by Kathy Morris, Vice President and Executive Producer
16. June 2009 09:14
If PowerPointless is trance-inducing in person, imagine how much less compelling it is when the presenter resides on the opposite end of a phone line and the viewer is alone in a cubicle or office with two days worth of work on the desktop and needy colleagues hovering about the entrance. Rallying geographically distributed management team members around your company’s mission and vision under the heading of “Quarterly Financial Update,” can be a challenge, but with careful agenda preparation and dynamic presentation, you can turn make these anticipated rather than dreaded events.
There are five keys to developing an effective webcast agenda.
• Present unique information – If all you are going to do is read the audience a published report – send them a link to the pdf and let them peruse it over lunch.
• Provide context – If the information that needs to be presented is quarterly financial results, distribute the numbers in advance and use the webcast event to provide context that helps members of the team understand the why behind the what.
• Reiterate common goals and give examples of how seemingly disconnected departments have contributed to achieving those goals. What recruiting and/or training successes has HR had that have contributed to the ability of R&D to develop or sales to sell the latest version of the product? What market intelligence did sales provide that enabled manufacturing to deliver a more successful product?
• Involve multiple presenters in the storytelling – Rehearsal is mandatory, but when the team hears the same message from multiple voices in their own words, it more quickly becomes the company’s story.
• Celebrate success – Share both corporate and personal achievements to connect geographically distributed team members.
The delivery format is equally important. Make technology work for you by choosing a delivery platform that enables you to keep the presentation moving without having to wait for files to load or awkward hand-off of presenter control. Allow the audience to see the presenters. Add pictures and video to demonstrate your points. Solicit opinions from the audience in the form of polling and invite questions through email or phone submission. Practice.
With compelling content and dynamic presentation, your management team will not only be informed, they will be energized.
Click here to learn more about Quicksilver's webcasting experience.
Kathy Morris has spent the last 10 of her 35 years in the communications business with Quicksilver. Her unique ability to rapidly ramp up on a client’s business, then present targeted information through the creative efforts of the production team she manages have been key contributors to the growth of Quicksilver’s live meeting and webcasting offerings.
