Why presentations are needed in business
- The need for presentations
A presentation to the sales force is needed because the changing costs will affect the people significantly. They need to know in what way the implications will change their everyday work. Since the information is complicated to understand, it is a good way to provide it through a presentation. The audience will be able to hear the relevant news in two different ways, which will address several types of learners. In spoken form from the presenter, it will benefit the Aural processors, and in written form on the handout it will be useful for the Visual processors in the audience. The handouts can also be used to state further details or for re-reading information after the presentation. Additionally, there will be some time to ask questions at the end or during the presentation if something is unclear.
Moreover, the sales force is worried since they do not know about these significant changes yet. A presentation is a more personal and tentative way to provide such sensitive information. In this way, the management seems less arrogant and makes the impression to care about the sales force.
As a larger group of people is impacted, it would be also cost-effective to do a presentation. The information has only to be presented once to the whole group. Everyone who is affected by the changes will be present so there is less work to do and less probability that things are mixed up when being passed around by hearsay.
The presentation does not have to follow a prepared schedule, but it has to react to the audience’s wishes and reactions. Maybe there are issues that the group understands faster and other facts that they want to hear more about. The presenter should be prepared to act spontaneously, but to keep the time and the information he does have to say in mind. At the end, there could be a brief group discussion to see if everything is clear and if there are any ideas or proposals from the audience. This would also benefit the Kinesic processors, since they like to do things on their own and do not like just to sit still and listen.
Nevertheless, presentations also have disadvantages. If they are not well prepared, the audience could lose the interest and quit listening as their attention spans cease. Furthermore, the topic is very complicated and serious. People could start talking to their neighbors about things they have not fully understood and interrupt the presenter because they are angry due to these changes. The presenter could easily lose control of the audience in this case. Moreover, preparing a presentation is much work to be done and might take too much time in advance.
Other ways to provide this information effectively and quickly are: Video conferences: This is a good option to use when the affected group of people cannot assemble in one room. This can be due to business trips, or if more than one company or country is involved and it would be difficult to meet. People can also ask questions if something is unclear to them and the advantages are similar to the ones of a presentation.
A disadvantage could be a bad internet connection leading to a discrepancy between sound and vision. This could be fatal when it comes to understanding important information. Bad audio or video quality could also lead to confusion and misunderstandings.Emails/Memos: You can quickly send an email or a memo to the full sales department providing all needed information and include internet links, brochures, photos, and charts. This would be a very fast and easy option and it would cost nothing. Additionally, the sales people would have everything needed in writing, so that they could read it as often as they need and misunderstanding were seldom.
A disadvantage is that you might have to answer upcoming questions several times. Moreover, it is very impersonal and may not be appropriate for a serious and complicated topic like this. An email can also be accidently lost or not paid attention to by the receiver, so you have to be careful what to write in the subject line.Meetings: In a meeting, the sales staff could discuss the policy changes and think of different strategies of how to overcome this problem without selling significantly less. It is also going to keep the attention span up because the persons concerned would not have to listen to only one speaker. If the speakers are shifting, the conversation is much easier to follow and new ideas might come up. Additionally, as the implications are hard to understand, it might be helpful to communicate it through a meeting since the participants can ask questions right away. If the meeting is well structured and –prepared, it will also strengthen the group’s identity and there will not be the feeling that they are left alone with the changes.
However, if the group is too large, a meeting might not be the right idea. It can end up in a mess if everyone is talking across each other. If not everyone can contribute to the conversation, they might feel overlooked and less important.