Balancing visual aids and content in effective business presentations

Business Presentation

When there is a need to make a business presentation, then one would have to conduct a complete research on the best way in which to make the presentation, and also analyze why one is making the presentation in the first place, and what one hopes to achieve through the presentation. According to an expert, using bullet points is one of the 'most boring" methods of making a business presentation; it would be a better idea to use pictures, and this would reportedly bring up the competitive edge from a mere 33% to a 66%. (Business Presentation Tips) According to Cliff Atkinson, a PowerPoint expert, when the audience is overloaded with visual aids and technology related aids, one would most definitely be shutting off the dialogue that is a vital part of a good business presentation, and one that would help in the ultimate decision making process. He says, "When you remove interesting but irrelevant words and pictures from a screen, you can increase the audience's ability to remember the information by 189% and the ability to apply the information by 109%." (8 Secrets to a Knockout Business Presentation)

There are some others who feel that using visual aids would perhaps be 43% more likely to persuade people, than not using them. (Volin, 1999) However, when one feels that one does wish to follow the time tested method of crowding the presentation with bullets and slides, and at the same time wished to follow the new method of less visual aids, and more interesting mater, then, one expert advises, it would be a great idea to stay somewhere in-between. One example in real life of such a presentation is the one that the author reportedly gave at a local SCIP Chapter meeting, on social networking tools and their applications in competitive intelligence.