Business Communication Bovee_im_lesson_plan_foundations Focusing Negative Messages Option Opening Hook For Touch Drama You Can Build

Focusing on negative messages (Option B)

1. Opening hook: For a touch of drama, you can build this lesson around a real or imagined crisis scenario

for a company. This could involve an environmental disaster, product tampering, a data privacy calamity,

or another event that involves significant risks to a large number of people. To add a teamwork element,

2. First activity: If you’ve chosen to go the team route, the first activity could be centered around assessing

the situations they’ve been handed and deciding how to structure and organize the messages they need

3. Lecture: After getting students into the mindset of conveying or responding to unwelcome information,

your lecture can launch into a comparison of the direct and indirect approaches, followed by the ethical

4. Discussion: Ethics, etiquette (including sharing negative information without being negative), and the

5. Concluding activity: Wrap up the lesson by having student teams compose and revise their messages

The table of suggested questions and exercises on the next page lists all the student activities from Chapters 7 and

8, sorted by learning objective and other instructional parameters.

Suggested Questions and Exercises

Here are the student activities from Chapters 7 and 8, sorted by learning objective. Use this table to find activities

that encourage specific types of learning experiences, communication tasks, or media choices.

Note: The Syllabus Assistant in the Bovée & Thill QuickSwitch system offers a comprehensive set of assessment

criteria for all three aspects of student performance: written communication, oral communication and

presentations, and professionalism/participation.

