As we discussed above, a simple presentation might have just these elements:
• An agenda
• Photocopies of a one- or two-page budget for everyone at the meeting
• One page of either budgetary assumptions for an accounting-oriented meeting or notes on business value for a meeting focusing on departmental work
• Two copies of a few pages of supporting materials, avail- able in case people ask additional questions
On the other hand, you may need to make a much fancier presentation with color graphics and a projector. These days, we often create a slideshow in PowerPoint or a similar computer program. The presentation may be displayed directly from a
Computer Inventory System Low Bid High Bid
Total $96,035 $138,850
Server Workstations Graphics Monitors Inventory Software Module to link in corporate
network Analysis and Design Development Installation
Sales Tax (7% of components)
$12,000
$7,500
$1,000
$30,000
$0
$20,000
$15,000
$7,000
$3,535
$15,000
$7,500
$2,500
$30,000
$10,000
$35,000
$25,000
$10,000
$3,850
Table 7-5. Low and high bid proposal
computer with a data pro- jector or your company may use overhead projec- tors or even a slide projec- tor. Find out what is avail- able and make sure in advance that your presentation will work with whatever equip- ment you’ll be using at the meeting.
The format of a presentation doesn’t change the content.
Prepare an agenda, a budget, and an outline of your talk. Once you know what you want to say and you have it organized, then you’re ready to create a presentation. The easiest way to do this is to turn your outline into a set of slides.
Here are the steps of creating a good presentation:
1. Look at your agenda and decide how much of the time of the meeting will be spent on presentation and how much on introduction, discussion, and closure.
2. Plan on one slide for every two minutes of presentation. So, a 15-minute presentation should have only seven or eight slides. People need time to understand what they see.
3. Link your presentation to your agenda. Use agenda points as slide titles.
4. Highlight the most important points; don’t cover every detail.
5. Most slides should have three to five bullet points. Never have more than seven.
6. If you can, include a few exciting or funny images.
7. Focus first on clarity and second on making it interesting.
Robert’s boss, Svetlana, the Director of Information
Technology, wants to present the value of IT to a meeting of the president and all senior executives in the company. She asks Robert to present the budget and to show that the company is getting good value for the money it’s spending on IT.
Svetlana and Robert sit down to plan their presentations.
Robert shows how he’s organized the budget. Svetlana thinks it Budgeting for Managers
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Slide A single image pre- pared as part of a presenta- tion, even if it is printed on an overhead or displayed directly from a computer with a data projector.
would be good to organize the presentation of the value of IT to match the parts of Robert’s budget. They come up with these four main points.
• Keep the computers running!
• Everyone who needs a computer gets a computer!
• Save money through inventory control.
• Use efficient cost management.
Svetlana’s presentation focuses on the value of each of these items, talking about effectiveness, synergy, and reduction of inventory losses. Robert prepares this outline for the talk he’ll give with his 10-minute slideshow presentation of the budget and costs:
Keep the computers running!
• For only $30,000, we replace 20 old computers that are becoming unreliable. This routine replacement program reduces maintenance cost and downtime, increasing productivity.
• For only $6,000, we maintain an inventory of spare parts that allows for quick exchanges of failed equip- ment. This reduces lost work time.
• The annual maintenance program, costing a total of
$42,125, is in its fourth year of operation. Costs per employee are going down each year because reliable, standardized computers are replacing the unreliable computers we used to have. With 180 employees using computers, the cost is only $234 per person.
Everyone who needs a computer gets a computer!
• HR checks with each department when a position opens to determine if using a computer is a job requirement. If so, they include that in the job description, include skill tests in the interview process, include computer training in orientation, and inform Robert that a new computer will be needed.
• Robert checks with HR to get the figure. This year, 10 new employees will get computers for a total cost of
$20,000.
– $15,000 for the basic computer
– $5,000 for special equipment (needed for certain jobs) and an increase to the spare parts inventory
Save money through inventory control.
• A basic system for this year
• Will cost under $100,000
• Should save $35,000 in inventory losses and lost orders per year
• Can be expanded to connect to the corporate network in the future
Use efficient cost management.
• Standard, modern equipment and standard training are saving us hundreds of thousands of dollars per year through employee effectiveness and efficiency. It keeps us ahead of the competition while costing us only $40,000 this year.
• The program to ensure everyone who needs a computer has a computer and is trained is reducing turnover, saving lots of money in HR for only $20,000 this year.
• The new inventory system will pay for itself in under three years.
• We avoided $40,000 in extra expense by keeping the inventory system simple and not linking it into the corpo- rate network.
• We saved an additional $2,700 by planning ahead and consolidating computer purchases.
This is the shortened version of this outline that can be con- verted into a colorful slideshow:
Keep the computers running!
• Replacing computers: $30,000 – reduce support cost
– increase productivity
• Computer parts inventory: $6,000 Budgeting for Managers
120
• Total annual maintenance: $42,125 – Fourth year
– Cost per employee $234 – Down from $260 last year
Everyone who needs a computer gets a computer!
• HR coordinates with departments – testing and training done by HR
• IT sets up computers before employee’s first day
• 10 computers, $20,000
– $15,000 for the basic computer
– $5,000 for special equipment and spare parts Save money through inventory control.
• Basic system under $100,000
• Saves $35,000 per year – reduce inventory losses – prevents lost orders Use efficient cost management.
• People can do their jobs, not waste time with computer troubles. Saves hundreds of thousands, costs $40,000 this year.
• Everyone who needs a computer gets a computer, reduc- ing HR costs by reducing turnover. Costs only $20,000.
• The new inventory system will pay for itself in under three years.
• Saved $40,000 by getting a simple inventory system that does the job.
• Saved $2,700 through consolidated purchasing.