Effective report writing

WRITING EFFECTIVE REPORTSHarvinder Atwal

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Agenda

Warm-Up

Introduction and Objectives : Why it matters

Structuring your story – Storyboarding and Exercise

5 mins

5 mins

25 mins

Slide Layout, Presentation Structure and Messages 20 mins

Writing Insightful presentations and Exercise

Review of our presentations – Group exercise

Wrap-up

20 mins

5 mins

5 mins

Ways of Working

20 mins

Introduction and Objectives :

Why it matters

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Background: Why do we need to be able to make effective presentations?

INTRODUCTION

Effective presentations are essential to the way we work since they:

Ensure you provide your audience with the elements needed to enable and convince them to take action / make decisions as required

Enable us to present complex messages in a simple and persuasive way

Help to focus on telling the story and delivering real insight rather than just “data dumping”

Give you the confidence to step back from the detail, and focus on appreciating and responding to the emotional and political responses as well as the rational

The purpose of today’s session is to help you improve the quality and impact of your written presentations

INTRODUCTION

Objectives

● To understand the importance of varying presentation style to ensure it is appropriate for any given audience / situation

● To learn how to design high quality and high impact written presentations:

– Easy to understand– Compelling the desired action

● To understand the importance of going beyond data presentation to drive out insights

● To establish a “Modus Operandus” to:– Lay out a presentation in all its component parts at an early stage– Use the storyboard to help identify and communicate the analysis

needed– Use a consistent presentation format

Five principles underpin all good document writing

INTRODUCTION

Write for your audience.

Keep it simple

Support assertions with facts

Stay in the active voice (use verbs)

TELL A GOOD STORY

Beware: Written presentations may not always be the most appropriate technique for your audience

● It is very important to know your audience and what they are likely to respond best to

INTRODUCTION

● Make sure you keep your end point in mind - what is it you are trying to achieve, and what method is going to best achieve that?

– Much of the presenting we do in Tesco is far more about facilitating decision-making rather than getting lots of data across

● Understanding some of the other techniques available to you should help you select the most appropriate medium:

– Flipcharts– Brown Paper– Open discussion– Other (video, audio, exercises/games etc)

Structuring your Story

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STORYBOARDING

Every successful document tells a coherent story that your audience can follow

A scattered storyline is a sure way to lose your audience.

This “story” should have all the elements the audience needs to know in order to take action

Element

• Roadmap “Tell them what you’re going to tell them”

• What the problem isSet the stage

• What we did Outline approach/methodology; build credibility

• What we found Present findings

• What that means Interpret findings and make conclusions

• What we need to doMake recommendations

• What happens nextOutline next steps

Purpose

STRUCTURING YOUR STORY

The elements can be ordered in different ways depending on the nature of your audience

The challenge is to tell a story that convinces the audience to act

WHAT WENEED TO DO

What wedid

What wefound

What thatmeans

What theproblem is

Example 1: start with the problem and build to a recommendation (less-receptive audience):

What wedid

What wefound

WHAT WENEED TO DO

What theproblem is

What thatmeans

Example 2: start with the recommendations (more receptive audience):

STRUCTURING YOUR STORY

When conceptualising your story, start with the end in mind

– Write your recommendations first:– Your recommendations emerge from your solutions to the audience’s problems

— Your thesis or central argument.– Then, develop a storyline that leads logically to your recommendations.

GETTING STARTED

Getting Started - Building your Storyboard

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Your first step with any presentation should be to structure it into its key sections

Overview of a Typical Document Structure

Introduction Executive Summary & Objectives

Body Section 1 Body Section 2 Body Section 3 Summary and Next Steps

Title

e.g. Assessindustry X

Objective

What questions are we trying to answer/for whom

Executive Summary Market Size

Growth Rates

Market Fragmentation

Overview of Trends

Competitive Trends

Trends in customer needs

Overview of existing Players

Concentration

New entrants

Summary of Findings

Next Steps

Information technology trends

Company Profiles

e.g. Market Overview e.g. Market Trends e.g. CompetitiveEnvironment

GETTING STARTED - STORYBOARDING

This clarifies the information you will be looking for.

