12 Designing and Delivering Business
Presentations
IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL FIND:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
KEY CONCEPTS
KEY TERMS
CHAPTER OUTLINE
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
REVIEW QUESTIONS & SUGGESTED ANSWERS
FEATURED ASSIGNMENTS
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
CASE ASSIGNMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Plan a business presentation that accomplishes the speaker’s goals and meets the audience’s
needs.
2 Organize and develop the three parts of an effective presentation.
3 Select, design, and use presentation visuals effectively.
4 Deliver speeches with increasing confidence.
5 Discuss strategies for presenting in alternate delivery situations such as culturally diverse
audiences, teams, and distance presentations.
KEY CONCEPTS
In today’s environment, delivering a successful business report involves not only making an
effective spoken presentation but incorporating appropriate visuals as well. The chapter
emphasizes timeless techniques of spoken delivery as well as visual and graphic design
principles. Because the ability to give presentations using alternate delivery situations is
important in today’s workplace, the chapter covers strategies for responding to a culturally
diverse audience and effective team and distance presentations.
KEY TERMS
TERM
PAGE
TERM
PAGE
Articulation
214
Memorized presentation
211
Extemporaneous presentation
212
Oral briefings
203
Impromptu presentation
212
Phonation
212
Internet conferencing
221
Pronunciation
214
Manuscript presentation
212
CHAPTER OUTLINE
12-1 Planning an Effective Business Presentation 203
12-1a Identify Your Purpose 203
12-2 Organizing the Content 205
12-2b Body 207
12-3 Designing Compelling Presentation Visuals 208
12-3b Design Tips for Audience Handouts and Notes Pages 211
12-4 Refining Your Delivery 211
12-4a Delivery Method 211
12-4c Delivery Style 214
12-5 Adapting to Alternate Delivery Situation 217
12-5a Culturally Diverse Audiences 217
12-5c Distance Presentations 221
12-5d Crisis Communication 223
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1
Plan a business presentation that accomplishes the speaker’s goals and meets the audience’s
needs.
Planning an Effective Business Presentation
• Ask students to relate their experiences with hearing ineffective presentations, whether in
a classroom, student organization, or business environment.
• Ask them what made the presentation ineffective.
• Discuss the importance of getting the audience’s attention. Remind students of the quote:
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
• Create a class blog where students can post their ideas for improving speeches and
business presentations in an organization.
Know Your Audience
• Lead a discussion of important considerations when planning an effective presentation.
• Ask students whether the opening or the closing is the most critical portion of a
presentation and to provide justification for their opinion.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2
Organize and develop the three parts of an effective presentation.
Organizing the Content
• Preview the three-part structure of an effective presentation.
• Ask students how long each part should be in relation to the total presentation time. What
happens if the introduction or conclusion is missing? Too long?
Introduction
• Discuss important elements of an effective introduction.
✓ Capture attention and involve the audience.
✓ Establish rapport with the audience. Stress that students should take the time in the
• Discuss techniques for gaining audience attention and holding interest.
✓ Emphasize that a quotation provides the following benefits: (1) expresses thoughts
Body
• Discuss techniques for making the body of a presentation effective.
• Provide an overview of the various ways to organize the body of a presentation.
Close
• Discuss the elements of an effective summary.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 3
Select, design, and use presentation visuals effectively.
Designing Compelling Presentation Visuals
• Discuss the benefits of using presentation visuals.
• Ask students the advantages of using class visuals. How are students impacted in classes
where visuals are not used? How do their experiences relate to other audiences?
Types of Presentation Visuals
• Discusses the choices available in visuals. What are the benefits and drawbacks of each
type?
Design of Presentation Visuals
• Discuss principles of effective design of presentation visuals. Stress that each of these
components is important to slide design. Design principles are illustrated in the
ineffective/effective slides are shown in the textbook.
Effective Slide Content
• Discuss what kind of information to provide on a slide to make the most effective use of
its strengths.
• Remind students again that a flashy slide will not make up for a lack of content.
• Refer to examples of effective and ineffective slide content, contrasting the effective and
ineffective examples.
