One area of Project Management that I feel is often overlooked is the presentation of information. This applies to both presenting to your immediate project team members as well as the project stakeholders. The value of providing good presentations to your audience reinforces their confidence in you as the Project Manager, and it also builds credibility within the Project Team.
I recently attended a class on Presentation Skills provided by Dr. James Brown. He stressed a number of points that I believe are the key to the successful delivery of a presentation, and here are my top takeaways:
In previous blogs on this same subject, we have discussed the role of Executive Management in the overall Project Team effort. And what elements from the internal organization would likely comprise an effective team. In summary, vibrant and effective executive leadership is likely to be critical in solidifying the vision for the project. The target of effort to achieve project acceptance and enthusiasm is cascading in that the focus of executive leadership is middle management. The components of a project team may be different for each organization or type of organization – whatever best suites the particular organizational structure, and what special considerations there might be in the project (i.e. does it involve web content, collaboration, integration with ERP or SharePoint environments, etc.).
From a user organization perspective, constructing an effective ECM Project Team needs to be on of the initial mandatory objectives and activities undertaken when implementing an ECM Project. Achieving this objective in its totality directly links to the success of the implementation of any major ECM project within an organization – whether it be for a phased enterprise or a departmental initiative.