Then use a storyboard to sketch out your story early on

● A storyboard will guide your information needs so write one early in the project or piece of work:

– Use the storyboard to help identify and communicate the analysis needed. – Do not wait until you have “the answer” before planning how to communicate

the result.

GETTING STARTED - STORYBOARDING

Revise headlines and rearrange slides until they tell the story your audience needs to hear.

● Creating a storyboard up-front will help you to:– Headline and visualise each page of the document.– Organize and communicate ideas.– Check the logic flow (“necessary and sufficient” arguments).– Check the progress of your work.– Disseminate the document early on to pre-position your audience where needed

There are many ways to produce a storyboard:e.g. post-its, A4 pages, flipcharts etc

Make sure you reduce your story to its essentials

GETTING STARTED - STORYBOARDING

You don’t have to present every single bit of data - identify the important messages, and stick the rest in an appendix!

Guy meets girl, guy wants to marry girl, guy paints a cat to impress the potential father-in-law.

A Jewish male nurse plans to ask his live-in girl friend to marry him. However, he learns that her strict father expects to be asked for his daughter's hand before she can accept. Thus begins the visit from Hell as the two travel to meet Mom and Dad, who turns out to be former CIA with a lie detector in the basement. Coincidentally, a sister also has announced her wedding to a young doctor. Of course everything that can go wrong, does, including the disappearance of Dad's beloved Himalayan cat, Jinxie.

BREAKOUT 1A: CREATING A STORYBOARD ( 5 minutes)

• Before you see any data, in your pairs, write a storyboard for your case study:

• Prepare the headlines for your storyboard (on paper is sufficient)

• No more than 5 headlines (i.e. slides) long

• Be prepared to present your story back to the larger group

• Remember that the audience should be able to understand the story solely from the headlines

• Timing: 5 mins preparation

BREAKOUT 1B: REFINING THE STORYBOARD ( 5 minutes)

• Refine your story now that you have your analysis:

• No more than 5 slides long

• Be prepared to present your story back to the larger group

• Remember the audience should be able to understand the story solely from the headlines

• Timing: 5 mins preparation

REVIEW STORYBOARDS ( 5 minutes)

Slide Presentation

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Layout

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You have to be consistent all through the documentKeep It Simple

● As with any design, cut the clutter. Does 3D shading of text boxes

in multiple colours make your recommendation any stronger?

● Stick to one font. No more than one or two graphic images or

charts per slide is another good rule.

● Use the same colours and fonts throughout.

● It will speed up your writing and so enhance production efficiency

● A simple and standard format will enable your audience and let

them concentrate on what is important.

Your document has to be professional.Try to imagine you’re designing a book that

will be printed and sold

Each part of the document has its own objectiveThe headline tells the story

● Content (text)● The content explains the story

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The kicker-box tells the implications of the storyThe kicker box usually answers the “so-what?” question

• Content (diagrams, graphs) support the story

The Headline

The headline tells the story Only one single message per page

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Use headlines as the story board of your document:

When reading the headlines the audience should have a clear idea of the whole story

Write something meaningful that directs attention to the main points of the message

• “Premium customers spend three times than Opportunity Customers”

Use a short sentence• Two lines maximum

for the headline (but one is best)

Do not write empty statements or numbers

• “Loyalty distribution of customers”

A well written headline focuses attention on the message the page conveys

Examples of Common headline fails

Your text should present complex data in the simplest way possible

● Follow the Rule of Two where possible:– No more than two lines per sentence

● Break long bullets into bullets and dashes:– Better looking.– Easier to read and understand.– More memorable.

● Use graphics to add power to your presentation:– Have more impact than a table of raw numbers– Give both a numerical and a visual message.

