Survey Report of Presentation Skills Training in" Fortune 500

DOCUMENT °ESUME

ED 313 742

CS 506 947

AUTHOR

Corder, Lloyd E.

TITLE

Survey Report of Presentation Skills Training in

"Fortune 500" Industrial Companies.

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DESCRIPTORS

*Business Communication; Communication Skills; Group

Dynamics; *Interpersonal Communication; Occupational

Surveys; *Professional Training; Public Speaking;

Skill Development; *Training Methods; *Training

Objectives

IDENTIFIERS

*Fortune 500

ABSTRACT

A study surveyed current pre=c-tation skills training

practices of "Fortune 500" industrial companies. Each company's chief

executive officer was sent a cover letter explaining the study and a

copy of the survey. Data were obtained from 154 respondents (for a

36% response rate). Results indicated the importance of presentation

skills to job performance, and a majority of the companies (82%)

provide some kind of presentation skills training. Findings suggest

that most training courses are short, specific, and drill oriented,

and that they are evaluated in --me way at the conclusion of the

training. (Seventeen tables of data are included.) (KEH)

*****************************************************************.*****

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document.

********4.*************A************************************************

Survey Report of

Presentation Skills Training

In Fortune 500 Industrial Companies

Lloyd E. Corder

Department of Communication

1117 Cathedral of Learning

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260

(412) 624-6567

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS

MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

L6itLELoizi.e2r_

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

°Mee of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER (ERIC)

0 This document has been reproduced as

received from the person or organizatt..x

onomating it.

0 Minor changes have been made to Improve

reproduction Quaid/

Points of view Of opinions stated in this docir

menl do net necessarily represent of

OERI position or policy.

Executive Summary

Definitions

Demographics of the Respondents

importance of Presentation Skills to Job Performance

Companies that Do Not Provide Training

Companies that Do Provide Training

In-House Training Programs

Evaluation Attempts of in-House Training Programs

Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

Executive Summary

Research studies over the past 50 years have overwhelmingly concluded that most

businesses want and need employees with strong presentation skills.

Unfortunately,

very few studies during this same period - -and no study since 1969--have tried to find

out what businesses do in the way of providing presentation skills training. Because so

little is known about such an important area, a survey was undertaken to determine cur-

rent presentation skills training practices of Fortune 500 industrial companies.

Each company's CEO was sent a cover letter explaining the study and a copy of the

survey. One month after this first mailing, a second cover letter and survey were sent to

the nonrespondents (N=400). A total of 180 surveys were received for a response rate

of 36% (154 completed surveys; 26 declined to participate).

Importance of Presentation Skills to Job Performance

Presentation

skills rank "very important" for the sales staff,

executives, middle

managers, and human resource staff; rank "important" for the supervisors ana technical

staff; and rank between "somewhat important" and "not important" for the secretarial

staff and hourly wage workers.

Further statistical tests showed that there is strong

agreement between the responses.

On one level, the results are not surprising. Some company positions (sales staff, ex-

ecutives, middle managers, and human resource staff) need presentation skills more

than others.

After all, employees in these positions are more likely to make presen-

tations.

On another level, the results somewhat contradict earlier research reports.

If presen-

tation skills are important to a company's success, why shouldn't the skills be important

for all levels of employees? One explanation may be that earlier studies did not attempt

a comparison of the importance of the skill and the level of employee.

Description of Training Practices

A majority of the companies (82%) provide some kind of presentation skills training.

This is a much higher number than current national estimates (36%)1 and suggests that

many of the top 500 companies think that presentation skills play an important part in

their success.

This conclusion gains even more support when examining the three

main reasons why this training was implemented: 1) to increase employee performance,

2) employees wanted it, and 3) it's part of employees' general training.

1Lee, C. (October, 1987). Where the training dollars go. Training, 24(10), 51-65.

Presentation-Skills Training Survey Repori

Who performs the training? For the highest levels of employees (executives and middle

managers), outside consultants usually provide the training.

For all others, the most

likely source is the in-house staff, although vendor companies are a close second.

