A study found that most companies inadequately manage the process of developing presentations, diverting employees' time from core responsibilities. Only 3% of reviewed companies had dedicated design teams, while 95% left formatting to employees. Over a third of employees spent up to 10% of their time on formatting rather than main jobs. Common solutions are dedicated design teams, outsourcing, or automation software, but each has drawbacks. The inefficient processes increase presentation costs and reduce company performance.

1. PRESENTATIONS
How much do they really cost to your business?
Is there any objective estimate on the cost of creating presentations?
Inadequate practices of developing presentations can divert employees' time from their
primary responsibilities such as promoting your company and advancing your business.
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2. About the Study
The study has been conducted by PowerLexis − a premium full service presentation
communication agency. Since 2005 the company has provided services and solutions
to many of the world leading corporations and organizations.
The goal of the study is to analyze the practices of developing and using presentations
as an important tool in business communications and identify deficiencies in existing
procedures that require optimization.
The study is based on data obtained from reviewing operations of 515 most prominent
Russian and Western companies in various industries including information technology,
financial, consulting, government and non commercial organizations.
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3. Introduction
In today's world presentations are considered one of the most, if not the most important,
tools of visual communications ─ regardless of whether being used to introduce an idea
to the general public or make an impression on a group of selected individuals.
Presentations are and will remain the most effective means to visually introduce
complex ideas in the most convenient and easy to comprehend for the audience
manner.
Unfortunately, while admitting the importance of presentations, many executives overlook
the ever complicated process of their development, instead leaving this solely to their
subordinates to deal with.
As a result, the highly paid and skilled employees have to spend their time and efforts
on mundane tasks in PowerPoint formatting their presentations and trying to make them
look professional in terms of structure, layout, color coordination, fonts, graphics, and styles
that meet the strict visual brand identity requirements.
The time and efforts that certainly could be utilized more productively to the company's
benefits.
.
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4. Companies are inadequately managing the employees time making
them do the work they are not qualified for.
Only three percent of the reviewed companies have a dedicated staff of designers and
developers charged with formatting presentations to bring them to professional and
corporate standards.
Four percent of companies have chosen to outsource these tasks. The rest are leaving
these duties to their employees, including at the management level, who have to deal with
them at the expense of more important responsibilities.
Who is working on formatting presentations
Specialist 95%
Manager's Assistant 74%
Manager 41%
Outsourced 4%
Special Department / Unit 3%
Most of companies leave the tasks related to presentation formatting
and visual styling to their employees,including at the management level.
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5. The problem is especially significant when it comes to departments
essential for a company's growth and development − Sales and
Marketing.
The study shows that Sales and Marketing departments are among the most heavily
involved in developing and using presentations both for internal ( reporting) and external
(working with clients) purposes − especially in industries dealing with complex projects and
solutions which require visual aids tools for presenting information.
Distracting these departments' staff from their primary responsibilities and diverting their
time to other tasks definitely has a negative impact on a company's operations in general.
Departments that use presentations the most
HR and Personnel
95%
Management
Marketing / PR / Advertising 87%
Sales 83%
IT 18%
Production 15%
Accounting 10%
Companies are loosing valuable opportunities when the key department
employees are being diverted from their main responsibilities −
advancing the company's business.
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6. While developing presentations more than three quarters of the time
is spent on performing routine tasks.
Even though preparing presentations can be a complex and time consuming process,
developing the concept and actual content takes relatively a small amount of time.
Below are listed the tasks related to producing presentations that require most of the time
associated with the process.
As you can see, all the tasks associated with concept development (such as copyrighting,
structure development, analytics) require much less time compared to other tasks related
to this job.
Presentation development tasks
Desinging the slides apperance (charts,
tables, diagrams)
7% Performing routine formatting tasks in
9% PowerPoint / Keynote
24%
Keeping all elements consistent with the
brand identity
11%
Developing a concept and logical
structure
13% 19% Placing and formatting text, copywriting
17% Searching for slides in previously used
presentations
Searching for images and photos
While creating a presentation, on average only 24 percent of the time is
spent on concept development. The rest of the time is consumed by
formatting and detailing.
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7. More than a third of employees spend up to 10 percent of their time
on formatting presentations.
This problem becomes especially significant when looked at in light of how much time
employees have to spend on presentation formatting and detailing compared to their
primary responsibilities.
When asked "How much time do you usually spend on presentation formatting and
detailing relatively to your primary responsibilities?" as many as 39 percent of
respondents indicated that this figure might be as high as 10 percent - i.e. one-tenth of
their total work time.
Time spent on formatting presentations
5%
17%
14% Less than 2%
From 2 to 5%*
From 5 to 10%*
25% From 10 to 25%*
39% 25 % and more
*Inclusive
Bear in mind, that these figures include not only low level employees , but highly qualified
specialists and management staff as well.
This makes the process of developing and formatting presentations
excessively expensive and in some cases economically nonviable.
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8. Most common solutions
There are several common solutions to the problem mentioned above. Each has it's own
benefits and shortcomings and can be successfully adapted only in specific situations and
under certain conditions.
1. Bringing in a team of dedicated professionals
A special unit is formed at the company to work on developing, formatting, and styling
presentations from all other departments.
Cons: High costs associated with introducing and maintaining a separate unit into the
company's structure.
Pros: All presentations are developed by trained specialists and consequently have
professional design, layout, and style that meets the brand identity requirements.
2. Outsourcing to a third party provider
All work associated with developing and formatting presentations is delegated to another
company. Can be done both on ad hoc or permanent basis.
Cons: Risks associated with reliability, operational availability, and quality of service of the
partner company.
Pros: Relieving the company's employees of additional work thus allowing them to
increase efforts and focus more on their primary responsibilities.
3. Installing special software
Employing special software tools and add-ons for creating presentations in PowerPoint that
optimize the development process and automate most of the routine tasks.
Cons: Relatively high initial cost of purchasing, customizing, and installing software, as well
as training users.
Pros: Keeping the development process in-house (might be especially important because
of the issues with confidentiality). Allowing employees to create presentations with
minimum efforts and time.
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9. Conclusion
As presentations become ever more complex and sophisticated, companies have to find
the ways to optimize their development process.
The value of presentations as a communication tool should not be diminished by the
increasing cost of their development resulting from the inadequate production process.
The process that requires highly skilled workers spend a substantial portion of their time on
mundane and tedious tasks instead of focusing on their primary responsibilities.
About PowerLexis
PowerLexis is a premium full service presentation communication agency.
Established in 2005, the company has provided services and solutions to many of the world
leading corporations and organizations, including Fortune Global 500.
For more information please visit our website:
www.powerlexis.com
Frankfurt Saint Petersburg
Lyoner Straße, 14 Dostoevsky Street 44 Building A
Tel.: +496 96 655-41-77 Tel.: +7 812 334-13-23
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