Most PowerPoint slides are ineffective with presenters confusing the audience rather than engaging them. If slides are full of text your audience will try to read them and ignore the presenter’s words. Conversely, if your slides contain only one giant ‘Zen’ image, but don’t help the audience understand your complex ideas, they don’t work either.

To transform your presentations, you must use your content to develop effective, exciting visuals that are not only impressive but that engage the audience and help the presenter to actually get their message across.

Yes we know that most businesses have to be reactive, directors are busy people and messages only seem to transpire at the last minute. But let’s look at it from another point of view… You are spending £000’s on delivering an experience that is supposed to educate, motivate or reward? We all know the value of planning, so are you really going to be able to get best value if presentations are produced at the last minute?

That said the world’s an imperfect place and it might not always be possible to do everything in advance, however, a small education piece with key presenters, to help them understand the importance of preparing effectively, can make the world of difference to your end result.

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It’s reported that one US Government Department recently spent over $800,000 on an event in Las Vegas for 300 delegates. This included Conference organisers spending $130,000 on the site visit alone. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how much of this went on the tables?

And if anyone won, did the winnings go back into the pot???

This could be an interesting new concept. Budgets are always tight and Black Jack is pretty straightforward, so maybe we’ll suggest putting the entire budget into an evening at the casino. If we win then it’ll be a great fee for the event organisers plus keynote speech from David Beckham; if we lose, it’ll be fish & chips on Blackpool pier!!!

But seriously, in a world where we’re constantly being exposed to words like ‘ethical responsibility’ and ‘Karma’, is this kind of thing still really happening in the event planning industry???

However, all of our favourite large corporate events venues around the UK seem to be close to capacity or full already for Q3-4 of 2013. What does this tell us about the importance people are placing on events in difficult times?

We live in a world with everything at our finger tips. You no longer need to go to the supermarket, the library, the shops, or even stop to ask people for directions. In short you can now live virtually exclusive of human contact.

There is a genuine need to create reasons for people to interact. Real face to face contact will always be the most powerful way of communicating, exciting people and motivating them to take action. There is no doubt that the Internet has revolutionised our planet for the better and that virtual communications are exciting, worthwhile and cost effective tools. But the fact is they will never yield the results possible from actual human interaction.

You see, the sum total of the human races development can be accessed by simply switching on an iPad. So it’s no longer a question of knowledge. Instead we live in a society where those who thrive, do so because of collaboration. And that’s what we do best. We provide creative live communications opportunities for educating, motivating and rewarding. Not in cyber space, but live, in real time and in actuality. It’s powerful and our knowledge could revolutionise your business.

For more information on creative live communications, conference or event management please get in touch.

Over the years we’ve developed a five step framework which enables our customers to achieve ground breaking results.

First of all estimate the additional profit that could be generated. With this in mind, create an end prize that is attractive enough to rouse an eager want in competitors. If, based on the additional profit generated, this is not possible, maybe it’s time to re-think???

If you’re confident and ready to move forward, then pull together a campaign communication strategy. It’s important to draw on a variety of media so participants remain focused in their continuous drive for self-development.

We always like to apportion a fair percentage of the budget to constant education, which will aid the team in the accomplishment of their goal. And spot prizes are a great way to keep lower performers interested throughout.

Next, it’s the launch. This is your opportunity to get people excited about what lies ahead, so it needs to be something with impact. For example, if you’re offering a trip Marrakech then maybe you can have a themed Moroccan lunch and some belly dancers to get the buy-in. NB: Campaigns should be launched with minimal initial investment, so you only pay the larger percentage once the results have been realized.

Finally, stay on it, give your team all the opportunity for support they need and make sure you deliver what you promise.

Or is everyone a bit giddy about the fact that they got a photo with some Olympian or Xfactor-ette, which has clouded the real message???

We all know that criticism is hard to accept but if we are genuinely striving for improvement then we have to understand that we are the people who have the opportunity and responsibility to ensure that our events provide a stimulating and impactful experience for all who attend and that key messages are delivered in a way that affects real change.

At Owl Live we’ve developed some amazing ways to engage your audience, however, we’re still humble enough to admit that the only reason we do anything a certain way, is because we’ve not found a better, quicker or more cost effective way to do it yet.

In truth there is no exact science on this subject and anyone who promises 100% engagement is quite simply telling porkies. You’re never going to engage everyone with every message; the most important thing is to focus on those who are genuinely ‘into’ what you are trying to achieve and can make a real difference.

So it’s imperative you find out who these people are and what is going to hit their buttons.

We’d like to say thanks to our long-time supporters, you know who you are and without you we wouldn’t be where we are today. And also welcome to our new clients, thanks for putting your faith in us; we look forward to delivering excellent results for you later in 2012 & beyond.

Anyway, have a good look round… We hope you like what you see and if you’re looking for ways of getting more out of your next live communication opportunity, then please drop us a line and we’ll be glad to show you how.

 Antony & The Team at Owl Live