Corporate Presentation &

Communication Skills
Kristin Branch
Director, A.C. Nielsen Center
Wisconsin School of Business
Big difference between academic & business presentations

Wisconsin MBA Business Presentations

Team presenting You present alone
All standing in front of room Sitting around table, maybe standing
Questions at end Questions immediately and throughout
Raising hands to ask questions Constant unannounced interruptions
Bad presentations hurt your
business & your career!
What is the POINT of
Marketing Research??
To help businesses grow.

How do they do that?

The point of Marketing Research is to help companies grow profitably

Units X Price – Cost = Profit

Know the business decision to be made prior to starting the research
• What is the current Situation? Where is the business today?
• What is the Complication? What triggered the need for this research?
• What is the key Question? What do we need to answer?
• What decisions will be made with this information?
• Who is the primary audience for this information?
• How can these findings help others across the organization
Business
• How does this fit with other projects? Updating Today
business Knowledge
team, Gap
answering
the question

Findings & Research

Synthesizing Project
7
Communicating Research is to influence decision making

It is
• Not about the methodology
• Not about the number of respondents
• Not about the statistics you ran
• Not every step or thought you had along the way

Put these details in the appendix

Your Marketing Research findings. Your main insight.

Why is it important to the business?

What should the company do as

a result of this finding?
 Start with your Recommendation: Pyramid Principal
• Know your End Goal – your main
point! YOUR RECOMMENDATION

Source: The Minto Pyramid Principal: Logic in Writing, Thinking & Problem Solving (2007) & Appleseed Consulting
Today’s Agenda

• Why you need to communicate Marketing Research effectively

• Pyramid Principal: Starting with Recommendation
• Audience
• Storytelling
• Pyramid Principal: Storyboarding
• Main Presentation Advice
• Headlines tell your Story
• When you do need to show data
• Pictures Pictures Pictures VIDEOS Pictures
• Being More Consultative: Synthesis
• Bad examples (if time)
 Knowing Your Audience is Key
• Know your End Goal – your main
point! YOUR RECOMMENDATION
• Know why the point matters to the
business & the audience

Source: The Minto Pyramid Principal: Logic in Writing, Thinking & Problem Solving (2007) & Appleseed Consulting
 Know your audience as it determines your overall approach

When you need support for a Best for bringing a new team
decision – “What are we going member or agency up to speed,
to do next?” sales meetings, or understanding
new market opportunities.
You are ‘painting a picture’ for
your audience to guide them
into taking the next step.
Best for creative objectives like
a brainstorming session.

15
Source: Mary K. Malone, Appleseed Consulting, Storytelling class to A.C. Nielsen Center
Decide if you are preparing a presentation or a document
Trends are rarely straightforward
 Anticipate your audience and map out your presentation accordingly
• Know your End Goal – your main
point! YOUR RECOMMENDATION
• Know why the point matters to the
business & the audience
• Plan to take your audience on an
abbreviated path on how you got to
this recommendation

Source: The Minto Pyramid Principal: Logic in Writing, Thinking & Problem Solving (2007) & Appleseed Consulting
Tell a story!
 HAVE A POINT!
Take a Stand!
Make a Recommendation
 Know why
your point
matters to the
business & the
audience

Source: Mike Judge, Kraft

Stories are better, but why?

• Stories are memorable because they have emotion

• Stories activate the imagination
• Stories are easy to follow – they have flow

• Helps you drive the conversation

• Pictures are worth a thousand words

• Stories make sense!

23
 Storytelling is about
telling stories that lead to
better business actions Storytelling is the single
and results.
MindTools.com most powerful tool in a
leader’s toolkit.
Dr. Howard Gardner, Changing Minds,
Harvard University professor

Well-told, congruent stories spread like wildfire, driving

engagement and creating legacies that fuel motivation
Evelyn Clark, author of The Corporate Storyteller
 But what does Storytelling mean?

25
Source: wordle.com
It’s not about being a great
storyteller – it is about gaining
influence to lead to better
business actions and results!
 Storyboarding helps plan the story
• What’s your main point / recommendation?
• What support points does your audience need to hear?
• What questions will they have?
• What is the most compelling and easiest way to tell the story?

Exploratory
Research on
new category

Consumer
Does it fit with
motivations & Demographics Competitors
brand?
barriers

Where would Current

Describe the Who is the
they look to offerings / Share data
unmet need purchaser?
buy? solutions?

