Presentations with a Shot of Adrenaline
Leave a lasting impression by creating a dynamic presentation.

By David Soxman

It’s hard to believe, but most companies competing for lucrative business contracts create proposals using the same software that 10th graders use to make classroom presentations. Most of us have yawned through a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or two (or 20) at some point in our careers. Countless articles have been written about the “PowerPoint Nation,” lamenting the over-dependence of business on PowerPoint as a means to deliver information. But at the same time, PowerPoint critics rarely, if ever, suggest an alternative.

Fortunately for all of us, as technology has gotten better and more affordable, there are new and exciting ways to breathe life into electronic presentations—giving you the opportunity to leave a lasting impression and distinguish yourself from your competitors.
    
Take Your Presentations to a New Level
Executive presentations, as they’re commonly known, take standard electronic presentations to an impressive new level. While most business presentations consist of predictable, static PowerPoint slides, executive presentations change the rules and raise the bar in terms of what’s possible when seeking an important new piece of business. Utilizing the latest design technology, persuasive presentations using Flash Macromedia seamlessly incorporate charts, graphs, photos, video, audio, animations and special effects where appropriate. The computer operates similarly to PowerPoint during the presentation, but that’s where the similarities end. With this technology, you will establish a tone for your company that is dynamic, professional and leading edge.

Getting Started
An executive presentation isn’t the right thing for every situation. So, you’ll want to weigh the costs and benefits of securing the new business versus the expense of creating the presentation using Flash Macromedia. If a specific account you seek would be nice but not particularly profitable (in other words, it won’t pay for much more than the monthly water bill), then it’s probably not worth the time and effort to do an executive presentation.

However, if gaining this business allows you to expand, hire new people or give existing employees a well-deserved raise, then that’s the time to pull out all the stops and start working on an executive presentation. Start by creating an outline that describes your vision of how the presentation will unfold, what it will include and possible ideas for effects. This outline can be handwritten, typed or developed using—believe it or not—PowerPoint. If you use PowerPoint for your outline, the text and graphics can be transferred easily into the Macromedia Flash format. The ability to cut and paste elements from one format to another will eliminate time spent retyping information.

Outsource If Necessary
After creating the outline, determine whether you or someone within your company has the skills necessary to create an executive presentation. If not, you can outsource the work to a creative or interactive agency specializing in multimedia design, Macromedia Flash and other graphics/animation programming. Many of these creative companies will find a way to create your presentation working within an established budget. But that means you must be up front with the agency about your budgetary limitations.

Whether you create the presentation yourself or outsource the work, active collaborations between you, others involved in the presentation and the creative folks will result in a much better and more efficiently finished product. The more direction you can provide from the start, the less time the production process will take. And like anything else in life, time is money.

The Presentation Itself
After the presentation is produced, it’s time for rehearsals to begin. Practice makes perfect, and you must practice your presentation many times to ensure complete professionalism when you’re in the spotlight. The presentation can be programmed to function by keypad or mouse click control. Run through the presentation as many times as it takes, with an audience, until you feel comfortable and confident.

Leave It Behind
As a final added touch, consider burning the presentation onto a CD-ROM and including it with the written proposal materials that you leave behind. The prospective clients can then review the presentation again at their own pace. It also will demonstrate your attention to detail, willingness to go the extra mile, and the fact that you are very serious about winning their business. Plus, your competition probably won’t do anything like this. Any creative agency with the ability to create the presentation should be able to author it to a full size or mini CD-ROM.

When competing against other companies in a sales presentation scenario, it’s making a lasting impression that counts. The difference between winning and losing a contract can be a direct result of the effort put into creating the proposal itself. If securing a new piece of business is worth its weight in gold, spend the time and resources necessary to attain it. If not, well, there’s always PowerPoint.

David Soxman is vice president of business development for Centrifuge, L.L.C., which provides creative and interactive marketing solutions for businesses. Soxman can be reached at (816) 474-1595 or .