Presenting to prospective clients can be daunting, but with the right tools at your disposal you have a greater chance of winning your next pitch. There’s one particular tool that will make presentations particularly effective, and that’s the interactive whiteboard. These large display screens can easily be connected to a computer or projector and used to store, analyse and modify important information.

With this handy device you can turn your presentation into a collaborative effort and engage your clients more closely than you would if you were using a traditional whiteboard or even a static PowerPoint presentation. Here are four reasons why an interactive whiteboard could help you win your next client pitch, all of which we’ll elaborate on later in this article:

• Credibility
• Greater interaction
• Engagement
• Memorability

Credibility

Using a PowerPoint presentation doesn’t necessarily help you demonstrate that you are an expert in your field. Though you’re using it as a platform to sound off various ideas, it can create a sense of detachment between you and the service you’re offering, as well as your understanding of your prospective client’s business. This might diminish your credibility in the eyes of your audience. 

However, when you switch to using an interactive whiteboard you are no longer merely reading from a presentation, but are actively engaging with it, demonstrating more clearly that you understand your prospect and the business at hand. Your audience will see you as more credible and a sense of trust will be built.

Greater interaction

With an interactive board, your presentation will more easily turn into a conversation between you and your audience. The engaging visual content you present will better enable you to generate a dialogue between yourself and the client. For example, with a well-designed diagram on the board you might find yourselves referring back to it, with your listener adding his or her own details or ideas. This type of interaction can be difficult to achieve in a conventional slideshow presentation.

• READ MORE: Making your presentations more interactive

Engagement

With a constant flurry of visuals presented in a manner that’s not as pedestrian as an ordinary slideshow, you’ll more easily maintain the engagement of your listeners. As we’ve said, they might constantly keep referring back to certain features that stand out to them, which means you’re keeping them interested and holding their attention. With engaging content you can reel your audience in and cement the experience of the presentation in their minds.

Memorability

Making sure your ideas stick in the minds of your prospective clients is important. An impression needs to be made on them. A collaborative and robust tool like an interactive whiteboard can help. After seeing your presentation, your listeners might be able to tell their colleagues about it and compare it favourably to other pitches they might hear.

An interactive whiteboard is a powerful tool for communicating a message to prospective clients. As a means for collaborating on an idea, it far outweighs conventional means for making a presentation, such as PowerPoint and traditional whiteboards. It will enable your listeners to engage more with your presentation and will leave an impression on them. Added to that, your engagement will make you seem more credible and help you to build trust with your audience.