Importance of Presentation Skills in Business - Coursework Example

Presentation Skills Name of the Student Name of the University Presentation Skills Presentation is increasingly becoming a very important aspect of careers and businesses today. They play a major role in the development of business as well as advancement of careers. Research studies over the last fifty years have concluded that most businesses want and need employees with strong and effective presentation skills (Corder, 1989). Any kind of business transaction today involves some degree of presentation skill, be it guiding a new colleague through office procedures, reporting back to a department meeting or giving the board members an introduction and overview of a new product (Bradbury, 2006). According to Rotondo (2001), presentation is, “A visual and aural event intended to communicate, for the purposes of providing information, helping to understand, gaining agreement, and /or motivating to act.” (p. 2). There are three important elements that contribute towards a successful presentation, namely content, design and delivery. Content refers to the research and organization of material to be presented and is one of the key aspects of any presentation. There are three critical steps to be kept in mind when creating content. Firstly, research of material must be done effectively and accurately. Secondly, the information must be grouped into logical categories. The content must be arranged in a sequential argument. A sequential argument consists of a series of linked statements drawing to a final conclusion. When grouping content it is also very important to break down the main topic into subtopics and smaller parts to facilitate easy understanding and recalling. The final step in designing content is to create an outline for the presentation. This will facilitate easy transition from one subtopic to another. Designing content is again an important aspect of presentation. Content must be designed in such a way as to capture and retain audience attention. Visual aids are very important during presentations to facilitate easy grasping and recalling by the audience. Most people expect visual aids for the oral messages or communication that is being delivered. Graphics, charts and animation can be used to enhance the visual elements accompanying the verbal message. Delivery of the content is the most important aspect of any presentation. Objectives of the presentation as well as what is expected of the audience must be stated clearly. Some important factors that influence delivery include eye contact, voice modulation, expression, appearance and body language (Blair, 1991). Eye contact implies honesty and aids in establishing a rapport with the audience. Voice modulation is the key to retaining audience attention. A monotone voice will result in a boring presentation, hence a modulation in the voice and tone will aid in the retention of audience attention. Expression is again an important aspect as audiences almost always watch the face of the presenter. A smile will encourage audience to listen as opposed to a listless or nervous expression. Body language and stance are important when gaining audience attention. The posture and movement of hands convey a great deal about the presenter and go a long way in retaining audience attention. Proper content, good design and effective delivery together contribute towards a successful presentation. Johnson (2008) gives nine reasons why many presentations are not successful. Nerves are first and foremost reasons for an unsuccessful presentation. Nervousness and fear of speaking in public can hinder the presentation thereby rendering it unsuccessful. Lack of training is the second most prominent reason for poor presentations. Absence of proper guidance and training can affect the success levels of the presentation. Proper training helps in honing the skills of the presenter and a lack of it can cause poor delivery. Johnson quotes PowerPoint as a major reason for unsuccessful presentations. While it has been the most utilized tool for presentations, most people are unaware about how to use it to add to the presentation. Most PowerPoint presentations merely duplicate what the speaker is saying and this renders an ineffective presentation. The fourth reason is ignoring the audience. Understanding the audience who are being addressed is an important aspect of presentation. Many people treat presentations as a conversation with a few friends. This leads to ineffective presentations. Presentations with dull, uninteresting data cannot capture or retain audience attention. Poor designing of content and dull presentation is another reason for poor presentations. Many presenters come to presentations and read the data to themselves as opposed to presenting them to the audience. Merely reading the notes will lose audience attention and lead to boring presentations. Lifelessness is another factor that goes with reading to oneself. Lack of life in the presentation will also lose audience attention. Lack of conviction in the ideas presented and lack of enthusiasm in presentation is the eighth factor contributing towards unsuccessful presentations. Aimlessness is the final but important factor leading to poor presentations. Many presenters confuse their audiences by going off tangent and reaching conclusions that are contrary to the idea they began with. This again results in poor presentations. Presentation skills, good or bad have an impact on and outcome for the management of an organization. It has already been established that content, design and delivery play a vital role in successful presentations. Effective content, design and delivery also have positive outcomes for the management of an organization (InfoWorld, 1998). For example, well researched and designed content, which makes a proper case or arguments for projects and their budgets, helps management to arrive at accurate conclusions and approve budgets for proposed projects. Sequential arguments in the presentation that lead to effective conclusions aid, the management in decisions regarding budgets for projects. In case of a presentation to the board or management regarding the progress of a particular project or department, well structured content covering all aspects of progress and efficient delivery of the key points gives an accurate