Chapter Sixteen

1
Chapter Sixteen

• Small Group, Business, and Professional
  Presentations

2
Chapter Sixteen

• Table of Contents
• Communicating in Groups
• Making Decisions in Groups
• Making Presentations in Groups
• Business and Professional Presentations
• Delivering the Presentation

3
Chapter Sixteen

• Presentational speaking
• Reports delivered by individuals or groups within
  the business or professional setting

4
Communicating In Groups

• Clear communication is vital to working
  cooperatively in groups
  
• The quality of a groups product is often
  determined by the competence that each person
  brings to a task

5
Communicating In GroupsEffective Group
Participants

• Being an effective group participant requires
  keeping sight of the groups goals and avoiding
  behavior that detracts from them

6
Communicating In GroupsEffective Group
Participants

• Eyes on the prize
• As a group member, your overriding responsibility
  is to help achieve the groups goals
  
• Fight the good fight
• The best decisions are usually those that emerge
  from productive conflict
  
• Productive conflict helps clarify ideas, present
  counter-examples, and consider worst case
  scenarios

7
Communicating In GroupsEffective Group
Participants

• Productive conflict is issue-based rather than
  personal-based
  
• Personal-based conflict
• Conflict in which group members argue about each
  other rather than with each other
  
• Issues-based conflict
• Productive conflict in which group members
  critically debate issues on their merits

8
Communicating In GroupsEffective Group
Participants

• Avoid groupthink
• Groupthink is the tendency to accept information
  and ideas without critical analysis results from
  strong feelings of loyalty and unity within a
  group
• Avoid groupthink by engaging in productive
  conflict

9
Communicating In GroupsEffective Group
Participants

• Adopt constructive group roles
• Task roles
• Group members roles related directly to the
  accomplishment of the objectives and mission of
  the group
  
• Interpersonal roles
• Group members relational roles that facilitate
  group interaction

10
Communicating In GroupsEffective Group
Participants

• Avoid assuming close up counter productive
  roles
  
• Counterproductive roles
• Negative interpersonal roles which focus solely
  on individual needs, which are usually irrelevant
  to the task

11
Communicating In GroupsLeading a Group

• Capable leadership is critical to the success of
  any group
  
• One of the primary responsibilities of the leader
  is to set goals and ensure that they have been
  met

12
Communicating In GroupsLeading a Group

• Set goals
• Each member of a group should be able to answer
  these questions
  
• For what purpose does the group exist?
• Do all group members understand and accept the
  goals?
  
• How close is the group to achieving this
  purpose?
  
• How well are the activities or functions of the
  group aligned with these goals?

13
Communicating In GroupsLeading a Group

• Set goals by using the following steps
• Identify the problem
• Map out a strategy
• Set a performance goal
• Identify the resources necessary to achieve the
  goal
  
• Recognize contingencies that may arise
• Obtain feedback

14
Communicating In GroupsLeading a Group

• Encourage active participation
• Group members may not want to participate for the
  following reasons
  
• Apprehension
• Lack of self-esteem
• Dominance
• Status differences

15
Communicating In GroupsLeading a Group

• Leaders can make use of several techniques to
  encourage participation
  
• Directly ask members to contribute
• Redirect the discussion
• Set a positive tone

16
Making Decisions In Groups

• Effective groups engage in a deliberate process
  resulting in decisions that all participants
  understand and to which they are committed

17
Making Decisions In Groups

• Group decision-making is best accomplished
  through a six-step process based on the work of
  John Dewey
  
• Identifying the problem
• Conducting research and analysis
• Establishing guidelines and criteria
• Generating solutions
• Selecting the best solution
• Evaluating the chosen solution

18
Making Decisions In GroupsIdentifying the
Problem

• This step involves gaining a thorough
  understanding of the issue at hand
  
• Each participant should share his or her
  perception of the problem with the group and
  briefly state what he or she thinks it is all
  about

19
Making Decisions In GroupsResearch and Analysis

• The group may need to research an issue for
  several reasons
  
• To close gaps in information necessary to analyze
  the problem properly
  
• To clarify or resolve two or more inconsistent
  views or positions expressed by participants
  
• To investigate past solutions to similar problems

20
Making Decisions In GroupsGuidelines and
Criteria

• Group participants should establish criteria by
  which any solution they propose will be judged
  
• Establishing guidelines and criteria is an
  interactive process that should end in consensus

21
Making Decisions In GroupsGenerating Solutions

• This step involves a brainstorming session in
  which every member contributes as many desirable
  solutions as they possibly can
  
• No debate and discussion of the merits of the
  proposal should occur during this stage of the
  decision-making process

22
Making Decisions In GroupsSelecting the Best
Solution

• Once potential solutions have been generated, the
  group can begin to weigh the relative merits of
  each against the criteria agreed on earlier
  
• Select the solution that best meets the criteria
  set forth

23
Making Decisions In GroupsEvaluating the
Solution

• The final step involves evaluating the groups
  solution
  
• Part of evaluating the solution involves
  re-evaluating the criteria and guidelines against
  which the solution was measured

24
Presentations in Groups

• Group presentations are similar to presentations
  done individually
  
• In a group presentation, some or all of the
  members divide the tasks that would ordinarily be
  done by one person

25
Presentations in GroupsAssigning Tasks

• Together with the group leader, members must
  decide who will do which tasks

26
Presentations in GroupsThe Moderators Role

• Symposiums and panels require the presence of a
  moderator, who ensures everyone knows their
  speaking responsibilities.
  
• Symposium
• A formal meeting at which several speakers
  deliver short speeches on related topics
  
• Panel
• A group of persons who discuss a topic in the
  presence of an audience

27
Presentations in Groups Consistency of Delivery

• Inconsistencies between the presenters delivery
  styles spell failure for group presentations
  
• Focus on the purpose and nature of the
  presentation while isolating the proper delivery
  style
  

28
Professional Presentations

• Beyond the panel and symposium, there are many
  other forums in which groups deliver their
  findings

29
Professional PresentationsPublic vs.
Presentational

• There are clear differences between a speech
  given to the public, and a presentation delivered
  in a professional setting
  
• The audience for a presentation can be as small
  as three people
  
• Presentational speaking is less formal than
  public speaking

30
Professional PresentationsPublic vs.
Presentational

• Further differences between presentational and
  public speaking
  
• Topic selection
• Audience composition
• Audience participation
• Speaker expertise

31
Types of Presentations

• There are five common types of business and
  professional presentations
  
• Sales presentations
• Technical reports
• Progress reports
• Staff reports
• Investigative reports

32
Types of Presentations

• Sales presentations
• A presentation that attempts to lead a potential
  buyer to purchase a service or product
  
• Technical report
• A report that gives detailed information about a
  procedure or device

33
Types of Presentations

• Staff reports
• A report that informs managers and other
  employees of new developments that affect them
  and their work
  
• Progress reports
• A report that updates clients or principals on
  developments in an ongoing project

34
Types of Presentations

• Investigative reports
• A report of a study of a problem that includes
  recommendations, usually conducted by an outside
  agent
  

35
Delivering the Presentation

• The range of delivery styles may be broader for
  presentations than for speeches
  

36
Delivering the Presentation

• Informational style of delivery
• A delivery style that is precise, disciplined,
  focused, clear, logical, and well organized
  
• Instructional style of delivery
• A delivery style that is stimulating, engaging,
  consequential, decisive, and action oriented

37
Delivering the Presentation

• Relational style of delivery
• A delivery style that is open, candid, honest,
  believable, and trustworthy
  
• Transformational style of delivery
• A delivery style that is emphatic, powerful,
  insightful, expansive, and visionary