Tui Bus Comm

Module 2 – CASE

BUS303 - Business Communication

Frank Wyatt

I had one of my co-workers critique me on my presentation. The first thing that happened was that I

couldn’t get through any of the first few slides. My critic was inundating me with questions about

the information on the slide. He wanted to know who TeknoSport was. He wanted to know what

products they sold. He wanted to know what the purpose for this presentation was. Although I

explained that I was making an argument to continue to invest in the training program, he still didn’t

grasp what the purpose of the presentation.

I tried again with another co-worker. This time I gave the critic some background information on the

company, the sales training program and the new executive’s plan to cut the program. I explained

that I was only going to get one shot to convince the board to continue the STP. After providing my

critic with this information, I gave my presentation.

The critique was as follows. He thought I was trying harder to impress him with some of the sound

effects of the presentation that giving real substance that he could use to make a decision. He said

that if the STP was so effective then I should have provided some facts and figures to support my

argument. He also went on to say that while he could tell that I put effort into creating the

presentation that it wouldn’t have convinced him from a dollar perspective.

If my presentation was to reinforce the importance of training them my message was well received.

If I am going to convince someone to make a dollars and cents decision then I must have dollars and

cents as part of my presentation to help convince the decision maker. I agreed with that 100%.

Unfortunately I didn’t have that information available to me, so I tried to use an emotional and

motivational angle to compel the board.