A perfect definition of communication from the perspective of business is the connection between two people that involves the sharing of ideas (Stacks & Salwen, 2014). For ideas to be shared, several ingredients are necessary. The first one is the ability to capture and retain the attention of the target audience (Stacks & Salwen, 2014). For this to be achieved, there has to be a basic understanding, by the communicator of the specific definition of the target audience (Benoît, 2016). The example selected from the list is the PowerPoint slides with visuals with the intended message being training on marketing management. The target audience in this instance will therefore be potential and current marketing managers and executives. In order to capture and retain their attention, it is important to consider their perception (Stacks & Salwen, 2014). This perception will help establish the communication theory or theories applicable to the particular audience (Stacks & Salwen, 2014). Further, perception will enable an understanding of the visual literacy of the team (Benoît, 2016). Their visual literacy is crucial for the determination of which visuals will be best in communicating to the group. Attention is always subject to distraction hence the need to get recapture it continuously during the course of communication (Benoît, 2016). Secondary concepts such as storytelling can help in this. It is upon the understanding of all the variables relating to the communication that an overall design can be arrived at.
The PowerPoint design aforesaid will have three main visual designs. The first one is images, which will include sketches, cartoons and illustrations. The second one is minute video clips of brief animated simulations of meetings. The last one is charts and graphs. Alongside this will be the actual presentation incorporated in Speech Notes at the bottom of each page of the PowerPoint slide. The basic idea behind the presentation is for it to be used to teach during a seminar of marketing managers and executives and not to be studied by the individuals alone. Using a projector, large images of the PowerPoint presentation will be projected for the audience and the speaker will use the speaker notes to take the audience through the course. The presentation will be designed so comprehensively that anyone can effectively use it, not just the creator thereof.
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Justification of the three visual designs
Images
From the understanding of the perception of the target audience, it is clear that their visual literacy is quite high. Marketing management is mainly the mainstay of individuals with sharp and analytical minds and a quick sense of understanding (Hollensen, 2015). These are therefore individuals who can understand a lot simply from the study of a picture. Further, marketers are creative minds and creativity engenders variety. Words are limited as far as variety is concerned but images are not. A single cartoon about a meeting can be interpreted differently by different individuals. Therefore, albeit the narrative in the speaker notes will be congruent, the use of images will enable the message to be diversified so as to communicate with the different individuals represented and their mindsets. Images also create concision in explaining ideas that would require verbosity to express in words. This is the main premise behind the use of images in the presentation.
Videos
Videos are an important and sensitive inclusion in a PowerPoint presentation. A video has the capability of recapturing the attention of an audience that was beginning to be lost perhaps in a complex area of the presentation. It should however, be noted that a video incorporates both sound and visual and can be an easy replacement for the presenter of the presentation. Indeed, a good video can make the audience lose interest in the presenter. Indeed, according to the Agenda-setting theory prominence denotes important (Kostelnick, 1988; Stacks & Salwen, 2014).
A good video presentation may take the attention of the group away from the actual presentation and the presenter (Benoît, 2016). From the perspective of perception, the audience includes busy individuals who more often than not get paid relative to the unit of time worked. Therefore, the video clips created and included in the presentation are animated scenes that create realities on the scenarios used on the presentation. These brief animation videos tell minute stories about the issues being elucidated in the presentation. Storytelling is a powerful communicating concept (Kostelnick, 1988). It borders on the familiar to simplify complicated issues and etch them into the memory.
Charts and Graphs
Charts and graphs are a creative way of reducing a lot of information into an easy presentable format. This information becomes easy to understand more so when comparing different sets of information. Further, graphs and charts create a standard way for presenting different types of data in a familiar manner to enable comprehension and juxtaposition. Whereas images and videos may be considered as means to enhance the message, charts and graphs can actually be used to communicate the message itself more so in the instant message regarding management and marketing. These are two distinct disciplines that require to be elucidated and correlated. This would take a lot of time to explain effectively making charts and graphs more of a necessity. Further, it creates a need to compare how the two disciplines interrelate to achieve success. This calls for making good use of graphs to show how management skill and marketing skills combine to create success for the team and by extension the manager.
Why the Visual Elements Deliver
In a presentation, there are several factors bearing on the nature, extent, and success of delivery. The first involves the message itself and how it is packaged and also presented. Each of the visual aids comes into play within this category. The first regards the large size of the information that is meant to be communicated. This would become boring if expressed in mere words. There is also the probability that there would not be enough time to communicate the message to such as busy audience. To compress the message, the same will be reduced into charts. The charts will define wide ideas and explanations into brief images that correlate between different ideas and concepts (Ruben & Gigliotti, 2016). In this manner, charts will succeed in exponentially reducing the size of the massage from the perspective of time and number of words used. If the information being reduced entails numbers and data which are very common in this subject, graphs will replace charts with equal success.
In the same way, images will also help reduce the size of the presentation but from a different perspective. A single picture is said to be worth a thousand worlds and in a PowerPoint presentation, this is literally true (Stacks & Salwen, 2014). When you need to express issues such as facial expressions and dressing, the explanation would be long and confusing. However, a set of pictures involving the right and wrong dressing as well as the right and wrong facial expressions would easily communicate the message in very few words and a very short time. It is on this premise that pictures and images will succeed. Further, these images will not be real life photographs but drawings and caricatures. A drawing can incorporate much more information because words can also be included in the image to further elucidate on the message.
Finally, marketing management is a practical subject not merely a theoretical one (Hollensen, 2015). Most of the issues being taught through the presentation will be experienced practically by the managers being taught in the field. It is therefore vital, indeed fundamental to give the subject a practical touch and a way for operatizing it. This will be achieved through storytelling. Through storytelling, theory will be combined with practice and what the audience has heard will be related with what the audience is bound to experience in the field. It is in this arena that the visual element of video is meant to succeed (Ruben & Gigliotti, 2016). Through the speaker notes, a scenario will be explained as it is acted out by animated figures in brief but well-designed video clips. A good example would be a meeting where the manager is not effectively communicating with the marketing team. The common tells that a team is not listening to the manager or is not able to follow what is being said can best be shown through an animation that explained. This will also be etched in the minds of the audience hence its success.
Intent of the Message
The message engendered in this presentation is not meant to teach about good marketing skills but rather create good marketing managers. It is, therefore, vital to have a holistic approach to the subject that informs and teaches on the right skills and also prepares the audience for practical duties in the aforesaid skills. Indeed, by the end of the course, the audience should be able to replace the presenter and make a credible presentation on the same topic. This is not a simple feat and effective communication including the proper use of communication theories will be necessary. Further, the entire design on the presentation from the beginning to the end is important. This design regards both the contents of the message and the way the message is passed across. With the combined use of images, animated videos as well as charts and graphs, this will clearly be achieved.
References
Benoît, G. (2016). The ‘beautiful’ in information: thoughts about visual literacy and aesthetics. Journal of Visual Literacy , 35 (1), 60-78.doi:10.1080/1051144X.2016.1205831
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach . London: Pearson Education.
Kostelnick, C. (1988). A systematic approach to visual language in business communication. Journal of Business Communication , 25 (3), 29-48.
Ruben, B. D., & Gigliotti, R. A. (2016). Leadership as social influence: An expanded view of leadership communication theory and practice. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies , 23(4), 467-479.doi: 10.1177/1548051816641876
Stacks, D. W., & Salwen, M. B. (Eds.). (2014). An integrated approach to communication theory and research . London: Routledge.
