Archive for April, 2006

The flock board is an innovation

A more recent innovation is the flock board. It’s face is covered with a fabric with long loose fibers. Strips of fabric with short stiff fibers are glued to the backs of the cards. When the speaker slaps the cards against the board, there’s locking action. Many people have used flannel or felt for covering the board, hence the terms flannelboard and feltboard. Coarse sandpaper, pasted on the backs of the cards, will adhere to most materials.

Since most executives are not the “do-it-yourself” type, slap boards are seldom improvised. Various kinds and sizes, complete with tripods, can be purchased at commercial audio-visual houses.

But any slap board is more practical when used to support a talk that’s given repeatedly. Preparation of cards involves a little effort and expense. Where the same cards are used several times, the investment is proportionately less.

Six Suggestions for Using Slap Boards
1.* Be sure the information printed on the cards is what the audience should remember. No trivia.
2.* Consider using some cards containing photographs, diagrams, charts, symbols-anything but plain copy.
3.* Practice slapping the cards on the board so there’ll be no fumbling during your presentation.
4.* Make a last minute check to assure that the cards are arranged in sequence of use.
5.* Keep each card out of sight until you place it on the board.
6.* Face the audience-not the board-^as much as possible.

Generated charts may substitute for chalkboards

A hard-hitting sales executive may feel that a chalkboard smacks of a schoolroom set up. If so, he can use generated
charts. To use generated charts, attach a pad or set of blank charts to an easel. Then, using a crayon or marking pencil, develop the chart while in front of the group. As with a chalkboard, you write as you make your presentation. When one sheet is filled, you flip it over so you can write on the next.

If the information on a sheet must be kept visible longer, tear it off and tape it on the wall. There may be occasions when you’ll want to tape several charts on the wall a combination of good teaching and good showmanship.
“I like to use generated charts,” declared a Charlotte, North Carolina executive. “The audience is intrigued because no one can anticipate what I will put on them. Sometimes I even draw cartoons to help illustrate my points.”

How to use prepared charts?

Try using prepared charts, sometimes referred to as flow charts. They’re mounted in the same manner as generated charts. But the writing on prepared charts is done in advance.

Keep the charts simple. Put only one major idea on each chart. For instance, a single word might be the only thing on a chart making the idea stand out.

For greatest impact, have an artist illustrate the charts and let the drawings tell much of the story, because they will create interest and can easily be remembered. Animated drawings or cartoons are usually best which can be created in less time with less professionalism required.

As you show each page to your audience, be sure to read all the words on it before elaborating. The audience will automatically read all of the copy, regardless of what you do. It’s their natural reaction. Having directed their attention to the new sheet, keep your own attention there until you’ve read it in its entirety. Do otherwise and you lose your audience.

How to build your points using a slap board?

Slap boards are becoming more popular. There are several variations of this tool, but the different types have one thing in common. The speaker literally “slaps” cards, containing his main points, onto a board.

One of the first types in use was the magnetic board, which has a metal front or face, usually covered with a thin fabric. Small flat magnets are mounted on the back of each card. This device is dramatic. The law of gravity seems suddenly to become ineffective! Moreover, it permits the speaker to build up his points one at a time, visually as well as verbally. “We use slap boards in all of our branches,” said a chain store official. “The slap of the card keeps the audience alert. Of all types of visuals, we like the slap boards best.”

How to use the opaque projector

Another visual aid is the opaque projector. This machine is heavy and, therefore, not as portable as other equipment. But it will project any object in true color.
Actual physical specimens can be projected even an article such as a fountain pen or cigarette lighter. Full sheets of copy, pages from catalogues or magazines, pictures, and other printed matter can be shown. In fact, any object that will reflect light can be shown in semi darkness.
You sometimes have something unusual to show. If it’s too small to be seen without enlargement, consider the opaque projector, which is capable of doing many jobs.

The versatile overhead projector

The overhead projector is even more versatile. It enables a speaker to face his audience in a fully lighted room while projecting pictures on a screen above and behind him. Also, certain overhead projectors can be adapted to show slides and filmstrips. Many companies use the overhead projector for training in connection with sales forms and reports. An order form, for example, can be projected for all to see and discuss.

How to use the chalkboard

Time changes everything to some degree. Yet the old fashioned blackboard is still the most widely used visual aid of all. The trend now favors green, tan, or blue colored boards, called chalkboards rather than blackboards. Such boards are excellent for listing points the audience should remember. “Good chalk talks are the backbone of some of our best sales meetings, especially the smaller ones. You give ‘em something to see,” vowed a Dallas personnel manager. “And to recapture interest, you can strike the board several times with the end of the chalk. It really focuses attention!”

Showmanship and suspense can be utilized through the strip tease technique. Simply write your main points on the board before the meeting starts. Then tape a separate piece of blank paper over each point. The audience is held in suspense until a point is made verbally, at which time you rip off the piece of paper covering the point. Thus you present the point visually as well as verbally.

Eight Tips for Using Chalkboards Effectively

Pot only major teaching points on the board. Determine in advance what those points are. Decide how each point can be summarized. Write or print rapidly. When writing keep your side, not your back, toward the audience.
Talk while writing, to avoid a lag. Use colored chalk for variety and showmanship. Do not list the next point until you finish discussing the one preceding it.

