APPLICATION$$You Be the Speaker

Objective

This exercise will give you practice in preparing and presenting an oral presentation.

Directions

Prepare a six$$minute presentation by doing the following:

Select a topic of your choice. It may involve a problem or project at work, but it may also be taken from another class or your personal experience.

Based on the purpose of your presentation, create an outline for the talk. Make sure that it includes the appropriate characteristics based on the competing values framework for managerial communication. Apply the SSSAP principles.

Write out or design your presentation using the SSSAP principles. Focus on creating a coherent message with a crisp beginning, middle, and end. Use a presentation technology such as PowerPoint, Keynote, or Prezi to prepare visuals for the presentation. Work less on visual polish and more on the $$support$$ and $$sequence$$ elements of your presentation. If desired, you may use $$primitive$$ visuals such as the chalkboard$/$whiteboard or overhead projector. Each slide should contain a significant point. Don$$t spend a lot of time designing visuals. Primitive visuals can also be very accessible despite their lack of polish.

Below are some suggested topics to trigger your thinking.

Talk about the organization you would most like to work for. What makes this organization a good employer?

Present a $$briefing$$ on a significant issue or trend in an industry or sector you are interested in$.$ You can take examples from health care, high technology, retail, manufacturing, tourism, telecommunications, education, government, transportation, e$$commerce$,$ construction$$any area in which you have a personal interest. Envision your audience as a group of people who are currently working in that industry and have an urgent need to understand the issue or trend.

Offer a consultant$$s proposal to one of your instructors on how a class you are taking $($or have recently taken$)$ could be improved. Be specific in your recommendations. Describe the benefits of implementing your ideas, and the costs of failing to make improvements. Assume that a group of faculty who teach sections of the course are your core audience.

Design a brief training module on one of the competencies discussed in this textbook. Teach your classmates a specific skill that will help them be more competent managers.