How to Make your Treasurer Reports So Sexy People Will Look (and Listen)

Following is a transcript from this episode of MoneyMinder’s Two Minute Treasurer’s Tip Podcast.

Welcome to the Two Minute Treasurer’s Tip podcast. I’m Cyndi Meuchel, and today we’re talking about how to make your financial reports so sexy, people will read them. So, truth be told, I Googled that topic before I started this podcast, and as you can probably imagine, I got absolutely no relevant returns on it.

Then I started thinking, how the heck am I going to pull this off? Because one of the most commonly asked questions from treasurers is: “how can I get people to care about what I’m reporting on? Most of the time, folks start checking their phones when I start talking, or worse yet, they look at the report I hand out and give me the ‘deer in the headlights look’ (you know the one I’m talking about). And if I ask if anybody has questions, it’s crickets.”

Does that sound familiar to you? I know I’m not alone.

Sadly, I wish I could share some magic secret with you, but I’m not in on that secret either. So, if you are, please do share. In the meantime, here’s what I can suggest. And keep in mind that all of these ideas I’m about to share will take extra time. It might be time that you don’t have or don’t want to put into this, but what the heck. Here we go.

Ideas to Make Your Treasurer’s Report More Exciting

1. First off, you might consider something like infographics. They’re short and sweet and grab peoples’ attention. So there are sites like Visme, Piktochart, Infogram, VistaCreate, Canva, there’s a ton of them. They all do the heavy lifting for you basically, and they’re free, so check them out.

2. You might also consider telling a story about your finances. Maybe communicate your achievements and shortfalls, not just the numbers. Maybe even make a game out of it. Ask easy questions and toss out prizes for correct answers. I’ve found chocolate works great.

3. Consider adding photos to your report from events or say, completed projects. That might help personalize it. For example, if you just had a carnival, maybe add a photo from that and highlight what the carnival did. Or if you just did maintenance on your HOA’s pool, add a picture of that. People like pictures.

As for making your report sexy, well, that might have been a stretch. But if you have a creative way of presenting your report so people sit up and take notice, I’d sure like to hear about it.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening, and if you have a question you’d like answered, just email me at [email protected].