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For LCB’s Big Question for May they asked: 

 ”Power Point - What is Appropriate, When and Why?”

Recently my wife participated in a sales presentation to the Executives at a Fortune 500 organization.   They were there selling consulting services to implement a new ERP package.  For this type of sales meeting her organization typically produces slides that are literally packed with information.  I encouraged her to include some other slides that had less information and rather just supported the point she was making.

When she went to her boss (who would be presenting with her) with this idea he iddn’t want to include the more “abstract” slides.  After the presentation concluded, my wife concurred that she didn’t feel the audience would have been receptive to those types of slides.

When looking through the other responses to the LCB’s Big Question I see many that recommend less text, minimal bullets, etc…essentially things that will position your slides as props for your message instead of the message itself.  I certainly agree with that philosophy and it’s the one I use myself when doing presentations.  But it would not have been effective with my wife’s audience.

Orbital RPM just completed a change management project for a Fortune 500 organization.  One of the things that was part of my role in the project was coaching the Project Sponsor for his presentations to the Steering Committee. 

If I had suggested slides with abstract images I would have been jeapordizing the client.  This organization is very formal and their presentation are expected to be to the point and complete with thorough data. 

I think that PowerPoint can be a very powerful tool when used effectively.  But ‘when used effectively’ is a grey area.  Always using pictures, minimal bullet points, etc. will not be appropriate in all presentations.  It depends on your audience and the information you’re trying to convey.  What is your audience expecting?  What are they conditioned to receive?  Are you doing a keynote or a project summary?  A sales presentation or a summary of sales? 

Are you telling a story?  Have slides as cues or points of inflection.  Are you presenting information?  Have the data - it’s comfortable for the audience.

To expand on stories, though, takes us more into the power of PowerPoint from a learning perspective.  Stories hit us at an emotional level and help us connect with and recall the information presented and therefore are a powerful aid in teaching.  PowerPoint is certainly a tool that can enhance stories (although not tell them). 

PowerPoint also seems to be the tool of choice that rapid elearning engines are built around.  It may not be an ideal solution but…

It’s the tool that eveyone knows and the tool that can be used in a mind-boggling number of ways.  PowerPoint or a similar equivalent will not be going away any time soon - learn to use it as a supplement and your stories will come alive.  If you’re presenting data to a Steering Committee you may have to stick with slides that are overflowing with information but if it’s what they want who am I to argue?

Orbital RPM was part of a recent IT outsourcing project in the role of Global Change Management.  As part of that project we conducted a stakeholder analysis to determine the extent to which key stakeholders were engaged and informed on the areas of the project that interested them.

The ongoing communication plan at the time included activities such as a monthly newsletter, a weekly email from the project lead (an outsourcer), posts to an internal portal page, multiple Power Points and a large variety of other communication vehicles.

The results from the stakeholder analysis were very clear.  There were essentially two audiences in the organization; a) the general end-users to whom the change in outsourcers meant very little save for some basic process changes and b) the IT workforce or those that serve as a liason between their department (i.e. Finance, HR, etc.) and IT whose jobs were significantly altered (or eliminated) by the move.

The above mentioned communication vehicles were mandated by the organization but were useful only to the general end-user audience.  The IT audience was requesting very project specific information - the kind that can not be bottled and distributed in the form of emails or newsletters.  Rather they needed regular interaction with key project team members so that they could ask questions, discuss potential solutions and just stay updated on the project overall.

Specific recommendations were made to the client to address the IT group of the stakeholders such as reinstating a weekly status meeting where different team members presented each week and anyone could attend, Executives working from various locations and walking the halls with free time, and project leads hosting weekly global conference calls where any of their team across the globe could join in to ask questions or just listen. 

None of our suggestions were taken.  We muddled through the laborious effort of creating static communications while many opportunities for rich, informal communication passed by.  And, the informal route would have consumed far fewer resources.

What projects are occuring in your organization where an audience could benefit from a less structured approach to communication surrounding the project?  Most people will appreciate less email and less copies of a rarely read company newsletter.  Make it so that people can get the information they need when they need it.

Orbital RPM began a consulting project in mid-December.  We have been hired to lead the Change Management and Communications aspect for a Fortune 500 company that will be outsourcing all of its IT services to an outside vendor for a seven-year contract. 

We were pulled in to the project at the last possible minute.  Most of the people on the transition team have been working together for months or years.  People are spread as far as Ghana, Peru, Australia, Indonesia and throughout the United States. 

One of the areas where Orbital RPM offers consulting is on the rapid on-boarding or integration of new-hires so when we started this project last month, my wife (who sells consulting services) and I had a conversation around the on-boarding of consultants. 

Consultants often are engaged in a project for less time than it takes many new-hires to become completely integrated into their new company.  Given that, how can companies quickly integrate consultants that they’re paying top dollar so that they can be productive immediately?  I reflected on this as we were integrated into this project…

At Orbital RPM we have based our New-hire Integration solution on research.  Some of that research came from MIT Sloan School of Management who did a study on the rapid on-boarding of new-hires.  Their results talk about two different approaches to on-boarding a new-hire:

• Informational: making sure a new employee has the knowledge they need
• Relational: making sure a new employee knows who to go to with questions

Most companies favor the informational approach - think training videos, binders, paperwork and how to fill out expense reports all on Day One.  Research shows that, if you had to pick one, the relational approach is much more effective.  Establishing relationships early-on gives people a network they can come back to with questions when they can’t remember a detail from the deluge of information they received on their first day.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been a new-hire so this project was an opportunity to put myself in the shoes of one.  On my first day two main things happened:

1. I was walked around the office building and introduced to other people that I would be interacting with on the project as well as introduced on conference calls with all of the countries listed above
2. I was given Zip files and countless Power Point presentations with all of the information on the outsourcing project that anyone would ever want to know

You can probably see where I’m going with this…which of the two activities do you think has been more beneficial to me?  It was the introductions to people that I’ve leveraged more.  Have the PowerPoints been useful?  Of course, but if I only had the relationships to go on, chances are I could’ve gotten each of those presentations given to me when I needed them just through asking the right person.

This is one of those great instances where the cheaper and simpler solution is the more effective one.  If you don’t have the resources or the budget for a fancy on-boarding process - whether for full-timers or for temporary help - make sure that newcomers know who to go to with questions.  Arrange a meal for others to get to know the new person, have them give a presentation about themselves, anything to get them integrated and comfortable with the people that they’ll need to turn to in the future for information.  Information that people simply can’t absorb all at once.