ELTU2012 Business Communication I

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

MODULE 4 BUSINESS PRESENTATIONS

4A PLANNING AND STRUCTURE

OBJECTIVES
1. To prepare the introduction, body and conclusion of an oral presentation
effectively

2. To craft an effective presentation for a given target audience, considering context,

to choose the appropriate degree of detail and most impactful approach

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. identify characteristics of good and bad presentations by watching
presentation samples

2. complete an outline for their presentations

RECOMMENDED READING
Duarte, N. HBR guide to persuasive presentations. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business
Review Press, 2012.

Gruseendorf, M. English for presentations. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press,

2011.

Reynolds, G. Presentation zen: simple ideas on presentation design and delivery.

Berkeley, CA: New Riders Pub, 2008.

A presentation is not your written

proposal given verbally!
Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 1
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Presentations are often based on and accompanied by written reports. These reports have
all of the details and supporting evidence clearly documented, with persuasiveness
favoring logic. (These details can be made available in report or handout form after the
presentation, or you can have some very detailed slides to aid in responding to questions
at the end.) Compared to your written proposal, presentations, instead:
 Have more emotional persuasion. Images, color, descriptive language, and
personal stories: all of these trigger emotional responses and are used extensively
in presentations.
 Are shorter. Usually 20-40 minutes. As a result, you have to edit your information,
selecting which points are most important, and for many points, not delving down
to the same level of detail as your report.
 Are often (not always) more conversational and informal in tone compared to
reports.
 Utilize media available like video, animation, music, and movement.

TASK 1: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WRITTEN AND SPOKEN

C O M M U N I C AT I O N
Analyze both of the excerpts and identify which is written and which is spoken. What
would be the major differences between them?

Excerpts 1:
The aim of the purchase is to enhance the efficiency of the current office environment. As
most of the computers are at least 3 years old and above, it could not support most of the
programs that are created by our American counterpart. These programs are crucial as
they are linked directly to the server in America which will enable us to extract the
customer database in the headquarters’ server. In order to facilitate this problem, our
employees are currently using their own laptops which should not be the case. On top of
that, to protect our customers’ personal information, headquarters will be setting up a
system where unauthorized computers would not be able to access the server. Therefore,
we need to purchase new computers which can support the programs.

Excerpts 2:
Well, one main reason why we need to buy new computers is because our computers
cannot run the current programs. Lots of you might not know, but our computers are
already 3 years old and above. So, it cannot support the new programs and thus, it creates
some problems to our staff. Most of us are currently using our laptops to access the
headquarters’ server where the customer’s information are located. The bad news now is

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 2
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

that headquarters are currently setting up a system where unauthorized computers will
not be able to access that information. This is to protect our customer’s personal
information from being wrongfully used. So, we really need the buy new computers that
can run those programs so that we can continue on to access the server from our office.

WRITTEN SPOKEN
Grammar

Vocabulary

Connectors

Basic Unit

PLANNING AND STRUCTURE

The structure for a business presentation varies widely depending on the situation. What
would you do in the situations below?
a. You are teaching the food and beverage department at the hotel where you work
how to use their I-pad to place orders and take credit card payments. What would
you do?
You can probably use some screenshots and do a live demonstration. Perhaps
you’ll have an animated flow chart that walks them through the various steps.
b. You are trying to sell a client your firm’s auditing services. What would you do?
In this case, you’ll probably want to use high impact visuals that emphasize the
key benefits you can bring them.
c. You think that a highly visual, no-bullet point presentation would be the best in a
given presentation but know that no one in your organization uses that style?
What would you do?
Then you may want to strongly consider whether you as the new, junior employee
are in the position to break from tradition. Perhaps you are, but you may want to
consult with your more senior colleagues and supervisor.

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 3
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Notice that there is no one-size-fits-all structure in presentations and therefore, you will
need to determine the best structure for your particular situation.

For a presentation where you are trying to persuade your listeners to adopt a new view,
change a behavior, select your service, or buy your product, your proposal must arouse
the audience’s interest to act or wish to accept the idea. In order to do so, you can follow
these four simple steps by:
1. determining your purpose
2. analyzing your audience
3. stating and supporting your main message
4. urging the audience to take action

In order to be persuasive, we normally use the inverted pyramid structure in our

presentations. This is because the inverted pyramid structure places the most important
information in the front and gives us the flexibility to drop any points at the end without
losing the main message.