Finally, more training is provided for the higher level employees, while relatively little

training is provided for the hourly wage workers. These results correspond directly with

the "perceived importance" of presentation skills for each level of employee. Essen-

tiaily, the more important the skills are for an employee's performance, the more likely

that employee is to receive training.

Analysis of In-House Training Efforts

Although training comes from several sources, 73% of the companies provide training

that is delivered by in-house staffs.

The average class size is 13 employees, the

average length of the training is 7 hours for 3 days, and the course is offered about 9

times per year.

As far as the content of the training is concerned, the training usually focuses on or-

ganization techniques, use of visual aids, physical delivery, handling speaking fear, vo-

cal delivery, handling questions, and gaining audience attention.

The most popular

training aids are videotape, lectures, group participation exercises, material developed

in-house, and structured discussions.

These findings suggest that most of the courses are short, specific, and drill oriented

(use actual speaking practice). They seem to vary from the standard university course

in length of training, depth of the material, and amount of practice devoted to delivering

presentations.

Evaluation Attempts of In-House Training Programs

Of the in-house programs, 89% are evaluated in some way, usually at the conclusion of

the training. The type of evaluation conducted is most frequently that of "reaction" or

"how well the participants liked the program."

More detailed evaluations, such as

"results" or "how the program reduced costs, improved quality, or improved quantity,"

are attempted much less frequently.

Who sees the reports of the evaluations?

Usually the training directors and presen-

tation skills trainers. How are the evaluations used? To change the program.

These results, on one hand, are encouraging. Literature over the past 10 yeas has as-

serted that few programs are evaluated. Obviously, this isn't the case in this study. On

the other hand, the type of evaluation conducted is still relatively "low level." Strong at-

tempts to show that the programs are having a posiZ:ve dollar impact are still lacking.

The implication: when you can't prove that you are making or saving money, it is much

easier for your program to be terminated.

Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

Definitions

Base: This is the number used to calculate the percent of each response

for each question.

It is actually the number of companies that responded

(or should have responded) to each question.

Human Resource Staff:

Personnel, public relations, and training and

development employees.

Mean: This is the average score of a question. A mean is calculated by

taking the total value for all responses to a question and dividing that value

by the total number of companies who responded to that question.

Percent:

This is determined by taking the number of. companies who

asponded in a 'similar way (frequency) and dividing that number by the to-

tal number of companies who responded to that question (Base).

Presentation Skills: Skills used by a person who (usually) informing, per-

suading, or entertaining a group of listeners.

Presentation Skills Training: Any organized attempt to improve presen-

tational speaking ability, with or without presentation aids.

For example,

training that is provided in-house, through vendor companies, or by other

means are all considered presentation skills training.

Standard Deviation (SD): This indicator tells you how close th6 respon-

dents in the sample are to the mean. The smaller the number, the closer

the entire population is to the mean.

In general, one standard deviation

from the mean (that can be positive or negative) contains 68% of the

population. So, if the mean is 2 and the standard deviation is 1, then 68%

of the population is between 1 and 3.

Technical Staff: Engineer and chemist employees.

Trainer: The person, teacher, or individual who delivers the presentation

skills training program(s).

Types of Employees:

This is a term that describes eight different

categories of company employees: executives, middle managers, super-

visors, human resource staff, sales staff, secretarial staff, technical staff,

and hourly wage workers.

Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

Inammimemimummarammurisontumwm

Demographics of the Respondents

Distribution of the Responses Compared to Fortune 500 Rank

001 to 050:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

051 to 100: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

101 to 150:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

151 to 200: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

201 to 250: XXXXXXXXXXXXX

251 to 300: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

301 to 350: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

351 to 400:

XXXXXXXXXX

401 to 450: XXXXXXXXXX

451 to 500: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Base: 154

Reasons for Not Responding to the Study

No reason given

50%

Too many requests to answer all of them

42%

Information top secret

04%

Information already at other published sources

04%

Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

Base: 26

Importance of Presentation Skills to Job Performance

Not Important (1)

Somewhat Important (2)

Important (3)

Very Important (4)

I V

Mean

Sales Staff

01% 01% 10% 88%

3.8 .49

Executives

01%

01% 13% 85%

3.8 .44

Middle Managers

01%

02% 34%

63%

3.6

.57

Human Resource Staff

01% 04% 37% 58%

3.5 .61.

