ENGL510 – Foundations of Professional Communication
Oral Presentation Assignment—Persuasive Presentation
Note: To complete this assignment, you will need a microphone for your computer. If you don’t have
one, you may need to purchase one. You should be able to get a fairly inexpensive one at an
electronics store.
Background
Former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca said, "You can have exceptional ideas, but if you can't
communicate them, it's as if you have no ideas at all." So far we have been focusing on written
communication, but oral communication is just as important in many work situations.
Both informative and persuasive presentations are very important in the workplace, but the
presentation that you will do in this course is a persuasive presentation. That is, you will imagine a
particular audience and a particular workplace situation in which you would need to convince that
audience to take a particular action.
Assignment
You will imagine a particular audience and a particular workplace situation in which you would need
to convince that audience to take a particular action.
Choose one of the topics listed below, and then develop and deliver a persuasive presentation that is
about 8–10 minutes long using a PowerPoint presentation. Imagine a situation in which you would
need to persuade a particular workplace audience to take a particular position or action in relation to
this topic. For example, if you choose affirmative action, your presentation would not simply explain
what affirmative action is; that would be an informative presentation. Rather, your purpose might be to
try to persuade managers to adopt an affirmative action program or to alter an existing one in some
way.
Topics for Persuasive Presentation
Choose one of the topics from the following list. Imagine a workplace situation in which you would
need to persuade a particular audience to take a particular action in connection with this topic. Develop
a presentation in which you would persuade that audience to take that action.
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Customer Service Training
Diversity Training
Doing Business Overseas
Employee Wellness Programs
Family Friendly Policies
Going Green in the Workplace
Internet Use Monitoring
Productivity Incentives
Teams as an Organizational Strategy
Telecommuting
Tuition Reimbursement Policy
Workplace Safety
Week-by-Week Steps for Developing and Delivering the Oral Presentation Assignment
1. In Week 2, choose a topic from the list, and in the Discussion, share the topic you have chosen.
You will explain the hypothetical situation in which you will be making your presentation. Who
will be your audience? What specifically will you try to persuade this audience to do in connection
with your chosen topic? This will be the thesis or goal of your presentation.
Once you decide on your thesis, anticipate the questions or objections your audience might raise to
your argument. How might you effectively respond to these questions or objections? What other
kinds of strategies might work in trying to persuade this particular audience to take the particular
action you are recommending? While you are thinking through these questions for yourself, read
your classmates’ posts, ask questions, and make suggestions to help them develop the most
effective plan for their presentations.
2. In Week 3, create an outline of your presentation and post it in the Week 3 Discussion area in
order to get feedback from your professor and your classmates. The outline should follow the
template outline for a persuasive presentation in Doc Sharing.
3. In Week 4, create PowerPoint slides based on the outline you created in Week 3 using about 8–10
slides, roughly about one slide for every minute to minute and a half of speaking.
4. In Week 4, also read the instructions for recording the spoken part of the presentation posted in
Doc Sharing, and test your microphone to make sure that everything is working. You are not
required to do research for the presentation, but if you do, use APA style documents for citing
sources.
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Include all information and ideas taken from a specific source, whether taken word for
word from the source or put into your own words, on the slide that contains that
information or idea as a parenthetical reference to the source.
If you take material word for word from a source, enclose the material in quotations marks.
If you summarize or paraphrase, make sure the summary or paraphrase is accurate and
completely in your own words and sentences.
Include a References slide at the end listing your sources in alphabetical order and with
correct APA formatting (see http://www.apastyle.org/faqs.html#9).
5. In Week 5, write the “script” for the spoken part of the presentation. You may do this on note
cards, in a notebook, in a Word file, or in the Notes feature of PowerPoint, whichever works best
for you. Remember that PowerPoint slides serve only as “headlines” for the spoken part of the
presentation. The spoken part of the presentation should develop the points indicated in the
headlines on the slides. Once the script is written, begin practicing your delivery in coordination
with your slides. You do not have to submit the script.
6. In Week 6, record the spoken part of the presentation. Once you are satisfied with the
presentation, post it in your Week 6 Oral Presentation Dropbox.
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