Developing Oral and Online Presentations

Test Your Knowledge 1-5 pg 330

1. Oral presentations give you the opportunity to practice research, planning, writing, visual design, and interpersonal and nonverbal communications. Oral presentations give you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to think on your feet, grasp complex business issues, and handle challenging situations.

2. During the introduction you must make sure you arouse the audiences interest, build your credibility, and preview your message.

3. The six techniques you can use to grab your audience's attention during the introduction are to:
- unite the audience around a common goal
- tell a story
- pass around a sample
- ask a question
- state a startling statistic
- use humor

4. In the close of your presentation you must restate your main points, describe the next steps, and end on a strong note.

5. Here are several steps to ensure the success with an online presentation:
- consider sending preview study materials ahead of time
- keep your presentation as simple as possible
- ask for feedback frequently
- consider the viewing experience from the audience members' point of view
- make sure your audience can receive the sort of content you intend to use
- allow plenty of time for everyone to get connected and familiar with the screen they're viewing

Understandng and Planning Reports and Proposals

Test your knowledge 1-5
1. How are reports for monitoring and controlling operations used?
They are used by managers to see how well their companies are functioning.

2. How does primary research differ from secondary research?
Primary research contains information that you gather specifically for a new research project and secondary research contains information that other have gathered.

3. What makes a survey reliable and valid?
A survey is reliable if it would produce identical results if repeated and it is valid if it measures what it is supposed to measure.

4. How does a conclusion differ from a recommendation?
A conclusion is a logical interpretation of facts and other information. A recommendation suggests what to do about the information.

5. How do proposal writers use a RFP?
A RFP includes guidelines for a proposal writer. The request includes instructions that specify exactly the type of work to be performed or products to be delivered, along with budgets, deadlines, and other requirements that help the writer create the proposal.

Writing Persuasive Messages

Test your knowledge 1-5
1. What are some questions to ask when gauging the audiences' needs during the planning of a persuasive message?
- Who is my audience?
- What are my audience members' needs?
- What do I want them to do?
- How might they resist?
- Are there alternative positions I need to examine?
- What does the decision maker consider to be the most important issue?
- How might the organization's culture influence my strategy?

2. What role do demographics and psycho-graphics play in audience analysis during the planning of a persuasive message?
You must take into account the audiences' demographics (gender, age, occupation, income, and education) and psycho-graphics (personality, attitudes, lifestyle, and other psychological characteristics) so that you don't undermine your persuasive message by using inappropriate appeal or by organizing your message in a way that seems unfamiliar or uncomfortable to your readers.

3. How do emotional appeals differ from logical appeals?
An emotional appeal calls on feelings or audience sympathies. A logical appeal are based on the reader's notions of reason.

4. What three types of reasoning can you use in logical appeals?
You can use analogy, induction, or deduction in logical appeals.

5. What is the AIDA model, and what are its limitations?
The AIDA model is a useful approach for many persuasive messages which organizes your presentation into four phases: attention, interest, desire, and action. There are 2 limitation to the AIDA approach:
- it essentially talks at the audiences, not with them
- it focuses on one-time events not long-term relationships

Writing Negative Messages

Test your Knowledge 1-5
1. The five main goals in delivering negative messages are to give bad news, ensure its acceptance, maintain a reader's goodwill, maintain the organization's good image, and reduce future correspondence on the matter.

2. There are several questions you should ask yourself when deciding whether to use the direct of indirect approach. They include:
- Will the bad news come as a shock?
- Does the reader prefer short messages that get right to the point?
- How important is this news to the reader?
- Do you need to maintain a close working relationship with the reader?
- Do you need to get the reader's attention?
- What is your organization's preferred style?

3. The first step in using the indirect approach to convey a negative message is to write a buffer. Then provide reasons and additional information that will convey your bad news. Continue from there with a clear statement of the bad news and close with a positive note.

