Reports and Presentations - Construction Project Scheduling and Control - page 253

and written or printed tools. In addition, audiences usually have the opportunity to
ask the speaker to elaborate on or to explain any point that is unclear to them.
Presentations are used for a variety of purposes, both within an organization and
for outside parties. They may carry a lot of weight in influencing an audience's decision
to buy a product or service. Four types of presentations are as follows:
1. Contract candidate presentations : Many owners require a presentation as part
of the selection process for design, construction, or construction management
professionals. The main focus of the presentation is to convince the owner (or
the decision maker) that the presenter not only can do the job but also can
do it better than other candidates can. This type of presentation should simply
answer the owner's explicit or implicit question: “Why should I (we) hire you?”
In many cases, contractors and consultants win contracts from owners with
the help of a brilliant presentation, even though they may not be the lowest
bidders.
2. Sales and demonstration presentations : A representative of a manufacturer or
a vendor may give a presentation to demonstrate a product (e.g., computer
software, an office machine, specialized equipment).
3. Project status presentations : A project manager or a team member may give a
presentation to upper management on a particular project and its status. Such
a presentation may be conducted both periodically and on an as-needed basis.
4. Management presentations : The management of a company may conduct a pre-
sentation to its staff in order to inform them about a new work plan, a new
system, a new organization, or something else.
A sales presentation and an educational presentation are significantly different,
although they have several characteristics in common. The first two types of presen-
tations described earlier are mostly the sales type, even though they may have some
educational content. A presentation on computer software does not aim at teaching
its use to the audience. Rather, such a presentation focuses on the features and points
of strength in the software; it attempts to impress and influence rather than to edu-
cate. It can be biased and subjective for the purpose of making a successful sale. The
last two types of presentations described are mostly educational or informative. We
can argue that they are also “sales” presentations. In project status presentations, the
project manager may try to impress the management for self-promotional purposes.
In management presentations, the management is “selling” a new work plan or a new
system to the employees. Still, the main difference is that the last two types do not
usually lead to a direct sale.
Another key difference between presentations and reports is the time constraint.
Reports are submitted to a party who can read and review them at his or her own
pace (within deadline restrictions). Presentations are time constrained. The informa-
tion flows at the presenter's pace (within time-limit restrictions), not the receiver's.
A large amount of information could be included in the presentation, but the pre-
senter's challenge is to prioritize this information and focus on important issues that