The impact of knowledge, attitude and business role in business presentation design—Case: Company X
Ullner, Pauliina (2019)
Ullner, Pauliina
2019
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019052110866
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019052110866
Tiivistelmä
The thesis stems from the researcher’s passion towards presentations, and the poor state of most business presentations. It researches presentation design, including the visual and verbal aspects of it, as well as persuasion to the extent that was relevant for the scope. The scope excludes presenter’s presentation skills and other aspects, which are not directly connected to the design of presentation slides. The objective was to study presentation design principles, investigate how well professionals internationally know them, and create several products based on the theory and research. The research brings business value to company X, which looks to expand internationally with its presentation design service.
The research question was “Is there a relationship between level of knowledge, attitude and business role, when it comes to presentations?” The survey included 29 statements, both true and false, which respondents agreed or disagreed with through Likert-scale answer options, thus allowing to assess the general level of knowledge. In addition, one open question was asked, allowing respondents to share any thoughts and attitudes towards the topic. Also, information about working environment and demographic factors were asked, allowing analysis regarding possible relationships. Answers were gathered with a web questionnaire, which was sent, mainly, via direct messages to 603 people in the researchers network, both inside and outside Finland. The questionnaire received 299 responses, during February 2019, that could be analysed. This included 13 different nationalities of people; almost nine percent were other than Finnish. Answers were transformed into numerical data, and job roles and industries, were adjusted to form comparable groups of respondents.
The researcher concludes, that the level of knowledge regarding the topic was relatively good, yet there is room for improvement. There were 10 statements that clearly divided opinions, and these were the areas that the researcher focuses on in the first product to be derived from the thesis, a training on the subject. Roughly a third of the respondents answered the open question, which did not lead to a clear conclusion regarding attitude. It appears that there is a relationship between level of knowledge and highest education, business role, what size company respondent works for, whether they have managerial responsibility over other people, and if they create their own presentations. There were not notable differences between nationalities. The researcher recommends that companies put efforts into training their employees in presentation design, as it is increasingly everyone’s job to persuade others, and often a presentation material is used as support. Further research could be done, e.g. around how respondents use different materials to support their goals.
The first product created was a presentation training. The training was given to a few business professionals, who had also answered the thesis questionnaire, and developed on the basis of their feedback. The training will be officially presented during summer 2019 to another, larger group, of professionals interested to learn about presentation design. Other products to be created are downloadable guides and blog posts.
The research question was “Is there a relationship between level of knowledge, attitude and business role, when it comes to presentations?” The survey included 29 statements, both true and false, which respondents agreed or disagreed with through Likert-scale answer options, thus allowing to assess the general level of knowledge. In addition, one open question was asked, allowing respondents to share any thoughts and attitudes towards the topic. Also, information about working environment and demographic factors were asked, allowing analysis regarding possible relationships. Answers were gathered with a web questionnaire, which was sent, mainly, via direct messages to 603 people in the researchers network, both inside and outside Finland. The questionnaire received 299 responses, during February 2019, that could be analysed. This included 13 different nationalities of people; almost nine percent were other than Finnish. Answers were transformed into numerical data, and job roles and industries, were adjusted to form comparable groups of respondents.
The researcher concludes, that the level of knowledge regarding the topic was relatively good, yet there is room for improvement. There were 10 statements that clearly divided opinions, and these were the areas that the researcher focuses on in the first product to be derived from the thesis, a training on the subject. Roughly a third of the respondents answered the open question, which did not lead to a clear conclusion regarding attitude. It appears that there is a relationship between level of knowledge and highest education, business role, what size company respondent works for, whether they have managerial responsibility over other people, and if they create their own presentations. There were not notable differences between nationalities. The researcher recommends that companies put efforts into training their employees in presentation design, as it is increasingly everyone’s job to persuade others, and often a presentation material is used as support. Further research could be done, e.g. around how respondents use different materials to support their goals.
The first product created was a presentation training. The training was given to a few business professionals, who had also answered the thesis questionnaire, and developed on the basis of their feedback. The training will be officially presented during summer 2019 to another, larger group, of professionals interested to learn about presentation design. Other products to be created are downloadable guides and blog posts.