Discussion board | Applied Sciences homework help

1. Identify general and specific goals for a given speaking situation. 3. Construct a clear thesis based on an analysis of a specific speaking

situation. 4. Choose and develop an organizational plan for the body of a presentation that best suits its goal and the audience. 5. Create an effective introduction and conclusion for a presentation, following the guidelines in this chapter. 6. Design a presentation that contains effective transitions between the introduction and the body, between points in the body, and between the body and the conclusion. hatever your field, whatever your job, speaking to an audience is likely to be a fact of life. Sales representatives and account executives deliver presentations to potential customers. Brand managers propose ideas to management and explain new product lines to the sales force. Department 512 W heads and supervisors brief superiors on recent developments and subordinates on new company policies. Computer specialists explain new systems and software to the people who will use them. Presentations are so pervasive that some experts have estimated speakers address audiences an astonishing 33 million times each day.1 According to one survey, businesspeople give an average of 26 presentations per year.2 Table 9-1 identifies a few of the many types of presentations most people deliver sooner or later in their careers. Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 offer specific advice on planning and delivering various types of business presentations. Table 9-1 Common Types of Presentational Speaking Type of Presentation Example Briefing and informational announcements Introducing a new overtime policy to employees Orientation sessions Providing information on health care benefit plans Training programs Explaining how to operate new computer software Research and technical reports Describing a market research survey Progress reports Giving a status report on monthly sales Civic and social presentations Delivering a speech at a local service club meeting Convention and conference presentations Reporting on a company’s technological breakthroughs Television and radio interviews Describing a company’s position on industrial accident or injury Introductions Introducing a new employee to other workers Sales presentations Demonstrating a product to a potential customer Project and policy proposals Proposing a new travel policy to management Seeking resources 513 Making a loan request to a commercial lender Ceremonial occasions Speaking at a retirement celebration for a long-time employee While some business and professional presentations are formal performances before large audiences, most are comparatively informal talks to a few people or even a single person. If you drop into your boss’s office and say, “Do you have a few minutes? I have some information that may help us cut down our travel expenses,” you are arranging a presentation. You are also delivering presentations when you teach the office staff how to use the new database, explain the structure of your department to a new employee, or explain to management why you need a larger budget. Even when you create a written report, you may be asked to summarize its contents in an oral presentation, and the quality of your spoken remarks may be the measure of your success. In fact, the quality of your presentation may determine whether anyone ever reads your documents. Furthermore, the highly public nature of presentations means your reputation depends on how you handle yourself in front of your audiences. 255 As your career progresses, presentational speaking skills become even more important.3 One automobile executive explained: As an executive rose in management, he had to rely less on his technical training and more on his ability to sell his ideas and programs to the next level of management. When I was just an engineer somewhere down the line working on a technical problem, everything affecting me was in my grasp. All I had to do was solve this particular problem, and I was doing my job. But now, as head of advanced engineering, I have to anticipate and predict product trends and then sell my programs for capitalizing on those trends.4 Most people who work in organizations eventually find that their effectiveness and success depend on their ability to organize their ideas and present them effectively. Sometimes a written memo or report will do 514 the job, but presenting your ideas personally often has some distinct advantages. For example, if people do not understand a point in a proposal, they may put the entire proposal aside for weeks or simply veto it. Delivering your message personally ensures that you obtain immediate feedback that can help you clarify points and answer questions. Oral presentations are often more persuasive as well. A speaker’s knowledge, enthusiasm, and apparent confidence can influence people to accept or reject an idea in a way that a written document cannot. In practice, you will rarely obtain approval for an important idea without explaining it personally. As one executive said: The people who have the power and responsibility to say yes or no want a chance to consider and question the proposal in the flesh. Documents merely set up a meeting and record what the meeting decided. Anyone serious about an idea welcomes the chance to present it himself [or herself!]