● Keep tables as simple and clean as possible:– Highlight key numbers (e.g. bold or circle)– Use logical progressions (e.g. low to high, left to right)

SLIDE PRESENTATION

The best kickers answer the audience’s “So what?” questions

● Say what the page’s content implies for the audience:– NOT a continuation of the headline.

● Sometimes used effectively in other ways:– As exception statement or counterpoint.– To sum up and end section (signal a transition).

● Are short and to the point.

● Are OPTIONAL—use only when a “So-what?” is needed:– If you use them on every page they will start to lose their power

Using kickers well can add substantial power to your presentations.

SLIDE PRESENTATION

Evaluating each page or slide you write will help you produce better overall documents

● Asking and answering simple questions about the various elements on each page or panel will help ensure you have clearly expressed yourself.

● Answering the questions before someone else asks them will help leverage the time you have with your audience:

– Eliminating simple questions about style helps you focus on content and message.

– Presenting confusing panels will result in lost time explaining the presentation

● Don’t forget to use your spell check!

SLIDE PRESENTATION

Structure

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Each part of a presentation has its own purpose and is necessary

1.

Title Page

2.

Executive Summary

3.

Objectives

4.

Body

5.

Summary

6.

Next Steps

Should be as explicit

as possible

Summarises the storyline

and key messages

Tells the purpose of the report

Follow the structure and relegate to the appendix detail that’s not necessary to understand the story

Tells the whole story

Tells the key messages

again

Explains what will

happen next

Level of attention at it’s peak

The executive summary should summarise the storyline and the key message

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Summarises the storyline

Contain the key messages

{title}• {text}

Should fit onto one page

Contain the key results (profit, customer volumes, sales, etc)

Executive Summary

Messages

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The key messages are greatly dependent from the context of your presentation

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The different kind of objectives of your document

The audience / readers

• To inform• Is the subject complex?• Is it very innovative

• To convince• Does it imply a tough decision?

• To trigger action• What will trigger action you want your

audience to take?

• What are their feelings on the subject of your presentation?

• What are their main concerns and interests?• Is somebody in a position to take a decision or

trigger action?• What is their attitude towards you?• Will they be receptive or sceptical about your

message?

The type of messages depend on the objective of your document and level of involvement

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Objective Type of message & examples

Inform

Convince

Trigger Action

Tell facts

• 39% of customers were Premium Loyalty

• 300k of the target customers are Rewards redeemers

GiveOpinions

• Increasing Rewarding coupons will grow redemption rates

• Customer loyalty is declining due to the economy

Advise

• Target deciles 1- 5 of the model for the CCX creative

• The Points Booster event should not be repeated in its current format

+

Lev

el o

f in

volv

emen

t

-

Effective Messages

Your sentences have to be short, sharp and active

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Messages with sharp and short sentences are easily remembered

Write short sentences and avoid too many adverbs and adjectives:The message will be quicker to understand. Tighten up your writing!Practice by trying to minimise the word-count without losing the story

Be sharp and direct:It will focus your reader on

what they need to remember

Use active verbs:Active form is especially powerful

as you describe work you have completed or are in the process of

completing.“Harvinder wrote this presentation”

instead of “This presentation has been written by Harvinder”

Write short sentences and avoid too many adverbs and adjectives

Adverbs modify verbs or any part of speech other than a noun

Look for words ending in ‘ly’ and see if you can get rid them by choosing a better verb. E.g. “Janet closed the door violently” to “Janet slammed the door”

“I found the meeting incredibly dull.”

“The meeting went well, and the directors were extremely happy with the outcome!”

“However, I shall not eat kebabs again.”

Adjectives qualify a noun giving more information about the object.

“Only a mere 2% of customers redeem cheese coupons” “The small number of

categories was a major cause of low participation.”

