Professional Communication
(Course Code: MBB 3443)
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
Professor Dr. Ahmad Bin Othman
School of Business and Management
University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS)
96000 Sibu, Sarawak
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Today’s Agenda
(Week #7)
Preparing and delivering presentations
 Decide on the general purpose
 Select a topic
 Develop the specific purpose statement
 Develop the main idea statement
 Gather supporting material
 Research the topic
 Apply the information learned from the audience analysis
 Structure the main ideas in the body of the speech
 Outline the speech
 Develop the introduction and conclusion
 Rehearsal and delivery considerations
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Decide on the general purpose
There are two general purposes to speaking in business:
 To inform – teach, demonstrate, or instruct and audience on some
topic or process. Eg. Corporate training seminars, technical
presentation.
 To persuade – induce an audience to accept a belief or action. Eg.
Sales presentations, proposal presentations, crisis briefings.
Select a topic
 When selecting a topic for presentation, consider personal experience
and interest.
 Also, the speaker should consider the audience’s expectation about the
occasion.
 If the presentation is part of serious discussion, a lighthearted, informative
presentation is inappropriate.
 If audience expects a brief review, an extensive persuasive appeal is also
wrong.
Develop the specific purpose statement
 Once the speaker has a topic, the real work of creating the presentation begins.
 The next step in the process is the specific purpose statement which focuses the speech
on one aspect of a larger topic.
 The specific purpose statement does not specify what the speaker intends to say, instead,
it states the audience outcome that the speaker desires.
 The outcome is related to the general purpose of the speech – may include
understanding (if the purpose is to inform) or belief (if the purpose is to persuade).
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Develop the specific purpose statement
Example: .. I want my audience to understand pollution… (the important term is pollution, is vague.
What kind of pollution will the speech cover – surface, water, groundwater, soil or air
pollution?
 A better speech…. I want my audience to understand the sources of groundwater
pollution in our town. (this purpose is precise ecause it narrows the subject)
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Develop the main idea statement
 After the specific purpose has been clarified, it is time to consider the main ideas.
 The main idea statement is a precise statement. Eg.
Main idea: in this speech, I will cover the five categories of nuclear waste: high-level, low-level,
transuranic, mill tailings and mixed waste.
 The main idea statement serves as a guide for outlining the body of the speech.
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Gather supporting material
 As you develop and refine the main idea statement, it is appropriate to collect
supporting material. Main ideas need example, statistical support and quotation from
experts for clarity and proof.
 EXAMPLES. – Examples are specific instances that illustrate a larger point. An example
can be factual (the instance really happened), or hypothetical (the instance is a composite
of real incidents or speaker’s guess about a future event).
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Gather supporting material
Factual example:“the major risk in area 5 involves the large compressors. As many of you recall, 5 years
ago a malfunction in one of the large compressors caused it to begin belching smoke.
When an employee entered the building to investigate, the compressor exploded,
causing second-degree burns to 20% of employee’s body and a fire in the building that
shut down the plant for 2 days”
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Gather supporting material
Hypothetical example:“what would have happened if you had invested $5000 in a mutual fund last
year, and over that year the fund had risen from a value of $21 a share to a
value of $32? That equals more than a 52% increase in the value of your stock.
A 52% increase on $5000 equals $2600.”
Hypothetical examples are more useful for illustration than persuasion because
they do not prove anything. So, if you have choice, use factual rather than
hypothetical examples
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Gather supporting material
 STATISTICS – statistics are a collection of individual examples delivered as raw
number or averages
 Example – raw figure
“employers cut a more-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September as major
industries such as manufacturing and construction continued to shed tens of
thousands of workers”
 Example – raw numbers are averaged
“despite the latest drop, job losses continue to moderate from earlier this year. An average of
307,000 jobs were lost monthly May through September, verses 645,000 from Novemver to
April”
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Gather supporting material
 TESTIMONY – testimony is a direct quotation or paraphrases of witnesses,
experts, or other informed people. Quotation can make ideas memorable or
add credibility to your persuasive appeal.