Chapter 7

LO

Question/Exercise

Learning Experience

Communication Task

Medium/channel

1

7-1

Review

n/a

1

7-11 through 7-13

Practice

Writing

Instructor choice

1

7-22 through 7-24

Practice

Writing

Instructor choice

1

7-74

Analysis

Writing

MyBCommLab

2

7-2

Review

n/a

2

7-3

Review

n/a

2

7-7

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

7-8

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

7-25

Practice

Writing

Instructor choice

2

7-26

Practice

Writing

Instructor choice

2

7-30

Practice

Writing

Messaging

2

7-31

Practice

Writing

Email

2

7-32

Practice

Writing

Email

2

7-33

Practice

Writing

Messaging

2

7-75

Analysis

Writing

MyBCommLab

3

7-4

Review

n/a

3

7-14 through 7-17

Practice

Writing

Instructor choice

3

7-18 through 7-21

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Instructor choice

3

7-22 through 7-24

Practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

7-5

Review

n/a

4

7-6

Review

n/a

4

7-9

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

4

7-10

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

4

7-27

Practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

7-28

Practice

Writing

Microblogging

4

7-29

Practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

Critique the Professionals

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

Sharpen Your Career

Skills Online

Analysis, practice

Writing

Email

4

7-34

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Email

4

7-35

Practice

Writing

Email

4

7-36

Practice

Writing, speaking

Podcasting

4

7-37

Practice

Writing

Microblogging

4

7-38

Practice

Writing

Blogging

4

7-39

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Blogging

4

7-40

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Letters

4

7-41

Practice

Writing

Blogging

4

7-42

Practice

Writing

Blogging

4

7-43

Practice

Writing

Social networking

4

7-44

Practice

Writing

Letters

n/a

7-45 through 7-59

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

n/a

7-60 through 7-73

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

Revising

Instructor choice

n/a

Level 3: Document

Critique

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

Revising

Instructor choice

Chapter 8

LO

Question/Exercise

Learning Experience

Communication Task

Medium/channel

1

8-1

Review

n/a

1

8-2

Review

n/a

1

Critique the Professionals

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

1

Sharpen Your Career

Skills Online

Analysis, practice

Writing

Email or blogging

1

8-72

Analysis

Writing

MyBCommLab

2

8-3

Review

n/a

2

8-7

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

8-11 through 8-13

Practice

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

3

8-4

Review

n/a

3

8-8

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

3

8-11 through 8-13

Practice

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

3

8-14 through 8-16

Practice

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

4

8-17 through 8-19

Practice, collaboration

Writing, discussion

Instructor choice

4

8-20

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

8-21

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

8-22

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

8-23

Analysis, practice, ethical

understanding

Writing

Instructor choice

4

8-24

Analysis, practice

Writing

Email, mobile

4

8-25

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

8-27

Practice

Writing

Email

4

8-30

Practice

Writing

Email

4

8-31

Practice

Writing

Email

4

8-32

Practice

Writing

Email

4

8-34

Practice

Writing

Podcasting

5

8-9

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

5

8-26

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

5

8-28

Practice

Writing

Email

5

8-29

Practice

Writing

Microblogging

5

8-33

Practice

Writing

Social networking

5

8-35

Practice

Writing

Letters

5

8-36

Practice

Writing

Messaging, mobile

5

8-37

Practice

Writing

Memos

5

8-38

Practice

Writing

Social networking

5

8-73

Analysis

Writing

MyBCommLab

6

8-39

Practice

Writing

Social networking

7

8-6

Review

n/a

7

8-10

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

7

8-40

Practice

Writing

Microblogging

7

8-41

Practice

Writing

Social networking

n/a

8-42 through 8-56

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

n/a

8-57 through 8-71

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

Revising

Instructor choice

n/a

Level 3: Document

Critique

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

Revising

Instructor choice

Lesson Plan Foundation

7. Persuasive Messages

These lesson plan foundations provide core materials that you can integrate into an existing

lesson plan or use to build a new plan. Each foundation covers roughly a week’s worth of subject

matter, which you can adapt to your course schedule, teaching style, and other individual

requirements. The material is based on a specific Bovée & Thill edition, making it easy to assign

the suggested readings and activities from the text. Comprehensive lecture notes and answers

to student activities from the text are available in the Instructor’s Resource Manual.

Overview

This lesson plan foundation corresponds to Chapter 9, Writing Persuasive Messages,

with coverage of persuasive business messages and marketing and sales messages.

Core Messages for Students

• Persuasion is the attempt to change someone’s attitudes, beliefs, or actions.

• Although it has a reputation as something potentially unethical, successful professionals understand that

persuasion is not about trickery or getting people to act against their own best interests.

• Persuasive messages are sometimes unwelcome, so planning carefully and adopting the “you” attitude

are essential.

Learning Objectives

The objectives for this lesson align with Chapter 9:

2. Describe an effective strategy for developing persuasive business messages

4. Describe an effective strategy for developing marketing and sales messages, explain how to modify your

approach when writing promotional messages for social media, and identify steps you can take to avoid

ethical lapses in marketing and sales messages.

Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress on page 238 summarizes the learning objectives for students.

For Business

Communication

Essentials, 8th edition

Assumptions

This lesson builds on the three-step writing process covered in Lessons 3 and 4, so it should be presented after

those lessons.

Resources

In the Instructor’s Resource Manual (available online at the Pearson Instructor Resource Center; see below):

• Lecture notes, keyed to the learning objective from each major section in the chapter

• Class discussion questions (embedded in the lecture notes)

• Answers to highlight box questions

On Bovée & Thill’s Business Communication Blog

• Original articles on teaching business communication

• A wide variety of free media resources, from videos to infographics, available via Real-Time Updates

• Business communication instructor communities on LinkedIn and Facebook

On Pearson’s Instructor Resource Center

• Instructor’s Resource Manual

Readings from the Text

Here are the major sections in the chapter, each linked to a learning objective. If you want to reduce the time you

spend on this lesson, the easiest way is to drop a learning objective and its associated readings (and end–of–

chapter activities, which are all keyed by learning objective). We’ve highlighted some of the most important figures

and tables to discuss in each section as well. Note that page numbers here refer to the standard edition; if you use

a custom edition, your page numbers will likely differ.

Learning Objective 1: Apply the three-step writing process to persuasive messages.

• Using the Three-Step Writing Process for Persuasive Messages (overview), page 222

Learning Objective 2: Describe an effective strategy for developing persuasive business messages

Learning Objective 4: Describe an effective strategy for developing marketing and sales messages and explain how

to modify your approach when writing promotional messages for social media, and identify steps you can take to

avoid ethical lapses in marketing and sales messages.

• Communication Matters, page 221

• Developing Marketing and Sales Messages (overview), pages 232, 234

Instructional Sequence

Here is a suggested sequence of discussions and activities. You can supplement this with personal anecdotes,

communication examples “ripped from the headlines” (including media materials available on Real-Time Updates),

and additional exercises and activities from the end of the chapter.

