Week Six Business Assignment

Week Six Reading Assignments:

For example, if you plan to inform a general audience about the Ford Mustang, a good thesis statement might be, “Ford produced five ‘generations’ of the Mustang, each with a distinctive body style that audience members can learn to recognize.” If you plan to persuade a group of investors that a beachfront property could be threatened by rising sea levels, a good thesis statement might be, “Sea levels are predicted to rise because of global warming, and if these predictions are correct, the beachfront property my audience is considering investing in may be threatened.”

1. Find a video of a company CEO or president speaking about his/her company. The video could be about any topic relative to the company, positive or negative. The links below will give you some ideas. You can use any of these presentations, if you like. Or, you can select a company of interest to you and find a video on their site, on YouTube, or other site.

http://irwebreport.com/20110210/ceos-and-cfos-rocking-youtube-10-examples/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=executives+speaking+about+companies

2. Review the following as applicable to your presentation and analysis of the video you select.

a. Chapter 12: Presentations to Inform

b. Chapter 13: Presentations to Persuade

c. Chapter 15: Negative News and Crisis Communication

d. Chapter 16: Intercultural and International Business Communication

Week 6 Written Assignment:

Be sure to complete ALL of the reading assignments and then please fully address each of the following:

1. Create a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation in which you analyze the effectiveness of the business video you viewed for this assignment.

a. Use what you’ve learned in your text and supplemental course materials, as well as knowledge from your LA 300 course to analyze the speech focusing on:

i. The presenter’s speaking skills overall

ii. The presenter’s ability to effectively relay the message in a professional manner

iii. The content of the presentation in relation to the topic

iv. As applicable, identify and analyze any fallacies in the presentation.

b. Follow the PowerPoint Presentation Requirements near the end of this syllabus.

c. Do not show the video in your presentation, but do provide a link to it for your professor and peers.

PowerPoint Presentation Requirements

Overview: While this presentation is about “business”, it is NOT a business presentation and so you need to follow these requirements, which are different than those you might see in a business setting.

Be sure to read the Myths about PPT in the Course Documents area of the course.

1. The PPT should be able to stand alone—meaning someone should be able to read it and acquire the information whether or not you are presenting it. So, DO NOT LIMIT YOUR NUMBER OF SLIDES!

a. The presentation must be the epitome of professionalism and higher-level learning.

b. There’s no specific limit on the slides in this presentation. So use whatever number of slides necessary to be thorough and to get the job done well!

c. Not only do you want to inform and educate your peers, you want to keep their attention by making the presentation visually appealing and the content of the slides informative and interesting.

i. Use your texts and at least one other source of information.

ii. Correctly cite sources in the presentation using APA format for appropriately paraphrased citations and/or direct quotes.

iii. Incorporate clip-art and/or photos professionally to add visual interest to your presentation.

iv. Do NOT use animation and do NOT employ automatic slide transitions.

v. Check spelling and grammar carefully.

vi. Check the order of your slides so that the presentation flows smoothly and the information is effectively presented.

2. Slide Layout:

a. Number your slides.

b. The first slide must be a title slide with the name of the presentation, your name, and the date.

c. The second slide must be an introduction slide.

d. The final slide of the content portion of the presentation must be a conclusion slide.

e. After the conclusion slides, the final slide(s) provide the references for any sources cited in the presentation. These references should be properly formatted per APA.

3. Slide Appearance:

a. In the body of each slide, use font sizes of 20-32 pts only—too large or too small font makes slides hard to read.

b. Use only one type (style) of font in a presentation.

c. Use consistent and effective font sizes and colors throughout your presentation.

d. Use color, bold, italics, and capitalized letters sparingly, but effectively.

e. Dark font on a light background works best—especially if you are printing the presentation.

Otherwise, light font on a dark background is fine. Avoid light font on a light background as it makes your slides hard to read.

f. Each slide should have its own title using standard capitalization rules for words in the title.

g. Slide titles must be on one line, if at all possible, but if two lines are necessary, do not hyphenate words between lines.

h. Use bullet or numbered points to make your slides easier to read. Do not write in long sentences or in paragraphs.

i. Don’t overcrowd your slides. The rule of thumb for each slide is no more than 30-40 words each—or no more than about 6 lines of 6 words each. Be thorough in your presentation, but use additional slides rather than crowd one slide with too much information.

j. Break up information between slides appropriately and effectively.