—in person. We wisely discount proposals whose authors are unwilling to be present at the launching.5 Presentations are not just delivered to internal audiences: Many people also give work-related addresses to listeners outside their organizations. Realizing that effective 256 speakers carry their message to the public in ways that print and electronic media cannot match, companies send representatives into the community to deliver speeches in a wide variety of settings.6 Some of the world’s biggest corporations sponsor speaker training. Toastmasters International, a group dedicated to helping businesspeople present their ideas effectively, now has more than 345,000 members in 15,900 clubs in 142 countries.7 Research confirms that speakers can become more effective with training.8 Even people who seem to work in fairly solitary jobs may give speeches to clubs, professional organizations, and community groups—so they have an incentive to hone their presentation skills as well. 515 CAREER tip Connecting with Your Audience through Storytelling The narrative paradigm is a communication theory that contends that humans are more apt to be persuaded by a good story than by a good argument. Researchers interested in the neurobiology of storytelling have discovered that emotionally engaging stories result in an increase in oxytocin, a hormone, in our bodies. The increased oxytocin level often translates into post-narrative actions, such as donating money to a nonprofit organization after watching a particularly heart-tugging public service announcement. As an example, the athletic wear company Under Armour (UA) was faced with a challenge: Athletic women viewed its brand as overly aggressive and performance driven. In its #IWillWhatIWant campaign, UA responded to this challenge by telling a story of female athletes overcoming adversity and achieving success on their own terms. As a result, UA connected with women in a way that caused them to see the brand as “a brand for me,” which resulted in a 28 percent increase in sales. When creating a presentation, think about the message you would like your audience to take from your speech. Can you tell them a story that will sway their emotions and move them toward action? Sources: Droga5, “I will what I want,” 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards 2015. Retrieved from https://www.aaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy-pdfs/Droga5-WillWhatIWant-Gold2.pdf; Lin, P-Y., Grewal, N. S., Morin, C., Johnson, W. D., & Zak, P. J., “Oxytocin Increases the Influence of Public Service Announcements,” PLoS ONE, 8(2), 2013.

• Analyzing the Situation

516 Before you plan even one sentence of the actual presentation, you must think about the situation in which you will speak. You can make sure your approach is on target by considering three factors: the audience, the speaker (you), and the occasion. Analyzing the Audience The saying “Different strokes for different folks” is never more true than when you are delivering a presentation. Having good ideas is not enough —you also have to present those ideas in a way that will connect with your audience. One corporate communication expert declared, “Designing a presentation without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it ‘To Whom It May Concern.’ ”9 Former Chrysler president Lee Iacocca succinctly stated the value of audience analysis: It’s important to be able to talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they’ll say, “God, he said exactly what I was thinking.” And when they begin to respect you, they’ll follow you to the death. The reason they’re following you is not because you’re providing some mysterious leadership. It’s because you’re following them.10 Asking yourself a number of questions about your listeners will help you adapt your presentation material to their interests, needs, and backgrounds. 257 Who Are the Key Audience Members? Not all audience members are equally important. Sometimes one or two listeners have the power to approve or reject your appeal. For example, if you are making a sales pitch for a new database management system to a workgroup, it is important to know who has the final say. Is it the department supervisor? Is it a senior clerk whose judgment the rest of the team trusts? Whoever the decision makers are, you need to identify their interests, needs, attitudes, and prejudices, and then direct your appeal toward them. Sometimes it is easy to identify the key members. You do not have to be a communication expert to figure out that your boss has more power than the interns who are listening to your presentation. At other times, 517 though, you will need to do some pre-speaking investigation to identify the opinion leaders and decision makers in your audience. How Much Do They Know? A group of experts does not need the background information that less informed audiences would require. In fact, these people would probably be bored and offended by your basic explanation. Likewise, people who are familiar with a project do not need to be updated on it—unless they have missed some late-breaking developments. It is also important to ask yourself what your listeners do not know: Uninformed people or nonexperts will be mystified (as well as bored and resentful) unless you give them background information. When speaking to a mixed audience of experts and nonexperts, it is helpful to select a few key points