Source: The Minto Pyramid Principal: Logic in Writing, Thinking & Problem Solving (2007) & Appleseed Consulting
Headline expresses your Main Message

• If audience reads only the headline, they should be able to

understand the story
• Headlines should never exceed two lines

• The lead/slide content summarizes the details

• Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Think like a newspaper

 Remington is at All-Time High Dollar Share
60
56 57
54 55

50 50 50.7
49 47.9 47.3

42
40
$ Share

30 29
26.7 27.4
24 25 23.8 24
22 22.4 23.3
20 20 21
19 19.5
17 18
15 14 15
12 11
10 10 9 8
5.9 5
4 3.1 2
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 F 02 F 03 F 04 F 05 Est.

BRAUN NORELCO REMINGTON A/O

Source: Kristin’s work at Spectrum Source: NPD Houseworld incl Company Estimates
Definitely start with an Executive Summary

• Overall,

• Immediately state the purpose of the meeting, key finding or recommendation

• Don’t hold back a ‘surprise’

• This slide sets up the whole conversation

• Concise
• Pick words carefully
• Provides an outline of what will follow
Executive Summary Men’s Shaving

Overall, strong in market performance indicates the men’s

shaving business is healthy and poised for long term growth

Moving into F 06 Men’s Shaving is:

• Responding to competitive innovation across price tiers
• Optimizing targeting and consumer communication spend
• Improving profitability with pricing action and aggressive cost savings initiatives
• Continuing to develop the brand for long term growth and expansion

31
Launch Concept B; Preferred over Concept A

Overall, Concept B outperformed Concept A and current products

in purchase intent, uniqueness and benefit perception

Next Step Recommendations:

• Purchase Intent: Refine cost of goods to optimize retail price and profit expectations
• Uniqueness: Speed to market is key to beat competition
• Benefit Perception: Additional testing will be needed to ensure packaging
communicates benefits as well as concept

32
Slides are a guide, expressing one point per slide

• One, 1, Uno! point per page

• No sentences
• Minimize punctuation
• Rule of 6: Limit of 6 bullets, each with 6 words max
• Some say Rule of 4
Visually communicate the point, if possible

• Text/graphs/charts support
• Data improves the point 89.3% of the time
• Keep it simple, draw audience’s eye to point
• Remember to source – which study, which question, which page

• Images found or taken

• Note – finding good pictures will take longer thank you think
• Your days of clip-art are through
The P&G Purpose:
Touching and Improving
More Consumers’ Lives in
more Parts of the World…
More Completely
 Powerpoint slide supports the presenter; Not a script

• A good presenter:
• Uses Powerpoint as a guide
• Does NOT read off the screen Women’s Shaving Consumer Expectations

Close,
Smooth
Results
No Nicks,
Cuts or
Irritation
Fast
Results

Easy to Use,
Easy to Clean
You want the audience focused on you, not the screen

Organic 85
43

Recyclable 83
50
A ll 76
Natural/Natural 45
No 75
add./preserv. 50
No animal 71
testing 33

Non-toxic
70
36
Energy Star 62
rated 42

Hormone-free 57
24 Heard of
Bought
No chemicals
56
27

Free range
54
18
Be Consistent, Be Simple

• Stick with the straightforward charts, animation

• 3D or crazy animation is distracting and immature
• Builds can help a busy slide or concept
• Use colors to represent your intention
• Don’t use bright red as a standard color – save it as a “call out” color to make a point.
• Red – negative, financial losses, disappointing results
• Blue or Green – positive revenue
• Use colors consistently in your charts
• If blue represented 2014’s results in first chart, use blue for all 2014 data points
• Use your brand’s color to represent your brand vs. competition
 Mindfully select your charts & graphs
Chart/Graphic Goal Recommended Chart & Why Example

1. Trended data Line Chart – your audience will immediately 30

20
want to compare most recent data point to 10

past. Data is consistent/comparable. 0

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

2. Share / Percent Pie Chart – immediate visual of size of each 1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
slice. Can be used to show changes over time,
breakdown but caution
3rd Qtr
4th Qtr

3. Total amounts Column Chart – want to show magnitude 5

4

rather than trends, or data points are not 3

2

comparable. 1
0
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

4. Total and its Stacked Column Chart – want to show 6

5
4

which segment is growing/declining. 3

components 2
1
0
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

Source: Inspired by Burke’s presentation guide

When a lot of data is essential, highlight where you want the
audience to look
 Infographics, icons, cool visuals are all the rage

Source: How to Create Infographics in Powerpoint by HubSpot

 Alternating font size and color can make your data more fun to digest

Source: How to Create Infographics in Powerpoint by HubSpot

Please use more pictures than I did! …Videos are even better
Being more consultative
through Synthesizing
One-off projects drive most research efforts
• Research is typically done by project
• “Go find out if ____”
• “What do consumers think of _____”
As such, many
presentations are to
communicate the
latest findings

45
 Synthesizing multiple sources of information gets to a deeper
level of understanding
• Interpreting multiple sources of information
• Synthesizing to get to a higher level of understanding

Synthesizing

Coordinating, Innovating

Analyzing Analyzing current projects findings

Compiling, Computing into the business is not enough.

