Category Archives: Communication

Are your Sales Presentations failing you?

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Bad Powerpoint presentations can be found in every level of business and government. There are several very simple points that are well-accepted – in theory – to improve Powerpoint design and create convincing sales presentations. In practice, though, people don’t seem to be able to adhere to them. That has a major negative effect on the outcomes. A conference that could have captivated and enthused an audience instead leaves them bored thanks to a convoluted, amateurish or nonsensical slideshow. A sales bid that could have resulted in a lucrative contract is dead in the water. Reputations are eroded; communicators who are skilled at speaking lose their listeners.

It’s no wonder that firms are turning to professional outfits to put together their presentations, complete with Powerpoint slides: these firms are skilled at creating an overarching narrative in which your Powerpoint presentation complements the spoken word – not distracts from it or undermines it. They will also train your employees to do it themselves, if you prefer.

If you are putting together your own slides, bear in mind a few basic points. Keep things simple. You’re not looking to duplicate on the screen what the audience is hearing from the speaker. Summarise information in short, pre-digested chunks – bullet points are good for this. Don’t be tempted by some of the flashier effects Powerpoint offers: it’s all too easy to include them, thanks to the software’s relative simplicity, but in practice they hardly add value. They just end up as a distraction.  And don’t just limit the amount of information on any given slide: limit the number of slides too. If your presentation is so complicated that it needs a long series of slides to make it clear, something is wrong anyway. You can’t expect your audience to leave with the total content of your talk in their heads. What you do want is for them to take away a  handful of clear, meaningful points. That’s far more effective than overloading them.

Effective Powerpoint design is about picking what to show visually. Many sales presentations overlook this and do not distinguish between information that is communicated aurally and visually. Powerpoint presentations are very well suited to simple, graphical communication – even if those visuals conceal a wealth of complex detail, as in the case of graphs and charts. They are not suited to large volumes of text. Short captions and summaries are fine, but don’t think your audience will take in much more from the screen.

Please visit https://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/

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Video conferencing and its benefits

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video conferencing comes in many guises, from the simple – though still effective – to the extremely sophisticated and expensive. Telepresence video conferencing is the most high-end of the options available. The idea here is that the other person or people in on the call should seem like they are actually in the room with you. That means they employ the highest quality sound and vision communication, depending on high bandwidth connections for the significant amount of data that needs to be transmitted reliably for such high resolution and fidelity reproduction at the other end. That involves specialist equipment and, as such, has an associated price tag. For that reason, it is most frequently employed by big businesses that can both afford the costs and require the best audio visual conferencing that technology can offer. At the other end of the scale there is the simplest camera and microphone set-up, which is cheap enough to be built into many new computers – even netbooks, which might cost only £200-£300. Powered by Skype or other similar software, these are used by millions of people to make cheap or free video calls across the world with only a broadband connection.

There are many advantages to all forms of video conferencing. Cost is one, and is the reason that so many people use Skype. Why pay for a costly international call when you can get one for free online? Throw in the video images as well and you have all the reasons you need. For companies, this cost factor is multiplied when you consider the expense of getting people together for a meeting – especially if they are coming from different countries. This also takes time, and generally you will be spending far longer travelling than in the meeting itself – an inefficient use of time. There are also environmental advantages, since travel is carbon-intensive. That makes a difference in an age where carbon footprint is quantified and incorporated into a company’s results and public image.

Video conferencing will usually pay for itself in a pretty short time. Naturally, there are limits even to the best technology and there is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting. But the benefits are such that every business with any kind of geographic spread – even across a few miles – should consider some form of audio visual conferencing. Whether that’s at the lower end of the spectrum or one of the cutting-edge telepresence video conferencing set-ups will depend on the needs of your firm.

Please visit http://www.edgevision.co.uk/

Powerpoint design is a necessary skill for great presentations

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PowerPoint presentations are the normal means of communicating messages in a wide range of business contexts. They are used as sales presentations, business pitches to potential clients, suppliers or partners, or internal performance evaluations, to name merely a few of these contexts. In any case it is fair to say that PowerPoint is an absolutely key business tool, and it follows that a company with an excellent grasp of quality powerpoint design holds a valuable edge over competitors who do not. This applies to all contexts of business where PowerPoint is an essential tool.

To make top quality presentations you will require several ingredients. Most obviously, you need an excellent grasp of the software and its capabilities. This means having a thorough understanding each of the functions available in the program. If we’re honest we’ve all come across an obstacle and had to consult a forum, asking “how do you do such and such in PowerPoint”. It takes time, with no guarantee that an adequate answer will be found.

Beyond an awareness and a proficiency in the workings of the program, you need the ability to integrate its functionality with the overall message that you are trying to convey. This requires something more than only computer skills: it requires skill, forethought, even creativity. This is as important as the message you are trying to get across. When a job is not done methodically it is in danger of coming apart at the seams, and PowerPoint presentations are no different. Many an excellent idea has come unstuck in the world of business specifically because of weaknesses in the presentation.

Imagine, for instance, that you are trying to motivate your employees, perhaps by showing statistics of the previous year’s achievements, or by sharing with them your goals for the year ahead. If you cannot provide the information or data in an inspiring way, a large portion of your PowerPoint presentations will be lost in distraction resulting from uninspired presentation. Similarly, your sales presentations to potential clients need to be eye-catching and concise; there is no room for irrelevant information. Sometimes the people you pitch to have to watch more than ten pitches in a day: this can be very boring, and you must not leave it to a tired audience to filter through poor powerpoint design to find out that your ideas are worth listening to.

Please visit http://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

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