Point, Click & Wow! -- Chapter 2: Organize Focused on One Objective
Page 6 of 6

The Customer Conference
Thus far, we've talked about designing the flow of one speech. Many companies have to design the flow of an entire customer conference to display and tell about their products, services, and unique capabilities. The key to a successful conference is a well-developed process for creating, producing, and rehearsing the presentations. This approach avoids surprises and leaves the customers with a positive impression.

Here is a basic overview of the steps for creating the slides for a customer conference.

  • Topic. Presenters are given a topic for their presentation.

  • Color templates. The graphic designer creates a special color scheme and several design templates for everyone to use in creating slides. See Chapter Four on corporate blueprinting.

  • Format. A format for organizing the data for each presentation is created. This includes the flow of all the presentations and forces all the presenters to focus on what the customers want to hear. There may be several formats, depending on each presentation's objective.

  • Training. A session is held to explain the organizational formats and the design templates as well as to give some hints on presentation skills. A completed format is handed out as an example to follow.

  • Research. Presenters call three to five customers who have signed up for their session to find out why they signed up and what they want to learn from the meeting.

  • First draft meeting. A date is set for everyone to go over a hard copy of his or her presentation with a manager and graphic designer for review. The purpose of the draft meeting is to ensure accuracy and consistency of information. To complete the first draft, the presenters must (a) follow the guidelines listed on the Total Visual and Single-Slide Checklists and (b) practice their presentations out loud so they can verify that the flow and words on the slides make sense. If they wait to rehearse until the handouts are designed, it will be too late to modify the slides.

  • Changes. The final edits are made.

  • Final presentations. The presenter sends the final version to the person who is in charge of putting the final presentations into a binder or on a CD.

  • Rehearsal. Presenters meet in small groups of three or four to rehearse the entire presentation. The groups have critique forms. People practice with the equipment using a remote mouse.

  • Extra disk. When leaving for the conference, presenters are to take a disk or CD of their presentation.

  • Clothes to wear. Everyone is reminded to wear something that the microphone can be clipped to and a place to clip the transmitter for the microphone. One-piece dresses are not recommended.

  • Partner system. Presenters designate a partner who will be with them from fifteen minutes before to ten minutes after the presentation. The partners will be available to go for help in case of technical difficulties and will sit in the audience to help field questions. The partners also deal with people who have questions the presenter does not have time to answer. The partners collect the evaluation forms after the sessions.

  • The presentation itself. Presenters may stand behind a podium, but should use a lavaliere microphone. Podium microphones restrict a presenter's movement.
    [an error occurred while processing this directive]
    You've now read how to create the flow for a single presentation as well as for a customer conference. A Flow Checklist is included below for designing a pace that engages your audience. Use the Presentation Overview Checklist to help you focus your content.
    Flow Checklist



    Want to keep reading? Click here for chapter 3. In case you missed it, here's Chapter 1. If you'd like to read the entire book, Point, Click&Wow! A Quick Guide to Brilliant Laptop Presentations by Claudyne Wilder and Jennifer Rotondo, Claudyne offers Point, Click & Wow! free when you purchase her CD: Slides That Win showing over 200 before and after PowerPoint slide examples (put in promotional code: pmaster).

    Claudyne Wilder photoClaudyne Wilder is a recognized authority on the art of presentations. She has lectured at and consulted for many top corporations, including Gillette, Fidelity Investments, and Mercury Computer Systems. She's an acclaimed speaker, coach, published author of several books on presenting (Point, Click & Wow! A Quick Guide to Brilliant Laptop Presentations) and co-creator of the CD on visual design called Slides That Win: Your Roadmap to Success. Claudyne founded Wilder Presentations in 1984. She teaches her two day Winning Presentations Seminar to help people speak with confidence, capture the key messages needed to persuade the audience and turn their boring data slide presentations into a sales tool. She also does a three week tele-seminar to help people create slides that persuade. Reach her at claudyne@wilderpresentations.com, visit her Web site at wilderpresentations.com or call 617 524-7172.

    Source: Wilder Presentations and Jossey-Bass Publishing

     Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6

    Related sites: • AV Video • Presentation Master
    Related forums: •
    [an error occurred while processing this directive]




    		•