that will help the nonexperts understand the topic without alienating the experts. You might also choose to distribute a resource to uninformed participants prior to your presentation so they can familiarize themselves with the information in advance. What Do They Want to Know? People will listen to you if you address their interests, not yours. Asking for a promotion because you need the money is not nearly as effective as demonstrating you can help the company better in the new position. Asking for an assistant because you feel overworked is not as likely to impress your boss as showing how the help will increase productivity or allow you to take on more responsibilities. Perhaps the most important key to effective selling is identifying the prospective customer’s needs and showing how the product can satisfy them. Your listeners’ job titles can give you clues about what they want to know. On the one hand, if your audience members are specialists—in engineering, finance, or marketing, for example—they will probably be interested in the more technical aspects of your talk that pertain to their specialties. On the other hand, an audience of nonexperts would probably be bored by a detailed talk on a subject they do not understand. Surprisingly, most managers fall into this category. “Just give me a quick description, a schedule, and the dollar figures” is a common managerial attitude. 518 What Are Their Personal Preferences? Your listeners’ personal idiosyncrasies can make all the difference in how your message is received. Does your audience prefer a presentation to be formal or casual? Humorous or straitlaced? Fast-paced or leisurely? Knowing these preferences can mean the difference between a rousing success and an abject failure when you are giving a presentation. One business consultant described how attitudes can vary from one set of listeners to another: In the same corporation, engineers giving reports to different department heads were required to go about it in a totally different manner. One department head wanted every detail covered in the report. He wanted analyses of why the report was being done, complete background on the subject under discussion, and a review of the literature, and he expected the report to run twenty or thirty written 258 pages. In addition, he wanted an oral presentation that covered almost every detail of the report. The man who ran the department right down the hall wanted just the opposite. He wanted short, comprehensive reports discussing only the elements that were new. He said he already knew what was going on in his department. He didn’t want an analysis of the situation, and he didn’t want any young engineer wasting his time. The reports that got an A in one department got an F in the other, and vice versa. Therefore, the first rule for anyone giving a report is to ask those who requested the report what form they would like it to take.11 Audience attitudes can be hard to anticipate. One architect described how his firm disguised the use of cost-saving technology to suit some clients’ mistaken assumptions: When I [used to] prepare a preliminary design for a client, I often sketch[ed] a floor plan “free-hand,” meaning that I quickly [drew] the design idea without a lot of detailed measurements … With the advent of computer-aided design (CAD), we can produce the same design on the computer … faster, more accurately, and at the same cost as before. 519 Although this approach seems like a win–win scenario for the architect and the client, experience proved this was not the case. Some of our clients have complained that we are spending too much time and money on these preliminaries … they want something fast and cheap. They assume that because of how the product looks, we are spending more time (and more of their money) too early in the process. No amount of explanation will appease them. So, what to do? We just purchased a new software product. It is called Squiggle. It takes the very accurate, crisp, straight lines of a computer design and actually makes it look hand-drawn. Now, the clients will look at a computer drawing, but see [a] hand-drawn [floor plan].12 Which Demographic Characteristics Are Significant? A number of your listeners’ measurable characteristics might suggest ways to tailor your remarks to that audience. One such characteristic is gender. What is the distribution of men and women? Even in this age of relative enlightenment, some topics must be approached differently, depending on your audience’s gender. A second demographic characteristic is age. A life insurance salesperson might emphasize retirement benefits to older customers, but highlight support for dependent children to younger customers with families. Cultural background is often an important audience factor. You would likely use a different approach when addressing blue-collar workers than you would when making a presentation to a group of white-collar professionals. Likewise, the group’s ethnic mix might affect your remarks. The points you make, the examples you use, and even the language you speak will probably be shaped by your audience’s cultural makeup. At the most basic level, you need to be respectful of your audience. For example, when speaking to people from other countries, avoid chauvinistic remarks like “That’s the way we do it back home.”13 Another demographic factor is your audience’s economic status. This