12-4c. Building Your Business Presentation

After considering design principles and their effects, you are ready to start putting together your

presentation. In this section you will learn how to organize and compose your presentation, which

templates to choose, and how to edit, proofread, and evaluate your work.

Organizing Your Presentation

When you prepare your presentation, translate the major headings in your outline into titles for

slides. Then build bullet points using short phrases. In Chapter 4 you learned to improve readability

by using graphic highlighting techniques, including bullets, numbers, and headings. In preparing a

PowerPoint, SlideRocket, or Prezi presentation, you will use those same techniques.

The slides (or canvas) you create to accompany your spoken ideas can be organized with visual

elements that will help your audience understand and remember what you want to communicate.

Let’s say, for example, that you have three points in your presentation. You can create a blueprint

slide that captures the three points in a visually appealing way, and then you can use that slide

several times throughout your presentation. Near the beginning, the blueprint slide provides an

overview of your points. Later, it provides transitions as you move from point to point. For

transitions, you can direct your audience’s attention by highlighting the next point you will be talking

about. Finally, the blueprint slide can be used near the end to provide a review of your key points.

Composing Your Presentation

During the composition stage, many users fall into the trap of excessive formatting and

programming. They fritter away precious time fine-tuning their slides or canvas and don’t spend

enough time on what they are going to say and how they will say it. To avoid this trap, set a limit for

Book Title: eTextbook: Essentials of Business Communication 12-4. Preparing Engaging Multimedia Presentations 12-4c. Building Your Business Presentation

how much time you will spend making your slides or canvas visually appealing. Your time limit will

be based on how many “bells and whistles”

a. your audience expects and

b. your content requires to make it understandable.

Not every point nor every thought requires a visual. In fact, it’s smart to switch off the presentation

occasionally and direct the focus to yourself. Darkening the screen while you discuss a point, tell a

story, give an example, or involve the audience will add variety to your presentation.

Create a slide or canvas only if it accomplishes at least one of the following purposes:

Generates interest in what you are saying and helps the audience follow your ideas

Highlights points you want your audience to remember

Introduces or reviews your key points

Provides a transition from one major point to the next

Illustrates and simplifies complex ideas

Consider perusing the Help articles built into your presentation software or purchasing one of many

inexpensive guides to electronic slide presentations. Your presentations will be more appealing and

you will save time if you know, for example, how to design with master slides and how to create

your own templates.

Working With Templates

All presentation programs require you to

a. select or create a template that will serve as the background for your presentation and

b. make each slide by selecting a layout that best conveys your message.

Novice and even advanced users often choose existing templates because they are designed by

professionals who know how to combine harmonious colors, borders, bullet styles, and fonts for

pleasing visual effects. If you prefer, you can alter existing templates so they better suit your needs.

Adding a corporate logo, adjusting the color scheme to better match the colors used on your

organization’s website, or selecting a different font are just some of the ways you can customize

existing templates. One big advantage of templates is that they get you started quickly.

Be careful, though, of what one expert has labeled “visual clichés.”* Overused templates and clip art that come preinstalled with PowerPoint, SlideRocket, and Prezi can weary viewers who have

seen them repeatedly in presentations. Instead of using a standard template, search for

PowerPoint template, SlideRocket template, or Prezi template in your favorite search tool. You will

see hundreds of templates available as free downloads. Unless your employer requires that

presentations all have the same look, your audience will appreciate fresh templates that

complement the purpose of your presentation and provide visual variety.

Revising and Proofreading Your Presentation

Use the PowerPoint view to rearrange, insert, and delete slides during the revision

process. You can use the Prezi editor to make any necessary changes to your canvas. This is the

time to focus on making your presentation as clear and concise as possible. If you are listing items,

be sure they all use parallel grammatical form. Figure 12.10 shows how to revise a PowerPoint

slide to improve it for conciseness, parallelism, and other features. Study the design tips described

in the first slide, and determine which suggestions their author did not follow. Then compare it with

the revised slide.

slide sorter

Figure 12.10.

Designing More Effective Slides

The slide on the left uses a difficult-to-read font style. In addition, the slide includes too many words per bullet and violates most of the slide-making rules it covers. After revision, the slide on the right provides a pleasing color combination, uses short bullet points in a readable font style, and creates an attractive list using PowerPoint SmartArt features.

As you are revising, check carefully to find spelling, grammar, punctuation, and other errors. Use

the PowerPoint, SlideRocket, or Prezi spell-check feature, but don’t rely on it solely. Careful

proofing, preferably from a printed copy of the slideshow, is a must. Nothing is as embarrassing as

projecting errors on a huge screen in front of an audience. Also, check for consistency in how you

capitalize and punctuate points throughout the presentation.

Evaluating Your Presentation

Finally, critically evaluate your slideshow. Is your message presented in a visually appealing way?