Supervisors

01%

22% 56% 21%

3.0 .70

Technical Staff

05% 32% 50%

13% 2.7

.70

Secretarial Staff

35% 52% 11% 02%

1.8 .70

Hourly Wage Workers

65% 29%

06% 00%

1.4 .62

Base: 154

82% of the companies that completed a survey

said that they provide presentation skills training.

prisentation Skills Training Survey Report

Companies that Do Not Provide Training

Past and Future Trends*

Previously provided training

43%

Plan to provide training within one year

14%

Reasons for Not Having a Training Program*

Other programs cover similar material

50%

Training of this type is unimportant

18%

Programs of this type are not effective

11%

Upper management does not believe in it

11c/0

Programs cost too much

07%

Base: 28

*Adds to more than 100% due to multiple

answers.

Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

Companies that Do Provide Training

Reasons for implementing Training Program?

To increase employee performance

90%

Employees wanted it

60%

Part of employee general training

54%

Needed training for speaker's bureau

05%

Source of Presentation Skills Training*

In-House

Staff

Vendor

Company

Outside

Univer-

Consultant

sity

Executives

21%

26%

74% 08%

Middle Managers

45%

37%

47% 09%

Supervisors

60%

25%

19% 06%

Human Resource Staff

48%

32%

35%

10%

Sales Staff

51%

34%

05%

Secretarial Staff

38%

10%

04%

00%

Technical Staff

50%

17%

17% 04%

Hourly Wage Workers

29%

03%

02%

Base: 126

*Adds to more than 100% due to multiple

answers.

Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

1st and 2nd Most Likely Sources of Training

1st Source

Executives

Consultant

Middle Managers

Consultant

Supervisors

In-House

Human Resource Staff

In-House

Sales Staff

in -House

Secretarial Staff

In-House

Technical Staff

In-House

Hourly Wage Workers

In-house

Importance of Degrees for Presentation Skills Trainers

Not Important (1)

Somewhat Important (2)

Important (3)

Very Important (4)

2nd Source

Vendor

In-House

Vendor

Vendor/Consultant

Vendor

Vendor/Consultant

Vendor

..) r

Mean

BA Communication

31%

22%

24%

23% 2.4

1.15

MA Communication

46% 27%

23%

04%

1.9

0.91

PhD Communication

71%

20%

07% 02%

1.4

0.70

Base: 154

Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

11.

In-House Training Programs

73% of the companies that provide presentation skills

training offer all or part of that training on an in-house basis.

Primary Course Objectives*

Improve overall presentation skills

46%

Improve presentation structure & organization

25%

Improve delivery skills

20%

Practice giving a presentation

15%

Understand and use audience analysis

14%

Construct effective visual aids

14%

Reduce nervousness

14%

Handle questions effectively

08%

Develop better sales skills

06%

Base: 87

*Adds to more than 100% due to multiple

answers.

-Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

Content Areas of Presentation Skills Training*

Organization techniques

97%

Use of visual aids 92%

Physical delivery 91%

Handling speaking fear

86%

Vocal delivery

85%

Handling questions

85%

Gaining audience attention

84%

Preview of main points

79%

Audience analysis

76%

Establishing common ground

70%

Handling objections

67%

Evidence/supporting material

66%

Establishing credibility

60%

Thesis statements

42%

Theories of communication

35%

Theories of rhetoric (persuasion)

28%

Base: 92

*Adds to more than 100% due to multiple answers.

74% say that the content of the in-house programs is modified

when the course is delivered to different levels of employees.

Presentation Skills Training Survey Report

.13 11

Cnanges in the Content for Different Levels of Employees

Level of Employee

Major Changes

Executives & Managers

More press conference practice (7%)

More one-on-one training (7%)