Sharing financial information with stakeholders and staff is a critical part of any business- but let’s be brutal. Those reports get boring after a while.
And where you bore your audience, you also reduce engagement, knowledge retention, and the overall efficacy of your financial efforts. Today we take a look at some premium ways to better present those reports in an engaging and audience-friendly way.
Add a Friendly Face
Humans respond to human faces. Not only do we find the presence of another human on the other side of the screen more engaging and trustworthy, it creates a delivery that’s seamless, easy to digest, and feels both authentic and real in a way dry written documents can’t.
However, as we work remotely more often, and see less of our peers ‘around the office’, it’s become harder than ever to engage on a human level with the work we digest daily.
Of course, the issue here is that the corporate whizzkids compiling your reports are excellent at their job- but their job isn’t creating compelling video content! However, you can turn to an AI video creator to fill in the gap.
Here, you can pre-select your ‘host’ from the database, and feed a professionally compiled script into the generator. The program will take it from there, and turn your script into a realistic and believable presentation with all the engagement of a human host, just simpler, more cost-effective, and with the perfect balance of professionality and appeal to keep people tuned in and actively listening to your reports.
Think Beyond Numbers
Of course, even with your engaging new AI presenter in the bag, your presentation will only be as good as the script you prepare.
It’s typical to get very caught up in the facts and figures, especially quantitative data. However, if you bring in a better balance of qualitative data, the facts suggest that people engage better with the presentation if you’ve also got a reasonable blend of storytelling in with the facts and figures. When you can engage with your audience on an emotional level, they feel connected to the situations you’re describing, and those facts and figures mean more overall.
Adding some emphasis on telling the story, instead of just the data, can help with user engagement and fact retention, so don’t be afraid of humanizing your brand through your reporting and creating a more engaging experience overall. Think of your reports as part of your marketing efforts, rather than something stand-alone.
The Power of Visuals
Your AI presenter already offers a compelling on-screen visual that appeals to human face recognition and our emotions.
Create that same power for your supplementary documents, and use a blend of text and visuals. The human mind processes visual data about 60,000 times faster than the written word. It’s also been proven to bolster how truthful your data is perceived to be.
Whether it’s illustrations of data, graphs, or other visual sources, backing up your presentation with a report that’s easy to consume with the eye will help prevent reader fatigue and keep the audience on-board with your message.
Thematic Presentations
When you run a ‘serious’ business, it’s very easy to get lost in that identity. Yet reports and presentations that lean thematic lend consistency, fun, and easier digestibility to what you’re presenting.
Just because you work in finance or higher-end corporate work doesn’t mean you can’t present in a way that brings a sense of your brand identity and personality to the table.
When you draw things together in a unified front for the listener, it’s easier for them to stay engaged and onboard for the full length of the presentation. Don’t be afraid to think outside the wheelhouse with this one, and bring some real personality to the table. Again, using a ‘talking head’ as presenter in your reporting can help greatly with this.
Streamline Design
To cap off our top tips on spicing up corporate presentations and reports, invest some time in the design of your supplementary reporting material. As with visuals, creating an attractive interface rich in your branding and with great design pulls the reader into your work, instead of simply handing them a dull block of text to read.
And there you have it! Being mindful of these factors as you create your reports- especially the need to humanize your brand through smart on-screen delivery from an engaging persona- you can create a better reporting experience no matter who your audience is. In turn, you’ll see greater engagement and fact retention, and a better user experience, from your target audience. It’s a win-win all around.
