Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 1
Chapter 12 LECTURE NOTES
Business Presentations
CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
Chapter 12 provides students with techniques for preparing effective business presentations.
Students learn how to organize traditional and multimedia presentations and to consider their
purpose and their various audience types. The chapter describes techniques for establishing
rapport with an audience, including using effective imagery, providing verbal signposts, and
sending appropriate nonverbal messages. Students learn to design and use effective visual
aids, including multimedia slides, handouts, overhead transparencies, and speaker’s notes.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Recognize various types of business presentations, and discuss two important first steps in
preparing for any of these presentations.
2. Explain how to organize the introduction, body, and conclusion as well as how to build
audience rapport in a presentation.
WHAT’S NEW IN THIS CHAPTER
The authors made the following changes and improvements:
• Reduced the number of learning objectives to streamline the chapter material and improve
student comprehension.
• Addressed changing technologies in business that include zoom presentations, and
exposed students to best practices in creating impressive multimedia slideshows.
• Added attractive visuals to make the chapter content more memorable to student readers,
and reduced long passages of text.
• Emphasized the importance of knowing the audience and the purpose to help students
target their oral messages and keep their audience engaged.
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 2
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. Preparing Effective Oral Presentations (p. 389)
A. Speaking Skills and Your Career
• Good presentation skills are needed by business communicators at all levels
within an organization.
B. Understanding Presentation Types
• Briefing
Figure 12.1 Types of Business Presentations
C. Knowing Your Purpose
• What do you want your audience to believe, remember, or do?
• Aim all parts of your presentation toward your purpose.
D. Knowing Your Audience
• Friendly, neutral, uninterested, hostile?
• How to gain credibility?
Figure 12.2 Succeeding With Four Audience Types
II. Organizing Content for Impact and Audience Rapport (p. 392)
Step 1: Tell them what you are going to tell them.
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 3
A. Capturing Attention in the Introduction
• Capture listeners’ attention and get them involved by using one of these
techniques:
1. A promise
2. Drama
3. Eye contact
• Identify yourself and establish your credibility.
• Preview your main points.
Figure 12.3 Gaining and Keeping Audience Attention
Figure 12.4 Outlining an Oral Presentation
B. Organizing the Body of the Presentation
• Develop two to four main points.
• Streamline your topic and summarize its main parts.
• Arrange the parts logically by a specific pattern:
1. Chronology
2. Geography/space
3. Topic/function/conventional grouping
C. Summarizing in the Conclusion
• Summarize the main themes of the presentation.
D. Establishing Audience Rapport
• Establish a bond with the audience.
• Entertain as well as inform.
• Use verbal and nonverbal techniques to connect with their audiences.
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 4
E. Effective Imagery
• Analogy: a comparison of something familiar with something unfamiliar
• Metaphor: an implied nonliteral comparison
• Simile: a comparison that includes the words like or as
Figure 12.5 Engaging the Audience With Effective Imagery
F. Verbal Signposts
• Previewing
In this segment of my presentation, I will present last year’s sales figures.
• Summarizing
G. Nonverbal Messages
• Look terrific.
• Animate your body.
• Punctuate your words.
III. Understanding Contemporary Visual Aids (p. 398)
Visual aids can add interest to a presentation and can enhance audience understanding
and retention. Business communicators have many types of visual aids from which to
choose, each with its pros and cons.
A. Multimedia Slides
• Pros: professional effect, graphic options, easy to make and update
• Cons: requires costly equipment and practice to use, equipment may fail
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 5
• Pros: gives an accurate representation of the content; strong indication of
forethought and preparation
• Cons: expensive; compatibility issues
F. Props
• Pros: increase audience participation with close observation
• Cons: expense to transport; limited use with larger audiences
Figure 12.6 Pros and Cons of Visual Aid Options
Figure 12.7 Prezi Zoom Presentation
IV. Preparing Engaging Multimedia Presentations (p. 400)
Multimedia slides have become a normal and expected part of professional business
presentations. Business communicators must learn to prepare effective and
professional slides that add value to a presentation.
A. Adjusting Slide Design to Your Audience
• Blue connotes credibility and is the background color of choice for many
business presentations and social media sites.
• Organize your presentation by translating major headings in your outline into
titles for slides.
• Create a slide only if the slide accomplishes one of the following purposes:
1. Generates interest in what you are saying and helps the audience follow
your ideas
2. Highlights points you want your audience to remember
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 6
3. Introduces or reviews your key points
4. Provides a transition from one major point to the next
5. Illustrates and simplifies complex ideas
• Use caution in using standard templates that are overused.
