By: Hement Sharma
Submitted: 2010-06-15 04:19:09 | Word Count: 534
Have you ever shown up at the airport to take a business trip, only to end up marvelling as to how your business colleague and travelling companion, managed to fit a week’s worth of business attire in his briefcase, while you’re man-handling two suitcases on wheels. It goes almost without saying that your colleague will fair a better reception at the business event you’ll be attending, as, odd as it may sound, it pays to travel light.
Business dealings are often influenced by the phenomena of travelling light. Think back to the last presentation you attended. It probably wouldn’t surprise me if you recall liking the presentation of the individual who came with the fewest number of props. It’s not that we don’t like props, but good presenting is supposed to look natural. This way, our full-attention is on what the person is saying, and not what they are trying to get up on the screen or what they are writing up on the white board.
Nobody wants to be the presenter who relies solely on advanced technology because all too often, as written surely in Murphy’s Law of pending disasters, that advanced technology is likely to fail, whether due to a freak power shortage or a simple computer glitch. We all want to be the presenter, who shows up in professional attire, with possibly one piece or paper in the hand or a roll-up banner under the arm, and a warm smile. This image projects fool-proof reliability. It’s the same image your business colleague projected at the airport, showing up with one small briefcase. It conveys the message of: “We’re confident nothing will go wrong because we’ve got everything we need under control”. It projects the assurance that there won’t be any technical glitches or lost luggage because that’s not how such individuals do business.
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Presenting with a company banner as your sole visual is actually a great way to go. It means as a presenter you stand in front of a visual backdrop which represents a small marketing feat, while you deliver an Oscar-nominee performance. When we don’t rely on too many screens and hand-outs, we actually speak better. We have to convey in our words the images we would have liked to flash on the overhead projector. This said, no business presenter should be foolish enough to think that he or she can’t do without a little visual enhancement. A banner, be it a roll-up banner or not, does just this. It really sets the scene, and essentially invites the business folk in the audience into the company’s premises, be it into the corporate boardroom, onto the sales floor or into the manufacturing plant.
Banners have yet to hit the market like the Apple Ipod or even the iPad but they are a marketing medium that is clearly gaining momentum. Survey the annual turnovers of your direct competitors, and then survey their marketing supports. There’s bound to be a correlation, as inconspicuous as it may seem, between banners, especially the roll-up banners and earning the bigger bucks. It’s all about travelling light.