picture of the current level of progress and scenario. This facilitates the management to make decisions regarding department or ongoing projects as well as other projects in the pipeline. A well structured interview with good content organization, design and delivery style will promote the group or department to the management and this can result in a multitude of benefits to the group members. Good presentation skills also help employees to gain self-confidence and get ahead professionally. Correct body language, good command over the language, effective voice modulation and facial expression is a reflection of their presentation skills. This kind of insight into employees helps management and the human resource departments to make decisions regarding the promotions and salary raises and designations for employees. A sound understanding of the audience results in effective content, design and delivery and this in turn helps the presenter to sell his or her ideas to the management, peers or subordinates. For instance when putting forth a new idea or project to the management, sound understanding of the key people of the management can enable the presenter to fine tune the presentation to suit them and this in turn will aid in convincing the management. Once the management is clear on the key points of the proposal it enables them to make precise decisions on whether to work on the new idea or reject it. Sound understanding of the target audience also helps an organization when it is promoting a new product. For example in a sales pitch, understanding the audience gives way to an all round effective presentation, which will ultimately result in the successful selling of the product. Likewise, when selling products to a group of people understanding them and their nature plays a vital role. For example when selling a product to a non-technical audience, too much technical detail must not be conveyed. Understanding the audience gives an insight into their business needs and how the product will be useful to them. This will result in the successful promotion and selling of the product and benefit the organization as well as the management. Lastly, when an organization consists of employees with good presentation skills, it can cut down on the time and money spent on training the employees in order to hone their skills. This is the primary reason why many organization recruits employees who are skilled in presentations and general public speaking. Good presentation skills help the management in achieving many of the organization’s small term objectives and goals thereby leading to the achievement of the long term objectives, the mission and vision of the organization. Just as good presentation skills bring about positive outcomes for the management, poor presentation skills bring about certain negative outcomes for the management. Nervousness and fear of speaking in public can result in unclear presentations. Unclear presentations hinder management decisions regarding a variety of subjects. For instance, when presenting information on budgetary requirements, unclear presentations caused by nervousness can affect the clarity of the information presented and consequentially affect management decisions regarding budgets. Lifelessness, aimlessness and ineffective use of PowerPoint as a tool can all result in ineffective communication of content, thereby affecting management decisions. Dull and boring content when presenting and selling ideas and products to audiences can result in losing the attention of the audience. This can further lead to unsuccessful promotion and selling of the product and this in turn can affect the management and organizational objectives. When the primary objective of the presentation is information transfer, poor presentation skills can result in the unsuccessful transfer of information. For instance when presenting an idea to the management or when presenting information to a group of people about a particular product, nervousness, lifelessness in presentation or aimless and monotonous presentations can hinder the effective transfer of information thereby affecting the objectives of the management. Good presentation skills play a very vital role in the transfer of information (Little, 2009). Ignorance of the audience impact management decisions to a large extent. Lack of understanding of the audience can result in too simple or too complex presentations or even in the misjudgment of the levels of interest of the target audience (Facilitate Ltd., 2005). For example, presentation of highly technical aspects to a non-technical audience can lead to unsuccessful selling or promotion of a product or service. This can hinder management objectives and goals. Lastly, employees with poor presentation skills must be given proper training and guidance in the organization to improve and hone their presentation skills. Poor presentation skills of employees imply that the management must take necessary steps to spend time and money to provide effective training for employees. Thus presentation skills have a significant impact and multiple outcomes for management. References Blair, G (1991). Presentation Skills for Emergent Managers. IEE Engineering Management Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2009. http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art1.html Bradbury, A (2006). Successful Presentation Skills. Kogan Page Publishers, 2006 Corder, L E (1989). Survey Report of Presentation Skills Company: In Fortune 500 Industrial Companies. Department of Communication. University of Pittsburg. Facilitate Ltd (2005). Presentation Skills Checklist. Facilitate Fact Sheet. Retrieved October 13, 2009. http://www.facilitate-uk.com/pdf/PresentationSkillsChecklistUSApril2005.pdf InfoWorld (1998). Giving Effective Presentations. Vol. 20, No. 4. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. p. 109. Johnson, R (2008). The Essential Need to Improve Presentation Skills Within The Workplace. Expert Reference Series of White Papers. College of Public Speaking. Little, A (2009). Presentation Skills for Effective Project Managers. Helium Publishing. Retrieved October 13, 2009. http://www.helium.com/items/320776-presentation-skills-for-effective-project-managers Rotondo, M (2001). Presentation skills for managers. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2001. Read More