Information Presentations – This could have been an e-mail?

In my opinion, there are only 2 reasons to give a presentation: you need to inform, or you need to convince.

Recently, I participated in a Clubhouse roundtable discussion about online presentations. On that occasion, I realized once again how much entire work surrounding has changed for many people since 2020. Change always looks a little weird at first though, a bit like growing kids when their second teeth stand out way too big out of their mini faces. The change to make as many as possible contactless has also dragged our old meeting culture into the new environment.

That most companies chronically over-meet is something we hear all the time. Innovative companies make statements here and there about how meetings should be scaled back, open office spaces should enable better collaboration, and that PowerPoint is the devil himself. All this sounds a little different now.

So we wanted to give tips on online presentations in this roundtable discussion, and there we were, noticing that the topic of presentation has a different meaning for each participant and that each focus is completely different.

For coaches, the focus is on connecting with participants, interacting, supporting their virtual counterpart with uncertainties and questions.

For speakers, the focus is on transporting their message, that they can continue to create the charismatic aura and remain having motivational impact like they have on stage.

For me, the focus is on the visual part of a presentation. Explaining things pragmatically, vividly, so that numbers and the reasons for them come across clearly and directly understandable. My focus is the visual information transfer.  When it comes to presentations, we actually have to separate that clearly. Not all presentations are the same and not all PowerPoint is the same. In our agency, for example, 70% of the business is about information presentations and only 30% about persuasive and motivational presentations.