Did you think of a great idea to improve your work life? Good job, but that's just the first step. You'll need to turn that idea into a successful launch to see it implemented, and doing that will take a bit of strategy.
Use these tips to make sure the appeal of your idea isn't lost in the pitch process. The creative element of a strong pitch is only half the job, the rest lies in effectively communicating your vision to management.
No one likes to be caught off guard, especially at work. If you're looking to impress your boss with a great idea, don't surprise him with a meeting; instead, plan a time and place ahead of time to ensure the setup is as conducive to your goal as possible.
It may seem more important to deliver your release as soon as possible, but chances are your boss has a pretty tight schedule. If they aren't properly prepared to listen to your idea, it will fade. Similarly, it is crucial that you are fully aware of the amount of time you have allotted for yourself and whether you will have access to any devices you may need to deliver your outline.
Fortunately, there are plenty of online meeting tools. 10+ Great Online Tools for Coordination and Group Meetings 10+ Great Online Tools for Coordination and Group Meetings How do you manage a team of people who are geographically dispersed? How do you coordinate international time zones? The concept of working via the Internet has begun to creep into the everyday workplace,… Read More The benefit of this type of web-based platform is that the times and dates will be the same no matter who sees them. Alternatively, if you're having a hard time finding the right time and place for your presentation, take advantage of the flexibility of a virtual meeting. Online meeting guide:software and strategy Online meeting guide:software and strategy. Available to almost anyone with a computer or smartphone. The ability to connect and meet with people online means we are no longer limited by geographic location. Read More
While you're scheduling your meeting, it's worth taking the time to sort out other management tasks. Prepare an agenda, make sure you're not missing important points, and consider the best plan of action for taking minutes Make Minutes Work:How to Take Effective Notes During a Meeting Make Minutes Work:How to Take Effective Notes During a Meeting It's a skill that few people have perfected; The perfect meeting minutes. Event logging saves you headaches further down the line. This is how you take effective minutes in a meeting. Read more . Ask a qualified colleague to take notes:the minutes can go a long way in putting your meeting points into practice.
No matter how good your pitch is, the onus is on your boss to ask the tough questions that determine whether or not he will succeed. If you can't answer these questions, you can expect to be shot down pretty quickly, so it's worth planning ahead to make sure you're not stumped when it counts.
You are probably surrounded by a great resource to prepare for an interrogation of your idea. If you're pitching at work, who else can you turn to for more information than your co-workers? Is your workplace plagued by zombies? Is your workplace plagued by zombies? Are you a workplace zombie or are you friends with one? Read more ? They have the experience to clue you in on any flaws in your launch, so leveraging that knowledge is in your best interest. Make sure you stay in control of your own work, but keep an open mind to what your colleagues have to offer.
To get input from the right co-workers, consider who the ideas within your pitch will affect and reach out to a few people who are likely to benefit the most from the project. An ideal scenario would see you exchanging ideas with yourself and others, this may sound like a nightmare but modern communications software can help.
You can set up a group email thread, but the nature of the email could inhibit a natural flow of conversation. If your company already uses some kind of online communication service, make the most of it. If not, please suggest that one be implemented. Slack is a feature-rich tool Get more from Slack with these 7 tips Get more from Slack with these 7 tips With a smart user interface, Slack makes a potentially complex workflow simple and intuitive. Communication has been redefined. Make better use of Slack with these tips. Read More
Here are some methods for brainstorming with co-workers before your presentation:
If your presentation involves software, you're undermining your idea if you don't demonstrate how that software works as part of your presentation. Even a slight change in the tools used by your workplace means an investment of time and money to purchase the software and train the employees who will use it, so you need to prove it's worth the effort.
Have the software run on a laptop while you pitch and screen so all attendees can see it. Your goal should be to acclimate the superiors and demonstrate what it's really like to use the program. To that end, make sure you have plenty of experience with this ahead of time; an easy way to see how that tone flares would be to make the software in question look hard to use.
If you prefer to avoid the pressure of using the 'live' program, explore alternative techniques. You can get a walkthrough of the key features using simple screen capture techniques Multiple ways to capture or print what you see on your screen Multiple ways to capture or print what you see on your screen Printing is a term that lost its original meaning decades ago . Today, printing a screenshot actually takes several steps. Combined with the shortcuts and software, you have a powerful 21st century tool at your fingertips. Read More
Whatever idea you're pitching, think of creative ways to present it, and always keep your audience and perspective in mind.
Making sure your tone is solid should be your first priority, but beyond that, looks do matter. A flat and boring presentation will always be at a disadvantage compared to a more lively way of expressing your point of view. If you're committed to the idea, take the time to do it justice.
If you're using PowerPoint, use techniques to keep your audience engaged Make a PowerPoint presentation that doesn't put your audience to sleep Make a PowerPoint presentation that doesn't put your audience to sleep PowerPoint presentations, when done correctly, can be a attractive way to provide an audience with information. However, when performed poorly, they can quickly put the audience to sleep. Read more . Keep things varied; default text on a default background looks like slapdash and is not considered. Put in the effort to make things aesthetically pleasing and show that this isn't just a half-baked idea you pitched together in five minutes.
A good presentation is not just about using every tool at your disposal. Something as simple as a carefully selected image can illustrate a point and grab someone's attention, but used the wrong way, it can have the opposite effect. Visual elements like embedded videos, infographics, and data visualization should be engaging and complement your idea.
After your release is delivered, your boss will probably want some time to deliberate. That means that he will not be able to defend his idea at the moment when it is under the greatest control. In an ideal world, your audience would have been taking diligent notes. How to Use OneNote at School:10 Tips for Students and Teachers How to Use OneNote at School:10 Tips for Students and Teachers OneNote can transform the modern classroom. Microsoft's note-taking app is designed for both students and teachers. Go ahead, organize, collaborate, and share with these tips for taking better notes. Read More Instead, take matters into your own hands by producing materials that can be referred to later.
This could be as simple as a printout of your key points, or it could be something much more complex. At a minimum, you should include the minutes you took during the meeting. A digitized copy of the content you put together is a great safeguard against failure on the occasion that printed materials are missing. If you have more than one file you want to leave behind, consider setting up an account with Dropbox or another online storage service. to heavyweight Dropbox cloud storage. Recent improvements include more free storage space and an increase in file size. OneDrive has become a viable alternative, but is it better? Read More
If you created a video walkthrough of a new piece of software as mentioned above, you can upload it to this space for later viewing. If it's a design-focused release, maybe upload a few of your drafts to give your boss an idea of the thought process you worked through. Think of this space as a continuation of your tone, even if it's much more passive on your part.
The important part is that your boss has something to remind you of the fact, and that it is delivered in the appropriate method to your boss. If they feel more comfortable using a USB drive or extracting files from a CD, prepare them ahead of time and hand them out at the end of the meeting. A manager concerned about security might prefer to search for files on a secure server on the company intranet. Conversely, if your boss is constantly flying from device to device, a cloud-based solution like Dropbox or Google Drive might be the easiest way to access information.
It's all too easy for an idea to lose its shine once its creator isn't there to defend it. Don't let your launch fail because your strengths were forgotten:take the time to create some compelling follow-up resources and put your boss in the path of least resistance to access them.
Do you have a tip for giving the best pitch possible? Do you have your own strategy for bringing new ideas to the workplace? Let us know about them in the comments section below.
