Assignment -
PREPARING AN ORAL PRESENTATION
During the course of your business career it is very likely that you will be called upon to prepare and give a number of oral presentations. For this reason, I am assigning a case for oral presentation to the whole class. Such assignments give you an opportunity to hone your presentation skills. The preparation of an oral presentation has much in common with that of our class case discussions. Both require identification of the strategic issues and problems confronting the company, analysis of industry conditions and the company's situation, and the development of a thorough, well-thought out action plan.
The substance of your analysis and quality of your recommendations in an oral presentation should be no different than what you have already accomplished. You'll need to demonstrate command of the relevant strategic concepts and tools of analysis and your recommendations should contain sufficient detail to provide clear direction for management. The main difference between an oral presentation and a class discussion is in the delivery format.
Oral presentations rely principally on verbalizing your diagnosis, analysis, and recommendations and visually enhancing and supporting your oral discussion with colorful, snappy slides (yes I said snappy). Your oral presentation is a group assignment. I will provide the details of the assignment-how work should be delegated among the group members and how the presentation should be conducted. I prefer that presentations begin with issue identification, followed by analysis of the industry and company situation analysis, and conclude with a recommended action plan to improve company performance.
You should take great care in preparing for the presentation. A good set of slides with good content and good visual appeal is essential to a first-rate presentation. Take some care to choose a nice slide design, font size and style, and color scheme.
Suggest including slides covering each of the following areas:
An opening slide covering the "title" of the presentation and names of the presenters.
A slide showing an outline of the presentation (perhaps with presenters' names by each topic).
One or more slides showing the key problems and strategic issues that management needs to address.
A series of slides covering your analysis of the company's situation.
A series of slides containing your recommendations and the supporting arguments and reasoning for each recommendation-one slide for each recommendation and the associated reasoning has a lot of merit. You and your team members should carefully plan and rehearse your presentation to maximize impact and minimize distractions.
The presentation should include items necessary to garner the attention of the audience, but not so much that it distracts from the content of what group members are saying to the class. You should remember that the role of slides are to help you communicate your points to the audience. Too many graphics, images, colors, and transitions may divert the audience's attention from what is being said or disrupt the flow of the presentation. Keep in mind that visually slides rarely hide a shallow or superficial or otherwise flawed case analysis from a perceptive audience. Most instructors will tell you that first-rate slides will definitely enhance a well-delivered presentation but that impressive visual aids, if accompanied by weak analysis and poor oral delivery, still adds up to a substandard presentation. Best of Luck.