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GROUP PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENT

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Assignment Instructions:
in groups of 2-4 people, students are to:
deliver a 15 minute in-class presentation on a topic of their choice that is related to
their career development
create a 1-2 page handout that summarizes their presentation
Group - Teacher conference: Week 8, March 6
groups will meet with the teacher to discuss progress to date and their plan for moving
forward
students will submit a copy of their Presentation Planning Sheet to the teacher
prior to this date the teacher will be available by email and during or after classes to
discuss the assignment
Due Dates:
1) Presentation Planning Sheet - Week 8, March 6, in class during group-teacher
conference
2) Oral Presentation and Handout - Week 11, March 27, in class, presentation schedule
TBD
Assignment Resources:
please refer to the attached grading rubrics, Presentation Planning Sheet and other
material from Week 4
students will have access to the Groups discussion board in DC Connect to
communicate with their group members
Grading:
group members will be assigned a group grade
in circumstances where a group member contributes nothing to their group, their
grade will be reconsidered
Presentation Planning Sheet

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Oral Presentation

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Handout

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PRESENTATION PLANNING SHEET


PREPARATION
What is your PURPOSE?

At the end of your presentation, what do you want your listeners to remember or do?

Who is your AUDIENCE?

Examine the Audience Type handout. What type of audience do you expect to
encounter during your presentation? How will this affect your Organizational Pattern,
Delivery Style and Supporting Material?

ORGANIZATION
INTRODUCTION

How will you capture listeners attention and get them involved? Examine the
Techniques for Gaining and Keeping Audience Attention handout and list the
techniques you plan on using with a brief description of how you will use them

BODY

How will you introduce yourself and establish your credibility?

PRESENTATION PLANNING SHEET

What key ideas will your presentation focus on?

Look at the Organizational Pattern handout. Will your presentation follow one of
these patterns or will you present your ideas in a different format?

CONCLUSION

How will you summarize your main points?

How will you signal you are finishing?

AUDIENCE RAPPORT & VISUAL AIDS

Will you use visuals? If so, briefly describe what you think you will use.

Look at the Effective Imagery handout. Will you use mental imagery: Stories,
metaphors, personalized statistics, etc? If so, briefly describe how you will use them.

DELIVERY

How will you deliver your presentation? Who will do what?

PRESENTATION PLANNING SHEET


Audience
Members

Organizational
Pattern

Delivery
Style

Supporting
Material

Friendly
Use any pattern;
They like you and try something
your topic
new; involve the
audience

Be warm,
pleasant, open;
use lots of eye
contact, smiles

Include humour,
personal examples,
and experience

Neutral
They are calm,
rational; their
minds are made
up but they think
they are objective

Present both sides


of issue; use pro/
con or problemsolution patterns;
save time for
audience questions

Be controlled; do
nothing showy;
use confident
small gestures

Use facts, statistics,


expert opinion,
comparison and
contrast; avoid
humour, personal
stories, and flashy
visuals

Uninterested
They have short
attention spans;
they may be there
against their will

Be brief, no more
than three points;
avoid topical and
pro-con patterns
that seem lengthy
to the audience

Be dynamic and
entertaining;
move around,
use large
gestures

Use humour,
cartoons, colourful
visuals, powerful
quotations, startling
statistics

Hostile
They want to take
charge or to
ridicule speaker;
defensive,
emotional

Use
noncontroversial
pattern such as
topical,
chronological, or
geographical

Be calm,
controlled; speak
evenly and
slowly

Include objective
data and expert
opinion; avoid
anecdotes and
humour

PRESENTATION PLANNING SHEET

Techniques for Gaining and Keeping Audience Attention

A promise. Begin with a promise. For example, By the end of this presentation I will have
shown you how you can increase your sales by 50 percent!

Drama. Open by telling an emotionally moving story or by describing a serious problem


that involves the audience. Throughout your talk include other dramatic elements, such as a
long pause after a key statement. Change your vocal tone or pitch. Professionals use highintensity emotions such as anger, joy, sadness and excitement.

Eye contact. As you begin, command attention by surveying the entire audience to take in
all listeners. Take two to five seconds to make eye contact with as many people as possible.

Movement. Leave the lectern area whenever possible. Walk around the conference table or
between the aisles of your audience. Try to move toward your audience, especially at the
beginning and end of your talk.

Questions. Keep listeners active and involved with rhetorical questions. Ask for a show of
hands to get each listener thinking. The response will also give you a quick gauge of
audience attention.

Demonstrations. Include a member of the audience in a demonstration. For example, Im


going to show you exactly how to implement our four-step customer courtesy process, but I
need a volunteer from the audience to help me.

Samples/gimmicks. If youre promoting a product, consider using items to toss out to the
audience or to award as prizes to volunteer participants. You can also pass around product
samples or promotional literature. Be careful, though, to maintain control.

Visuals. Give your audience something to look at besides yourself. Use a variety of visual
aids. Also consider writing the concerns expressed by your audience on a flipchart or on the
board as you go along.

Self-interest. Review your entire presentation to ensure that it meets the critical Whats-init-for-me audience test. Remember that people are most interested in things that benefit
them.

