Andre M Hartman

I have no reason to believe that the findings are inaccurate, but there is a bias to the calculation of IT spending as a percentage of revenue; larger companies, by the article’s definition, have larger revenue streams than smaller companies. Thus, if two companies spend the same amount on IT, the larger of the two will spend less as a percentage of revenue than the smaller one.
I liked that the article recognized that smarter spending—not more spending—is the hallmark of a successful IT operation. Just because an IT investment is costlier, it is not necessarily better for an organization; a costlier IT project can also artificially boost expectations about the value created by the project. When management is expecting miracles from a costly IT investment, even a successful implementation can disappoint. Thus, it is important to choose IT investments wisely (taking note of Hubbard’s recommendations in “Everything Is Measurable”) and be realistic about their effects on the business.

Like we discussed in class CRM systems are a great tool for a business. Looking at CRM’s from an E-commerce point of view CRM’s allows companies to make suggestions on certain products to a customer ex: customers also bought this with this product, or a similar products section at the bottom of the page. This would be an advantage because it usually will get the customer to purchase more than just one item before they check out. A disadvantage to this is when the company crosses that fine line going from using a CRM as a business tool too becoming a little creepy/stalker, which will scare people away. For example, during class the professor told us how Target used their CRM to send a pregnant girl coupons for fertility item.

Overall I love CRM systems. The more a company knows about its customers the more profitable it will be.

Sending content ahead of time definitely has value, and it’s something i’ve never considered either. I think it’s tough in a classroom setting though, for a number of reasons. When doing school presentations, we’re pretty programmed to do exactly what the professor tells us, and I know that i’ve personally never had a professor to tell me to send my presentation to the rest of the class ahead of time. Another issue with that is that most people would probably ignore it. A lot of people would probably assume that since they’re going to see the presentation anyway, they don’t need to look at it ahead of time. There’s also the potential for people looking at the presentation ahead of time and then not attending the actual presentation, because they don’t feel the need to. I know that in many of my courses, when a professor provides slides ahead of time (especially if they aren’t making attendance mandatory), many students just look at the information on their own and then don’t attend the class at all.

As far as handouts go, I think there needs to be a balance. The handouts should just highlight the main takeaways of the presentation (perhaps the 3 main points), so that even if people only remember 3 points, they can have them in writing with additional details. I think handouts need to be kept concise and pertinent to the subject matter, otherwise they can become distracting and cause information overload.

Sending out content ahead of time is definitely a good strategy, but only if the audience actually reads the slides beforehand and if the presenter then actively engages the audience. At least in the case of students, I think most students probably don’t look at the slides until the professor is covering them. For example, in class last Thursday, most of us had not looked at any of the required videos/readings for class, so the professor was not able to have a more engaging lecture. On the other hand, if the professor doesn’t engage, and the students have already read the slides, then I think students will just try to work on other things instead.
As for the handouts, I agree with Jacklin in that there needs to be a balance. If the presenter just simply gives handouts with everything on it, then the audience more focus more on reading them instead of listening to the presenter. Providing handouts with only the main takeaways would be a good balance, though.
As for the other points mentioned, I mostly agree with them. Mixing up the media, interspersing content, and using eye-catching software can certainly be good strategies to keep the audience interested in the PowerPoint. Using props can go either way though. I think that as long as the prop actually adds to the presentation rather than come off as silly of meaningless, then it can be a good tool.

I think it is crucial to send out PowerPoints prior to a presentation because it allows the audience members get a better idea of what the presentation will cover. It also allows the audience to come up with potential questions ahead of time, based off the slides. Also, by handing out copies, audience members can focus more on what you are saying and less on copying the words on the slides. For example, I have had several professors who would not provide slides prior to class. As a result, I would copy half the notes on the slides and only write down half of what the professor was saying. This caused me to have incomplete and ineffective notes. It’s important to handout slides prior, but I agree with John and Jacklin that it needs to be balanced. Having all the information a presenter will go over on the slides that are distributed to the audience would be an overload. Although it’s important to share slides ahead of time, for student presentations in class, they are not necessary. I feel many students aren’t listening to student presentations because they don’t need the information to pass the course.
For the other points mentioned, I think mixing up media and using props can be problematic. First, with mixing up media, I feel a lot of people try to use multiple forms of media in their PowerPoint because they know it’s a good idea, but do it in a way that’s ineffective. I have seen many presentations put up media that doesn’t link to the topic or distract from it. One in particular I recall is a presentation on LEGOs. On one slide there was a picture of a person with a prosthetic leg made out of LEGOs which distracted myself as well as the professor, causing the image to take away from the main point of the presentation. As far as props go, I think it comes down to what the prop is and how it’s utilized. You can have a potentially good prop, but use it in a way that doesn’t convey the message.

I agree with James about the use of props. Especially in a professional setting, I think it would be very easy for props to become distracting. Either it’s going to make the discussion stray from the content, or it’s going to be such an obvious demonstration of what you’re trying to say that it’s also going to be ineffective. The only way to determine if the particular prop you have in mind is going to be effective is to really analyze the audience you’re going to be presenting to. If it’s you’re going to show a new type of software to a group of web developers, it’ll probably be well received. Showing that same software to high schoolers (in general) probably won’t have much on an impact.
I also think that group exercises are effective only if the audience is familiar with one another. As a relatively introverted person, if I’m taking time out of my day at work to see a lecture and the speaker uses 20 minutes of that time to have me introduce myself and do a silly exercise with the person next to me, I’m probably going to be annoyed.

To expand on Jacklin and John’s points regarding handouts, I agree that handouts that contain only a presentation’s main points are the most effective. When studying for tests in lecture-based classes, I prefer reviewing handouts that outline main points to having to trudge through pages of my notes (most of which was copied directly from the slides, anyway). Along with making studying a more focused exercise, providing simple handouts frees up an audience to focus on the presenter’s verbal contributions and take notes elaborating on the presenter’s key remarks.
Another idea that I have seen successfully and unsuccessfully employed is to give an audience handouts with fill-in-the-blank style main points—for example, “Artist Paul Gaugin made important contributions to the _________ art movement.” When successful, this tactic enhances audience engagement because it discourages audience members from “zoning out.” When unsuccessful, this tactic causes audience members to obsess over filling in their handouts, making them completely tune out spoken information unrelated to the handout’s points. As with any other technique, a presenter must understand his audience’s attention span and interest level.