“The Old Spice campaign had a powerful impact”

Many adjectives add little to a sentence. Remove adjectives like "mere," "basic," "essential," "major" and "fundamental."

Unless you explain what you mean, don't use words like "advanced," "powerful," "sophisticated," "flexible," or "special."

Use active verbs:Active verbs form more efficient and more powerful sentences than passive verbs.

The subject of an active voice sentence performs the action of the verb: “I throw the ball.”

The main character is the subject of a passive voice sentence but something else performs the action: “The ball is thrown by me.”

“You are loved by me.”

The subject (“You”) sits passively while the action (“loving”) is performed by somebody else (“me”).

“I love you.”

The subject (“I”) is the one performing the action (“loving”).

“Stores are visited twice a week by Premium customers”

“Premium customers visit stores twice a week.”

“The Fairy CCB has been redeemed by 5k customers”

“5k customers redeemed the Fairy CCB”

Exercise – Make the following sentences as sharp as possible

● Although the idea behind the Booster event is received favourably, it does little to influence customer perceptions.

● Overall awareness was very low, largely driven by minimal in-store presence.

● Therefore these figures do reflect that the points booster did not deliver any uplift and sales were even less for these products, compared to the 10 weeks average weekly sales beforehand.

● However, the most imminent priority is to get more visibility in store to create a buzz now (rather than at the end of July) – cut through is currently very low.

● The recommendation is not to run for as long and as such, there are a few options to consider.

Current word count is 108. How low can you go?

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Exercise – Make the following sentences as sharp as possible

● The Booster Event idea was well received, however the actual event did not influence customer perception

● Minimal in-store presence drove low awareness● The points booster drove zero uplift● Recommendation is to:

– run the event for less time– increase visibility in-store and create a buzz now

A 45 word version

Writing an Insightful Presentation

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Your presentation should always move beyond simply relaying the data you have dug up

● Insights are about not taking data at face value but looking deeper and asking why

● Insights are frequently based on a new connection your findings make possible, or connect two seemingly disparate ideas.

● Usually related to the “What that (data) means” part of your story.

● Most often triggered by a “So-what?” question

You’ll impress your audience a lot more if you think beyond the obvious data.

WRITING INSIGHTFUL PRESENTATIONS

Pivotal Point

Data Analysis Insights Recommendations

“What’s going on” “What to do about it”

Insights typically come from asking “why?” when presented with a finding

● Market trends

● Competitive positioning

● Customer perceptions

● Relative cost performance

● Internal capabilities

● Historic trends

● Industry “forces”

● etc.

Why?

• Why are they better/worse?• Why is that declining/ increasing/not

changing?• Why did they do that?• Why didn’t this happen?• Why are these 2 things different?• Why look at it this way?• Why isn’t this important?

• New perspective• Important result• Increased understanding• Better focus• Key issue• “Killer finding”• “Aha”

Insights are clearly different to data and findings

WRITING INSIGHTFUL PRESENTATIONS

Analysis Insight

The real power of insight is in the ability to translate it into action

So What ?

• So what is the key issue ?• What is really wrong ?• What does it really mean for

us ?• What is the impact ?• What could we do about it ?• What are the options ?• What are the benefits and

costs of changing ?• What are the next steps for

us?

WRITING INSIGHTFUL PRESENTATIONS

Analysis

Insight Conclusions

Recommendations

Example: GravityAn apple falls on Sir Isaac Newton’s head and he discovers Gravity

“What are the facts used as input for

the analysis”

• An apple was in the tree

• Something hit me on the head

• It hurt• It was an apple

“What information can we deduce

based on the facts and some

assumptions”

• The same apple was in the tree and then hit me on the head

• The apple fell from the tree

“What new, important and useful result is

inferred or proven”

• Something caused the apple to fall from the tree

“What do we believe is

happening or what could you do based on the

results”

• There is a force of attraction between any two masses

• The force is proportional to the product of masses

“What should we / you do based on the conclusions”

• Don’t get in between two big masses or you’ll get hurt !