✓ The importance of writing titles that accurately describe the exact nature of the
• Ask students how a good visual illustrates the statement: “Use powerful visual
communication for quick and effective conveyance of information.” Tell students the
good example works because it uses appropriate pictures to make the point, whereas the
poor example is simply a statistic pulled from the speaker’s notes. Discuss why the
second visual is better.
• Discuss the benefits of the one-minute slide.
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than one minute (e.g., slide may contain too much information; presenter may need to
identify a logical, concise presentation of the information, etc.).
Space Design and Typography
• Discuss slide layout and design guidelines.
• Refer students to examples in the text and other sources that illustrates these guidelines.
Effective Use of Color
• Emphasize the appropriate color scheme and slide orientation for electronic slide shows
and overhead transparencies.
• Reinforce slide design guidelines related to (a) content, (b) template and graphics, (c)
Copyright Use—or Abuse
• Lead a discussion of what can be legally used in a presentation. Remind students that
Design Tips for Audience Handouts
• Emphasize that audience handouts should reflect the same degree of professionalism as
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4
Deliver speeches with increasing confidence.
Refining Your Delivery
• Ask the class which of the four presentation delivery methods they think is used most
often by professionals in their field. Use their input to lead naturally to a discussion of
memorized, manuscript (scripted), impromptu, and extemporaneous presentations.
• Assign students a chance to present impromptu speeches. Allow class time for students to
Delivery Style
• Lead a discussion of techniques for practicing effectively.
• Discuss public speaking anxiety and ways to alleviate that anxiety, including practice.
• To help alleviate fear:
✓ Emphasize that fear of public speaking can be overcome with time and practice.
✓ Present the following baseball analogy that Bert Decker cites in You’ve Got to Be
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5
Discuss strategies for presenting in alternate delivery situations such as culturally diverse
audiences, and team and distance presentations.
Adapting to Alternative Delivery Situations
• Discuss situations business presenter’s face where they have to adapt quickly and easily
to a different situation. Remind students that audience consideration should be a major
Culturally Diverse Audiences
• Discuss guidelines for speaking to an intercultural audience.
• You may want to review guidelines for writing to an intercultural audience as you cover
this section. Discuss the similarities between adaptation for writing and for speaking.
Team Presentations
• Discuss why it is not advisable to “wing it” in a team presentation.
• Ask students to comment on how a news broadcast team (made up of one or more
Distance Presentations
• Lead a discussion as to why distance presentations are growing in popularity. Remind
students that delivering for a distance audience and local audience at the same time can
Summary
• If facilities to create visual presentations are available, schedule team presentations so
that other teams constitute the audience. Presentations should be made available for
student review (feedback).
• Team presentations are usually less threatening than individual ones. Three- and four-
person teams can be assigned to prepare and make presentations.
• Additional business topics that might be used for individual or team reports include the
following:
✓ Officers’ reports to corporate shareholders’ annual meeting. Each team may select its
own corporation from any available annual reports. Students play roles as officers
• Additional topics that will expand student exploration and understanding of the strategic
forces impacting communication include the following:
✓ Report on an interview of an international student, professor, or businessperson
returning from an overseas assignment. Provide management with specific guidelines
for integrating successfully into another culture.
• Ask students to complete selected activities at the end of the chapter. Remind students to
study the suggestions in the “Check Your Communication” checklist (on the Chapter in
Review card) when planning and delivering a speech or oral report and designing visuals.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Preparing a Top Ten List for Effective Business Presentations: Generate a list of the top ten
mistakes speakers make based on your experience as a speaker and listener. In small groups
assigned by your instructor, discuss the points listed by each student and compile your ideas
into a comprehensive top ten list that reflects the consensus of the group. Next, discuss
strategies team members have used to avoid each of the mistakes you have listed. Be
prepared to share your valuable advice with the class in an informal presentation.
Mistake
Tip
Talking too fast
Slow down
Making nervous gestures
Be conscious of nonverbal communication
Straying off topic
Make organized outline and notes and use them
Going over the allotted time
Prepare speech to be shorter than allotted time
Reading from visuals
Prepare good notes and use them
Not knowing the audience
Research the audience beforehand
failure
presentation without electronic presentation
audience
(When in doubt, leave it out.)