• Proofread your slides carefully, and make revisions that improve clarity and
conciseness.
Figure 12.8 SlideRocket Presentation
V. Polishing Your Delivery and Following Up (p. 406)
Once you’ve organized your presentation and prepared visual aids, it’s time to start
practicing it. Careful practice can help overcome the common symptoms of stage
fright.
A. Choosing a Delivery Method
• Avoid memorizing your presentation. Memorize only significant parts – the
introduction, the conclusion, and perhaps a meaningful quotation.
B. Before Your Presentation
• Prepare thoroughly.
• Rehearse repeatedly.
• Time yourself.
Figure 12.13 Conquering Stage Fright
C. During Your Presentation
• Begin with a pause.
• Present your first sentence from memory.
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 7
D. After Your Presentation
• Distribute handouts.
• Encourage questions.
Critical Thinking Discussion Guide
11. Most people never address large audiences and live in fear of public speaking. Why
then should you hone your presentation skills? (Obj. 1)
At some point all businesspeople have to inform others or sell an idea. Such informative
12. Communication expert Dianna Booher claims that enthusiasm is infectious and
“boredom is contagious.” What does this mean for you as a presenter? How can you
avoid being a boring speaker? (Objs. 2, 4, and 5)
If you wish to stay in control during the talk, build credibility, and engage the audience,
you must try to move naturally, use visual aids effectively, and radiate enthusiasm. Dianna
13. Why do many communication consultants encourage businesspeople to move beyond
bullet points? What do they recommend instead and why? (Obj. 3)
PowerPoint is omnipresent in business. Millions of poorly designed and poorly delivered
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 8
14. How can you prevent multimedia presentation software from stealing your thunder?
(Obj. 4)
You can avoid being upstaged by not relying totally on your slides or canvas. Help the
15. U.S. senator from New Jersey, Cory A. Booker, himself a popular and gifted orator,
related his father’s philosophy on public speaking as follows: “My dad worked for
IBM. He said, ‘Look, I can’t sell products I don’t believe in. People will see right
through me. But if I’m passionate and have a deep conviction about what I’m doing,
I’m the greatest salesman there is.’” What qualities is Senator Booker describing,
and why are they important in business? (Objs. 2, 5)
Former Newark mayor, Cory A. Booker, is illustrating the need for enthusiasm and
authenticity if a speaker wishes to be taken seriously. Enthusiasm and authenticity are
Communication Workshop Discussion Guide (p. 422)
Effective and Professional Team Presentations
Techniques for Taking Part in Effective and Professional Team Presentations
1. Prepare to work together: Compare schedules to set meeting times, and discuss
how you will deal with team members who are not contributing.
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 9
2. Plan the presentation. Agree on the specific purpose of the presentation, who
3. Make assignments. Give each team member a written assignment that details his
4. Collect information. To gather or generate information, teams can brainstorm
5. Organize and develop the presentation. Decide on the organization of the
6. Edit, rehearse, and evaluate. Rehearse several times as a team. Make sure that
7. Deliver the presentation. On the day of the presentation, show up on time and in
Career Application Students are asked to discuss the following questions:
1. How can one contribute positively to a team?
3. How should teams deal with members who aren’t contributing or who have negative
attitudes?
In school situations, team members who are not contributing should be “fired” from the
4. What should team members do to ensure that the final presentation is professional,
well-coordinated, and effective?
Teams giving presentations should schedule several rehearsals. They should consider
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 10
Workplace in Focus
Page 407
The cure for stage fright involves recasting anxiety as excitement – and embracing it. This
chapter includes several recommendations for overcoming stage fright. This tips includes the
following:
1. Breathe deeply.
Chapter 12 Lecture Notes ● 11
Supplementary Lecture
Eight Serious Speech Blunders
1. Being dull. Speakers who rely on only one or two illustrations to make their points risk
2. Not repeating your main point enough. Repetition is crucial to retention. Half an hour
3. Not answering the audience’s most significant question, “What’s in it for me?” You
4. Burying your point. You can lose your audience, even if you have something that they
5. Neglecting to practice (and time) your speech out loud. This little item can cause major
embarrassment on stage. A short spoken rehearsal will eliminate tongue twisters, make
6. Forgetting to check visual aids for readability. You have only yourself to blame if you
7. Answering hypothetical questions after the speech. You can get into real hot water on
8. Getting distracted before you speak. Very few speakers can answer a phone call or deal
with some minor emergency before they speak and NOT have it distract from their