Languages Discipline, Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education

Lesson 1: Persuasive Presentations Overview (1)

Learning Objectives: By the end of this lesson, you should be able to: recognise the purposes of workplace presentations; identify the persuasive messages in different workplace presentations; recognise the structure of a presentation; use appropriate signposting expressions in a presentation; and adopt an appropriate language style for oral presentations.

Persuasion occurs every time you send a message that affects peoples attitudes, beliefs or behaviour. As a designer, you often need to sell your design or design ideas to clients, other designers, colleagues or supervisors. So, being able to present persuasively is a valuable career asset. In this module, you are going to learn the essential skills for oral presentation in the workplace. In particular, you will practise the techniques required for persuading your audience so as to achieve the purpose of your presentation. Task 1 Warm-up

Discuss with a partner and list all the presentations which you have attended in IVE.

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Task 2

Purposes of workplace presentations

Setting a clear objective of your presentation will help you determine the appropriate style, content and structure of your presentation. Also, if you do not know what you want to achieve, your audience will not know it either. Task 2a Listen to the extracts of three presentations. Identify the occasion and describe the purpose of each presentation in the table below. After-dinner speech Occasion 1 New staff orientation Purpose Presentation on interior design

Like written messages, many presentations have more than one purpose and the purposes are often interrelated. The following are the three main purposes of presentations: An informative presentation shares information with the audience to enhance their knowledge or understanding of the information, concepts and ideas. When you inform your audience, you will need to explain, illustrate, clarify or elaborate on your topic. An informative presentation is considered effective if you can enhance your audiences understanding, maintain their interests and ensure that they can remember what was said.

A persuasive presentation motivates the audience to act or to believe. When you persuade your audience, on top of the skills you use to inform, you may also need to argue, evaluate, build credibility, present supporting evidence and appeal to your audiences emotions. A persuasive presentation is considered successful if your audience takes the action(s) you suggest or believe in the idea(s) you promote.

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An informative or a persuasive presentation often has a secondary purpose--- building goodwill. You may seize the opportunity to maintain or enhance the relationship between you (or your organisation) and the audience when you see the audience face-to-face. You may win goodwill and reputation by building your credibility, making compliments or entertaining your audience in your presentation.

Task 2b Look at the presentations you listed in Task 1. What are the purposes of these presentations?

Most presentations have persuasive elements!

Task 3

Persuasive messages in presentations

Persuasive communication has become increasingly important as it can help a company/an organisation to achieve many different goals. There are many different persuasive messages in presentations. Besides selling a product/service, you may also recommend a solution/an improvement or promote a policy/measure.

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Task 3a Watch the videos of different persuasive presentations and identify the persuasive message(s) which each presenter wants to convey to the audience. e.g. Press conference by Leung Chun-ying after the Chief Executive Election

Persuasive messages:
To reassure Hong Kong citizens about the commitment of his political team and civil servants To persuade citizens to trust and support the government
Source: http://www.news.gov.hk/en/categories/ admin/html/2012/03/20120325_105540.shtml

1) Report on customer survey

Persuasive message:

Source: http://australianetwork.com/business English/stories/ep09.htm

2) Presentation of the iPad

Persuasive message:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBhYxj2SvRI

3) Presentation on having less stuff in peoples homes

Persuasive message:

Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hill _less_stuff_more_happiness.html

4) Presentation design

about

kitchen

Persuasive message:

Source: http://www.homestyler.com/video

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Task 3b Analyse the situations below and decide what the possible persuasive message(s) could be in each of them. In pairs, report your ideas to your partner.

a) Presentation of the new solar-powered water heaters to your clients

d) Presentation of the proposal of your product design project to your supervisors

b) Presentation of the introduction of a staff bonus scheme to the employees of your company e) Presentation of your final year project to your teachers and fellow students

c) Presentation of a report about the large amount of waste produced due to home and office renovation, with suggestions on improvement, to large corporations and enterprises.

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Task 4

Structure of a presentation

There are many ways to structure a presentation, depending on the purpose, style and the content of your presentation. However, most presentations adopt the basic structure shown below:

(I)

Introduction Gain attention of the audience Involve the audience Establish your credibility Preview the main points

Throughout the whole presentation:

(II) Body
Illustrate and explain the main points (usually 3 to 5 points) and sub-points

Express compliments
and persuasion You can thank the audience for attending your presentation, supporting your company/ organisation, responding

(III) Conclusion
Summarise the main points Call for action

to your presentation or asking questions. You can also apply different strategies to persuade your audience any time in your presentation.