Have you tested your slides on the equipment and in the room you will be using during your

presentation? Do the colors you selected work in this new setting? Are the fonts readable from the

back of the room in terms of styles and sizes? Figure 12.11 shows examples of PowerPoint slides

that incorporate what you have learned in this discussion.

Figure 12.11.

PowerPoint Slides That Illustrate Multimedia Presentations

iadams/Fotolia LLC; denis_pc/Fotolia LLC; leremy/Fotolia LLC; Source: Microsoft; Kyoko/Fotolia LLC

The dark purple background and the matching hues in the slideshow shown in Figure 12.11 are

standard choices for many business presentations. With an unobtrusive dark background, white

fonts are a good option for maximum contrast and, hence, readability. The creator of the

presentation varied the slide design to break the monotony of bulleted or numbered lists. Images

and animated diagrams add interest and zing to the slides.

Some presenters allow their PowerPoint slides, SlideRocket slides, or Prezi canvases to steal their

thunder. Advertising mogul David Ogilvy once observed, “Most people use PowerPoint like a drunk

uses a lamppost—for support rather than for illumination.”* Although multimedia presentations can supply terrific sizzle, they cannot replace the steak. In developing a presentation, don’t expect your

slides to carry the show. You can avoid being upstaged by not relying totally on your slides or

canvas. Remember that you are still the main attraction!

Business Communications – BUS 152

Presentation Slides and Overview

Please review the doc listed above to see what some of the possible options are for you to create a PPT presentation for this course. You need to submit the request and the topic and these will be handled on a first come, first serve basis. I prefer that two students do not create a PPT presentation on the exact same topic. We will share these PPT's during the final week's in a Discussion Forum. YOU will not be presenting this PPT in our on-line class, just posting it on Canvas...submit your topic if possible by November 12, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. PST. Choice of presentation is on a first come, first serve basis. I permit two students at the most to present the exact same topic. Otherwise, you will need to select another presentation topic.

Thanks.

Linda

=========================================================

CREATING A WINNING PPT PRESENTATION

BUS 152 – POWERPOINT OR ANOTHER MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATION

PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS (5% or 5 points)

One of the course requirements for Bus 152 is for each student to create a visual presentation during this on line class. What follows is a summary of the basic requirements for the presentation only. You are not expected to present this topic in class. I would like a professional and written (slides via PowerPoint or Prezi software) (Chapter 12, which specifically covers oral presentation suggestions and strategies, and a quick and easy handbook will be provided in the Presentation Assignment section with the first couple of weeks to help you and be your guide).

CREATING A WINNING PPT PRESENTATION

DATES & TOPICS

The presentations will NOT be given in class. A list of topics for your presentation will be discussed during the first two weeks. You can begin this exploration of a topic by reviewing a copy of a short list which appears in your textbook in what is designated as Activity # 12.14 on pages 390-391, or in what is designated as Activity No. 12.09 on page 389. Or you can select any topic from the Table of Contents that relates to Business Communications.

We will sign up during the first two weeks and please note that no more than two students will be permitted to present on the same topic. If there are duplicate requests, the professor will discuss with the two students. Sign up is first come and first serve.

LENGTH OF PRESENTATIONS

Plan to make your presentation to cover at the most an approximate three to- five-minute presentation. Please ensure that you PPT is no longer than 8 slides. You will be expected to respond and/or to answer a few comments about your PPT during the Discussion Forum (toward the end of the course). These presentations will become the basis for our last discussion post in Week Eight. Due date is Sunday, December 5, 2021, by 11:59 p.m. PST I think this will be a great way to review and gain more insights in the class about business communications too!

Feel free to use any form of visual aid that you believe is appropriate, including PowerPoint, the classroom board, written outlines or other written handouts, and/or the internet. Most of the tools you have within the Microsoft Office package and you can work with other software; however, this must be a presentation that can be viewed via Canvas.

The presentation is worth a maximum of 100 points, with a weighing of 5% toward your overall grade. 

CREATING A WINNING PPT PRESENTATION

EVALUATION CRITERIA

A sample evaluation sheet, which specifically sets forth the criteria on which you will be evaluated for this project, is located under the Assignments section for Presentation Assignment.  You will be evaluated based on a variety of criteria, including content, clarity, organization, preparation, knowledge of the subject matter, presentation skills format, design of the presentation, use of visual aids, and quality of the written material in the presentation. This is not a verbal presentation.  You are using the tools to create a presentation.

FINAL COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS

This assignment is an opportunity to gain insights about how to use software as PowerPoint or Prezi and offer a simple, concise and designed presentation. You are not required to submit an actual audio or video of this presentation. Chapter 12 will be most helpful to you to look at the design of the Presentation and use all the tools that we are learning in this class: clarity, flow and structure.

QUESTIONS

Please feel free to reach out to me for support and also I can offer suggestions.

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