1. Opening hook: You can explore the power of persuasive communication by asking students to name

some of the products, brands, and companies they use and ask them to reflect on how they learned about

them and became intrigued enough to give them a try. What information did they respond to and where

did this information come from? Students may be surprised at how difficult it can be to unweave their

2. First activity: A group project to develop a persuasive message for something that students feel

passionate about can be a great way to explore the process of developing these messages. Have the class

3. Lecture: With this goal in mind, students will be receptive to information on how to achieve persuasive

4. Discussion: After covering the principles of effective and ethical persuasion, lead the class in a discussion

of how to apply these principles to the persuasive challenge they have set for themselves.

5. Concluding activity: With the conceptual tools of promotion in hand, the class can now work on a high–

level message to promote the product, company, or cause they chose earlier. Remind them to pay close

attention to the balance of emotional and logical appeals and to be mindful of how much information

they try to pack into the high-level message.

Suggested Questions and Exercises

Here are the student activities from Chapter 9, sorted by learning objective. Use this table to find activities that

encourage specific types of learning experiences, communication tasks, or media choices.

Note: The Syllabus Assistant in the Bovée & Thill QuickSwitch system offers a comprehensive set of assessment

criteria for all three aspects of student performance: written communication, oral communication and

presentations, and professionalism/participation.

LO

Question/Exercise

Learning Experience

Communication Task

Medium/channel

1

9-1

Review

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

1

9-7

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

1

9-77

Analysis

Writing

MyBCommLab

2

9-2

Review

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

9-3

Review

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

9-4

Review

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

9-5

Review

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

9-8

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

9-12 through 9-18

Analysis, teamwork

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

9-19 through 9-21

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

2

9-25

Practice

Listening

Podcasting

2

Sharpen Your Career

Skills Online

Analysis, practice

Writing

Email or blogging

2

9-33

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Email

2

9-34

Practice

Writing

Email

2

9-36

Practice

Writing

Email

2

9-32

Practice

Writing

Email

3

9-26

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

3

9-27

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

3

9-32

Practice

Writing

Microblogging

3

9-35

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Blogging

3

9-37

Practice

Writing

Email

3

9-39

Practice

Writing

Letters

3

9-45

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Social networking

3

9-46

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Microblogging

4

9-6

Review

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

4

9-9

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

4

9-10

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

4

9-11

Analysis

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

4

9-22 through 9-24

Analysis, teamwork

Writing or discussion

Instructor choice

4

9-28

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

9-29

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

9-30

Analysis, practice

Writing

Instructor choice

4

9-31

Analysis, practice, ethical

understanding

Writing

Blogging

4

Critique the Professionals

Analysis, practice

Writing

Email or blogging

4

Sharpen Your Career

Skills Online

Analysis, practice

Writing

Email or blogging

4

9-40

Practice

Writing

Letters

4

9-41

Practice

Writing

Web writing

4

9-42

Practice

Writing

Social networking

4

9-43

Practice, teamwork

Writing

Social networking

4

9-44

Practice

Writing

Microblogging

4

9-78

Analysis

Writing

MyBCommLab

LO

Question/Exercise

Learning Experience

Communication Task

Medium/channel

n/a

9-47 through 9-61

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

n/a

9-62 through 9-76

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

Revising

Instructor choice

n/a

Level 3: Document

Critique

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

Revising

Instructor choice

Lesson Plan Foundation

8. Writing Reports and Proposals

These lesson plan foundations provide core materials that you can integrate into an existing

lesson plan or use to build a new plan. Each foundation covers roughly a week’s worth of

subject matter, which you can adapt to your course schedule, teaching style, and other

individual requirements. The material is based on a specific Bovée & Thill edition, making it easy

to assign the suggested readings and activities from the text. Comprehensive lecture notes and

Learning Objectives

The objectives for this lesson encompass the learning objectives from Chapters 10 and 11. To compress the

material to fit your available class time, you can emphasize particular objectives based on your course goals and

student skill levels. Here are the learning objectives for the two chapters, tagged for two options:

Option A: If you want to cover all the major sections of these two chapters

Option B: If you want to focus on report preparation with quick coverage of research and visuals

A

B

Chapter 10: Understanding and Planning Reports and Proposals



12. Adapt the three-step writing process to reports and proposals.



13. Describe an effective process for conducting business research, explain how to evaluate the credibility of an

information source, and identify the five ways to use research results.



