Prepare a presentation: Case study
‘Kar Magician’Pty Ltd (Part 1)
Introduction
Making a presentation is a critical aspect of any business practice.
Internal presentations may take many forms such as an informal talk to a small group of people, all of whom work in the samebusiness or belong to the same organisation.
External presentations on the other hand, may require representation of the organisation to an unknown audience in an outside venue.
All presentations have common features however. To be successful, presenters must pay careful attention to:
- Preparing information, resources, venue, audience, help and self
- Presentingthe content in an effective way and
- Reviewingthe processes to ensure continuous improvement
This case study will focus on preparing the information, resources, venue, audience, help from others, and the presenter’s skills prior to the actual presentation.
Overview of ‘Kar Magician’ Pty Ltd
In 2006 ‘Kar Magician’ Pty Ltd became an incorporated company with Michael and Linda Ross as directors. Previously, ‘Kar Magician’ Pty Ltd operated as a sole proprietorship since its inception in 1985. Due to an outlooking national and international focus and quality workmanship, the company has grown rapidly over the past twenty five years.
The core business of ‘Kar Magician’ Pty Ltd is to repair vehicles using specialised processes. The main workshop is located in Sydney NSW with smaller workshops located in every other state.
The main workshop operates 24 hours a day. Chemical and industrial processes are used and shut down of equipment for maintenance is scheduled on the last weekend of every month.
Currently, the company employs over 300 employees. Due to its rapid expansion as the leading service provider in Australia and increasingly further afield, ‘Kar Magician’ Pty Ltd has implemented a recruitment program. This program will employ thirty employ apprentices and trainees in this emerging industry across Australia.
Scenario
With the latest recruitment program almost complete, Kar Magician P/L Managing Director Michael Ross is concerned that new apprentices and trainees are unaware of inherent dangers that exist in a work environment.
In particular, Michael is concerned for the welfare of the new young workers who have little or no work experience at all. For this reason, Michael has asked the Human Resource (HR) department to conduct a series of presentationsin all locations to address this need.
Shannon Wells, an administration assistant in the HR department, has offered to prepare and present this important information to the new groups of young workers.
Shannon is very keen to develop her presentation skills and knows that this will only happen if she actively seeks out opportunities to present information to others.
See how it’s done
Shannon identifies that,in order to effectively prepare for a presentation, she must:
- Plan and document the presentation approach and the intended outcomes
- Choose presentation strategies, format and delivery methods that match the characteristics of the target audience, location, resources and personnel needed
- Select presentation aids, materials and techniques that suit the format and purpose of the presentation, and will enhance audience understanding of key concepts and central ideas
- Brief others involved in the presentation on their roles/responsibilities within the presentation and finally
- Select techniques to evaluate presentation effectiveness in order to improve for the next time
- Plan and document the presentation approach and the intended outcomes
Shannon identifies that the purpose of the presentation is to inform the new young workers about health and safety matters at work.
The objectives of the session are for these young workers to demonstrate how to:
- Follow safety procedures
- Report safety hazards
- Correctly wear safety gear and
- Not put other people at risk by their actions or inactions
Shannon will use brief notes as her session plan. She will include timings for key areas to ensure that all intended outcomes are achieved.
- Choose presentation strategies, format and delivery methods that match the characteristics of the target audience, location, resources and personnel needed
Approximately ten new employees will be in each session. Shannon decides to find out a little information about the first group of new employees so that she can tailor the presentation appropriately. She emails a brief questionnaire to each person to ascertain their needs.
Some of the information that she learns is: the average age of the apprentices and trainees is 16 years old, the eldest being 21. Most have left school after completing Year 10. Only 1 new apprentice completed Year 12.
Half of the new young employees have limited experience in the workplace such as school work experience programs or part-time work when they were school students. However, none have ever worked in an industrial work environment such as ‘Kar Magician’ Pty Ltd.
Shannon books the conference room for a one hour presentation for next Monday morning starting at 10.00 am for the first presentation. She arranges to have six laptops available with internet access. She also arranges an overhead projector so that she can demonstrate with visual images using a PowerPoint slideshow. Shannon personally visits the conference room and checks it out using a hazard assessment checklist for any safety issues she’ll have to manage.
Shannon believes that this small group of people will benefit from a structured session but with information sequenced in small ‘chunks’. She will use activity based strategies to engage the young workers including real-life case studies, questions and answers and interactive OHS simulations on the internet.
Shannon prepares samples of ‘Kar Magician’ Pty Ltd Safe Operating Procedures and other OHS documentation to refer to throughout the presentation. She preparesworksheetsfor the group to work on during the presentation. And she makes sure that she has sufficient stationery for the group.
- Select presentation aids, materials and techniques that suit the format and purpose of the presentation, and will enhance audience understanding of key concepts and central ideas
Shannon structures her presentation notes into an introduction, a body and a conclusion.
She researches and finds startling facts about OHS incidents. She decides to use these distressing facts to immediately capture the group’s attention in her introduction. Shannon wants to shock this group with the reality of young worker injuries in the workplace.
Shannon searches for factual OHS information that she can use. However, she does not want to overload the workers with textual information and feels that this audience will benefit from visual aids.
In her search, Shannondiscovers that the WorkCover NSW site has an array of valuable and interactive resources available to the general public. She also finds a short but powerful DVD where three injured workers tell their stories. Shannon works these resources into the body of her presentation.
In her conclusion, Shannon incorporates a question and answer activity and a role play to further reinforce the four objectives of the presentation.
- Brief others involved in the presentation on their roles/responsibilities within the presentation
In order to provide accurate information, Shannon arranges a telephone conference meeting with all supervisors of the apprentices and trainees. This meeting is necessary to ensure that their input is considered when she prepares her presentation notes.
AdditionallyShannon has arranged for two supervisors to be present during the last 20 minutes of the presentation. The purpose: to clarify and confirm responsibilities in each employee’s section.
Shannon also requests assistance from the Information Technology section in the event of equipment failure during the session. Tim, the IT Help Desk officer arranges to be available for all proposed presentation sessions.
Finally, Shannon discusses her presentation with the HR manager before she finalises all resources.
- Select techniques to evaluate presentation effectiveness in order to improve for the next time
After considering various evaluation tools, Shannon decides to use a brief short presentation self-assessment checklist that focuses on specific aspects of each presentation.
The first presentation checklist will focus on her verbal and non-verbal communications skills.
The second presentation checklist will focus on her preparation of visual aids and strategies she uses to engage the audience.
The last presentation checklistwill focus on the structure of the session. For example, is the material sequenced in a logical manner?
Shannon also intends to ask her colleagues to provide critical feedback on their impressions of her skills.