Focusing on an Effective Introduction and Close: In a small group, develop a captivating
introduction and memorable close for the topic your instructor provides. Be prepared to
discuss the techniques you used in the introduction to capture the audience’s attention, to
involve yourself with the audience, to present your purpose, and to preview the major points
and the unity and closure achieved through the close.
Sample Introduction: After three days of participating in mentally and physically challenging
Sample Closing: As a manager, you need to book a COPE program for your company today. We
can help you trust one another more and know one another more through programs that minimize
outside distractions
Presenting an Impromptu Presentation for Self-Critique: In groups of four assigned by your
instructor, select four topics from the following list of questions provided by your instructor.
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a. Choose one of the following thought-provoking questions from The Conversation Piece
by Nicholaus and Lowrie:
• What is one of the simple pleasures of life you truly enjoy?
• What is something you forgot once that you will never forget again?
• What thought or sentiment would you like to put in one million fortune cookies?
• Almost everyone has something that he/she considers a sure thing. What is your “ace
in the hole”?
• Most people have a story or experience they love to share. What’s your story?
b. The coolest digital gadget that I wish some company would invent (e.g., standard
chargers for cells/PDAs, laptops, cameras, and so on).
Improving Presentation Visuals: Evaluate the effectiveness of each of the following slides
and offer suggestions for improvement. Classify your changes in these areas: (a) slide
content, (b) template and graphics, (c) space design and typography, and (d) color choices.
Be prepared to present your analysis to the class. Your instructor may ask you to revise these
slides incorporating your suggestions.
a. Revise the slide content and select an appropriate template and graphics to support the
topic.
Showcases leadership skills
worldwide …
Videoconferencing
Activity 4a, Slide 1
b. Select an appropriate template and graphics to designate links to other slides related to
the four writing traps. Read more about these writing traps from the source listed on the
slide.
c. Use powerful visual communication techniques and minimal text to create the appealing
image of an interviewee committing interview mistakes made during actual interviews.
Use interview mistakes based on your own experience or your own research of an online
database or popular career websites. (Creative teaser: Build on the analogy of interview
mistakes and the “uncut” portions of a movie.)
Examples:
REVIEW QUESTIONS & SUGGESTED ANSWERS
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part.
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1. How does the purpose of a presentation affect the process of planning a presentation?
What two techniques can you use to condense the purpose of a presentation into a brief
statement?
As a speaker, you must know what you want to accomplish during a presentation before you can
What important facts should a speaker know about the audience when planning a
presentation?
What is the basic three-part structure of an effective presentation? What are the
purposes of each part?
What does a speaker hope to accomplish in the close? What suggestions will help a
speaker accomplish this goal?
The close should support and refocus the audience’s attention on your purpose in a clear and
memorable way. A speaker should (1) commit the time and energy needed to develop a creative,
Discuss general guidelines for preparing an effective presentation visual.
Guidelines for preparing an effective presentation visual include the following: limiting the
Briefly explain the provisions of the Copyright Law of 1976 as it applies to multimedia
content (graphics, sound, and video). What steps can presenters take to ensure they are
complying with copyright law?
The Copyright Law of 1976 fixes copyright at the moment an original work is tangibly expressed.
Which delivery methods are used most often by business speakers? What are the
advantages and limitations of each?
Four presentation methods are available: memorized, manuscript (scripted), impromptu, and
What ethical responsibility does a speaker have when planning and delivering a
presentation?
What can a speaker do to ensure that a presentation is understood and not offensive to
audience members of various cultures?
The speaker can do the following to ensure effectiveness with a cross-cultural audience: (a) use
What strategies are recommended for delivering an effective team presentation?
What is the single, most important piece of advice you would give for making an
effective business presentation?
Student responses will vary. They should support their opinion with information from the chapter.
With current advancements in technology, how has the business presenter’s role been
simplified? How has it become more difficult?