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Lesson 1 Page 1 of 13LAN4108 E&C: Persuasive Presentations (EG)Student Package

Languages Discipline, Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education

Lesson 1: Persuasive Presentations Overview (1)

Learning Objectives:

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.

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.


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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 toachieve, 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.

Occasion Purpose

1

2

3

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:

After-dinnerspeech New stafforientationPresentationon interiordesign

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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Most presentationshave persuasiveelements!

Task 2b

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

presentations?

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 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 LeungChun-ying after the ChiefExecutive 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

governmentSource: 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/businessEnglish/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 about kitchen

designPersuasive 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.

d) Presentation of the

proposal of your product

design project to your

supervisors

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.

b) Presentation of the introduction of a staff

bonus scheme to the employees of your

company

a) Presentation of the new solar-powered

water heaters to your clients


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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:

Task 4a

Discuss with a partner. Which part of a presentation would you develop first when

preparing for the presentation? Why?

(I) Introduction

Gain attention of the audience

Involve the audience

Establish your credibility

Preview the main points

(II) Body

Illustrate and explain the main points (usually

3 to 5 points) and sub-points

(III) Conclusion

Summarise the main points

Call for action

(IV) Question and Answer Session (Optional)

Answer questions from the audience

Throughout the whole

presentation:

Express complimentsand persuasion

You can thank the

audience for attending

your presentation,

supporting your company/

organisation, responding

to your presentation or

asking questions. You can

also apply differentstrategies to persuade

your audience any time in

your presentation.


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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) Part

(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 featureof 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


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Task 4c Structural patterns of the body of the presentationYou 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.

Look at the cases in Task 3b again. Which pattern should each of them adopt? How?

Presentation Pattern (1-4)

a) The new solar-powered water

heater

b) The introduction of a staff

bonus scheme

Structural patterns of a presentation1) Chronology addressing the events in time either from present to past or from past topresent. 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) Importancearranging the ideas according to the order of importance, putting the mostimportant 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. Forexample, you can sell/promote your idea/product/service by showing how yours is better than

others.

4) Problem/solutiondescribing the problems and then the solutions. For example, you canfirst identify the errors in a design, give reasons for them and suggest a way to rectify the errors.


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Presentation Pattern (1-4)

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

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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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.

In the next part, Im going to tell you three reasons why we are introducingthis 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 abouthow 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 willalso want a device that is light to carryaround.

Now that weve discussedthe articulation pathway of an Engineering student,were ready forthe 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 extremelyhandy, easy to use and water-proof.

Let me summarise/reviewthe 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.


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Written vs Spoken PresentationThe 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 asclearly 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:

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: ______________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Task 6 Presentation Essentials

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

[ ] third person pronouns (it) [ ] active voice

A less formal style[ ] longer, complex sentences [ ] contractions [ ] questions[ ] shorter, simple sentences [ ] full forms [ ] 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 accountsincluding 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:___________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

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 aresometimes 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.

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


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USEFUL VOCABULARY

Words/Phrases Meaning

1 ap-peal to to ask for aid, support, mercy or sympathy2 com-pli-ment (n) an expression of praise, commendation, or admiration

3 con-scious fully aware of or sensitive to something

4 foot-print 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 im-pact a powerful effect that something, especially something new,

has on a situation or person

6 im-pres-sive If an object or achievement is impressive, you admire or

respect it, usually because it is special, important or very

large

7 o-ri-en-ta-tion an introduction, as to guide one in adjusting to new

surroundings or situations

8 rap-port relation; connection, especially harmonious or sympathetic

relation

9 re-as-sure to comfort someone and stop them from worrying

10 scheme an officially organised plan or system

11 u-nique being the only existing one of its type or, more generally,

unusual or special in some way

USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

1. Making compliments Thank you for coming here today. I really appreciate that. I would like to congratulate you on Its nice/great to 2. Previewing ideas In the next part, Im going to Let me show you Firstly, were going toThen/SecondlyFinally3. Switching directions

Ive talked aboutlets move on to Now that weve discussed, were ready for4. Summarising

So, you can see there are in total. Let me summarise/review/go over again

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