Effective Finance Presentations

If you add finance to the equation, unproductive becomes blurry.

Complex terminology (i.e., “buzz words”), lack of a financial background, and the overall fear of managing money can drive confusion and boredom to an audience. 

A total disaster.

How to make finance presentations more appealing to any crowd?

1. By providing structure. A good presentation should have an agenda so as to manage the audiences expectations. This immediately reduces the anxiety in the room. The agenda should follow a narrative similar to “the hero’s journey” where there’s a current state, challenges / opportunities from this state, the plan to act on them, and the expected future state.

2. By communicating in simple terms. Eliminate the buzz words. If you find an unavoidable acronym (e.g., CAPEX) make sure to describe it. Assuming the audience does not have a background in finance is a good start. If you can explain it to a five-year old, you can consider yourself ready. This does not mean you have to explain it to the audience as if they were five-year olds (unless they are!), it just means you have domain on the subject. And when you domain a subject, you are confident.

3. By building lean slides. A good presenter avoids building slides with complicated graphs, bar charts, and Greek letters. The slides are clean, and only carry succinct text messages of 10 words or less. They know that any graph they present should take 7 seconds to be fully understood by someone not in finance.

In three words, be a minimalist.

If you find yourself or your organization going through unproductive finance meetings that fill up your calendar every week, it’s time for a change.

Feel free to contact us at contact@summa.consulting to learn more about the services that can bring structure and peace of mind to your business.