Assignment:
Getting a business manager ready for a job interview
Tips for how to prepare for job interview are embedded.
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. You decide to start brainstorming the topic.
Use the following steps to plan your presentation. These steps are designed to help you analyze the audience, content, and context of your presentation:
• Organize the presentation: Prepare an outline of 3-5 key points about the topic that you want to convey to your audience in an upcoming presentation. Remember, your presentation needs to include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Use the outline to help prepare subtopics that help organize the presentation material.
• Know the audience: Summarize three characteristics of your audience. Do this by addressing the following:
o Research information about the responsibilities of a business manager.
o What is the education requirement for a business manager?
o Why would the business manager care about communications?
o Compile any other information to help show the relevance and connection of your topic with the audience.
• Know the intent of the presentation. The first thing a presenter needs to determine is 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.
• 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:
o The introduction: Use detail to introduce the topic in the introductory paragraph or opening of the presentation. The information in the introduction sets the foundation for the rest of the content in the presentation and prepares the audience.
o The opener: 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.
o The thesis statement or main idea of your presentation: 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.