Don’t be stuck with one storyline for your presentation embrace dashboards
Nothing irks more than someone asking you to make time for something that turns out to be a complete waste of time; you cut off otherwise important things to attend this presentation only for the guy to fumble through because someone asked for a tweak.
If that person you invited is your MD you’re treading on a live wire. But nothing is more frustrating and disappointing like prepping for a presentation with zest; going out of your way to do a mock only to see that work tumbling down because you didn’t think the audience would want their input.
Let me paint the picture for you
Monday is here and you have the usual 9:00 am management presentation. The slides were finalized on Saturday and you have the story line well laid out. You are confident that the punch line “…. and that’s why investing in new laptops for the sales team is critical to achieve the next quarter target” will sail through and the MD will ask for the detailed proposal on the investment needed.
During your well laid out presentation, the MD notes something about the overall sales trend and asks for the trend to be sliced by Sales Rep, by product line, market segment and region. This was not part of your story line in your well-prepared slides and so you have to start scuffling with various Excel files to get this new story line produced in a graph for better understanding.
After a few minutes the MD inquires how long it will take to get the revised story on the slides and you indicate with beads of sweat on your forehead that it would take about one hour; you almost choke on your words, so embarrassed you can’t look up to him when you respond.
Obviously, this was more time than he had for your presentation and so you are given until Tuesday morning to redo your slides with the new story line. Angry at yourself for not thinking through the outcome, you slump back in your seat wearily; your then clean pressed white shirt now soggy with perspiration sticking uncomfortably on your back.
The well thought out bubble has burst and you remember that it took you two days; that is Friday and Saturday to create the story line in the slides you had. You are not sure whether you’ll fix it by evening. And you picture yourself pulling an all-nighter just to get it right.
Power point slides are good for storytelling and have been used for years and any manager who does not know how to tell a story using Power point not only raises eye brows but is on a quick exit out of the organization-it’s a basic requirement.
However Power point forces you to pre-define a story line you want to present to your audience and gives very little lee way for twists and turns that come during any presentation that you make. Using a dashboard tool to make your presentation is a much better option since it allows the audience to change the story line during the presentation without you having to ask for the “commercial break” as you sort out the numbers to produce the new story being requested by the audience.
At Sunesis Consulting, we specialize in not only giving you the skills to produce your own dashboards, but we also work with you to develop the dashboard you need. Avoid having pre-packed presentations that lock your story line to the audience and be a presenter who allows the audience to craft their story line during your presentation.
Don’t let your presentation hold you hostage unnecessarily. Embrace dashboards today and say goodbye to rigidity. Be in tandem with your audience.
