Business and Professional Communication, 3rd edition
Kelly M. Quintanilla, Shawn T. Wahl
Chapter 11: Informing and Persuading
Chapter Ac#vi#es
Ac#vi#es to Illustrate Key Concepts
activity 1: Informal Team Huddles
description: This is a small-group activity. It is designed as a practice application learning
opportunity.
direction:
1. Divide the class into groups of three people each.
2. The concept being practiced is a team huddle where employees are pulled together and
short notice is given for a person to present to the small group.
3. Each person will prepare a 2-minute presentation on the most important thing they have
learned since coming to college (or any other topic the instructor chooses).
4. The students will have 3 to 5 minutes to prepare. The instructor will remind the students
that the speech needs to be properly structured with an a$ention-grabbing beginning, a
body, and a wrap-up conclusion.
activity 2: Small-Group Discussion activity
description: This is a small-group discussion activity. The goal is to stimulate thinking about
how and when informative and persuasive speaking opportunities are used in business
sengs
direction:
1. Ask students to pair up with the person si(ng next to them for this small-group
discussion activity.
2. Ask the pairs to discuss what the di+erence is between informative and persuasive
speaking opportunities in business and when each should be used.
3. A,er su-cient time of discussion has passed, call the groups back together for class
discussion.
activity 3: Class Discussion activity
description: This is a class discussion activity to help students to come to a beer
understanding of the concepts of ethos, logos, and pathos as they might be used in business
speaking situations
direction:
1. The instructor should introduce the topic of business speaking and the concepts of
ethos, logos, and pathos. Student might suggest de3nitions to be put on the board and
re3ned by group discussion.
2. Propose to the students the following situation: You are the president and CEO of a small
manufacturing company of 250 employees. Your main product is no longer viable in the
market, and you will need to have a major switch in product strategy. The new product
will mean that there will be a major cost of purchasing new equipment and the strong