Interesting introduction

Main purpose of the presentation

Supporting points to support

your main purpose (e.g.
evidence, statistics,
elaborations, etc)

Conclusion
and take-away
message

Figure 1: Inverted Pyramid Presentation Structure (WTO, 2010)

Other than using the inverted pyramid structure in your presentation, another effective
method is to use Nancy Duarte’s storytelling structure from the Harvard Business
Review Guide to Persuasive Presentations. Like all great stories, it has a beginning,
middle and end. In the beginning, you describe the audience’s world like it is: whatever

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 4
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

problem, unmet need or less than ideal situation they are facing. You then tell them what
could be. You have now set up a conflict and you will use the middle to toggle back
between the current situation and what could be, giving more details as to how it could
happen. At the end, you have a call to action and vividly describe what the reward is for
the listeners. i

Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/10/structure-your-presentation-li/

P L A N N I N G S TA G E
Determining your purpose, analyzing your audience and ascertaining their needs are
important steps that you should take before you start creating an outline for your
persuasive presentation. Below would be some of those questions that will guide you in
understanding more about your audience.

1. What is the main objective of my presentation?

It is important to know your objective(s) as this is the basis of your entire
presentation. Before you start drafting the outline, ask yourself these questions:
o What do I want to accomplish through this proposal?
o At the end of my presentation, what kind of action do I want my audience to
take?
An example of a good objective would be “To increase work efficiency by
refurbishing the office with new computers”. Always remember to keep your
purpose short, simple and focused when you are writing it down and it should
be lesser than 25 words.
Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 5
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Who will be my audience?

Normally, in business presentations, your audience has the authority to act on the
proposal. For that reason, you need to find out more about your audience so that
your proposal would be more effective. To understand your audience, ask yourself
these questions:
o Does my audience have the knowledge in the subject matter of the proposal?
o What are their positions in the company?
o Do they report to anyone else in the company?
o Would there be anyone else that would influence their decision making?

3. What is my audience’s want or need?

In order to win over your audience, you need to present the proposal in such a
way that the listeners will be receptive towards it. To do that, your presentation
must be based on your audience’s point of view and not yours. For example, if you
are presenting the proposal to purchase a new photocopy machine to the Finance
Manager, your presentation should focus on how the new photocopy machine will
help to save cost rather than how it would help to save the environment.
Determining the wants, needs and interests might look easy but it is not. You
normally need to conduct research, read reports or even talk to people in order to
get those data as they are usually not accessible.

4. What do you want the audience to do after listening to your presentation?

With the end in mind, what do you want your audience to do after listening to
your presentation? Do you want them to buy new computers or do you want them
to just upgrade the hardware? DA good example for this questions would be “To
increase the work efficiency, I propose you purchase new computers so that
programs would be able to run faster and both clients and staff will benefit from
such act.”

5. How do you plan to reach that take-away message?

In your presentation, you should review how your proposed plan would work for
the company. Remember, too much information and your audience might be
confused and overwhelmed while too little information will leave your audience
with more questions and doubt. In order to be really persuasive, always think
about what your audience would want to know to make the decision. You can use
the basic questioning techniques of who, what, when, where, why and how to help

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 6
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

you in planning. Since this is a business proposal, always remember to put down
the cost when it is appropriate.

6. What would the end result be?

Write down the benefits that this proposal will bring and remember to ask for
approval as that is the main reason why you are doing the presentation to begin
with. “With the change from Dell XX to Lenovo YY, our new software would be
able to run without lagging and this would then increase the work efficiency by
75%. On top of that, the satisfaction level will also rise as staff would be able to
serve clients better without having to reboot the system all the time. This would
decrease our current customer dissatisfaction by almost half. I hope that you
would be able to approve this proposal upon hearing our presentation.”

C R E AT I N G AN OUTLINE
The two most important parts of your presentation are the introduction and the
conclusion.

Once you have your structure for your presentation, you should make an outline for your
talk. This should not be in full sentences.

Introduction: For the introduction, think: How can I get the audience’s attention and
make them care about what I’m going to talk about? Depending on the context, you may
want to thank whoever invited you for the opportunity to speak; thank the audience for
attending; or introduce your fellow presenters/yourself. (Note this thanking and
introduction are optional.) The key part of your introduction is the Attention Getter: To
motivate the audience to listen, you will need something to command their attention at
the start. This could be:
 a visual (A picture of a 10-block sized dumping ground of toxic electronic parts)
Slide 2 on ppt
 a startling statistic or figure (By using CUHK Groupon over the course of four
years, you could save HK$7,000, enough for a 7 day trip to Phuket.) Slide 3 on ppt
 an emotional appeal (You’ve worked 16 hour days for the last 2 weeks, no days off, with
no end in sight and you realize: one different line of code and all of this overtime could have
been avoided.) Slide 4 on ppt

State the main purpose and preview main supporting points: For your introduction to
be effective, it is worthwhile to state your purpose so that your audience will understand
what your presentation will be. Stating the main purpose will also help the audience to

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 7
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

maintain as much information as they can agree with you as you go along. Preview main
supporting points, on the other hand, introduces the different parts of your presentation
such as in a talk on listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, stating that you will cover the
following four aspects:
 How your company can increase its share price and global market share by listing
on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
 What are the keys to a successful listing
 What are the possible pitfalls
 How we can help you maximize the benefits

Body of the Explanation: If you used a “teaser” introduction you might not have covered
what you are proposing and how you are going to achieve it. But many presentations
start with this in the introduction. For a business proposal, similar to the assignment you
will do later, this will include many of the parts of your written proposal like situation,
methods, qualifications and financial projections, although repackaged in a more-
accessible and condensed version. By using the inverted pyramid structure and audience
analysis, do remember to present with the audience in mind.

