Presentation Tactics and Options

(part of Chapter 9: A Successful Presentation)

 

Imagine it is the end of a market research project, and you are getting ready to present the final results. Are you ready? With a little planning, you will be.

The following Q & A answers key questions about presentation tactics to make sure your presentation goes smoothly. Also offered are some alternatives to traditional presentation tactics.

 

Q: Should you send the presentation out ahead of time? Or should the big reveal be at the presentation?

A: This depends on your audience. In some companies, if you send the deck to executives ahead of time, they might decide that they no longer need to come to the meeting. This is unfortunate, because the meeting—although certainly vying for their limited time—is the best way for them to become truly immersed in the results.

One option is to send only a subset of the slides as a teaser—perhaps the first five slides of the management summary, or perhaps a few slides of particularly juicy results.

If your presentation will be attended by more hands-on or technical people, it is often best to send the deck out ahead of time. This type of audience likes to come prepared with their questions so that they can get the most out of the in-person time.

 

Q: Should you give out hard copies at the presentation?

A: Yes. In my experience, many people prefer to take notes of interest on the slides so that they don’t end up with two separate hard-copy documents (handwritten notes on notebook paper and a slide deck).

Also, they might hear the presenter add a verbal anecdote while explaining a slide and decide to note it themselves on the hard copy (after all, not every interesting observation made by a presenter is captured in slide text).

 

Q: Should questions be saved until the end of the meeting?

A: No. If people have relevant questions early on and they don’t get the answers, it really distracts from their experience—and can even lead to perceived lack of credibility.

If a presenter holds off an audience member’s question, it suggests that he or she so easily distracted that even a single question will derail the presentation. Answering questions as they occur keeps things lively and interactive, and it also boosts perceived credibility.

 

Slideware Alternatives

Instead of delivering a big slideware presentation, consider delivering the research in the form of newsletters. This is especially useful if your audience isn’t going to spend more than five minutes at a time reading research results.

In fact, in some cases I’ve actually broken research results down into logical topics that can be covered in a newsletter-style format, or a word processing document that has two columns per page, rather than having full-page charts and graphs and big blocks of text. Newsletter graphics are smaller, and by restricting the overall document to three to seven pages, you’re giving people information in bite-sized chunks that are a lot easier for them to chew and swallow. Although you and I might like reading large MR reports, most people, alas, find them hard to read.

Another option for delivery is video. Some companies have the researcher present the research results on video, in addition to an in-person presentation. The video can be set up so that the display switches back and forth between shots of a person presenting and shots of the slides. The client posts this material on its internal network so that people can watch the presentation at their leisure.

On occasion, companies actually put the material on a publically accessible website so that customers also can view the research results. That has the added benefit of creating a piece of thought leadership.

 

What About Podcasts?

Yes! Audio is a great way to share research results. Keep in mind these pointers: 15-20 minutes maximum duration. As many podcasters know, most people have a limited attention span for audio-only formats.

Use the podcast as an opportunity to advertise executive endorsement. Rather than just read results, include an interview with an executive about what he or she found most interesting about the research. This keeps the content more engaging for listeners.

Don’t forget to use this as a commercial: Close with directions on where to get the full results or how to ask for follow-up.

 

This is an excerpt from the book, "How to Hire & Manage Market Research Agencies," which is available on Amazon. Published by Research Rockstar LLC. Copyright © by Kathryn Korostoff. All rights reserved.