Copying

Comparing

46
Source: Alex S. Brown, PMP IPMA-C
 Synthesizing brings Accumulated Knowledge

47
Source: Market Research Executive Board, Break the Cost-Impact Trade-Off: Capitalize on Existing Knowledge, 2010
 The new value center is in synthesized learning and impact

48
Source: Joel Rubenstein, ARF WARC Conference
 Helpful skills to reach synthesis
• Influencing skills
• Nonlinear thinking
• Thinking of impact across the business
• Seeking out cross-project findings
• Cross-project analysis and insight generation

49
Source: Market Research Executive Board, Break the Cost-Impact Trade-Off: Capitalize on Existing Knowledge, 2010
An example: General Mills’ vision to drive insights

Gayle Fuguitt, former head of Consumer Insights at General Mills (and UW, ACN alum!)
• Getting to Insights
• Cut a slice
• Create a synthesis
• Tell a story
• Take a stand

• New Skills needed for synthesis and storytelling

• Influence
• Passion
• Tenacity
• Resilience
• Speed
• Storytelling
50
 Future Vision Skills = Developing Leadership
Delivers
Outstanding
Results

Develops Self Leading

& Others Change
Business Championing
Acumen Action

Synthesize
Tell A Story
Listening Take A Stand Agility

Influence &
Integrity
Impact
Speed Vs.
Perfection

Technical
Expertise
Source: General Mills presentation at 2010 Summit
 8 Tips of Storytelling
8 Summary tips for a great Business Story
1. Synthesis - key learning not findings
2. Start with the end in mind – the recommendation/insight
• Not the research methodology

3. Know your audience

4. Play around with different storylines
• Novel ways of telling your story
• Story boarding – visual way to plan out the story

5. Use action words that carry meaning

• Think like a newspaper headline

6. Enjoy playing around with the detail

7. Presenting is a mental game – prepare and be prepared
8. Take responsibility for successful outcomes – lead the group to the decision
• If not you – WHO?, if not now – WHEN?
What’s wrong with
these slides?
AMI HOLDINGS CASE STUDY
AMIH: Specialty medical device manufacturer focused on interventional diagnostics,
ophthalmology and wound closure
Transaction Overview:
 In April 2003 RoundTable acquired 65% stake, selling family retained 35%
 $785 million sale value, 7.1x increase in equity value, 101% IRR

Key Value Drivers:

 Integrated seven independent entities and 
focused on operational excellence
 $8.5 million reduction in annual
manufacturing costs
 610 basis point improvement in EBITDA
margin
 Maintained stable workforce
 Increased EBITDA at 20% CAGR
 Generated significant value through
strategic investments
 New license agreements produced $20
million in incremental sales
 $2.5 million incremental R&D investment
in NeoDisc yielded a $43 million asset
sale
Identified and recruited complementary
management talent
 President/CEO
 CFO
 VP, Manufacturing
 VP, Finance
 Controller
 Plant Manager
 Supported corporate finance initiative
 RoundTable led a $12 million add-on
acquisition and the NeoDisc divestiture
 RoundTable led a recapitalization in 2004,
which led to a $47.6 million dividend
 RoundTable served as transaction
coordinator/advisor on sale
Consumer research (via a BASES Price Advisor) validated the pricing
strategy, indicating a premium price can result in a profitable brand.
Summary of BASES Price Advisor Research
KEY FINDINGS
1.30

1.20
• Retail dollars and profit peak at $1.49 -
$1.59 (or a $0.30 - $0.40 gap to category)
Unit Volume Index 1.10
• Younger end of consumer target is
1.00
particularly price sensitive (bottom quintile
0.90 of BASES value rating)
0.80
• There is an observable threshold at $1.49
0.70 and $1.89 - $1.99
0.60
Category +$0.10 +$0.20 +$0.30 +$0.40 +$0.50 +$0.60 +$0.70 +$0.80 +$0.90

MARKET FACTS
Unit Volume Index Retail Sales Index
• Higher prices will result in lower velocities
Threshold*
1.40 1.04 and increase distribution loss risk,
1.02
1.20 particularly on flavor #3
1.00

• Gap of more than $0.40 leaves us

Unit Volume Index

1.00 0.98

Profit Index
0.96
0.80 vulnerable to a competitive response
0.94
0.60
0.92
which captures the “sweet spot” at $1.49
0.40 0.90
0.88
0.20
0.86
0.00 0.84
1.19 1.29 1.39 1.49 1.59 1.69 1.79 1.89 1.99 2.09 * Assumes constant margin % across price points

Unit Volume Index Profit Index

Source: BASES Price Advisor

 Who are these people? What do we call them?

