Terry's Presentation Could Have Been Appropriate for

¶ … Terry's presentation could have been appropriate for the audience. My assertion in this case is based on the purpose of the said presentation. However, it should be noted that Terry was not perhaps the best person to handle the more technical questions. In this particular case, the audience was an engineering group.

The purpose as it is pointed out "was to get the engineering group's buy-in on the prototyping approach, dates and final production dates." To be better prepared for the presentation, Terry should have first 'known her audience.' This would have allowed her ample time to not only anticipate possible questions but to also conduct additional research and make more enquiries on the subject matter.

It is only through the determination of the kind of audience she was going to face or encounter that Terry would have developed the most appropriate strategy to associate or relate with them. In my view, Terry failed to conduct what I will call a "pre-presentation" analysis, especially with regard to identifying her audience's informational needs.

Had she anticipated the kind of questions she was likely to be asked, I am positive she would have perhaps requested that the presentation be handled by two individuals -- herself and any other person familiar with the product technicalities involved. Terry in my view had only one option when it came to handling the questions as asked; inviting a person (i.e. A team member) more knowledgeable on the issue raised to come address the audience.

This she would have done after politely acknowledging that she wasn't familiar with the detailed technical aspects of the product. The move by Terry to leave the room in a huff was not only inappropriate but also ill-informed. As the person charged with seeing to it that any message intended for a specific audience is actually transmitted and received, the project manager should have tried to do some kind of 'damage control' by amongst other things replacing Terry with another able person from the team.

This he should have done after reassuring the audience that what they had just witnessed was an isolated case of failure to foresee a situation whereby technical questions would be floated. The project manager should also have activated the contingency plan (plan B) -- if there was any. The need for effective preparation cannot be overstated when it comes to enhancing.