WRITING INSIGHTFUL PRESENTATIONS

Data Analysis Insight Conclusions Recommendations

Example: Weyerhaeuser Particle Board Developing a value proposition

• We produce particle board

• Our customers are furniture makers

• Competition is currently on price

• Furniture makers laminate narrow boards together to make thick board

• This takes time

• Laminating board is more costly for customers than buying thick board

• If we could produce thick board we could charge a premium as this would lower overall cost to the customer

• We should produce thick board (at a higher cost) and charge a premium

WRITING INSIGHTFUL PRESENTATIONS

“What are the facts used as input for

the analysis”

“What information can we deduce

based on the facts and some

assumptions”

“What new, important and useful result is

inferred or proven”

“What do we believe is

happening or what could you do based on the

results”

“What should we / you do based on the conclusions”

Data Analysis Insight Conclusions Recommendations

BREAKOUT 2: BUILD YOUR SLIDE ( 15 minutes)

Now that we have the headlines – start to build your slides:

• With your nominated slide use the charts and tables to support your story and build your slide

• Build your slide and check it conforms to best practice.

• Add relevant insight and make sensible recommendations

• Be ready to present the slide back to the group

Timing: 15 mins preparation

REVIEW SLIDES ( 20 minutes)

Finishing Up

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Ensure your presentation adheres to the basic guidelines we discussed

• The overall presentation:– Has a logical structure.– Builds toward recommendations and next steps.

• The headlines:– Capture the panel’s principal message.– Are written in clear language.– Tell the story on their own.

• The slides:– Tell a top-down story.– Provide solid data to support the assertions in the headlines.– Present that data in a simple way– Are insightful

FINISHING UP

FINALLY, LETS QUICKLY REVISIT THE FIVE PRINCIPLES OF GOOD DOCUMENT WRITING

FINISHING UP

Write for your audience

Support assertions with facts

Stay in the active voice (use verbs)

TELL A GOOD STORY

Imagine your presentation is going to someone very senior. They don’t have any background on the topic and have just two minutes

to devote to it.

Could they pick up the report and understand it without explanation?

If not, simplify!

Final Check – Does it pass the elevator test?

Follow-UpExercise

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Follow-up Exercise

You’ve been asked to bring along a paper-copy of a presentation you have put together

Pass this presentation to the person sat three seats to your left

Review your colleagues presentation in-light of what has been learnt in today’s session. Some suggestions for:

Is the story lucid? Is the structure coherent?

Is the layout clear? Can the messages be made simpler?

Is the output insightful? Are the recommendations actionable?

Be ready to present back your improvements to the larger group

A follow-up session has been booked in a few weeks time where will go through your homework and the improvements suggested

Appendix

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Slide Presentation Checklist

The Layout is Simple

All the pages are consistent. Slides are numbered – v. important, especially if presenting face-to-face.

There are diagrams, charts and maps to support my messages; not just bullet points

There are few colours used in the document

The kicker boxes answer the “so what?” question

The reader can understand the main idea of the document from the Title Page

The objectives of the document are clearly told at the beginning

The executive summary gives the key messages of your document

Headlines are linked logically and tell a story. There is only one message per page.

In all pages, the content supports the headline

Data sources are stated and All supporting information is relegated to the appendix

Every element on each page is useful to understand the story. No redundant elements (including words)!

Each headline is explicit (and a real sentence)

The sentences are short, direct and use Active verbs

Layout

Structure

Messages

Bullets are not your only option!

• Do not just use bullet points: insert diagrams, charts, maps to support your messages. There are great templates at: http://extremepresentation.typepad.com/blog/the-new-36-layouts-that-p.html

• {text or graphics}

• {text}

• {text}

• {text}

• {text}

Improvement StepsInputs and Outputs

“The worst way to stop a bullet is with your head” – Abraham Lincoln