This activity will enable you to practice making good decisions when planning a business presentation. You will need to apply what the chapter says about -Planning an oral report, including determining your purpose, choosing a structure, and planning the interaction with the audience -Choosing the delivery method -Projecting appealing personal traits -Designing appropriate, readable visuals and integrating them into your talk Read the case and answer the questions that follow. For the past six months, you've been training as a communications consultant for Renner Communications, a firm that advises companies on how to improve their communication practices. As part of your training, you've been helping your boss, Jack Thomas, conduct a study of internal communication at FireUp, Inc., a company that manufactures and sells its own line of stoves, fireplaces, and accessories. The study consisted of surveying Fire Up's 100 U.S. employees, who work in all areas of the company (e.g., design, production, sales, customer service), as well as its 25 offshore employees, who manufacture most of FireUp's lightweight products. You asked both groups how well informed they felt they were on a variety of work-related topics, and you also asked how satisfied they were with the information they were contributing. Today you and Jack analyzed the results of the survey and developed appropriate recommendations for improving FireUp's internal communication. Jack then informed you that you'll be preparing not only a written report but also an oral presentation to deliver to the top FireUp executives. You're excited about the presentation, but a bit scared. This is your first major assignment as a Renner employee, so the professional stakes are high. But an additional challenge is that you have to convey some negative news in a tactful way. The U.S. employees felt fairly well informed on most topics, but the offshore employees felt that they were really out of the loop. They indicated that they felt poorly informed about company operations, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement-in fact, almost every work-related topic. They also felt that they had little opportunity to share their ideas or voice their concerns. You'll need to use good judgment when designing your presentation slides and planning your talk. Of the following, the best option for opening your talk would be to Multiple Choice ask the audience a question to get their attention. introduce yourself and describe the purpose of your talk. tell a quick joke to break the ice. comment on how much you enjoyed learning about their company. describe your company's expertise in the area of employee communications. When planning the body of the report, you consider describing the research method for the study before presenting the findings. Of the following, the best option for discussing how you conducted the survey would be to Multiple Choice skip this part because the audience is interested only in what you found out, not in how you found it out. briefly describe how and when you distributed it, the topics it covered, and the response rate. a discuss the rationale behind each question on the survey to defend your survey design. explain why you asked certain questions and not other ones. O ask the audience to read the sample survey in the written report as you go over it. Of the following, the best way to end the presentation's introduction would be to Multiple Choice preview the topics you will cover in your report, the last of which will be your recommendations. state up front your company's recommendations for solving Fire Up's communication problems. emphasize the negative survey responses so the executives will be eager to hear your recommended solutions. increase your listeners' engagement by talking about the importance of effective employee communications. tell the audience that they don't need to pay close attention to your talk since they also have a full written report. a One question on your survey asked how employees felt about 12 different communication topics. When printed, the bar graph comparing the answers of the U.S. and offshore teams to this question takes up a full 8 1/2 by 11-inch page. To present this information during your talk, your best option would be to Multiple Choice hand out the graph at the appropriate time and ask the audience to note different parts of it as you talk. paste the graph into one slide so the audience can see all the responses at once. break up the graph into two or three smaller graphs to put on your slides and refer to the comprehensive graph in the written report. O show no graphs and just refer to the graph in the written report. O provide the main findings in table format on one of your slides. Of the following choices, the best plan for delivering your talk would be to Multiple Choice put your whole talk on your slides to be sure it is complete and then read the slides to your audience. avoid smiling and memorize your talk so that it will be serious, professional, and polished. have your comments well prepared but be ready to alter your delivery based on audience feedback. tell anyone who asks a question during your presentation to hold off until the Q & A session at the end. conclude the presentation with an offer to do another study for FireUp