Managerial Communication

Session 7

Learning Objectives:
By the end of the session, you will have

• worked on exercises stating the purpose

• worked on questions you need to ask yourself about the audience
• practised different types of introductions
• beginning the presentation with a hook
• signposting transitions

Stating the purpose

The mind map included a section on Purpose. Although it may seem obvious, it
is essential that you know why you are delivering a presentation and what you
hope to achieve from it. However, what is perhaps not so obvious is how to
define the real purpose of your presentation.

Look at these situations and decide what the real purpose of the presentation is
in each case.

As an engineer, you have been quite closely involved in designing a new

product, which will probably be due for pre-production tests in about six
months. The head of the design team comes into your office one morning and
says:
“Marketing have asked us to do a presentation for them on the project, so
I’ve set it up for next week. Would you mind doing the technical
specifications, since that’s the area you’ve been working in?”

Purpose: Conveying the technical specifications of a new product which is

about to go to pre-production test in 6 months

You teach presentation skills at the British Council. The Director of Studies
comes in one morning and says:
 “You’ve got someone from Siemens in your course, haven’t you? Well, his
boss seems impressed by what we’re teaching him, so would you mind going
out and talking to him?”

Purpose: Brief about the course to Siemens boss

You have recently organised a successful international sports event. One of

the organisers of similar event in your hometown would like you to share your
experience and asks:
“Would you mind coming and talking to our organising committee?”

Purpose: Sharing the experience of hosting an international sports event

You work in the Human Resources Department of a company that is going to

move to new premises. The General Manager calls you in one afternoon and
says:
“Look, there are lots of rumours going around about the new factory.
People are saying there’s no bus service, the canteen won’t be big enough,
there won’t be any air conditioning, all sorts of things. Perhaps you could call
a meeting and talk to them?”
Purpose: Briefing the employees regarding connectivity and
facilities in the office.
Audience analysis

Purpose and audience are inseparable. Your objectives must relate to the people
you are presenting to. Therefore you must also consider the audience’s purpose
in attending your presentation when defining your own objectives.

The more you know about your audience the better prepared you will be and the
more likely you will be to reach your audience. Basically, to succeed you need to
be able to convince the audience they are achieving their objectives while you
also achieve your own objectives i.e. a win-win situation.

Reorder the words to make a list of questions you could ask yourself when
researching your audience.

1. from what they want do me ?

What do they want from me?

2. do organisation what know they my and about me ?

What do they know about me and my organisation?

3. is size audience of the what the ?

What is the size of the audience?

4. are who people in the key the audience ?

Who are the key people in the audience?

5. willing how they to ideas accept my?

How willing are they to accept my ideas?

6. they do technical have myself background the same as?

Do they have the same technical background as myself?

7. How diverse is my audience?

Can you add any more questions to this audience analysis checklist?

Introductions
In most presentation situations you need to briefly introduce yourself and the
theme of your presentation. You might decide on a slightly different approach
depending on how formal you think you need to be in a particular situation.
In this activity there are two possible introductions – one formal, one less formal.
Can you identify which examples go with each introduction and organise them
into a logical sequence?

/Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen./ /My name is

Jenny Redgrave./

/I’m here to talk about.../ /The subject of my presentation this

afternoon is.../

/Thanks for coming this afternoon./ /I’d like to welcome you all
to.../

/I’m happy to answer any questions./ /I’m Jenny Redgrave./

/Hello./

/I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you may have at the
end of the presentation./

/OK, why don’t we get started?/ /Right, I think it’s probably

time to begin./

Put each expression into the correct column below.

Formal introduction Informal introduction

Good afternoon, ladies and My name is
gentlemen. Jenny Redgrave.
I’m here to talk about..
Thanks for coming this afternoon. I’m Jenny Redgrave.
Hello.
I’m happy to answer any
OK, why don’t we get started?
questions.
Right, I think it’s probably time to
The subject of my presentation
begin.
this afternoon is..
I’d like to welcome you all to...
I’d be more than happy to answer
any questions you may have at
the end of the presentation.
Hooks

Openings
One of the most important areas of your presentation to get right is the
beginning. Opening confidently and clearly and in a way that allows you to
connect with your audience will help you to get into a rhythm and will also help
your audience to settle, to understand what they are going to hear and to
prepare to listen to what you have to say.

