Is your audience switching off when you present data? Part One

Presenting data is a very difficult challenge. You are presenting as the expert. You have worked hard to collect the data and/or to synthesize it for presentation. It may be important that you be seen as the expert, but you are faced with the challenge of presenting this sometimes overwhelming mass of data so that an audience can understand and appreciate it. What is the best way to do that?
Usually the first step is to design the visuals. What can we present this data – graphs, pie charts, lists ….?
While that is certainly a valid part of the process, it should not be the first step.
As with any presentation, the first step has got to be acknowledging what you want from the presentation. You probably already know what that is. It may be that you want to persuade someone to take action – to donate to your cause, to fund your research, to hire you, or to change company policy. It may be that you want to persuade people to believe your theory about something. And underlying those outcomes may also be a desire to be seen as the expert, to be seen as relevant to the audience in some way, to be seen as credible. So if you need to, define it first, but certainly acknowledge it, and then use it in choosing how the presentation will proceed.
In choosing the direction of the presentation, the first aim is to engage your audience. Give them a reason to listen and not to switch off. Make it clear why this presentation will be relevant to them, why it will be worth their while to listen. And make it clear just what they can expect to get out of it if they listen. Just because you are presenting data, does not mean you should stop making “you” a prominent word in your speech. So start with the end objective. Present it up front. Explain why it is important for your audience to understand the data. Put the big picture first. Use stories, examples, anecdotes and analogies, not just the facts.
Your audience is used to dealing with the flood of information that each of us faces every day. They know that unless they have a reason to focus on, or to engage with, a particular piece of that information, they have to tune it out. So let them know your particular pieces of information are relevant to them. The use of stories, personal examples, analogies, even metaphors will personalise the data and engage your audience with it.
So keep that WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) aspect always present in the presentation, and you will engage your audience – the first step to having them think, act or feel the way you want them to.