Why presentations are better than websites ?

It is not that I am against websites but having a website and expecting users to read it completely is just an expectation which is less likely to be fulfilled. We are living in the age where total attention-span has reduced drastically. The average human attention-span has fallen from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8 seconds in year 2015-16 (even Goldfish have better attention-span of 9 seconds). And it is a widely known fact that our brain is better in processing audio-visual-information than just text-information. An audio-visual or visual presentation surely catches more attention than the bland text-content and additionally, it leaves a long-lasting impact as well. Following are few facts which can explain why a presentation is a much better communication-mode than a simple website:

• Almost 50% of our brain is involved in processing visual stimuli.
• We only need 150ms to process a symbol & 100ms to give it a meaning.
• Presentations are useful because we suffer from information-overload and presentations are normally succinct and pinpointing. We process 34 gigabytes or 1, 00,500 words outside of our purview of work on any given day.
• Some bright colours increase our desire to read them by 80%.
• 67% of audiences say that they are more convinced by a verbal presentation if it has visual components than one that does not.
• 10% of people remember what they hear, 20% of what they read and 70% of what they see.
• Visuals have 94% more impact than text alone.
• People who follow illustrated instructions complete their respective tasks 323% better than people who do not.

Furthermore, I am sharing an interesting incident that just happened with me. I received this call one evening when the guy from other side said " Am I talking to info@bharatgrouponline.com , I need one presentation for my company and we do need this for……. etc. etc." After he finished, I politely mentioned that my name was Harish and the name he just said was my email-id. The guy realized that quickly and apologized, he said I am there on your website and seeing phone & email address but sincerely I don't blame him for this. We are so engrossed in our day-to-day work that we hardly have time to read something completely & sometimes even evaluate what we read. We want to reach conclusions quickly; we want to get the job done speedily & we expect a seamless information-dissemination from one end to another in no time. So even though you have tonnes of materials loaded on your website, yet you will always find people querying on phone & trying to understand your products or services. Presentations can change this scenario dramatically. With presentations, you don't only save time but also transfer information more effectively, accurately and promptly.

Talking of presentations, we always get the inquiry that how long should be the duration of my presentation! And we always answer, "Shorter one is effective". The moment you made your point, the moment you showcased what mattered most to clients, your presentation should be over. Now be it 180 seconds or 6 minutes, all boils down to the specific treatment of a presentation. There is no reason to brag about you, your company or even products or services for that matter. Our clients usually ask for the details on their company, infrastructure, products/services, client-list, Contact Us etc., but we have seen in our studies and have years of experience that even though you have 5 or 6 different sets of facts, figures and particulars covered in just 6 minutes, yet the higher authorities or your target-audience may only ask you to show 2 or 3 parts of the presentation. Now spare a thought that even if you have just 6 minutes of audio-visual presentation talking about end-to-end and your target-audience doesn't have time to see it all and can just ask you to play 2 or 3 parts bearing the most important information he is seeking to scrutinize.

All-in-all, if you have to choose between "Presentation or Website", you must go for the Presentation first. If you already have website/s for your company or initiative, then make your mind up to have one Presentation made for yourself sooner than later because you may be losing customers faster than you think. Until you have something to show your specifics in very less time, you can't get them on board with you.