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Chapter 13: Delivering Business Presentations and Speeches
Nobody says anything when you ask a question. Be ready to rephrase your question in a more provocative
way.
Review the basics of oral presentations as needed. They are shown in Exhibit 13-6.
Delivering Web-Based Presentations
Slide 13-21
Web presentations require some unique planning and delivery techniques.
Before the presentation, the presenter will want to send out announcements encouraging users to pretest
their systems for the technology. He or she may also want to line up an assistant to help respond in real
Slide 13-22
During the presentation, a speaker might do some polling. Some software allows for informal polling
where the audience can indicate a yes, no, or not sure response. Or the presenter can use a more formal
Similar to the face-to-face presentation, the presenter of the web presentation should plan for a question
and answer session as well as for an evaluation of the effectiveness of the presentation. And like the face-
to-face presentation, practicing is a must.
Ask students: What kind of webinars or web events have you participated in? What did you like about
them? What didn’t work well?
Many people make their own presentations and post them publicly on the Internet at sites such as
YouTube or on Facebook Live. Ask your students if either of these applications would ever be good to
use in the business context. In what situations might posting video presentations be helpful?
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Chapter 13: Delivering Business Presentations and Speeches
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Remember
Giving Team (Collaborative) Presentations
Slide 13-23
Team/group presentations require additional skills.
Extra planning is needed for:
Presentation order—member content, time use, and possible order
Supporting examples—for building continuity
Slide 13-24
This slide introduces TED talks, popular talks that are well-loved and discussed among many
professionals. Showing a TED talk at some point in your instruction of this chapter is an excellent way to
illustrate good formal speaking. We recommend Nancy Duarte’s “The Secret Structure of Great Talks.”
Slide 13-25
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Chapter 13: Delivering Business Presentations and Speeches
Power Charge Your Professionalism: Use Adjectives and Adverbs
Correctly
Find the sentences below that use adjectives or adverbs incorrectly and correct them. Use
Reference Chapter A to explain your decisions. (Corrected words are in bold. The explanations for
correct usage are found in section AA of Reference Chapter A.)
1. Using well-designed slides will help your audience get your point more quickly.
3. When you’re well prepared, you’ll feel good about giving your presentation.
5. If your listeners look confused, you might want to go more slowly.
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Chapter 13: Delivering Business Presentations and Speeches
Critical-Thinking Questions
1. As you consider your future career, think of three scenarios in which you might need to
make a presentation. What would be the purpose of these talks, and who would be their
audience? In light of these factors, what kinds of content would you need to include? (LO1)
2. Explain the principal differences between oral and written reports. What do these
differences mean in terms of how you’d need to adapt a written report for presentation to
an audience? (LO1, LO2)
2) The reader has more control of written messages (can proceed at her or his pace). 3) In oral
3. Give an example of a scenario in which you’d be wise to organize a presentation indirectly.
Then give one in which the direct order would be preferable. Explain the rationale behind
your choices. (LO1, LO2)
4. Assume that your boss, the director of marketing, has asked you to prepare an oral report
for the marketing team on the status of the current sales campaign. The sales messages have
been designed for viewing on three different technologies: PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
List, in order of presentation, the content you might include, along with any visuals that
would go with it. (LO2, LO3)
5. Assume that you must prepare a speech on the importance of community service for an
audience of business majors. Develop two attention-gaining openings for this speech. (LO1,
LO2)
6. Assume that as a successful young [fill in an appropriate job title], you’ve been asked to give
a speech to a college honorary society or club in your area of professional expertise.
Generate two good topics for your speech, and be ready to explain the reasoning behind
your choices. (LO2)
7. Assume that in the scenario described in question #6 you invite questions at the end of your
talk, and an arrogant-seeming student in the audience contradicts something you said. How
would you handle this situation? (LO6)
8. Recall an effective speech you heard or viewed in which the speaker read his or her
remarks. What made the speech effective even though it was read? (LO2)
9. View a TED talk (TED.com) and evaluate the projected personal qualities, use of body
language, and speaking style/voice of the presenter. What techniques might you emulate?
Which, if any, would be ones you’d want to avoid? (LO4)
10. Go to YouTube.com and examine a video in which a business professional is giving advice
about making oral presentations. Evaluate the advice, and also evaluate the speaker’s own
presentation skills. (LO1–LO5)
11. View a TED talk (TED.com) and evaluate both the visuals the speaker uses and how he or
she integrates them into the talk. What techniques might you emulate? Which, if any, would
be ones you’d want to avoid? (LO3, LO5)
12. For the same TED talk or a different one, identify the strategies the speaker uses to build
rapport with the audience. (LO2, LO4)
13. Find an online video or tutorial about designing effective presentation slides. Evaluate the
advice being given. (LO4)
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Chapter 13: Delivering Business Presentations and Speeches
14. Recall a presentation you attended that effectively used supporting visual material. Then
recall one that didn’t. What were the differences? (LO4, LO5)
15. If you were giving a presentation and you saw that your audience’s eyes were glazing over,
what might you do to regain their attention? (LO2, LO6)
16. Find a videotaped webinar (e.g., those available at www.webex.com/webinars), and evaluate
it. What were its strengths? How might it have been improved? (LO7)
17. If you’ve taken any online courses, make a list of the presentation features (e.g., use of
media, types of audience participation) that you liked about them. Then list the drawbacks
that these courses had. (LO7)
18. Assume that you and some classmates have been asked to prepare a team presentation that
will be videotaped. What logistics do you need to work out before you tape the
presentation? (LO8)
19. Recall the team presentations that you’ve seen in your classes. What qualities made some
team presentations better than others? (LO8)
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Skills-Building Exercises
The topics here can be used for various activities, including analyzing the audience and situation,
planning the right kind of talk, gathering appropriate and sufficient information, organizing the talk,
planning and designing visual aids, and delivering presentations. Many of the Problem-Solving Cases at
the end of Chapter 12 can also serve as oral presentation topics.
