As MBA graduates, there are many things expected from you ranging from simple decision making to identifying prospects for the business. One of the primary skills we are expected to have is delivering good convincing presentations that can sweep the stakeholders into giving into whatever you ask them for. This expectation raises an interesting question, what exactly is a presentation? Is it the speaker sharing his knowledge? Is it the powerpoint slides? The answer to this question came for me from an unexpected source:
In our early days on campus, we had a subject on effective oral communication and presentation skills. During one such session, one of my friends, a highly qualified psychology major who has grown a lot despite vision problems, was supposed to deliver a presentation. Knowing the issues she faces, we were worried about how she would deliver. When her turn came, what she did just blew us all. She delivered her presentation with vivid gestures and precise voice control which got her point through to everyone.
She did not use anything remotely close to a powerpoint slideshow, reminding us of the very essence of what a presentation means. It is an audio-visual experience that stimulates the listeners’ mind to allow them to connect to the presenter and understand what he/she is conveying. It may or may not involve a slideshow.
The way our experiences have trained us, hearing the word presentation, in a formal setting, makes us visualise a powerpoint slideshow with someone demonstrating what each slide means. We tend to forget something as fundamental as the dictionary meaning of the word which says: “a speech or talk in which a new product, idea, or piece of work is shown and explained to an audience.” It took her 3 minutes to blow apart the misconception and make us realise where we had been going wrong for past several years, focusing on a small part of a wide array of options that can be used to convey our intent. Those 3 minutes told us what outstanding instructors say about good presentations-
“To be an effective presenter, you don’t need exceptional powerpoint skills, but the ability to visualize and understand how you can convey your message better!”
A special thanks to Shreya Upadhyay and Prof. Sunil Unni Guptan, for making us realise that the software is all but a very small part of the wide range of options that can be considered when you need to present your ideas!
Which ABG company I want to work with?
Being an Electronics and Communication engineer with some experience in IT, dealing with software services for a telecom giant, the choice for me is very clear- “An Idea that can change my life!”- Idea Cellular Ltd.
“What an Idea sirji!”
But why does Idea need me?
As mentioned above, being an EnC engineer, with experience in IT domain, I bring both technical knowledge of both the fields and adding to that the experience of working with a global telecom giant, makes it an interesting mix. This unique blend gives me a view of how the global landscape is changing in terms of IT services provided to customers and what can be done to get an edge on the competition in the cutthroat competition in the telecom sector.