Take time to prepare your introduction and opening statement. It is probably not
a good idea to try to learn your whole presentation word for word , but it is a
good idea to plan, practise and memorise your introduction.

“Open with a bang!” is common advice given to presenters. It is important

that your presentation gets off to a positive start. You need to grab your
audience’s attention and make them believe from the start that you have
something to offer them.

Look at each example opening and choose the best answer a, b or c.

(A) Multitasking is the latest The speaker probably believes:

buzzword. We are constantly being
told that we have to be able to a Multitasking is an essential skill b
multitask to be effective in the Multitasking is not as important as
professional world. people seem to think c Multitasking
is a waste of time and energy.
But is this really true? Does
multitasking actually make you
more effective in the workplace?
I’m not convinced that it does.

B) Everyone’s talking about the The speaker probably believes:

importance of time management
these days. Well, I’ve got news for a Time management is nonsense b
Time management is important but
you. You can’t manage time – time you need to focus on you not time. c
won’t let you! But you can manage Time management is an essential
yourself. management strategy

(C) Did you know that people will The speaker probably believes that
forget 38% of what they hear in 2 the audience:
days; 65% of what they hear in a
week and 75% of what they hear a knows these statistics b will
in only one month? remember these statistics c will be
surprised at these statistics

These are a few examples of how speakers have opened their presentations in
an interesting way. Why have speakers begun in this way? Can you think of
other ways of opening a presentation?

2.3 Signalling
Once you have got your audience’s attention it is important that you keep it. A
simple but effective way of doing this is to give your audience signals about what
comes next. If you remind your audience about what they have just heard and
let them know what’s coming next, they are more likely to be able to follow you.
Once again, both you and your audience will gain something from the
presentation.

This is much easier to do if you have given a brief outline of your presentation at
the beginning.

Look at these examples. Complete each text with one of the signalling
expressions below.

Right, we’ve looked at the latest figures and talked about the possible causes.
Now, I’d like to move on to what this means for us.

Before I turn to the question of financing the venture, -

let me just recap the main points so far.

Going back to the issue of interest rates, let’s take a closer look at
how this might affect you.

At this point I’d like to focus on the question of promoting

the new range of herbal medicines.

OK. So, now let’s turn to the local market.

First ,I’d like to give you some background to the company, then I’ll move
on to our current projects and
finally I’ll outline our vision for the future of the company.

then let’s take a closer look I’d like to move on

let’s turn to
first let me just recap finally I’d like to focus
more closely on
Imagine someone giving the following presentation - what is wrong with
it?
In groups, decide how you would divide it into sections - then add
signposting language.
 Thank you all very much for coming. I want to explain our business plans to you
and you will be interested in investing in Clocks Options. I’ll give you a
short summary of our main business idea. I’ll tell you the findings of the

market research that we’ve been conducting and outline our financial
requirements and plans, which should show you what a sound and exciting
investment Clock Options Express represents. Ask questions at the end of
the talk. Our main business idea: information and advertising display
panels. This idea arose from the observation that in this city and in
surrounding towns, there’s a definite need for reliable and accurate
information to drivers and other travellers concerning the time, traffic
conditions, parking and the public transport situation, and that this
information could be displayed on public display panels strategically
situated on main road accesses to the city, at railway stations and so on.
Market research. We started last year by conducting a survey of over 2,000
motorists who travelled in this area over a two month period.
Simultaneously, we commissioned a study of public transport users. The
findings of these two investigations can be seen on this chart, which clearly
shows not only that the display panels would attract interest arising from
travellers’ need for reliable information, but that they would also be a
major focus for advertisers who would be prepared to pay premium rates
for leasing space. As you can see, our products have considerable market
potential; I think that just about covers the market research. Our financial
requirements and plans. In this chart, you can see a breakdown of our
initial costs into five main areas: suppliers, premises, equipment, staff and
marketing costs. I hope you’ll agree that our concept is valid and
represents an extremely interesting investment opportunity. So, we have
an interesting and useful product which, in this area, is not on the market
at the moment. Our market research both with travellers and potential
advertisers shows a clear demand for our product and a readiness to buy
into it. Our financial requirements of just £500,000 in the first year are
modest and the potential return on investment makes this a very
attractive opportunity for involvement in the start of the new business. It’s
has been a pleasure and thank you for your patience and interest in
listening to me. Any questions?