen
people in North America
recognized by Microsoft with
the PowerPoint Most Valuable
Professional Award.

3. What annoys audience members about
financial presentations?



I gave survey respondents ten choices
and asked them to choose their top
three.
Here’s what they chose most often.

4. The top four responses on what annoys
people about financial presentations
% of respondents who chose that item
51.7%
43.1%
39.7%
39.7%
Too many numbers
Too much detail for the audience to understand
Font too small
Mostly tables of numbers instead of
visuals such as graphs

5. 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%
Information overload is the top issue in
presentations according to the general
survey on presentations I do. With
financial presentations, the overload
comes from numbers, often presented as
spreadsheets on slides.

6. I didn’t want to assume that I had
covered all the possible issues in
the list I presented, so I gave
respondents a free form space to
add any other issues that annoy
them about financial
presentations.
Two issues stood out.

7. Presenters focus on the numbers. The
audience wants to know what the
numbers mean.
I  #
Here’s what one
respondent said:
“Too often the material is
the supporting detail and
the conclusion is left to
audience.”

8. Presenters assume everyone understands the
language used in the financial world.
Reality: Most non-financial people think you
are speaking a foreign language.
EBITDA under
GAAP is
$12.5 million
I’m sorry. I don’t
understand the
foreign
language you
are speaking.

9. I asked respondents to share
three words or phrases they hear
most often when people in their
organizations talk about financial
presentations.
I took all the responses and
created a word cloud visual,
where the size of the word is
related to the frequency of the
word in the list.

11. Presentations aren’t designed to be boring.
It starts with slides that are overwhelming.
Overwhelming
amount of text or
data on slides.

12. The audience gets confused.
Overwhelming
amount of text or
data on slides.
Audience is
confused

13. They mentally “check out” and start thinking
about other things.
Overwhelming
amount of text or
data on slides.
Audience is
confused
I better
remember
to pick up
milk
Audience
mentally
“checks out”

14. At the end, they say they are bored because
it has been so long since they got something
of value from the presentation.
Overwhelming
amount of text or
data on slides.
Audience is
confused
I better
remember
to pick up
milk
Audience
mentally
“checks out”
That presentation
was boring
After the
presentation,
the audience
says it was
boring

15. The survey then switched to what could
be done to improve
financial presentations.
I asked what good financial presenters did
that made those presentations so
effective. One person said, “I haven’t seen
a great one yet...but I have hope that
someday…” Great financial presentations
do exist, and people told me what they
had seen that was effective.

16. I also asked the respondents
what advice they would have for
presenters of financial information
that would make the
presentations more effective.
The answers to these two
questions blended nicely into
three themes.

17. Theme #1: Be Message Driven
“Start with the
message, not
the data”
- Sage advice from one
respondent
Audiences don’t want to see
every number you used.
They want to know the
conclusion of your analysis
and what actions they need
to take. Be message driven,
not data driven.

18. Theme #2: Be Relevant to this audience
Every audience is different.
They want to know the story
behind the numbers from
their area.
TLA’s
(Three
Letter
Acronyms)
Use business
language they
understand, not
financial lingo and
acronyms.

19. Theme #3: Use clear visuals
Use graphs instead of
spreadsheets
Use callouts with
explanations to drive
home the key message

20. If you want to improve your
financial presentations, here are
three steps you can take.

21. Step #1: Think message first instead of
numbers first
Click on the map
image to read an
article and watch a
video that explain
how a GPS
approach results in
a clearer message
This is part of the RAPIDS
approach to planning a
presentation in my book
“Present It So They Get It”

22. Step #2: Only use the numbers that support
your message
Don’t copy your
entire analysis on a
slide. Select the
numbers that
matter to this
audience.
In my customized workshops, I
share five strategies for getting
your information laser focused to
reduce information overload.

23. Step #3: Use clear visuals instead of
spreadsheets
Create clear graphs that the audience understands immediately.
My book “Select Effective Visuals” gives a step-
by-step process for selecting the right visual for
the messages in business presentations.
Before After

24. Improving financial presentations
has a bottom-line impact:
• Better decisions
• Quicker approvals
• Take advantage of new
opportunities
You can read the full report of the survey
results on my website by clicking here

25. To learn more about my
customized workshops,
check out my website at:
Dave Paradi
Author of eight books, four
Kindle ebooks. One of fifteen
people in North America
recognized by Microsoft with
the PowerPoint Most
Valuable Professional Award.
www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com