Consider using the grading rubric that follows the list of scenarios for evaluation of presentations. Follow
the grading rubric are checklists students may find helpful as they prepare their reports and presentations.
1. Survey the major business publications for information about the outlook for the national
2. Select a current technological innovation for business use and report it to a company’s top
3. Report to a meeting of a wildlife-protection organization on the status of an endangered
4. A national chain of (your choice) is opening an outlet in your city. You have been assigned
5. The Future Business Leaders Club at your old high school has asked you to give a talk on
6. You’re one of a group of students who have been selected to go to Germany (or pick
7. As a member of an investment club, report to the membership on whether the club should
8. Use your library’s resources and the web to find the best available information on the job
10. Present a report for your classmates on some legislation of importance to business (e.g.,
right-to-work laws, ethics, environmental controls, taxes). Take care to present evidence
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Chapter 13: Delivering Business Presentations and Speeches
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
11. Assume that you are being considered by a company of your choice for a job of your choice.
12. Prepare and present a report on how individuals may reduce their federal or state income
13. Make a presentation to a hypothetical group of investors that will get you the investment
14. As chairperson of the site-selection committee of the National Federation of Business
Executives, present a report on your committee’s recommendation. The committee has
15. Prepare a presentation about a nonprofit organization or a cause that you support. Your
16. The top administrators of your company have asked you to look into the matter of whether
17. You work for a professional speakers bureau (a company that hires out speakers). Your
18. Assume again the role described in topic #17, but this time your topic is the comparative
19. Prepare a speech on a school-related topic of your choice for a meeting of your school’s
20. The career services center at your school is conducting a series of brief presentations on
companies both local and national/international that students might want to learn about as
potential employees. Your business communication teacher has gotten wind of this initiative
and has offered to have her class prepare and deliver some of these as their report
Carefully plan your report to be between 8 and 10 minutes long. Support your talk with
PowerPoint slides that have the following:
• An introductory slide to identify your company
• An overview slide, listing the topics your talk is going to cover
The following kinds of information might be appropriate to include in your talk:
• Company’s outputs (products/services); the industry to which it belongs
• Company’s size (dollars in sales/revenue; number of employees), ownership,
financial health
• Company’s plants/facilities/location
• Company’s history (how founded? when? by whom? main achievements and/or
crises in the company’s history?)
Include at least two web and two non-web references in your report (that is, material in a
publication or database).
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Chapter 13: Delivering Business Presentations and Speeches
Oral Presentation Evaluation
Presenter
Topic
Date
Four aspects of an oral presentation are listed below. Under each of these headings are
descriptions. Circle aspects that are excellent; underline aspects that need improvement; do
nothing with aspects that are average; cross out aspects that are not applicable. Comment on
aspects that are circled or underlined; circle the appropriate rating for each aspect.
CONTENT
Comments:
Introduction
HIGH
Body
10 9
Conclusion
8 7
Explicit facts and Interpretations
6 5
Preparation
4 3
Use of notes
2 1
Organization
LOW
Clarity
Time limit
Thoroughness
NONVERBAL SKILLS
Comments:
HIGH
Appearance
10 9
Eye contact
8 7
Gestures
6 5
Posture
4 3
2 1
LOW
VOICE
Comments:
HIGH
Voice volume
10 9
Voice variety
8 7
Effective pauses
6 5
Rate of speech
4 3
Enthusiasm
2 1
Grammar
LOW
Enunciation
VISUALS
Comments:
HIGH
Contribution to presentation
10 9
Neatness
8 7
Visibility
6 5
Clarity
4 3
Correctness
Use
2 1
LOW
OTHER COMMENTS:
TOTAL POINTS
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Chapter 13: Delivering Business Presentations and Speeches
Checklist #1: Preparing Presentation Slides
Questions about the presentation as a whole:
✓ Is there an attractive, clearly worded, readable title slide?
✓ Does the writer make good use of an outline slide?
✓ Is it titled effectively, and are the items in the list of topics grammatically parallel?
✓ Do the slides seem to cover all the important information?
Questions about every slide:
✓ Is there a strong contrast between the background and the text color?
✓ Is there any type that is too small to be read? (Remember, no typeface should be smaller than
24 points.)
✓ Conversely, is any type too big (yelling)?
✓ Is any typeface hard to read (as with italics or too fancy a font)?
✓ Is there too much or too little information on any slide?
✓ Should any slides be combined or divided up?
✓ Are all headings on the same level grammatically parallel?
✓ Are items in all lists grammatically parallel? Is the wording on each slide clear and
grammatically correct?
✓ If there are borrowed facts or quotes, are the sources named clearly on the slides? Is each
slide visually clean and attractive?
Checklist #2: Oral Presentation Basics
✓ Be sure your report or speech has a clear, audience-adapted objective.
✓ Organize the talk so that it leads the listeners logically to your conclusion. The situation may
call for either the direct or indirect order.
✓ Plan an engaging beginning.
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✓ Manage any other visual elements of your talk (e.g., your appearance, the background) to
your advantage.
✓ Project confidence, competence, sincerity, and friendliness.
✓ Employ body language to your advantage.
✓ Be relaxed and natural, and use appropriate gestures and facial expressions.
✓ Articulate clearly, pleasantly, and with proper emphasis.