You should arrange for a projectionist. It’s too much to conduct the meeting and also operate a projector. Besides, sales executives are seldom skilled as projectionists. Their interests usually point in other directions. If you do not have an assistant who can do a good job with your visual equipment, someone on your staff should be trained. The company that sold the equipment will provide information on its operation and care. Most companies will train the projectionist for you. Many sales meetings are ruined by incompetent projectionists. See that yours becomes an expert. And how about an understudy? Someone else should be trained to the point that he can pinch hit in the absence of the regular projectionist.

“At two consecutive meetings we had trouble with our projector, because no one had been trained to operate it! Both meetings were ruined because of it. Don’t let this happen to you,” warned a sales manager. Just one more thing . . . when sales meetings are conducted in rented auditoriums or hotel rooms, the building management may require that a union projectionist be utilized. Check on this in advance. Then you’ll have ample time to arrange for a member of the local.

Your company may insist that it has the right to operate its own equipment in spite of building regulations. In such instances, a member of the local need merely be present . . . and paid. Your company personnel can actually run the machine.

What to do after the showing?

Immediately after the showing, summarize the film and review the main ideas. Better still, question the audience. Ask for a summary. Discuss major points. Above all, explain how the information affects the individual. Tell him how he can apply it to his work. Let everyone know what he’s expected to do as a result of seeing the film.
“Application is the thing to shoot for,” declared a Hartford insurance executive. “If the film doesn’t get action for you, it’s been a waste of time.”

Projection equipment should be tested at least several hours before use. By checking things beforehand, you’ll have time to order repair work or replacement parts. If the machine cannot readily be fixed, you’ll have time to get a substitute.
“I had to learn this the hard way,” confessed a chap in Des Moines. “Because the machine worked the last time I used it, I thought it should work the next time. But even if it should, it sometimes didn’t. Now I test it beforehand.” As the equipment is set up, electrical cords should be protected so that the power will not be cut off by a careless footstep. The cords can be covered by rugs and run outside the traffic lanes.

Some “play” in the cords will provide for further protection. Also, cords can be taped to the baseboard near the wall outlet, to make a disconnection even less likely. The screen should be high enough so that persons sitting in the rear of the room can see. This means that the bottom of the screen must be higher than the heads of the people who will sit on the front row. Ordinarily, the bottom of the screen must be nearly five feet high.

If a loudspeaker is used it can best be located on a chair or table near the screen. This produces clear and more realistic sound effects. At a signal previously agreed upon, the projectionist can turn on the speaker for a warm-up. As for lights, it will be necessary to turn off room lights without turning off the current to the projector. This is another item to be checked in advance. But get everyone properly seated before turning out the lights. Stumbling in the dark can be dangerous!

Timing is important

Having selected the visual aid that will best serve your purposes, decide on the most effective time for using it. Effectiveness is greatly increased with proper timing.

Consider stopping the projector once or twice for discussion of major points. A work clothes manufacturer averred, “We seldom run a film through without stopping. It’s better to halt for a moment and clinch the teaching points covered up to that time. The audience gets much more out of it.”

After deciding whether to stop your movie, work up the introductory material title of the film, background information, type of message, and running time. Be explicit regarding the purpose of it. Suggest that the audience watch for certain things, especially things related to the teaching points. When your salesmen know they’re expected to learn certain things, they’re more likely to learn them.

Larger concerns have produced their own movies, filmstrips, and slides. They have aids tailored to their specific needs. Many companies have produced sales presentations on film. Such films are excellent for training. Other firms have put their product stories on film. Both salespeople and customers can benefit from this type of visual aid.

Direct selling companies have produced slides for use at the point of sale.

Production costs are dependent on a number of things, but a 16mm sound motion picture can be made for about $1,000 per minute of running time. The cost of extra prints will average about $5 per minute of running time.

A filmstrip is a series of pictures pieced together on one strip of film. It does not produce “movies.” Instead, it gives a series of “stills.” A phonograph built into the projector is usually used for sound.

The 35mm filmstrips are less expensive to produce, averaging about $500 per minute of running time. Additional prints cost only about 50 cents per minute of running time. Slides cost even less. Where substantial quantities are used, color slides can be produced at an average cost of only 10 cents each. Slides can be made on any subject-product, plant, sales aids, raw materials or personnel.

Where to find the greatest source of audio-visual aids

The greatest source of visual aids is the commercial film library. Located in all major cities, such agencies are in the business of selling and renting audio-visual aids and will provide whatever you want. “I’ve found the commercial film libraries to be quite helpful,” stated a Philadelphia man. “If they don’t have what you want, they’ll get it. That’s their business.”

Also, many State Universities have film libraries. Their movies and filmstrips cover salesmanship, human relations, and other business subjects. These films are rented to business and industrial concerns at a very nominal charge.

A few major corporations lend films as a public relations gesture, as do some trade associations. Some of these films contain a minimum of advertising and, thus, are quite effective. You should contact all sources. Become acquainted with the aids available. Then, when planning a meeting, consider the various films. Employ those that are best for reaching your objective.