Presenting a high impact case for cultural diversity is critical for on boarding the leadership, getting followers to participate, and requesting necessary resources. You cannot get the leadership or followers to take your initiative seriously without making a powerful case. While the selection of content is crucial for impressing your audience, how you present the content can make or break this precious opportunity.

The harsh reality is that managers and leaders have a lot of things on their plates. Too many believe there are much more important things that need attention to meet organizational goals than a cultural diversity initiative. So your presentation must decrease resistance to the content and increase support for your initiative.

Understanding how the cultural diversity initiative links directly to the organization’s bottom line is the first step. Participants in the Diversity Executive Leadership Academy’s certification training learn how to do this as we guide them through developing a strategy map. Once you have this information, you will then need to decide how to best explain it and show your audience the linkages.

Getting the audience to see value in your presentation requires presenting your ideas in ways that are easy to consume. Otherwise, you risk mentally shutting them down. Once that happens participants respond by going to sleep or getting downright angry about their time being wasted. That’s far from what you want. You may be surprised to learn that this is what happens way too often. The good news is that it can be avoided.

One of the most effective ways to get your ideas across is to use powerful graphics. Consider these two presentation slides.

Slide #1

Slide #2

Each slide presents annual U.S. workforce demographics from 1998 to 2018. The second slide of the bar chart graphic is much easier to understand, more emotionally appealing, and increases curiosity.

Your could have verbally described how the workforce is changing by telling the audience. But, a visual representation increases learning. We all know that a slide full of text is so yesterday. The textboxes in the first graphic is more appealing than the text would be if it was presented alone. But, a high impact presentation requires us to think less about being fancier and more about reducing cognitive load and increasing the audience’s curiosity.

A Great Graphic is Worth a Thousand Words

Making a case for cultural diversity is challenging enough. You may be an elegant speaker, but that is not enough in an office meeting. They want you to cut to the chase so that they can get back to their desk. Getting your ideas across quickly and effectively requires designing, developing, and using graphics that tell the story, elicits emotional connection with your ideas, and generates curiosity. Once you get their attention, they get more involved by asking questions and offering suggestions. This is exactly what you want.

Don’t forget to decide what action you want from the audience beforehand. Make that request at some point after your presentation. It is ideal to make the request during a lively discussion that your high impact case for diversity will create.

If you like this article, you may want to join us by registering for one of the Diversity Executive Leadership Academy certification programs. Learn more here.

About the Author:

The Diversity Executive Leadership Academy Board. Learn more about us at About DELA.

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]