How should a GIS analyst present to executives?

[ChrisChiappinelli]

In the latest WhereNext Confidential, a GIS analyst asks: I’m starting to get requests to present our location analysis to business managers and executives. Any advice on how to get comfortable in those situations and communicate effectively?

Here's one answer. Any other suggestions?  

[DougBrowning]

Be yourself and relax.

Show your passion for the subject.  It is so much easier to talk about things that you love.  Excitement is contagious.

Make it applicable to them.  Really think about it from their angle.

Tell the story and give real life examples.  We saved 30 hours of time using ...  Reduced extra visits...

Remember they are just regular people like you.

And of course the old Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them format.

Good luck!

[ChrisChiappinelli]

Nice insight, @DougBrowning Thanks for sharing. I like the language you suggest ("saved 30 hours," "reduced extra visits"). Those are the kind of benefits that resonate with executives. While some analysts might feel more comfortable focusing on technical benefits, your note is a good reminder to spotlight the business outcomes.    

[jcarlson]

Personally, I'd suggest getting something a little fancier than PowerPoint. Reveal.js makes it really easy to put together a crisp, clean presentation. It's amazing how much the presentation format seems to matter to some people. You can give the best presentation of your life, but if they thought your font was too small, that's the detail you're going to hear about.

[ChrisChiappinelli]

Interesting point, @jcarlson That's something we hear about fairly often--the importance of ensuring that the map you spent hours creating (or just minutes) conveys the information you want to convey. Details definitely matter in that situation.

[BillFox]

Walk them through some real front-line workflows that help them understand the importance of enterprise GIS

[BillFox]

Example:

How to convince I.T. to buy computers that can handle ArcGIS Pro?

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-questions/how-to-convince-i-t-to-buy-computers-that-can/td-...

[EH_Alaska]

Build a StoryMap 😉

In all seriousness (although I'm only half-kidding with the StoryMap), I highly recommend just getting the data, maps, analysis, etc. in front of them. GIS from my point of view is meant to communicate ideas first and perform analyses second. I know that sounds odd, but if your anaysis can't be communicated to non-GIS folks, what good is it?

I like to take examples of "How we did things before" vs "How we do them now" to show the true impact of implementing GIS workflows. Expressing ideas about improving future workflows is also incredibly valuable. The biggest caveat is that you need knowledge, experience, and passion to be able to put yourself out there and get people to listen. But I think that's the case for everything. 🙂

[ChrisChiappinelli]

Good thoughts, @EH_Alaska I like the concept of conveying the idea first, with analytics to back it up. Thanks for your input. 

[Faiez]

GIS analyst should present his/her analysis in the form of maps and graphs to executives because the managers and executives do not have enough time to read the narrative reports.