Writing for the Workplace: Business Communication for Professionals

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about who will be hearing the presentation and answer these types of questions about your audience What is important to the audience What knowledge do they already have about the topic What will motivate them to act Who influences the audience What are the audience’s expectations of the presentation What does the audience want Why are they in attendance What questions will they have How do they feel about the presentation (i.e., are they interested, uninterested, or even hostile?)
Next, define your presentation’s purpose. Do you want employees to understand anew health plan Are you presenting to land a sale or to deliver a proposal to a potential client Are you speaking to inspire a group When creating presentations, you must know what you want to achieve as a result of the presentation and focus your content on that goal.
Finally, you will want to assess the presenting situation. Where will it take place Preparing a talk fora few people in a small conference room is quite different from speaking before an audience of 50 or more. Also consider the length of your presentation. How long will you be expected to speak Awareness of your time limit will help you tailor your presentation.
Designing the Presentation and Defining Its Structure
Once you have examined your audience and purpose, it’s time to think about defining the structure of your talk. Look at a presentation as having three elements an introduction, body, and conclusion.
All presenting experts agree that you must begin your presentation by immediately engaging your audience. Advice about how to do so, however, varies. Some experts urge presenters to incorporate elements of storytelling into their talks. For example, if you were addressing a group of farmers, you might want to begin with a story of how one

PRESENTATIONS individual turned around his business by adopting anew type of crop rotation. The story you tell should resonate with your audience and grab its attention.
Another way to garner audience attention is to offer a promise. By hooking the audience with the idea that By the end of this session, you’ll know ten ways to improve your employees productivity you give listeners a reason to tune in. Likewise, you might start with a startling statistic, ask a provocative question, or relate a relevant news item. Keep in mind that whichever attention-grabbing device you use, your audience will always want to know what’s in it for them. The following are examples of some attention-grabbing hooks:
This year, pet owners will spend an expected $60 billion on their animals
Today I’m going to show how you can grab apiece of that pie�
When was the last time you woke up and felt excited about going to work
I believe everyone should feel that everyday, and that’s what I’m here
to talk to you about today�
The recent tragic news about social media bullying has every parent in
America on alert We’re here today to make sure that doesn’t happen in
our town�
The meat or body of your presentation contains the information you want your audience to takeaway. Here expert opinions vary, as well. Some say audiences are only capable of taking away one main message, and there maybe some truth in that assertion. Think of the last time you attended a lecture or a talk—how much do you actually remember about it Others claim that the audience will recall up to three points.
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In either case, you can see that bombarding an audience with fact after fact is not the way to create a successful presentation.
Once you have determined the primary takeaways) for your presentation, build the body of your talk and integrate smooth transitions to link ideas. You may want to develop a theme you can return to. For example, you could weave your introductory story throughout the presentation. In the case of the presentation to farmers we discussed earlier, you’d talk again about the farmer you described in your opening.
Remember that oral delivery of information differs from written delivery of information written reports can be exhaustive, brimming

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with data and information. However, presenting requires persuasion and motivation to listen and recall, and the best way to attain these goals is to alternate between facts and stories that illustrate those facts. Never use a talk as a data dump.”
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Conclude your presentation by returning to your original message and recapping for your audience. Leave them with something to think about. If appropriate, open up the talk to questions, an excellent opportunity for you to drive home your point.
Create an outline of your talk and then write a script. Of course you will not read the script, but writing one will allow you to rehearse and time yourself.

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