Oral Presentations, Social Media Announcements, and TED Talk-Style Presentations
Objectives
The objectives for the Course Project is to provide students the opportunity to apply business-oriented communication skills and to develop an integrated business strategy for a fictional company. This activity will make the course come alive through the application of the principles from the textbook, course materials, and discussions.
Deliverables
The Course Project is worth 490 points (49%) to be distributed as follows.
Week 3: Benefits Oral Presentation (70 points, 7%)
Week 4: Drawbacks Oral Presentation (70 points, 7%)
Week 8: TED Talk-Style Presentation Video (250 points, 25%)
Guidelines
- Persuade a business audience to accept your ideas.
- Create logical, well supported arguments by linking evidence to your claims.
- Develop an organizational structure that is easy to understand and follow.
- Adapt your ideas to a specific audience. Anticipate and address their concerns.
- Adjust your messages for communication mediums: an oral presentation, a written announcement, or a recorded live presentation.
- Use APA guidelines.
Throughout this course, we will work on a culmination project that will be broken into multiple week’s worth of work that refines your business communication skills. Although a deliverable is not due each week, you will determine your stance on a company dilemma and defend it through multiple scenarios.
Dilemma: You are the vice president of Robin Haggart Consulting, a fictitious fortune 500 company. We are current day after battling an internationally crippling pandemic that forced companies to move to a virtual work environment. After working closely with the chief financial officer and reviewing the organization’s bottom line, you realize the move to a virtual organization was beneficial in some aspects. Although the company initially struggled to work remotely, the company saved millions over the course of the year where overhead was significantly reduced.
The world is beginning to go back to normal as the pandemic subsides. At this point, you are faced with the decision to either (a) remain partially virtual and close to 50% of Robin Haggart’s brick and mortar assets or (b) return to prepandemic business where 100% of operations are completely in person.
As the vice president, you must choose a standpoint to present to the president and the board. Your board has been known to be extremely critical of information that does not have substantial support. In other words, just saying one choice is better will not be enough and contract renewals are around the corner. The choice you make and the manner in which it is presented will greatly influence your future with the company as well as the reputation you hold as an effective leader.
You may use your creative imagination to determine the type of consulting Robin Haggart Consulting provides. Brainstorm and propose ideas that will support your recommendation, such as operational efficiencies, save money, increase revenue or market share, improve guest satisfaction, increase social responsibility, and enhance brand image.
Expect resistance and garner enough evidence to persuade your audience to implement your ideas. You will need to include external research to support your claims.
- In Week 3, the oral presentation should convince Robin Haggart’s executive management that your choice is optimal given today’s economic environment and the forecasted trends in consulting.
- In Week 4, you will develop an oral presentation detailing the drawbacks of your choice because your final project should be well rounded and you must inform the board of all angles for your decision.
- In Week 7, you will have the opportunity to get the advantage of using your choice of social media platforms where you will launch a campaign delivering the company’s decision to stakeholders. This will need to be attention grabbing and utilize trends in social media that minimize scrutiny.
- In Week 8, finally, you will culminate the decision with a TED Talk-Style Presentation Video to be given to shareholders highlighting the information you have gathered over the course of this class.
Keep in mind, throughout the weekly discussions, you will post the previous week assignments and defend your stance while being critical of others. You will practice your business communication skills as you use logic, evidence, and sheer knowledge to communicate with the naysayers of your decision.
