When I got home yesterday, I had to push the front door with a little more vigor than usual because of the pile of flyers and junk mail that littered the floor of the entrance and blocked the doorstep. There was, however, in this mess a letter intended for me. This was of course the only piece that caught my eye. The rest ended up at the bottom of the recycling bin as it should. Do you ever attend presentations that were labelled "To the occupant"?
To save a little time, some of our clients "recycle " slides and presentation sections that have already been used in the past into new presentation decks to new audiences. Will the presentation that was used to convince the doctors have the same impact on the nursing staff? And the one presented to the finance department, re-used for the meeting with the production managers? If the subject is still the same, shouldn't the same content be used again? The short answer is no.
The danger of recycled content is not so much about the serving of leftovers to a deserving audience; The risk of this shortcut is that it presents content and information that is not targeted and does not solicit their attention. Does the content consider the perspectives of different groups and teams in the organization, different training levels, or different goals and interests? The goals of the clinical research staff may be different from those of medical practitioners or nurses for the same pathologies. Is it always appropriate to present all the financial information of a manufacturing company to the production managers?
What if the people in charge of human resources, distribution, production, finance and marketing are in the room? Target certain portions of your content to these distinct audiences during your speech.
Be sure to personalize the content of your presentations to the target audience to engage them, solicit their participation and create constructive forums for exchange.