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Research the topic
 Research involves collecting supporting material for the specific purpose and
main idea statements.
 Typical research tools for professional presentations are the library, the internet,
and the interview.
 USING THE LIBRARY – computerized catalog can run book searches by title,
author or subject.
 USING THE INTERNET –
 CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS – Interviews can be face-to-face, telephone, or
internet conversations with experts.
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Apply the information learned from the audience analysis
 After the initial research, it is time to consider audience feedback.
 Questions on the audience analysis checklist features relevant to professional
presentations
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Audience analysis checklist
Situation Analysis
• Occasion
• Why has the audience gathered to hear this speech? What expectation?
• What level of formality is expected?
• Are other speakers making presentations?
• Organizational culture
• Are there any informal conventions or norms for speakers?
• How will questions be handled?
• Who makes decisions? Will decision makers be present?
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Audience analysis checklist
Situation Analysis
• Environment
• How large is the room?
• What is the layout?
• What visual aids can be used?
• Time
• How long should the speech last?
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Audience analysis checklist
Listener Analysis
• Demographics
• Are there any relevant demographic features you need to adapt to?
• Captivity
• Is the audience voluntary or captive?
• Predisposition toward the speaker
• Is your credibility high, low or neutral?
• Does the audience believe the speaker is trustworthy?
• Does the audience believe the speaker displays goodwill?
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Audience analysis checklist
Listener Analysis
• Predisposition toward the topic
• You can have a quick survey by distributing survey questions to audience
• Knowledge
• Have you heard about this topic before?
• Briefly discuss what you know about this topic
• Describe any previous experience about this topic
• Meaning
• Describe your basic attitude toward this topic
• What is you opinion of this topic?
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Structure the main ideas in the body of the speech
 Speeches are divided into three major parts:-
 The introduction
 The body
 The conclusion
 The introduction – should gain attention, justify the topic, clarify the speaker’s
credibility and preview the main points in the body of the speech.
 The body – contains the main ideas
 The conclusion – review main ideas and emphasizes the specific purpose statement.
 The most common mistake made in developing presentations is information
overload.
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Structure the main ideas in the body of the speech
 There are five patterns for structuring speech content.
 CHRONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE – the chronological structure follows a time pattern
that moves from earliest to latest or from first to last.
 SPATIAL STRUCTURE – the spatial structure follows a geographic or directional
pattern when someone covers something from top to bottom or right to left.
 CAUSE-EFFECT AND EFFECT-CAUSE STRUCTURE – the cause-effect structure
describes how one events leads to another. This structure is especially useful in
technical presentations.
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Structure the main ideas in the body of the speech
 PROBLEM-SOLUTION STRUCTURE – the problem-solution structure defines a
difficulty and suggests a remedy. Extremely popular in proposal and sales
presentations, the problem-solution structure can also be used in technical and risk
communication.
 TOPICAL STRUCTURE – the topical structure is used when the speaker divides a
topic into logical categories.
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Outline the speech
 Two outlines – one for preparing the speech, and the other one for delivering
the speech.
 THE PREPARATION OUTLINE – the preparation outline is a full-sentence outline of
virtually everything the speaker intends to say.
 THE DELIVERY OUTLINE – the delivery outline is an abbreviated version of the
preparation outline.
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Develop the introduction and conclusion
 The Introduction – the basic introduction should accomplish four purposes: Gain the audience’s attention
 Justify the importance of the topic to the particular audience
 Build the speaker’s credibility or authority on the subject
 Preview the main points in the body of the speech.
 The Conclusion – the conclusion puts the speech back together by tying the end
back to the beginning.
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Rehearsal and delivery considerations
 The verbal portion of the message accounts for as little as 10% of the
total meaning of that message, non-verbal cues account for the rest
(90%).
 Therefore, attending to a few vocal and physical cues will ensure strong
delivery.
 Observe appropriate volume and rate. – need to be louder and slower
than normal conversation.
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Thank you
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