factor is especially important in sales, where financial resources “qualify” potential customers as prospects for a product or service as well as suggest which features are likely to interest them. 520 Not every variable is important in planning every speech. For instance, an engineer speaking about recent advances in the field should consider her audience’s level of knowledge (about engineering and those advances) and occupations (that is, what those advances have to do with her listeners’ work); by comparison, characteristics such as gender, age, and economic status probably would be less important. Conversely, a 259 representative from Planned Parenthood speaking to a community organization would have to consider gender, age, economic status, listeners’ religious backgrounds, and attitudes toward pregnancy planning and the medical profession when developing the presentation. The first step to good audience analysis is to recognize which dimensions of your listeners’ background are important and to profile those dimensions accurately. CULTURE at work Understanding International Audiences Here is part of a speech planned by a U.S. executive newly assigned to head an Asia Pacific sales operation: I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to work with all of you in our Asian organization. Although I have worked with many Asian companies in the past, it is an exciting opportunity to now become a part of the APAC sales force with you. While I was director of sales for the Western region in the United States, we made a strong contribution to the company’s earnings. I believe that we now have a great opportunity to build a strong and profitable business together in Asia that will yield outstanding returns for the parent company and our shareholders. My wife and I look forward to living out here and getting to know you better. 521 This speech may seem to include perfectly good comments if you share the background and expectations of the U.S. manager. But the people in his audience are likely to respond in not-so-favorable ways to this speech and to others like it. Their thoughts may not be voiced in public, and certainly not directly to the foreign manager, but here are some likely interpretations from local employees: “He sounds very proud of his accomplish-ments.” “It seems as if he doesn’t recognize all the efforts we have been making here.” “Why does he have to talk about profit on a formal occasion like this? Of course we recognize profit is necessary, and we’re all working hard to make that happen. But he makes it sound as though we are only concerned about our stockholders.” “Does he think Asia is one place?” “Why did he mention his wife?” Having a group of employees think about their new manager in this way is not an ideal introduction to a working environment. In the initial phase of this person’s presence abroad, an image of boastfulness, arrogance, and shortsightedness is being formed that could require considerable time, energy, and goodwill to erase. Even worse, local employees will naturally be reluctant to cooperate with leaders who are labeled in this way—at times, passive or even active resistance to their directives will emerge. Good intentions and a formula for self- presentation learned in one’s home setting can actually become a recipe for trouble in a different setting. Source: Gundling, E., “Twelve People Skills for Doing Business Across Borders,” Employee Relations Today, 34, 2007, 29–42. What Size Is the Group? The number of listeners will govern some basic aspects of the presentation plan. How many copies of a handout should you prepare? How large must your visuals be so that everyone can see them? How much time should you plan for a question-and-answer session? With a large audience, you usually need to take a wider range of audience concerns into account; your delivery and choice of language will 522 tend to be more formal; and your listeners are less likely to interrupt with questions or comments. A progress report on your current assignment would look ridiculous if you delivered it from behind a podium to four or five people. You would look just as foolish speaking to 100 listeners while reclining in a chair. What Are the Listeners’ Attitudes? You need to consider two sets of attitudes when planning your presentation. The first is your audience’s attitude toward you as the speaker. If listeners feel hostile or indifferent (“Charlie is such a bore”), your approach 260 will not be the same as the one you take if they are excited to hear from you (“I’m glad he says he’s going to simplify the paperwork; last year, he did a great job of speeding up the process for getting repairs done”). In addition to listeners’ feelings about you, the audience’s attitude about your subject should influence your approach. Do the employees think the new pension plan benefits are too far in the future to be important? Does the sales force think the new product line is exciting or just the same old thing in a new package? Do the workers think the new vice president is a genius or just another figurehead? You should take these kinds of attitudes into account when you plan your approach. One way to discover your audience’s attitudes—and to gain the audience’s approval of your idea—is to meet with listeners before your presentation. One experienced professional explained how he applies this principle: Whenever I’m going to make a proposal—to