Assignment 5

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chats or channels; remember that everyone is trying to get their work done.

WATCH WHAT YOU SAY Even when you’re pinging with good work friends, remember that instant messages are official business communications. They are not confidential. They’re the property of your company, and many companies monitor them. You’re probably cautious about cursing in the office; you should exercise the same caution when you’re messaging. One popular instant messaging program warns users: “Keep your conversations limited to what can be safely said in an elevator or a crowded restaurant.” Keep it appropriate.

USING INSTANT MESSAGING EFFICIENTLY A few little tricks can help improve the efficiency of your instant messaging. Before you launch into a long message, ask your colleague if she’s there and available. Make your “Are you there?” message more specific by letting your colleague know what you want to ping about. Instead of “Hey, got a second?” try “Hey, got a second to review the XYZ agreement?” or “Hey, got a second to read something for me?” or “Hey, got a second to show me how to use that software?” And be frank about what you’re asking for; don’t type “qq?” if what you really want is to discuss whether or not to fire a vendor or some other large topic.

Presentations

Thirty million PowerPoint presentations are given every day throughout the world. How can you make yours memorable?

PINPOINT YOUR PURPOSE Attention can wander during a presentation, so it’s important that you know exactly what you want to get from yours. As an exercise, try creating a one-sentence objective for the presentation, such as “By the end of the presentation, I want the audience to understand that our solution offers more tools than the competition’s does and can be customized for their needs” or “By the end of the presentation, I want x members of the audience to request an onsite demo” or “By the end of the presentation, I want to have cleared the obstacles to partnering on this project.” Try to make your objective as active as possible, in order to avoid building a presentation that’s essentially an information dump. What do you want your audience to do as a result of seeing your presentation?

WRITE FOR YOUR AUDIENCE As you work on your slides, think from the point of view of the people who will have to look at them. What are they expecting from your presentation? What information do they need? How would you feel sitting through this presentation? How can you make the slides easy for the audience to read and ensure that they reinforce your main points? Let your understanding of your audience’s needs guide the preparation of your slides.

ORIENT YOUR AUDIENCE AT THE BEGINNING The opening of your presentation is an especially critical moment. Presumably you have everyone’s attention at the beginning. No one has had a chance to get bored, to get distracted by their phone, or to grow worried about the work they’re not getting done because they’re sitting in this presentation. Use this moment to let your audience know what will be covered in the presentation. Insert an outline slide at the beginning, and return to it throughout the presentation to help your audience with transitions and help them pace themselves in terms of energy and attention.

GET YOUR CONTENT RIGHT There’s a strong impulse when you’re preparing your slides to include too much content. Research has shown that people typically remember only four slides from a twenty-page deck.† That’s not very encouraging news if you’re putting your heart and soul into an informative presentation, but from a strategic point of view, it’s good to know. Rather than packing your presentation full of facts, you’re better off choosing a few key points you want your audience to remember, and organizing the presentation around those. Think of your PowerPoint

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