PRESENTATION PLANNING SHEET

Organizational Patterns for Oral Presentations or Written Reports

Chronology. Example: A presentation describing the history of a problem, organized from


the first sign of trouble to the present.

Geography/space. Example: A presentation about the changing diversity of the workforce,


organized by regions in the country (East Coast, West Coast, and so forth)

Topic/function/conventional grouping. Example: A report discussing mishandled airline


baggage, organized by names of airlines.

Comparison/contrast (pro/con). Example: A report comparing organic farming methods


with those of modern industrial farming.

Journalism pattern. Example: A report describing how identity thieves can ruin your good
name. Organized by who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Value/size. Example: A report describing fluctuations in housing costs, organized by prices


of homes.

Importance. Example: A report describing five reasons that a company should move its
headquarters to a specific city, organized from the most important reason to the least
important.

Problem/solution. Example: A company faces a problem such as declining sales. A solution


such as reducing the staff is offered.

Simple/complex. Example: A report explaining genetic modification of plants, organized


from simple seed production to complex gene introduction.

Best case/worst case. Example: A report analyzing whether two companies should merge,
organized by the best-case result (improved market share, profitability, good employee
morale) opposed to the worst-case result (devalued stock, lost market share, poor employee
morale).

PRESENTATION PLANNING SHEET

Effective Imagery
Youll lose your audience quickly if your talk is filled with abstractions, generalities, and dry
facts. To enliven your presentation and enhance comprehension, try using some of these
techniques:

Analogies. A comparison of similar traits between dissimilar things can be effective in


explaining and drawing connections. For example, Product development is similar to the
process of conceiving, carrying, and delivering a baby.

Metaphors. A comparison between otherwise dissimilar things without using the words like
or as results in a metaphor. For example, Our competitors CEO is a snake when it comes to
negotiating.

Similes. A comparison that includes the words like or as is a simile. For example, A
business team is like a sports team. Or, Shes as happy as someone who just won the lottery.

Personal anecdotes. Nothing connects you faster or better with your audience than a good
personal story. In a talk about email techniques, you could reveal your own blunders that
became painful learning experiences. In a talk to potential investors, the founder of a new
ethnic magazine might tell a story about growing up without enough positive ethnic role
models.

Personalized statistics. Although often misused, statistics stay with people, particularly
when they relate directly to the audience. A speaker discussing job searching might say,
Look around the room. Only three out of five graduates will find a job immediately after
graduation. If possible, simplify and personalize facts. For example, The sales of Creemore
Springs Brewery totalled 5 million cases last year. That means a full case of Creemore was
consumed by every man, woman, and child in the Greater Toronto area.

Worst- and best-case scenarios. Hearing the worst that could happen can be effective in
driving home a point. For example, If we do nothing about our computer backup system
now, its just a matter of time before the entire system crashes and we lose all of our customer
contact information. Can you imagine starting from scratch in building all of your customer
files again? However, if we fix the system now, we can expand our customer files and
actually increase sales at the same time.

Examples. If all else fails, remember that an audience likes to hear specifics. If youre
giving a presentation on office etiquette, for example, instead of just saying, Rudeness in the
workplace is a growing problem - say - weve heard from some of our clients that our
customer service could improve their tone of voice.

PRESENTATION PLANNING SHEET (5%)


Group Members: __________________________________________________________

PURPOSE

/1
Purpose of presentation is described
in 1-2 sentences

AUDIENCE

/1
Implications of audience type on
presentation is discussed

INTRODUCTION

BODY

CONCLUSION

/2
Techniques for gaining audiences
attention are listed and elaborated on

/1
How presenters will introduce
themselves and their credibility is
outlined

/1
2-4 key ideas presentation will focus
on are listed

/1
Thought is given to possible
organizational patterns to structure
presentation

/1
Thoughts on how you will end your
presentation are discussed

RAPPORT

/1
Ideas on visuals and/or mental
imagery are described

DELIVERY

/1
A description of individual roles in
presentation is given

Total: __ / 10

ORAL PRESENTATION (5%)

Group Members: _______________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION

BODY

CONCLUSION

/3
Presenters capture
audience attention

/2
Presenters
introduce
themselves and
what qualifies them
to speak

/1
Presentation
contains 2-4 main
points

/3
Each point is
explained with
adequate detail

/2
Main points are
summarized

/1
Presentation
doesnt end with
were done

AUDIENCE
RAPPORT

/3
Visuals and/or
mental imagery are
used to build a
relationship with the
audience

DELIVERY

/3
Presenters appear
prepared and
organized

Total: __ / 20

/2
Main points of
presentation are
previewed

PRESENTATION HANDOUT (5%)

10

Group Members: _______________________________________________________

PURPOSE

/2
Purpose of the handout is clear to the reader

CONTENT

/3
Main points from presentation are described
in brief

READABILITY

/3
Appropriate use of headings; information is
clear and understandable; no spelling errors

REFERENCES

/2
Sources used in the presentation are listed
using APA format

Total: ___/ 10

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