Sunterra needed to present consistently right across its global sales base. With thousands of holiday properties, all of which were being constantly refurbished and developed...
Numbers can be a great persuader. If you want to make a pitch based on extra profit or cost savings, it's great to be able to prove your point.
my favourite subject
When I start on religion, politics, music, fluid dynamics, sport, parapsychology and welding you can safely cut in a few filter circuits, nod occasionally and quietly drift way. You won't miss anything important. But I do know how presentations work.
It was in 1975 that my then boss asked me to put together an audio-visual backdrop to his keynote marketing speeches. I assembled a motley bank of tape recorders, record decks, Kodak Carousels and a cine projector, connected up the spaghetti and switched on. While Iain spoke the words at the front, I was dancing around at the back like Rick Wakeman in his favourite keyboard shop.
It certainly impressed the audience. And it blew our minds. Iain's presentation reached heights that would have persuaded the audience to follow him on an armed stroll into Poland.
So when a client asked me in 1991 how we could get his software program in front of interested buyers, the ideas were already there, waiting for an outlet.
But now we had computers. "Let's put together an interactive presentation" says I
"Who can do that?" asks the client.
"I can" says a voice.
Oh bugger, that was me wasn't it?
I went and bought IBM Storyboard Live and set about learning to work it. A year later I partnered up with an old friend and started a specialist multimedia company. By the mid-nineties, with clients like BBC, Marshall Cavendish, Severn Trent, Lucas keeping us busy, we had something pretty ground-breaking. Part of it was the system that would grow into Configurative.
I started my business in a shed at the bottom of the garden. I'd often dream of the day I'd have premises and staff. Once I achieved that dream, I found myself wishing I was back in my shed.
Now we're into the second decade of the 21st Century, and I'm frankly happier away from all that corporate stuff. I have a small team backing me up, but I'm able to spend my time doing what I really like - putting together the ideas and the presentations that produce fantastic results for my clients. That's a lot more fun than board meetings to discuss our HR plans.
I don't have a lot of clients; working with just a few of the right ones makes my meetings a pleasure, and we've come to trust each other to deliver something great. If that sounds like the way you like to work, I'm sure I'll find room for one more.