clients or to my own bosses—I make it a practice to sit down with them in advance and test my approach with them. Then I go back and design a presentation that either supports their positive attitudes or provides answers to their questions and objections. In addition to making personal contacts, you often can research your audience’s attitudes online. With almost instant access to a wealth of sources including news stories, blogs, social networking sites, and comments on company websites, you often can find out what your key 523 listeners think about you and your topic before you speak to them. One trial consultant uses this approach to research potential jurors before a big case: “If a juror has an attitude about something, I want to know what that is…. Anyone who doesn’t make use of [Internet searches] is bordering on malpractice.”14 ©Eric Crama/Shutterstock.com RF Analyzing Yourself as the Speaker No two presentations are alike. While you can learn to be a better speaker by listening to other speakers, a good presentation is rather like a good hairstyle or a sense of humor: What suits someone else might not work for you. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to try to be a carbon copy of some other effective speaker. When developing your presentation, be sure to consider the following factors. 524 Your Goal The first question to ask yourself is why you are speaking. Are you especially interested in reaching one person or one subgroup in the audience? What do you want your key listeners to think or do after hearing you? How will you know if you have succeeded? Your Knowledge It is best to speak on a subject about which you have considerable knowledge. This is usually the case, since you generally speak on a subject precisely because you are an authority. Regardless of how well you know your subject, you may 261 need to do some research—sales figures over the past three years, the number of companies that have used the flexible-hours program you are proposing, the actual maintenance costs of the new equipment your company is buying, and so on. case STUDY Selling to Seniors: Audience Analysis or Audience Deception? For more than 13 years, entrepreneur Tyrone M. Clark operated “Annuity University.” This two-day workshop trained more than 7,000 people to sell annuities to senior citizens. In late 2002, the state of Massachusetts slapped Clark with a cease-and-desist order, accusing his firm of tricking seniors into trading in their investments for expensive and complicated annuity policies. According to The Wall Street Journal, here are some of the practices Clark advocated: Oversimplifying the nature of the investments being sold. Clark says, “You’ll waste time if you think you can impress them with charts, graphs, printouts, or use sophisticated words.” Instead, he recommends, “Tell them it’s like a CD—it’s safe, it’s guaranteed.” 525 Using fear appeals. “[Seniors] thrive on fear, anger, and greed,” says Clark. “Show them their finances are all screwed up so that they think, ‘Oh, no, I’ve done it all wrong.’” Enticing retirees to attend sales seminars by offering free meals. Learning about investors’ concerns. At seminars, seniors note their concerns from a list of topics including taxes, Social Security, insurance, and protection of assets. Salespeople are encouraged to refer to these concerns when they call customers to set up a sales appointment. Sources: Schultz, E. E., & Opdyke, J. D., “Annuities 101: How to Sell to Senior Citizens,” Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2002, C1, C10; “Complaint Is Filed in Annuity Case,” Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2002, C3. When leadership author Liz Wiseman was invited to give a presentation on “leadership for the future” at a business forum in Korea, she felt confident in her ability to speak about the topic. Several weeks before the forum, however, she received a briefing document that outlined the topics she was to address—most of which were about national economic policy rather than leadership. Because one of Wiseman’s books had raised questions about a few economic issues, she was mistaken for an economist. Wiseman had to quickly research Korean economics and politics to prepare for her presentation.15 If you find yourself in a situation where you may need more information, do not lull yourself into a false sense of security by thinking you know enough. It is better to over-prepare now than to look like a fool later. In one painful episode, Kenneth Clarke, who was once Britain’s finance minister, embarrassed himself due to faulty knowledge. While visiting the town of Consett in northern England, he praised its success as an industrial center, saying it had “one of the best steelworks in Europe.” In fact, the steel mill had closed down 15 years earlier, putting 3,000 employees out of work. To redeem himself in the face of that gaffe, Clarke cited another Consett factory as a major competitor in the world of disposable diapers—only to discover that the town’s diaper plant had closed down two years earlier.16 526 Your Feelings about the Topic An old sales axiom says you cannot sell a product you do not believe in. Research shows that sincerity is one of the greatest assets a speaker can have.17 When you are excited about a topic, your delivery improves: Your voice becomes more expressive, your movements are more natural, and your face reflects