Your presentations are putting people to sleep - here's how to fix them

The last thing you ever want to see when you're making a presentation is a bored audience. But when you've been tasked with sharing data with your clients or customers, you may find yourself losing their attention sooner than you'd like.

Numbers can be an overwhelming part of a presentation for the average person, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be included. Data plays a vital role in nearly every aspect of business - from decision making to strategy to understanding everyday consumer behavior.

The secret to making data digestible is using highly visual and engaging tools, such as visualizations and infographics, to get the numbers across to your audience. Here are five reasons visuals are vital to making data more understandable and engaging.

1. Visuals tell a better story.

Trying to decipher data is a lot like trying to understand a foreign language. And studies show visuals help us learn and absorb information better (including data and language) by simplifying complex ideas.

2. Visuals are easier to digest than numbers.

If you were given the choice to read a spreadsheet filled with numbers or a visualization highlighting the same exact data, which one would you prefer? Most likely the visualization, which is inviting and readable, while raw numbers on their own can bury knowledge and actionable insight.

3. Data visualization helps you easily spot and create insightful goals.

Data carries a lot of useful information, but can be overwhelming if you have no way of interpreting it. Visuals intelligently organize the relevant data into one cohesive story. They can point out where a company is failing, help improve operations and cash flow, and even push companies to capitalize in areas they wouldn't have considered before.

4. Data visualization can foster better communication.

Visuals help to unite all parts of businesses, from finance to human resources to marketing. They can also help illustrate the bigger picture without data overload, decreasing the time wasted on excessive email exchanges between departments.

5. You don't have to be a genius to create charts and graphs.

Creating visualizations with tools like SAP Lumira is as simple as dragging and dropping data. You just open your data into SAP Lumira and it instantly creates the visual of your choice. The tool compiles data from various sources, like spreadsheets and databases, and allows you to combine and enrich the data all in one place.

Try SAP Lumira for free today, and start telling better stories with your data.

This post is sponsored by SAP Lumira.

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