“You can leave a comment in the box by the bathroom if you’d like.” That was the response I received after a particularly poor experience with a potential vendor. As I slid the feedback into the ambiguous box, it felt a bit like it was disappearing into the abyss. Will they ever read it? Do they really care? Why did I waste my time? I still don’t know if my input, which I considered valuable, was ever heard or addressed.
Feedback is a vital part of any new roll-out process and should be present at every step of the design process for a new presentation deck. But what we do with the feedback as managers is almost as important as collecting it in the first place. A quick way to lower team morale and hinder your overall effectiveness is to get bogged down, overwhelmed, and frustrated with all the different feedback you are taking in.
We’ve found a few easy ways to manage and implement effective feedback:
Weigh the feedback.
Throughout the process of creating a presentation, you are going to be hearing from a lot of different voices. When it comes to new things, people always seem to have an opinion. The trick, however, is to figure out which voices should be heard. An easy way to do this is to weigh the feedback coming in.
Presentation Tip: Before you even start the process, take time to think about all the different places you may receive feedback from. Then sort them from highest to lowest priority based on the factors that are most important to your mission.
This may seem cold and impersonal, but it is important to know which voices to listen to before you start the project. By doing this ahead of time, you free yourself up when the pressure is on and you are trying to sort through all the information.
Keep things organized.
When it comes to a new deck, it’s easy for feedback to get cluttered and drafts to get mixed up. Before you start down the design road, come up with a process for managing feedback and revisions. Decide on the collaborative software you will use ahead of time and stick to it. Along with a great collaboration software, labeling files clearly is vital to your success at managing feedback.
Presentation Tip: As a remote team at Ethos3, we spend a lot of time collaborating digitally. We have found Google Drive and Dropbox to be a clean and easy way to keep track of all of our revisions and edits.
Feedback and revisions can get complicated. Start with a plan, and see it through to the finish. It will serve you well in the long run.
Be ready to make a final decision.
One way to guarantee a stalled project is through a lack of decision making. As the owner of the presentation, the buck ultimately stops with you in regard to your new deck, which means at the end of the day, the final decision is yours. Once you have done your due diligence and gathered all of your feedback, it is time to make some decisions and trust your instinct.
Presentation Tip: Typically, your first gut reaction will be the best reaction, so trust your gut and embrace your instincts.
When it comes to launching a new presentation, or initiative it is important that you can stand behind your work. Handling feedback with care will give you the ammunition needed to own your decisions should any questions arise. This also allows you to not only defend controversial decisions, but also to inspire trust that you have put in the forethought at each stage.
Unsure where to start for your next presentation? Contact the team at Ethos3 today to find out how our team of experts can take your presentation to the next level.