your enthusiasm. In contrast, if you do not care much about your topic—whether it is a report on your department’s sales, a proposal for a new program, a product you are 262 selling, or a new method you are explaining—the audience will know it and think, “If the speaker does not believe in it, why should I?” A good test for your enthusiasm and sincerity is to ask yourself if you really care whether your audience understands or believes what you have to say. If you feel indifferent or only mildly enthusiastic, it is best to search for a new idea for your proposal or a new approach to your subject. Analyzing the Occasion Even a complete understanding of your audience will not give you everything you need to plan an effective presentation. You also need to adapt your remarks to fit the circumstances of your presentation. Several factors contribute to shaping the occasion. Facilities Figure 9.1 shows how you can adapt the layout of a room to suit the speaking situation. Regardless of the arrangement you choose, you need to consider some important issues. Will there be enough seating for all the listeners? What type of equipment is available for you to use? Will there be distracting background noises? 527 FIGURE 9.1 Room Arrangement Options Source: Morrisey, G. L., Sechrest, T. L., & Warman, W. B., Loud and Clear: How to Prepare and Deliver Effective Business and Technical Presentations (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books, 1997. Answering questions like these is critical, and failure to anticipate facility problems can trip you up at a crucial moment. For example, the absence of an easel to hold your charts can turn your well-rehearsed presentation into a fiasco. Lack of a convenient electrical outlet can replace your PowerPoint show with an embarrassing blackout. Even the placement of doorways can make a difference. Most experienced speakers will not settle for others’ assurances about facilities; instead, they check out the room in advance and come prepared for every possible disaster. 263 Time There are at least two considerations related to time when making a presentation. The first is the time of day when you will be speaking. A straightforward, factual speech that would work well with an alert, rested 528 audience at 10:00 am might need to be more entertaining or emphatic to hold everyone’s attention if delivered just before quitting time. Second, in addition to taking the hour of day into account, you need to consider the length of time you have to speak. Most business presentations are brief. One director of a Los Angeles shopping mall typically gives prospective vendors 20 minutes to make their pitch: “I automatically x-out anyone who is late or exceeds their time allotment. My experience has shown that people who have trouble adhering to parameters and deadlines are unreliable.”18 Alan Brawn, national sales manager for Hughes-JCC, reinforces the importance of keeping your remarks within the preset time limit: “Typically, if major points aren’t made in about six minutes, a person’s time in the sun is done.”19 Sometimes the length of your talk will not be explicitly dictated, but that lack of formal limits does not mean you should speak as long as you like. Usually, factors in the situation suggest how long it is wise for you to speak. Notice, for example, how well speaker Hugh Marsh adapted his remarks to the after-dinner setting when giving his summary business report to a group of association members: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Whenever I get on a podium this late, after a long day at the office, I remind myself of several immutable laws. First, there is Marsh’s First Law of Oratory—on any platform, any speech will grow in length to fill the time available for its delivery. Well, take heart. I only have fifteen minutes. Then there is Marsh’s Second Law of Oratory—the farthest distance between two points is a speech. Or, as we used to say in Texas, speeches too often are like a Longhorn steer—a point here and a point there and a lot of bull in between. Well, again, take heart. I will try to keep my two points close together. Another law I remind myself of is Marsh’s Third Law of Oratory—no speech ever sounds as good at 7:00 PM as it did at noon. And, finally, there is Marsh’s First Law of Meeting Attendance— everybody’s gotta be someplace. As long as we’re here, let’s be friends. I’ll be brief. You be attentive. I’ll make my few points and get off so we can get back to the fun part of the meeting—socializing.20 529 Context As Chapter 1 explained, the context of your message also influences what you say or how you say it. For example, if others are speaking as part of your program, you need to take their presentations into account. (“I had originally planned to discuss the technical aspects of our new express delivery system, but I think Carol has covered them thoroughly. So let me bring your attention to two things.”) Preceding speakers may have left your audience feeling bored or stimulated, receptive or angry, thoughtful or jovial. Since that state of affairs will affect how the audience receives your presentation, you should try to adjust to it. Current events could also affect what you say or how you say it. For example, if you are presenting your new budget proposal just after the company has suffered a major financial loss, you should be prepared to show how your budget will cut costs.

