Chapter 14
WHAT IS BUSINESS SPEAKING?
Chapter overview
This brief chapter introduces business speaking. The emphasis is that most presentations succeed
or fail long before the speaker stands up. The design of the presentation and proper rehearsal
make all the difference.
Brief outline of the chapter
I. What types of business presentations are there? There are many types — from a desktop
presentation to one person to speaking in an auditorium in front of a large audience. But the
principles are essentially the same.
II. How should you give computer presentations? The computer has revolutionized speaking
as much as it has writing.
III. What does this section of the book cover? This gives a brief overview of the speaking
section of the book.
IV. Exercises.
General comments
Almost all students are nervous about giving presentations, and they’re particularly nervous
about giving them in a class on how to give presentations! They know everybody is looking at
them, watching for the slightest mistake.
I try to avoid having a nervous student freeze and fail in front of the class. This doesn’t happen
very often, but sometimes the most solid students can be the victims. If I see a student start to
have a problem, I usually ask a question, a real question, about something the student just said.
My goal is to turn the presentation, at least momentarily, into a conversation, and to take the
spotlight off the student and put it on myself. Most of the time this works. I then hope the student
can finish, because the simple act of not finishing can be traumatic.
Once students have a few successful experiences — and once they learn what wonderful help
good visual aids can be — they can blossom into full-fledged “hams”!
Notes on the exercise
This opening exercise is good one that I’ve used and refined many times: It’s a great ice-breaker.
Content is easy (it comes from the other person). Students gain a friend and ally in their time of
I allow about an hour for the students to interview each other and prepare their presentations, and
then I assign them to rehearsal groups of (ideally) four people (two interview pairs). I then ask