4. A buffer is a neutral, noncontroversial statement that is closely related to the point of the message and which establishes common ground with your reader. Some critics believe buffers are unethical because they can be written as insincere and deceptive.

5. By presenting your reasons before explaining the decision itself, you help maintain focus on the issues at hand and defuse the emotions that always accompany significantly bad news.

Routine and Positive Messages

1. Choose 1-4 pg 160-161
2. 9 pg 163-164

1. 2.Analyze this Message
Dear Customer Service Representative,

I recently purchased your "Negotiator Pro" for my computer at a local business-supply store. Unfortunately, when I inserted the CD into my computer it did not work.

Since the business supply company does not offer exchanges or refunds on products that have already been opened, they suggested I contact you to resolve my issue.

I request a copy of the disk that is compatible with my operating system, if not I please refund my $79.95.

Thank you for your help,
Disappointed Customer

9.
5493 Beechwood Drive
Tenton, NJ 08608
April 12, 2009

Florida Resort Bureau
1555 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard
West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Dear Sir,

I recently saw your advertisement about Florida resorts in the April 2009 issue of Smithsonian magazine. I am writing to get your opinion on which resorts would suit a vacation for myself, my wife, and my two teenage children.

We are looking for a resort that is
- located close to the beach, golf courses, large cities, and other entertainment for the entire family
- reached by public transportation
- near attractions for teenagers

I am also wondering if the off-season rates include all the amenities? Additionally, what is the weather like in Florida during September? I would appreciate it if you could get me the information within the next two weeks so I can schedule my time off from work in the fall.

Thank you,
Frank C. Atlas

E-mail Assignment

Routine Business Communication

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Analyze This Message (Jan 26, 28)

1. The message has several poorly constructed sentences and a few cliches and buzzwords.
2. Best Baby Gear, our e-tailing Company, specializes in only the very best products for parents of newborns, infants, and toddlers. We carefully search for products that relate to the caliber of the products on our award-winning website, www.bestbabygear.com. In addition, we expect high quality products that our company will be successful in selling large amounts of each year. After careful consideration, our Baby Best Gear has selected Inglesina because we believe your lines meet the expectations of our company and the needs of our customers.

Personal Powerpoint

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Audience Profile (Jan 19, 21)

Today in class we were taught about document design. We learned about several techniques to apply to your documents and learned what not to do. This presentation will help me a lot with creating my next assignment (the personal powerpoint slide). I'm happy we got more clarifications on the format of our interview assignment. There were a lot of things that I was unsure of and I can fix the things I did wrong.

8. A promotional message on your company's e-retailing website, announcing a temporary price reduction on high-definition television sets.
The audience is the customer's who frequent my company's website and consumer's seeking high definition televisions. The audience is excited that they save money on a new high-definition television set. The audience needs to know if there is a limit on the number of TVs they may purchase, exactly how much the reduction is, and what the return policy is if they are not satisfied.

11. A cover letter sent along with your resume to a potential employer.
The audience is the potential employer and anyone else responsible for reviewing applicants. The audience is neutral, they must treat your cover letter and resume the same way they treat the other applicants. The audience needs to know my name, birth date, educational background, and past employers and job descriptions.

Dropping and Chapter 1 (Jan 12, 14)

This past week we were taught how to embed a word document into our bogs. The process seemed very simple. However, the drop did not work on my blog. I spent a good amount of the class period and some time at home trying to make the drop work. I was very unsuccessful. It could be an issue with my browser or my computer system. This week we also talked a lot about chapter one. It was a very good introduction and background on the basics of business communication. I'm very happy to say I did very well on the pre-test and post-test.

Analyze This Message

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Class Expectations

This semester in Business Writing 304 I expect to learn a number of valuable things. I've never really known how to correctly format a resume to apply for jobs. I did create one resume in high school to apply for college. However, I think the resume format to apply for jobs is significantly different than the one I created in high school. I also look forward to learning how to format other essential business documents.