5 tips for the best business analyst presentation

ANSWER: Analysts can bring tremendous value to a company by identifying opportunities that would otherwise be missed. However, when presenting their findings, analysts sometimes get wrapped up in the details of how they did their work. This might be exciting for the analyst, but dragging executives into the weeds is most often not the best approach. To ensure an impactful presentation, follow these five tips:

Know your audience – Is the primary decision-maker a driver who makes quick decisions and moves on to the next task? If so, lead with the answer followed by a couple of results that prove your point. Only provide details of the analysis when requested. Alternatively, if the primary decision-maker is an analytic type, perhaps a former analyst, support your recommendations with a bit more detail. He or she will need to see this to be comfortable with what you are proposing. Tailor your presentation to your audience.

Focus on insights – Too often analysts simply present results (e.g., we have a 16.3% market share). That may well be true, but so what? Based on this finding, what should the company do differently? Executives are interested in insights, not just results. Your job is to recommend a direction for the company, not to simply provide the outcome of your analysis and let the executive figure out what to do next. Make a recommendation and use the results of your analysis to demonstrate it is the correct way to go.

Use anecdotes and stories – Anecdotal evidence should never take the place of statistically significant analysis. However, once you have proved your point with fact-based analysis, use anecdotes and stories to reinforce the message. Stories that tug at the heartstrings are particularly powerful. Show an example of how the direction you are recommending will change people’s lives for the better. People remember stories better than facts and figures. Tap into this to make your recommendations memorable.

Engage your audience – Ask questions to pull those to whom you are presenting into the discussion. Bring the audience into the problem-solving process rather than simply cramming information down their throats. Use humor when appropriate. This will spice up an otherwise boring and dry presentation.

Be crisp, clear and well structured – To get your recommendations implemented, people have to remember the changes you are advocating. The fact is, people remember things that are well structured better than a random array of facts. Make sure your arguments are organized and well thought out.

There is little that is more frustrating than listening to an hourlong presentation and coming away not knowing what the presenter thinks should be done. Clearly state your recommendation in the introduction. Then, support the recommendation with the results of your analysis in the body of your presentation. Finally, restate the recommendation in the summary. Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you told them.

As an analyst, to be valuable to your organization, you have to cause people to do things better than they would have done them without you. To do this, you’ll not only have to be an excellent problem-solver, but also have to communicate your recommendations in a compelling way. Using the tips above will help you do this.