(IV) Question and Answer Session (Optional)

Answer questions from the audience

Task 4a Discuss with a partner. Which part of a presentation would you develop first when preparing for the presentation? Why?

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Task 4b Listen to the audio clips and fill in the gaps in the following extracts. Put down the number of the part (I-Introduction, II-Body, III-Conclusion or IV-Q&A Session) in the presentation which each extract should be used. Extract (1-8) (1) _______________________________ here today to witness the launch of our new product. (2) Now, as you have a better idea about the theme of our design, _______________________________________ is about the unique feature of this brand new model. (3) Thats a _______________________ and _________________ raising it. (4) So believe it or not, having less stuff is actually going to give you more happiness. Less may actually equal more. _______________________ and see how your life can be edited by having less stuff.___________________. (5) So, ________________, there are three simple but important steps for you to take: reduce, reuse and recycle. You can save our planet. _______________________! (6) In my presentation today, __________________________ design ideas can help make peoples life better. _______________________ I must say I really appreciate my teams efforts in coming up with this brilliant idea. So, first of all, what kind of differences in peoples lives are we making here? (7) Okay, ____________________________. Whats so special about our design proposal? Why would anybody be willing to invest in such a project? (8) So, ___________________________ why we are having this major change in our theme at this stage, but not earlier? Well, the reason is simple Part

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Task 4c

Structural patterns of the body of the presentation

You need to choose a pattern to organise the points in the body of your presentation. Choosing the right pattern for your main ideas can allow your audience to focus on a particular aspect of your topic which is important. Study the notes below about different structural patterns.

Structural patterns of a presentation

1) Chronology addressing the events in time either from present to past or from past to present. For example, you can inform your audience about the history of development of your company; or you can explain to your audience about the making of a product. 2) Importance arranging the ideas according to the order of importance, putting the most important idea first. For example, you can promote a product to your audience by introducing the most impressive feature first. 3) Comparison/contrast (pro/con) comparing and contrasting two or more ideas. For example, you can sell/promote your idea/product/service by showing how yours is better than others. 4) Problem/solution describing the problems and then the solutions. For example, you can first identify the errors in a design, give reasons for them and suggest a way to rectify the errors.

Look at the cases in Task 3b again. Which pattern should each of them adopt? How? Presentation a) The new solar-powered water heater Pattern (1-4)

b) The introduction of a staff bonus scheme

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Presentation c) The report about waste produced due to home and office renovation and suggestions for improvement d) The proposal of your product design project e) Your final year project

Pattern (1-4)

Task 4d Highlight the words/phrases in the extracts in Task 4b which the presenters used to express compliments. Can you put down other phrases of compliments which can be used in a presentation?

Task 5

Use of signposts

In a presentation, no matter how well you organise your points, it is crucial that you use adequate signposts to guide your audience and keep them on track. Task 5a There can be three general usages of signposts. With a partner, take turns to read aloud the following expressions to each other. 1) Previewing (Use this in the introduction, or the beginning of a main point, to have your audience prepared for the message(s) coming up next)

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In the next part, Im going to tell you three reasons why we are introducing this new scheme.

Let me show you our new self-driven car. Firstly, were going to talk aboutThen you will learn aboutFinally, well turn to

2) Switching directions (Use this when you have finished one idea and would like to move on to the next one) Ive talked about how to obtain useful information about the fashion trend, lets move on and find out how fashion designers can make use of the information collected. In addition to compact size, users will also want a device that is light to carry around. Now that weve discussed the articulation pathway of an Engineering student, were ready for the prospect of becoming an engineer. 3) Summarising (Use this at the end of a short presentation, or occasionally in a longer presentation) So, you can see the three unique features of this device. It is extremely handy, easy to use and water-proof. Let me summarise/review the three major problems. To sum up, there are four advantages for our company if you give a green light to this proposal. Task 5b Work in groups of 4. Choose a topic below to present to your group. Use the above expressions to preview, switch directions and summarise your ideas. 1) Persuade your group to join your favourite sport/take up your favourite hobby. Introduction: What is this sport/hobby? Body: Why should they join it/take it up? Conclusion: Urge them to take action. 2) Persuade your group to use a phone/a software/an app that you like. Introduction: What is the item? Body: Why should they use it? Conclusion: Urge them to use it. Lesson 1 LAN4108 E&C: Persuasive Presentations (EG) Student Package Page 10 of 13

