You have been asked by your supervisor to deliver an oral presentation about a business communications topic to a group of business managers who work for both small and large and public and private organizations.
Use the following steps to plan your presentation. These steps are designed to help you analyze the audience, content, and context of your presentation. Draft an outline that includes the following:
1. Organize the presentation:
Ø Include 3-5 Main Points in the body
2. Know the audience: Summarize three characteristics of your audience. Do this by addressing the following:
- Research information about the responsibilities of a business manager
- What is the education requirement for a business manager?
- Why would the business manager care about communications?
Ø Compile any other information to help show the relevance and connection of your topic with the audience.
3. Know the intent of the presentation.
- What is the purpose of the presentation? Summarize the intent of the presentation. Write one sentence that states the purpose of your presentation. An example could be as follows: The intent of this presentation is to help business managers understand how to use communication tools to more effectively communicate with employees.
4. Prepare the introduction: Write the introduction of the presentation to help create the foundation of the rest of the content of the presentation. Develop the introduction and include the following:
Ø Use an opening line that hooks your audience and draws them into the presentation. This can be a startling statistic, an excerpt from a book or song, or any other opening that helps your audience understand the context of your presentation.
- Thesis statement or main idea of your presentation
Ø Write a clear thesis statement. The thesis is the main idea that prepares your audience for the rest of the presentation. All reasons in the body of the presentation support the thesis.