We’ve seen it all before. The actuary presents their findings and everyone is at the edge of their seats. Wait no, that almost never happens. Or if it does, the only ones excited are the other actuaries in the room.
Actuaries are rarely the only decision maker in the room though, and we unknowingly sabotage our impact by making common presentation mistakes. Mastering effective presentation skills is essential for influencing decisions, gaining visibility, and driving career growth. If you feel your message isn’t landing or your insights aren’t getting the traction they deserve, you might be making one of these three frequently observed errors. Let’s dive into what they are and why fixing them matters:
- Numbers Overload
The Mistake: Trying to show everything. Slides crammed with dense tables, complex formulas, or dozens of data points that need a magnifying glass to take in. You show the whole thought process from start to finish, leaving no stones unturned. You understand the intricate details, but your audience gets lost in the weeds, missing the crucial takeaway.
The Damage: It overwhelms and confuses your audience. Where are we supposed to look? What should my focus be on? Trying to extensively demonstrate your mathematical rigor ends up obscuring your key messages and makes stakeholders disengage.
The Fix: Make the takeaways clear from the get go. Bring focus to those takeaways with just enough details to entice. Use visuals to illustrate your point. Ask yourself “What is the absolute minimum needed to support this specific conclusion?”
- Lack of Clear Structure & Purpose
The Mistake: The presentation meanders without a clear beginning, middle, and end. The audience isn’t sure why they are there, what the key point is, or what you want them to do with the information. It feels like a collection of facts rather than a purposeful argument.
The Damage: You want the attention of your audience from start to finish. Without structure, your message gets lost, and your recommendations lack punch. Stakeholders need a clear path to follow your logic. This is especially important when you’re bringing your analysis to cross-team presentations.
The Fix: Start by explicitly stating the presentation’s purpose and conclusion upfront with an executive summary. Structure your points logically with the Problem-Solution-Benefit approach to always give meaning throughout your presentation.
- Monotone or Unengaging Delivery
The Mistake: You’ve prepared exactly what you want to deliver, and stressfully prepared yourself repeatedly the night before, rehearsing your presentation like a speech. Or worse, you’ve dumped all the text you intend to read onto the slides, and now you’re reading directly from the slides, avoiding eye contact, or showing little enthusiasm for the material.
The Damage: So very boring. If you don’t seem engaged by your findings, why should the audience be? If you’ve filled the slides with what you’re going to say, the audience can just read it. Why do they need you to read it for them? This significantly undermines your ability to persuade and influence. Good public speaking involves more than just words.
The Fix: Use your vocal tone, pace, and volume to selectively emphasize your presentation. Practice delivering key points without reading. Make deliberate eye contact with different sections of the audience (but don’t scan the room like a robot).
Turning Mistakes into Strengths with Coaching
Recognizing these actuarial presentation mistakes is the first step. Consistently avoiding them and developing strong presentation skills requires practice, awareness, and often, expert feedback. You may not even have been receiving the right feedback to keep you aware of your shortcomings. Simply knowing the pitfalls though isn’t enough; you need to build new habits.
This is where coaching comes into play. At Calculated Coaching, we specialize in helping actuaries like you transform their presentations from data dumps into compelling narratives that drive action. We provide personalized strategies and practice opportunities to refine your structure, delivery, and message clarity.
Ready to stop making these common mistakes and start presenting with confidence and impact? Explore with us how targeted coaching can significantly boost your career. Don’t let poor presentation skills hold back your impactful work.
Actuarial Career Coach 