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Task 6

Presentation Essentials

Written vs Spoken Presentation

The style of language use in a spoken presentation is different from that in a written presentation. For written messages, a reader can choose to go back and read again the parts which are complicated or difficult to understand. But spoken presentation is a kind of face-to-face interaction. The audience has only a moment to process the messages you convey. Therefore, the language you use in a spoken presentation should allow you to build rapport quickly with your audience and convey your messages as clearly as possible in a relatively short time span. You can use a more personal, less formal style and be more repetitive when delivering your presentation. Tick the following features which are common for the style which you should adopt in a spoken presentation:

A more personal style [ [ ] first/second person pronouns (I, you, we) ] third person pronouns (it) [ [ ] passive voice ] active voice

Impersonal: It should be agreed that products that are sustainable and produce smaller footprints should be designed. Personal: You will agree with me that we should design products that are sustainable and produce smaller footprints. 1) Rewrite the following sentence using a personal style: Impersonal: It is well-known to many people that the existing product design software developed by our company is rather complicated and not quite user-friendly. Personal: ______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

A less formal style [ ] longer, complex sentences [ ] shorter, simple sentences

[ [

] contractions ] full forms

[ ] questions [ ] statements

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More formal: This Chargepoint mobile application is a proximity service app which helps electric vehicle (EV) drivers find and reserve time slots at nearby charging stations by mapping available stations near a specified address, providing turn-by-turn driving directions and allowing users to secure, modify and cancel reservations. Less formal: With this Chargepoint mobile application, EV drivers can enjoy proximity service. They can find and reserve time slots at nearby charging stations. The app is also able to map available stations near a specified address and provide turn-by-turn driving directions. Users are also allowed to secure, modify and cancel reservations. Isnt it great? 2) Rewrite the following sentence using a less formal style: More formal: Apart from providing users with direct access to their social network accounts including Facebook and Twitter, this free app also improves EV mobility with its ability to help drivers connect to the resources they require in any location including making charging station reservations and payments, finding location information and storing data from past charging experiences for later retrieval. Less formal: ___________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Repetitions in oral presentation In which part of the presentation can you repeat your ideas? (Please tick) [ ] Introduction [ ] body [ ] conclusion

Note: The level of formality varies according to the nature of presentation and the

audience (i.e. it is more formal when you are presenting to a larger group of audience or to a group of audience higher up in the hierarchy). In the workplace, presentations are mostly semi-formal or formal. Longer, more complex structures in oral presentations are sometimes necessary and cannot be avoided if the idea you are presenting is complicated. But you should bear in mind that a presentation full of nominalisations and long-winded sentences is very difficult for the audience to follow. In an oral presentation, you can preview your main ideas in your introduction, develop your ideas in the body and summarise the main ideas in your conclusion. Even when you are developing an idea in the middle of your presentation, sometimes it is necessary to state it first, restate it in a different way, give an example, and finally, summarise it.

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USEFUL EXPRESSIONS 1. 2. 4. Making compliments Thank you for coming here today. I really appreciate that. I would like to congratulate you on Its nice/great to Previewing ideas In the next part, Im going to Let me show you Firstly, were going toThen/SecondlyFinally Ive talked aboutlets move on to Now that weve discussed, were ready for Summarising So, you can see there are in total. Let me summarise/review/go over again

3. Switching directions

USEFUL VOCABULARY Words/Phrases 1 2 3 4 ap-peal to com-pli-ment (n) con-scious foot-print Meaning to ask for aid, support, mercy or sympathy an expression of praise, commendation, or admiration fully aware of or sensitive to something a mark made by a human or animal foot, or the amount of land, energy, water etc. that a person or organisation uses in order to exist or operate 5 6 im-pact im-pres-sive a powerful effect that something, especially something new, has on a situation or person If an object or achievement is impressive, you admire or respect it, usually because it is special, important or very large 7 8 9 10 11 o-ri-en-ta-tion rap-port re-as-sure scheme u-nique an introduction, as to guide one in adjusting to new surroundings or situations relation; connection, especially harmonious or sympathetic relation to comfort someone and stop them from worrying an officially organised plan or system being the only existing one of its type or, more generally, unusual or special in some way

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