• Setting Your Goal and Developing the Thesis An essential step in planning any presentation is to define your goal—what you want to accomplish. Speaking without a clear goal is a recipe for failure. As speaking coach Sandy Linver put it:

264 Giving a presentation without recognizing, focusing on, and remembering your objective is the equivalent of dumping the contents of your briefcase all over your boss’s desk. You don’t speak to fill time by reeling off fact after unorganized fact, nor to show beautiful pictures that take the breath away, nor to impress the audience with your wit and skill as a dramatic speaker. You don’t give speeches to win speech-making awards. You are there to make the best of an opportunity, just as you do in every other aspect of your business activities.21 General and Specific Goals 530 There are two kinds of goals to consider: general and specific. As its name implies, a general goal (sometimes called a general purpose) is a broad indication of what you are trying to accomplish. There are three general goals: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. While one type of goal may be primary, a speaker often attempts to accomplish more than one goal. For example, a human resources officer would be smart to make an informative session on filing insurance claims as entertaining as possible to keep the audience’s attention. The goal of an informative presentation is either to expand your listeners’ knowledge or to help them acquire a specific skill. Teaching a group of product managers about new developments in technology, training a new sales representative, and giving a progress report on regional sales to a senior sales manager are all typical examples of informative talks. Persuasive presentations focus on trying to change what an audience thinks or does. Selling is the most obvious example, but there are others as well. A union organizer might try to persuade a group of employees to vote for a union. An accountant might try to convince management to adopt a different procedure for reporting expenditures. A public relations manager might try to convince an organization to engage in more community service initiatives. At other times, a speaker’s goal is to entertain the audience. The welcoming speaker at a convention might concentrate on getting the participants to relax and look forward to the coming events. After-dinner speakers at company gatherings or awards dinners usually consider themselves successful if their remarks leave the group in a jovial mood. The specific goal (sometimes called the specific purpose) of your presentation describes the outcome you are seeking. If you think of a speech as a journey, your specific goal is your destination. Stating the specific goal tells you what you will have accomplished when you have “arrived.” A good specific goal statement usually describes who you want to influence; what you want them to think or do; and how, when, and where you want them to do it. Your goal statement should combine the answers to these questions into a single statement: “I want (who) to (do what) (how, when, where).” Here are some examples of appropriate goal statements: 531 “I want the people who haven’t been participating in the United Way campaign to sign up.” “I want at least five people in the audience to ask me for my business card after my talk and at least one person to schedule an appointment with me to discuss my company’s services.” “I want at least five people in the department to consider transferring to the new Fort Worth office.” “I want the boss to tell the committee he’s in favor of my proposal when they discuss it after my presentation.” Like these examples, your specific goal statements should do three things: describe the reaction or outcome you are seeking, be as specific as possible, and make your goal realistic. 265 Describe the Reaction You Are Seeking Your specific goal should be worded in terms of the desired outcome—that is, the reaction you want from your audience. You can appreciate the importance of specifying the outcome when you consider a statement that does not meet this criterion: “I want to show each person in this office how to operate the new voice mail system correctly.” What’s wrong with this statement? Most importantly, it says nothing about the desired audience response. With a goal such as this, you could give a detailed explanation of the whole system without knowing whether anyone learned a thing! Notice the improvement in the following statement: “I want everyone in this group to show me that he or she can operate the voice mail system correctly after my talk.” With this goal, you can get an idea of how well you have done after delivering your presentation. Be as Detailed as Possible A good specific goal statement identifies the who, what, how, when, and where of your goal as precisely as possible. For instance, your target audience—the who—may not include every listener in the audience. Consider one of the specific goal statements mentioned earlier: “I want the boss to tell the committee that he’s in favor 532 of my proposal when they discuss it after my presentation.” This statement correctly recognizes the boss as the key decision maker. If you have convinced him, your proposal is as good as approved; if not, winning the support of less influential committee members may not help you. Once you identify your target audience, you can focus your energy on the people who truly count. The best goal statements describe your goals in measurable terms. Consider these examples: Vague Measurable I want to collect some donations in this meeting. I want to collect at least $15 from each person in this meeting. I want to get my manager’s support for my idea. I want my manager to give me one day per week and the help of an assistant to develop my idea. Knowing exactly what you want to accomplish dramatically increases the chances you will reach your goal. Suppose you need to convince a group of subordinates to stay within budget. You already know the following statement is not effective: “I want to talk about the importance of our new budget limitations.” (If you are not sure why this goal is not effective, take another look at the preceding section on describing reactions.) A more results-oriented goal would be “I want this group to stay within budget.” But even this goal statement has problems. Who are you going to encourage—people who are already holding the line on expenses or those who look like they might overspend? How many people do you hope to persuade? How will you appeal to them? When do you want them to do it, beginning immediately or when they get around to it? The latter occasion may not arise until after the fiscal year ends—too late to save this year’s profits in your department. A comprehensive specific goal statement can take care of these kinds of questions: “I want to convince the four people who had spent more than half their year’s budgets by May 1 (who) that the department’s solvency depends on their cutting expenses (do what) and have them show me a revised plan (how) by the end of the week (when) that demonstrates how 533 they intend to trim costs for the rest of the year (where).” This statement gives you several ideas about how to plan your presentation. Imagine how much more difficult your task would be if you had settled for the first vague goal statement. 266 Developing the Thesis The thesis statement—sometimes called the central idea or key idea—is a single sentence that summarizes your message.

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