Living in today's animated media society, audiences have come to expect content that is lively, captivating and interesting. And, while data-filled presentations are anything but dynamic, speakers can apply certain techniques to ensure an alert and interested audience. Some of these include:

Use statistics sparingly. While statistics are an essential part of a financial presentation, avoid giving a long list of them at one time. When possible, use only one statistic and build up to it by qualifying its meaning to your point and the legitimacy of the source. At the most, never use more than three statistics at a time, and round off, as possible. Another way to make statistics more palpable is to connect a statistic with another type of support, such as a comparison or example.

Tell stories. A story is simply a connected series of events, and, as such, it's an effective way to increase interest and attention. Tell the narrative by answering the five "W" questions: who, what, when, where, why. People are more likely to grasp the impact of statistics, charts or formulas when they are connected to a story. Statistics or charts are logical, and a story is emotional, so using the two together allows the speaker to combine the head and the heart for either moving an audience to action or engaging their attention.

In his autobiography, former General Electric Co. CEO Jack Welch describes his success in pushing his employees to innovate and move ahead with their ideas that would grow the business. A key was to take case studies of successes in one part of the organization and share these in his presentations to other parts of the organization throughout the world -- in the form of stories. He said stories were essential to his success as GE's CEO for 20 years.

Use comparisons. A comparison is, basically, showing how two diverse items are alike -- usually comparing the familiar with the unfamiliar. Comparisons can help an audience understand a difficult concept. For example, a race car driver describing what it is like to go into a turn at 200 miles an hour said, "It's like driving down your hallway at 200 miles an hour and turning into a closet." When deciding how to present a piece of information that is difficult to understand, ask, "How can I make this something the audience will understand?"

Use charts and graphs sparingly. An axiom that fits is: just because you can does not mean that you should. With the software available, a variety of colorful and animated charts and data can be viewed on one slide. However, to keep audience attention, less is usually better than more. Use one chart per slide and keep the information on the slide to a minimum. Apply the "6 by 6 rule:" no more than six lines on a slide and six words on a line. When deciding which types of charts are best, here are some tips: pie charts are best for percentages, bar graphs for comparisons and line graphs for trends.

Also, avoid keeping the slide on the screen after you have finished talking about it. Either move to the next slide or go to a blank screen (by hitting the "b" or "w" on your keyboard). Audiences get distracted if a slide is left up while the speaker has moved on to talk about another point.

Alliteration uses oral style to keep a presentation memorable. It's a technique that uses words that begin with the same sound or the repetition of initial sounds in a series of words. Pick a word you want your audience to remember and build alliteration around it. For example, saying "Increases that promote pricing power may produce a profit squeeze" may catch attention better than the same idea stated more mundanely.

Incorporate "echo words." This is another technique for engaging the audience. It's using the same word in a different form in the same sentence. A famous example is Franklin Roosevelt's statement, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." In discussing this theme of making your content more interesting, here's something to consider: "Good presenters are never content with their content."

Energetic delivery. To be dynamic, a speaker cannot just concentrate on rhetorical devices in the speech. Often it is how you say something that garners audience attention. The following are suggestions to make your delivery more animated and give variety to the content:

• Use gestures early in the presentation to describe or reinforce an idea or story or to point to the screen.
• Avoid standing behind the lectern during the entire speech, and also avoid pacing back and forth. However, when moving from point to point, take a step toward your audience.
• Use pleasant facial expressions to show audience interest.
  Connect with your audience by looking directly at individuals as you speak, making certain you give good eye contact -- this is called a "mental handshake with listeners."
• Don't read your presentation word for word, but rather use a key word outline. Only read quotations or specific data.
• Vary your rate of speaking, slowing down when making a significant statement and speeding up when sharing a thought that generates excitement.
• Stand with your weight equally distributed on the balls of your feet; this will give you a confident and assertive appearance.

Any audience has a hard time retaining attention over a 20- or 30-minute period. To help them listen, the speaker needs to go beyond his or her core message by incorporating the principles discussed here.

STEPHEN D. BOYD, Ph.D., CSP, is a professor of speech communication at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Ky. He also presents more than 60 communications seminars and workshops a year for corporations and associations. He can be reached at 800.727.6520, info@sboyd.com. His Web site is www.sboyd.com.

Return to Financial Executive

FEI's flagship publication, Financial Executive magazine, has won another award -- an Eastern Regional gold (first place) award from the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) in their annual competition. FE won in the editorial division for its March 2002 special section on "Best Practices." This is the fourth juried award FE has won in the past two years. The award was presented in Boston on Monday, June 9.