This is a major strategic blunder and a disservice to stockholders, employees and anyone else who has an interest in seeing an organization succeed. On top of traditional information sources such as newspapers, magazines and TV, we've added e-mail, multimedia and the World Wide Web. As a result, audiences expect more from presenters. They want to be impressed, entertained, even wowed. In today's marketplace, the ability to deliver presentations that cut through the information clutter to inform and persuade is crucial.
Presentations are an organization's most direct communication effort.
So it's surprising how often managers, salespeople, trainers and even executives are expected to produce and deliver their own presentations without support or training. Companies that devote millions each year to improving financial know-how, sales savvy, customer service and management skills never spend a dime to help their employees present themselves and the company in a professional and consistent way. The result is that the majority of presentations delivered today are poorly designed and woefully delivered, even though people have access to more presentation software, computers and projectors than ever before. Smart organizations realize that top-flight presentations offer a strategic advantage, and increasingly they're allocating money, manpower and training to improve how presentations are created and delivered. In the process, they're discovering that this investment has a direct impact on the bottom line through increased sales, more productive meetings, more effective training sessions and better communication.