Grant Thornton embraces a ‘new way of working’ with Promethean interactive presentation technology
Grant Thornton UK LLP is a leading business and financial adviser to mid corporates and their owners, ranking number five by fee income in the Accountancy Age Top 50. With 15,000 corporate and 25,000 private clients across the UK, the firm is committed to ‘upholding human perspective, robust independence, relationship focus, and is keen to embrace new ways of working’.
What was Needed?
Recognising the important role that presentation delivery plays in training and knowledge transfer, the firm decided to investigate suitable technology for a forthcoming partner conference on tax. Client services director David Margerison who is based in Sheffield explains: “A predominant part of our company’s success is its communications and delivering important advice to our partners, clients and colleagues. For the tax conference we wanted to create an informal, intimate presentation whilst reflecting our professionalism.”
As presenters at the conference would be addressing a group of 50 delegates, Margerison began researching the presentation options available to the corporate market, including flipchart functionality to demonstrate figures and workings in real-time. Bearing in mind that a solution must allow the presentation to flow freely for all speakers and enable interaction between presenter and audience, Margerison approached AV distributor Saville to gain advice on effective presentation technology.
The Solution
As a leading distributor of Promethean AV’s interactive whiteboard technology, Saville AV advised Margerison of the many benefits that the Presenta panel could bring to the corporate presentation environment.
Part of Promethean AV Distribution's interactive Presenta range, the Presenta panel is a 15" LCD display with cordless battery-free pen and Px interactive presentation software. The LCD panel works with a PC and data projector, allowing presenters to directly face their audience when presenting. A presenter can ‘write’ onto the panel and the annotations are projected onto a large scale screen, enabling a ‘live’ brainstorm.
The Px interactive software provided with the Presenta panel affords users of this portable tool all the functionality associated with Promethean interactive whiteboards. This includes the ability to annotate, highlight, and otherwise manipulate original material directly on the display, as well as incorporating animation, movies and audio into presentations.
Saville AV’s Neil Bradley, the channel partner involved in the installation explains: “Upon receiving the brief from Grant Thornton, I immediately recognised that the Presenta panel would suit the needs of the firm. As the presenter annotates onto the interactive panel, the image is communicated through the PC and simultaneously displayed to a larger scale on a projection screen behind the presenter.
The Verdict
Presenters at the tax conference only needed a few minutes to familiarise themselves with the Presenta panel. Margerison was impressed by the flexibility and ease of use of the technology, saying: “It was essential that the technology would aid the presenters in the delivery of information and bring real value to the conference. The Presenta panel enabled users to explain often complex information with the helpful addition of diagrams and annotations.”
As a presentation tool to maximise audience engagement through interaction, the Presenta panel allowed Grant Thornton partners to promote discussion with delegates. Through the visual element of the electronic flipchart device, presenters were able to successfully convey key messages and encourage audience feedback without breaking the flow of the presentation.
Annotating notes and comments onto the prepared presentation documents, the presenters found that the Presenta panel enabled them to maintain the professional format of Grant Thornton conferences whilst enhancing audience understanding through interaction.