Analysts and fund managers see many interesting investment ideas in the market but a good presentation may be the deciding factor for them to cover or buy shares of the company.

Often, I see experienced management teams delivering lengthy presentations or shared more than they should to investors at briefings. They are not at fault for being passionate about their companies but not every executive can run the company and charm audience at the same time like Steve Jobs. Ideally, the management should bring their ‘A’ game to every presentation being as prepared as possible, with the assistance of an investor relations consultant running through the key messages beforehand. I believe a successful presentation is one that has a consistent sound bite that sticks and ultimately translates to a boost in share price.

Here are six pointers to help you deliver a good presentation:

The PPC:

• Be as prepared, passionate and confident as you can be. During preparation, keep in mind the key points you want to convey and stick to that. If you are one of those who tend to share more, mentally cross out what you avoid mentioning during the presentation, such as quantifying this year’s growth projection or developments that have yet to be announced. The company’s investor relations personnel should work closely with the presenter during preparation.

Introduce yourself and the management team:

• If the audience is meeting you for the first time, they would want to put a face to the name and understand your responsibilities in the company. Alternatively, the investor relations personnel could do an introduction before starting the presentation.

Speak clearly and at the right speed:

• You need to get the audience to understand what you are saying and most importantly, to get your points across. More often than not, the audience gets lost during the presentation when the presenter does it hastily. If you have adequate practice sessions, this should be overcome easily.

Provide visual aids: Presentation slides should not be lengthy and wordy:

• Do include key points that your audience would be looking out for. Try not to read from your slides as they should only be a guide to support your presentation. In addition, try not to overwhelm the audience with too much information or pictures on one slide. It would be helpful to bring other visual aids such as product samples and factsheet. Keep the presentation optimally less than 20 minutes.

Create a consistent sound bite:

• That should be the key message that you would want to convey. Make it simple and memorable. Launch it during the presentation preferably in the beginning and towards the end.

Leave questions until the end of the presentation:

• Audience posting questions during the presentation can be disruptive and makes it hard for the presenter to continue when the momentum is lost. Some questions are answered along the way during presentation. Having the Q&A session at the end of the presentation is also likely to shorten the session and provide for quality questions.

Allison is a Consultant at Financial PR Singapore