(^164) 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
What Do They Want to Hear, Anyway?
Martha Legare, MBA, PMP
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
PRojECT CoMMUnICATIon TAKES MAny FoRMS—from “management by
walking around” to formal presentations. I consider communication the most
critical set of activities in a project.
The hardest, yet the most common, way to convey software project informa-
tion from one person to the next is a formal presentation. Some polls find that
public speaking is more frightening than death or the dentist!
Most presentations are too long, boring, and riddled with too much detail.
Look at your last presentation and see if it could accurately be described as
“death by PowerPoint®.”
If your answer is “yes,” you can redesign your next one so it truly communi-
cates to your audience. Ask yourself, “What is the best mode of presentation
for what I want to accomplish?” If you have a small group and want give-and-
take discussions, using a flip chart or a whiteboard to capture areas of concern
or agreement is a useful technique.
However, if you want executives to approve a particular project or agree to a
new project tact, a multimedia slideshow could work. The trick is to realize
that regardless of the technology you employ, you are what sells the idea to
your audience—not your slides, posters, or laser light shows.
We must engage both left-brain logic and right-brain creativity in order to effec-
tively sell our ideas. Use the statistical proof, but showcase it in a memorable for-
mat. Use easy-to-understand color charts and graphs, and just a few bullet points.