14. Explain the role of secondary research, and describe the two major categories of online research tools.



15. Explain the role of primary research, and identify the two most common forms of primary research for business

communication purposes.



16. Explain how to plan informational reports and website content.



17. Identify the three most common ways to organize analytical reports.



18. Explain how to plan proposals.

A

B

Chapter 11: Writing and Completing Reports and Proposals



14. List the topics commonly covered in the introduction, body, and close of informational reports, analytical

reports, and proposals.



15. Identify six guidelines for drafting effective website content, and offer guidelines for becoming a valuable wiki

contributor.



16. Discuss six principles of graphic design that can improve the quality of your visuals, and identify the major types

of business visuals.



17. Summarize the four tasks involved in completing business reports and proposals.

Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress on page 272 of Chapter 10 and page 318 of Chapter 11 summarize the

learning objectives for students.

Assumptions

This lesson builds on the three-step writing process covered in Lessons 4 and 5, so it should be presented after

Resources

In the Instructor’s Resource Manual (available online at the Pearson Instructor Resource Center; see below):

• Lecture notes, keyed to the learning objective from each major section in the chapter

• Class discussion questions (embedded in the lecture notes)

• Answers to highlight box questions

On Bovée & Thill’s Business Communication Blog

• Original articles on teaching business communication

• A wide variety of free media resources, from videos to infographics, available via Real-Time Updates

• Business communication instructor communities on LinkedIn and Facebook

On Pearson’s Instructor Resource Center

• Instructor’s Resource Manual

Readings from the Text

Here are the major sections in Chapters 10 and 11, each linked to a learning objective. If you want to reduce the

time you spend on this lesson, the easiest way is to drop a learning objective and its associated readings (and end–

of–chapter activities, which are all keyed by learning objective). We’ve highlighted some of the most important

figures and tables to discuss in each section as well. Note that page numbers here refer to the standard edition; if

you use a custom edition, your page numbers will likely differ.

Chapter 10

Learning Objective 1: Adapt the three-step writing process to reports and proposals.

• Applying the Three-Step Writing Process to Reports and Proposals (overview), including Figure 10.1,

page 250

• Analyzing the Situation, including Figure 10.2 (on page 252), page 251

• Selecting the Right Combination of Media and Channels, page 251

• Organizing Your Information, including Figure 10.4 (on page 254), pages 252–253

• Finding Information Online, pages 258–259

• Documenting Your Sources, pages 259–260

Learning Objective 4: Explain the role of primary research, and identify the two most common forms of primary

research for business communication purposes.

• Conducting Surveys, pages 260–261

Learning Objective 7: Explain how to plan proposals.

• Planning Proposals, including Figure 10.9 (on pages 268–271), pages 265–267

Chapter 11

Learning Objective 1: List the topics commonly covered in the introduction, body, and close of informational

reports, analytical reports, and proposals.

• Choosing the Right Visual for the Job, including Table 11.2 and Figures 11.4 through 11.1, pages 289–296

• Designing Effective Visuals, pages 296–298

Learning Objective 4: Summarize the four tasks involved in completing business reports and proposals.

• Completing Reports and Proposals (overview), page 298

• Producing Formal Reports and Proposals, page Table 11.3 (on page 299), page 298

Instructional Sequence

Here is a suggested sequence of discussions and activities. You can supplement this with personal anecdotes,

communication examples “ripped from the headlines” (including media materials available on Real-Time Updates),

and additional exercises and activities from the end of the chapter.

1. Opening hook: You might open by asking students to volunteer whether they ever have stopped reading

2. First activity: One option here is taking one of the examples offered by a student and asking the class to

outline or draft a better approach. For instance, someone might have stopped reading or chosen not to

3. Lecture: You can focus on two areas for this lesson: the best approach to writing content for lengthy

4. Discussion: After covering the key considerations for writing report content and the elements that make a

5. Concluding activity: Adding or improving headings, transitions, previews, and reviews is another

opportunity to demonstrate the value of a reader-focused approach to report and proposal writing.

The table of suggested questions and exercises on the next page lists all the student activities from Chapters 10

and 11, sorted by learning objective and other instructional parameters.