 Surrounding several internal brainstorming sessions and throughout

the entire process, the team became immersed in this target’s world
by meeting consumers at their homes, dinner parties, Lollapalooze,
Six Flags, and on shop-alongs.

 From these exercises, the team developed an outlook on the core

target ...

© Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company 2007 – page 56

GfK Group Roper Consulting GfK Roper Green Gauge® Report 2007

Why is There Concern?

Energy Consumption Is Increasing Which May Have Serious
Consequences for the Environment
57

MORE Amount average

POLLUTION temperatures could
increase by now and
2100 according to
IPCC report

5.8c
Possible rise in sea
Source:www.eia.doe.gov/
levels that occur due
to human activity,
given the most likely
rate of gas emissions

43m
World energy consumption in TW 1980-2004
Source: Energy Information Administration

© Copyright GfK2007. Proprietary and Confidential

 Top 10 Environmental Concerns

% saying the following is a very serious environmental problem Pt. Diff.

(top 10 of total 32 items asked) From 2003

Contamination of drinking water 56 +5

Water pollution 55 +7
Fuel and energy shortages 54 --
Outdoor pollution from auto exhaust 54 +2
Destruction of the ozone layer 52 -3
Outdoor air pollution from factories 50 -1
Abandoned hazardous waste sites 50 -1
Greenhouse effect 49 +4
Loss of open space due to development 49 +2
Destruction of rainforests 49 -2
Ford Motor Company Chief Marketing Office Contact: SCONNELL
58
GfK Group Roper Consulting GfK Roper Green Gauge® Report 2007

Green Purchasing Behavior

Awareness of Green Advertising Is High, But Purchase Behavior Is Lower

% who have ever heard of/bought products because the following was on the 59
label or in the advertising

Organic 85
43

Recyclable 83 Major/Something of a reason why you are

50
not doing more for the environment %
All 76
Natural/Natural 45 The environmentally safe
No 75 alternatives for many products are 74
add./preserv. 50 Too expensive
No animal 71
testing 33 The environmentally safe
70
alternatives for products don't work 61
Non-toxic
36 as well
Energy Star 62 Environmentally friendly products
rated 42 59
are not readily available
Hormone-free 57
Heard of
24 I believe that many “environmentally
Bought
No chemicals
56 safe” products are not better for the 55
27 environment
Free range
54
18
© Copyright GfK2007. Proprietary and Confidential
 Largest share change is among current Blue Diamond
Almond line

> Although the new line represents a large increase in Blue Diamond
share overall, the main draw comes from those expecting to purchase
Blue Diamond already.
PRE CONCEPT EXPOSURE POST CONCEPT EXPOSURE
WEIGHT WEIGHT
NUTRITIONAL MANAGE- NUTRITIONAL MANAGE-
DRY ROASTED DENSITY MENT DRY ROASTED DENSITY MENT
A B C A B C
Base: All Respondents 3110 3220 3210 3090 3160 3170
% % % % % %
BLUE DIAMOND NEW LINE (NET) 17% 15% 18%
Blue Diamond Cinnamon-Vanilla Dry Roast 3% 3% 5%
Blue Diamond Country Ranch Dry Roast 4% 4% 4%
Blue Diamond Light Sea Salt Dry Roast 4% 4% 4%
Blue Diamond Natural Dry Roast 5% 4% 6%
BLUE DIAMOND (NET) 13% 12% 14% 8% 10% 10%
EMERALD (TOTAL) 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
PLANTERS (TOTAL) 7% 7% 7% 5% 5% 5%
SUNKIST (TOTAL) 1% 1% 1% - - -
Store brand snack nuts 3% 3% 3% 2% 3% 2%
Cookies 9% 10% 8% 8% 8% 6%
Potato Chips 10% 12% 12% 9% 10% 10%
Beef snacks 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2%
Pretzels 5% 4% 4% 4% 3% 4%
Fruit flavored yogurt 8% 7% 7% 7% 6% 7%
Popcorn 7% 7% 8% 7% 6% 7%
Granola bars 4% 3% 3% 3% 2% 2%
Crackers 4% 5% 4% 4% 4% 3%
Rice cakes 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
Cheese 7% 6% 6% 6% 5% 5%
Fresh fruit 12% 13% 12% 12% 12% 11%
Raw vegetables 6% 7% 7% 6% 7% 7%

Month, Year
47

Source: MarketTools, Presentation Tips

I’m looking forward to seeing your presentations

• Presentation skills can always be improved

• Look at your company’s examples, but don’t accept them as how they define good

Details to remember:
• Recommendation up front
• Headlines tell your main point