Working offsite, remotely in la la land, 3000 miles away from my agency counterparts and clients, I find myself having to sit in a lot of conference calls. most of the time these calls occur at a 6am local time. nice huh? anyways, been doing it for over 5 years now and i think i've gotten pretty good at communicating effectively...over the phone.
where i think this skill has to be tight is when ideas are being presented. presenting concepts to clients in person, at a meeting, you've got the ability to read the room, calibrate the presentation and most importantly present in a much more dynamic and sometimes even expressive ways. presenting in person allows for creating that "theater of the mind" before you ever set a concept or layout in front of the client. it's certainly helped me in the past. i'm able to get clients seated, in the theater, lights down and curtain drawn. the show's about to begin.
when you're on the phone you're at a handicap, as a presenter. and then add in the challenge of having to send layouts before the conference call, you're doubly screwed. honestly, will anyone heed the warning "hey, don't look at these concepts until we've taken you thru it on the call." Presenting ideas on conference calls blow. sure, there's tools out there like webinars and videoconferencing, however with the turn/burn and high frequency of client presentations, it's a pain in the ass to set-up for the tech-challenged. yesterday i had a someone ask me how to copy and past a slide in powerpoint. o_O
my tip is this: watch, listen to how other people present their ideas, be it in person or on the phone. watch the good ones, listen to the bad ones. take mental note and create your own style. most importantly when you're presenting the idea, create that theater of the mind, and you've got yourself a captivated audience.
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2 comments:
Maybe as programs like Skype become more common/accepted, this won't even be an issue in 5 years. The raindance room conference model can't last too much longer. I'm imagining a future where putting together a deck people say "is is presentable via skyping/videoconferencing?" instead of just "will this be projected or printed?"
hi em! nice to see you here. yeah, i'm really surprised at how few people i know in my work network are on skype. give 'em a few more years i guess? looks like i'm grounded until next year. no trips for this kid to NYC. was hoping to head out and catch a drink w/ya.
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