Business and Professional Communication, 3rd edition
Kelly M. Quintanilla, Shawn T. Wahl
Chapter 11: Informing and Persuading
Lecture Notes
Learning Objec’ves:
11-1 Discuss the importance of professional excellence in public speaking
11-2 Identify presenting opportunities
11-3 Define the purpose of a presentation
Outline:
I. Introduction
A. When you present a speech, you have a short time to capture your audience.
i. You can tell a captivating story.
ii. You can show a gripping photo.
iii. You can use a powerful quote.
iv. You can play a short video.
B. Developing presentational skills will help you excel in your career.
i. Some fear public speaking.
iv. Presentational excellence enhances your professional excellence.
II. The Importance of Presenting With Professional Excellence
A. E.ective oral communication skills are essential to excel in leadership.
i. Product presentations, informal and formal team meetings, press conferences,
and special events require public-speaking skills.
ii. Presentations serve as a tool to motivate employees and communicate business
goals.
iii. Presentational excellence is required to achieve professional excellence.
III. Identifying Presentation Opportunities and Purposes
A. Presentation Opportunities
i. Learn to look for opportunities.
ii. Formal presenta’on opportunities occur in traditional presentational se1ngs.
iii. Opportunity presentation is similar to formal in preparation but is in an informal
se1ng.
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B. General Purpose
i. Presentations have one of two general purposes.
ii. Informa‘ve speeches present the facts.
iii. Persuasive speeches make an argument or advocate for a position.
a. A passive agreement is trying to get your audience to agree or disagree
iv. Speakers should take the time to decide if their general purpose is to inform or
persuade.
C. Specific Purpose
i. A speci,c purpose is a declarative sentence telling the listeners what you want
them to understand, know or believe by the end of the presentation.
ii. You may revise your specific purpose as you research and write your speech.
IV. Speaking to Inform
A. Similarities and Di.erences with Informative and Persuasive Speeches
i. Informative speeches present facts and strive to be objec’ve, being careful to
B. Ethos
i. Ethos refers to your credibility as a presenter as well as the credibility of the
information delivered in your presentation.
ii. Quin’lian, a Roman philosopher and educator, viewed credibility as central to
C. Logos
i. Logos is a term that refers to the words of a presentation in the context of
organizational structure and the supporting information.
ii. Informative presenters should view themselves as teachers.
iii. A teacher researches, analyzes, and then presents an organized presentation.
D. Strategies for Informing with Excellence
i. Build the speech in the correct manner.
a. General purpose—to inform
b. Specific purpose—clear
ii. Take into account other variables.
a. Make sure that you are informing and not persuading.
V. Speaking to Persuade
A. Persuasive Speeches Use All of Aristotle’s Appeals
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i. To persuade an audience, you must demonstrate ethos or credibility—your
expertise, cite sources, establish common ground.
B. Types of Reasoning
i. Induc’ve reasoning is building an argument by utilizing individual examples,
pieces of information, or cases and then pulling them together to make a
generalization.
ii. Causal reasoning is cause-e.ect relationship reasoning.
a. Be sure to mention other possible causes and explain why your cause
iii. Deduc’ve reasoning occurs when the speaker takes general information or
premises and draws a conclusion from that general information.
a. OAen set up as a syllogism with a major premise, a minor premise, and
then a conclusion.
b. You must make sure the major and the minor premises are accurate.
iv. Analogical reasoning is reasoning from an analogy.
v. Cogni’ve dissonance occurs when a person holds two ideas that contradict each
other.
C. Pathos
i. Pathos refers to emotional appeal.
ii. If a speech has strong pathos but lacks ethos and/or logos, it is not e.ective.
iii. Select words that have a strong emotional connota’on or implied meaning.
D. Strategies for Persuading With Excellence
i. Build the speech in the correct manner.
a. General purpose—to persuade
ii. With a persuasive speech:
a. Your entire speech should be persuasive.
b. You should not a?empt to persuade by just presenting your opinion.
c. You should back up all arguments with logical and credible evidence.
d. You must assess the target audience;
1. Does your audience already agree with you?
VI. KEYS to Excellence in Professional Presentations
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A. Know yourself—know your strengths and weaknesses and how to use them to your
advantage.
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