Conclusion: For the conclusion, think: What is the one thing I want the audience to take
away from this talk? Here, along with at the beginning, is where you most have the
audience’s attention. You want to end with the one thing you most want them to
remember: your take-away message. On top of the take-away message, it is
recommended to reinstate the purpose of your presentation with a clear summary so that
the audience can react positively towards your proposition.

Question and Answer: Depending on the situation, this could have been happening
during the rest of the presentation. When the audience is larger, question and answer
often happens at the end.

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 8
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

TASK 2A: SAMPLE O U T L I N E O F A P R E S E N TAT I O N I – TED TALK

Following is an example of a presentation we will use throughout the presentation
modules unit: A Ted Talk on How to speak so that people want to listen by Julian
Treasure. Fill in the blanks as you listen to the presentation.
URL:
https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_how_to_speak_so_that_people_want_to_list
en?language=en

I. Introduction:
a. Attention Getter: The human voice: It’s the ______________________
b. Main Purpose: How can one speak powerfully to ___________ change in the
world?
c. Preview of Points: NONE!
II. 7 deadly sins of speaking:
a. _____________ – speaking ill of someone who’s not present
b. _____________ – hard to listen to someone when we know we are being
judged
c. _____________ – hard to listen to someone who is negative
d. _____________ – it is a viral misery
e. _____________ – a blame thrower
f. _____________ – demeans the language
g. _____________ – don’t listen to people we know are lying at us
III. 4 powerful foundations to make a powerful speech:
a. _____________ – being true in what you say, being straight and clear
b. _____________ – being yourself
c. _____________ – being somebody people can trust
d. _____________– wishing people well
IV. The way to make a powerful speech:
a. _____________ – high or deep voice
b. _____________ – the way your voice feels
c. _____________ – the meta-language to impart meaning
d. _____________ – fast or slow
e. _____________ – high or low
f. _____________ – loud or soft
V. Conclusion:
a. Summary: Noise + Bad _____________
b. Restate the main purpose: _____________ speaking -> __________ listening

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 9
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

c. Take-home message: That would be a world that does _____________, and

one where understanding would be the norm, and that is an idea worth
spreading.

* You will notice that the sequence is interchangeable and you don’t have to follow it
rigidly. However, it is highly recommended that you follow the format as it will guide
your audience in following and understanding your presentation with ease.

TASK 2B: SAMPLE O U T L I N E O F A P R E S E N TAT I O N II – STUDENTS’

P R E S E N TAT I O N
Now listen to 4 students presenting about a Peer Tutoring Programme at Shatin Anglican
Church. By using the same format, create an outline for them.

I. Introduction:
a. Attention Getter: _______________________________________________
b. Main Purpose: _______________________________________________
c. Preview of Points: _______________________________________________

II. Background:
a. _______________________________________________
b. _______________________________________________
c. _______________________________________________
d. _______________________________________________

III. Objectives:
a. _____________
b. _____________

IV. Implementation
a. ________________________
b. ________________________
c. ________________________
d. ________________________
e. ________________________
f. ________________________

V. Qualifications
a. ________________________
b. ________________________

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 10
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

VI. Budget

VII. Benefits
a. ________________________
b. ________________________
c. ________________________

VIII. Sustainability
a. ________________________
b. ________________________
c. ________________________

TASK 3: O U T L I N E O F A P R E S E N TAT I O N – YOUR VERSION

Your outline should be written out in phrases and words: not full sentences like a speech
script for you to memorize. Answer the questions below with your group and also discuss
with them what the broad outline of your presentation might look like by filling in the
outline below.

P L A N N I N G S TA G E
1. What is the main objective of our presentation?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. Who will be my audience?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. What is my audience’s want or need?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

4. What do you want the audience to do at the end of your speech?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 11
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

5. How do you plan to reach that take-away message?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

6. What would the end result be?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Creating an Outline:

I. Introduction
a. Attention getter:
b. Main purpose:
c. Preview of the main points:
i.
ii.
iii.

II. Body:
a.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
b.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
c.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
d.
i.
ii.
iii.

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 12
ELTU2012 Business Communication I
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

III. Conclusion:
a. Summary:
b. Restate the main purpose:
c. Take-home message:

IV. Question and Answer (to be done later)

ENDNOTES

Module 4a: Business Presentations: Planning and Structure (Student Version) updated July 2017 13