The Way You Present Survey Results Makes a Big Difference

Finally, it all comes together: You have created Effective Online Surveys and you have applied survey design tips to increase response rates. Now it’s time to share present survey results. Here tips for reporting online survey results and putting together a killer presentation that gets your audience to take the actions YOU want them to take.

Present Survey Results like a Storyteller

What’s the Burning Issue?

What was the question you were trying to answer with this survey? What story will the presentation tell? Keep it short and simple. A single slide with about a 30-second introduction will do the trick.
Focus on what the data means to your audience.

How will their work or life change as a result? Does your data mean different things to different people? Bring that out when you present survey results.

Provide your learnings and conclusions as a 1-2 punch.

On one slide, put what you learned or a conclusion supported by a dramatic picture. On the second slide, show them the proof. DO NOT put a table or a chart with lots of little tiny numbers and lines. See this slide below — DON’T DO THAT. I know, it’s in Russian, but does it really matter?

What action do you want the audience to take and what’s the payoff?

Create a slide that has an action and a benefit statement on it. This way, it’s clear what action needs to be taken and why.

Surprise your audience by telling the story of your research journey. Bring them along for the ride and share the enthusiasm you have for what you’ve learned.

If you really want to know how to present complex data really well with a story, you need to take the time to watch – The best stats you’ve ever seen

This is Hans Rosling giving a live presentation of Data at the TED conference.

Here is the same data presented Differently.

When we present survey results, we have a HUGE opportunity to engage our audience and build enthusiasm and excitement for what we’ve done. It seems a shame to let all our hard work go to waste because we chose to present stone cold numbers instead of a story.