Presentation Management 17: Collect Content

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Original content by AlexAnndra Ontra and James Ontra
Enhanced by Geetesh Bajaj

In the last part of this Presentation Management series of posts, we explored how training can start your conversation about presentation management. In this part, we look at how your presentation management strategy can only be as good as the content you collect and provide.

Your presentation management strategy is only as good as the content provided.

Systems, protocols, features, functions, cutting-edge technology, and good intentions are all great. But content is king! Both U.S. Bank and Cooper Standard introduced slide libraries with the best content – branded, up to date, accurate, well-designed, well-written content. When word got out at U.S. Bank that there was a library that had all the good content, and all you had to do was drag and drop, requests for access increased and the presentation management mentality started to spread.

Content is how you balance the enterprise with the individual – the strategic with the tactical.

You can start from scratch and create all-new content. Luckily, that’s not a requirement. Most of this content, enterprise and tactical, already exists. It’s already saved on your network somewhere, embedded in other presentations, brochures, videos, etc. So it’s a matter of identifying it and then including it in your presentation management initiative.

The trick is to make sure that your presentation cloud includes both aspects of your business: the enterprise files and the tactical files, that can then be broken down into pieces where individuals can select and organize a new presentation for their own meeting.

Now you might be thinking something like, “You want me to parse through all of those files on our mess of network? Ugh!”

Content collection may seem like a daunting task, arguably worse than spring cleaning. There are probably thousands of files on your network, so where do you start? It’s really not as bad as it sounds. Big tasks are easier to accomplish when broken down into manageable chunks. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to content, but there are a couple of practical approaches we suggest when helping our own clients execute their presentation management strategy.

The last 50

Sort through your network by date, and select the latest 50 presentations (or 100 or 30 or whatever number of files seems right for your organization), and other files that were created. This will give you the most up-to-date content to start with.
Review the files.
Delete redundant slides.
Apply consistent brand standards, i.e., backgrounds, fonts, style, etc., to all files and slides.
Organize them into smaller decks based on subject.
Include high-level corporate information.
Include product and service details.

Delegate to divisions

Ask marketing managers from each division to contribute presentation content for their team. After all, they’re the ones who are closest to their product messaging and to their presenters’ needs.
Include corporate marketing and communications as their own divisions. They are great sources for enterprise content.
Review for duplication.
Delete redundant slides and content.
Apply consistent brand standards, i.e. backgrounds, fonts, style, etc., to all files and slides.

Users need slides and files to do their job. The goal of presentation management is to provide that tactical content to them in an easy, effective way. When your team sees compliant, productive content that they need to do their job within their presentation management solution, they will not just warm up to the new solution, they will embrace it. Remember when we talked about starting with “what’s familiar.” Well, your team is very familiar with the content they need to succeed in their job. Give them what they want.

Takeaways

Let us now look at takeaways from the last few posts in this Presentation Management series:

Assign someone or group to own and direct your company’s presentation management initiative.
Launch in phases. Add content in phases. And train in phases.
Start with what’s familiar.
Training is like an ongoing conversation. Provide a range of training options and opportunities for your team to learn about and adapt to presentation management.
Content is king! Give your team the content they need, formatted, and ready to present, and they will embrace your new presentation management solution.

In the next post of this series, we will look at the lifecycle of a presentation.

Presentation Management Series: All Posts

All posts from the Presentation Management series are listed on this page, Presentation Management: The Entire Series.

Quiz

First, try and answer these questions. Feel free to read the post again if needed. Then, scroll down to below the author profiles to find the answers.

Q1: Systems, protocols, features, functions, cutting-edge technology, content, and good intentions are all admired aspects of presentation management. But, if you had to choose just one of these aspects as the king, what would that be?

Q2: Users need slides and files to do their job. And it is the goal of this “broad concept” to provide that tactical content to them in an easy, effective way. What is this broad concept called?

AlexAnndra Ontra, co-founder of Shufflrr, is a leading advocate for presentation management. She has been providing presentation technology and consulting services to global enterprises for over 15 years.

At Shufflrr, Alex advises Shufflrr clients through the process: from trial to content architecture, through the launch, training, and then on-going software upgrades. She’s hands-on. She is a leading expert in presentation management strategy, implementation, and adaptation.

James Ontra is co-founder and CEO of Shufflrr. His 30-year career has focused on the highest profile presentations for world class companies. His clients have included: American Express, Bloomberg, Epcot Center, Mercedes Benz, NBC Olympics, Warner Bros. and many more.

His vision and strategy have been driving Presentation Management to become a recognized communication discipline. James combined this passion with technical development to build Shufflrr. Presentation Management is smart communication strategy.

Geetesh Bajaj is an awarded Microsoft PowerPoint MVP (Most Valuable Professional), and has been designing and training with PowerPoint for more than two decades. He heads Indezine, a presentation design studio and content development organization based out of Hyderabad, India.

Geetesh believes that any PowerPoint presentation is a sum of its elements–these elements include abstract elements like story, consistency, and interactivity — and also slide elements like shapes, graphics, charts, text, sound, video, and animation. He explains how these elements work together in his training sessions. He has also authored six books on PowerPoint and Microsoft Office.

Quiz Answers

A1: Content is always the king. In fact, content is how you balance the enterprise with the individual – the strategic with the tactical.

A2: This broad concept is none other than presentation management! When your team sees compliant, productive content that they need to do their job within their presentation management solution, they will not just warm up to the new solution, they will embrace it.

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