Introduction

I was hired by scuba-equipment company Scubapro, which was launching an Internet-based network for its scuba-diving dealers. The company wanted to build awareness and generate excitement for the concept at a major scuba industry trade show.

After meeting with Scubapro's marketing executives, I decided to create a multimedia presentation, which I wrote and produced. The initial plan had been to communicate using a PowerPoint slide presentation. However, after understanding more about the audience and purpose of the presentation, I suggested that we use multimedia—sound, video, and animation—to create a multimedia presentation.

A multimedia presentation would provide the the movement, verve, and excitement that the occasion required. I thought that a slide presentation would have fallen flat and would not have delivered our message in the right way to our target audience. To create the multimedia presentation, I worked with a multimedia developer to tell the story from beginning to end in a video-like way.

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Important Considerations

The website that scuba-diving dealers would see on the Internet—called SCUBAPRONET—had not yet been developed at the time of the trade show. This meant that the multimedia developer, who was also a graphic artist, and I, were presented with a challenge. We had to envision the website as it might eventually appear and function, so that we could write, design, and develop the multimedia in time for the trade-show presentation.

The other important consideration was reassuring dealers that the company had no plans to use SCUBAPRONET to cut into dealers’ business. If Scubapro was going to gain the acceptance of its dealers for the new network, this point had to be made clearly and unambiguously.

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Defining the Presentation

After considering the business need and the audience, here is how I defined the purpose, tone and appeal, and content of the multimedia presentation:

Purpose

• Show scuba-diving dealers what the new network would look like and how it would function.
• Generate excitement and acceptance among dealers for the network.
• Put a human face on the network by featuring Scubapro employees in the presentation.
• Make clear to dealers that the network was for dealers only and not for end-consumers.

Tone and Appeal

• Tone. Some of the things I wanted to convey included newness and excitement.
• Appeal. I wanted to appeal to the strong relationship that Scubapro had with its dealers.

Multimedia Content

• Shots of SCUBAPRONET in action.
• Explanation of the benefits of the network for dealers.
• Video clips of Scubapro employees talking about the network.

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The Script

Here is the script I wrote for the Scubapro multimedia presentation. The narration is in the right-hand column, and accompanying visuals are in the left-hand column.