Page 148 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

Giving presentations 137

Preparation

In the practical example of Dinner Ltd we have already briefly touched upon a few
questions that every presenter must consider in advance. First, they should ask
themselves what they wish to achieve with the presentation. In short, what is the goal of
it? Second, they should determine how they can achieve this goal. This is especially
related to the structure of the presentation. Third, they should try to assemble sufficient
information about the audience. Finally, they should gather information about limiting
conditions. The investigation by Menzel and Carrell (1994) involving students showed
that there was a positive relation between total preparation time and speech quality.

Goal
People can strive for different goals during a presentation. For example, the presenter
wishes to convey information or desires that the audience knows more about the subject
after the presentation than they did before. One can thus think of lectures, congresses or
classes about a particular topic. It is also possible that the presenter wishes his audience
to adopt a different attitude regarding the subject. One can thus consider a meeting in
which the presenter wishes to support a certain controversial decision. In this case the
aim is to convince the audience. In the third case, presenters can set the goal of
influencing the behaviour of their audience. They want their audience to do something.
Often these goals overlap. If presenters know how to convince an audience, they will
develop a different attitude and usually adjust their behaviour.

Freddy Fortune wants to convince the staff about the importance of
friendliness to customers. He has too often heard complaints about this
aspect, which is so important for their business.

Structure
During the preparation phase the presenter collects the information about the topic,
prepares it and considers how to use it during the various phases of the presentation. The
structure of a presentation consists of an introduction (head), a core (body) and a closing
(tail). With the help of this division into three parts, the presenter brings order to the
information. During the introduction, attention is captured and the audience gets an
overview of the presentation. During the core phase the topic is handled, and during the
closing phase the information is once again offered, in a compact way, and a final
impression remains.
During the introduction, which takes up approximately 10 per cent of the time, the
presenter should raise the interest of the audience. If attention is not first obtained, most
of the presenter’s efforts will be made in vain. The attention can be raised by, for
example, first laying before the audience a small puzzle or rhetorical question. Some
presenters are extremely ingenious in thinking up a short story, which can be told in a
few sentences, or finding a proverb, saying or motto that relates to the content of the
speech. Titles of popular books, television programmes or films are often sources of
inspiration. Of course, it should apply here that the opening sentences are related to the