Do you feel that your slide presentations look disorganized and unprofessional? Maybe your basic slide layout needs a facelift! Layout refers to the way you arrange your text and graphic elements on the slide. Obviously, you want your slides to look clean and well organized, not chaotic and cluttered. PowerPoint, Keynote, and other slideshow software provide various templates, but they often result in boring slides with too many bullet lists. Instead of using these templates, create your own layout. Here are four suggestions to help. 1. Use a Grid Divide your slide into a four-part grid, as shown in Figure 1:
Organize the body area into a grid, consisting of one or more vertical columns, with appropriate space above, below, and between columns. Figure 1 shows an example of a four-column grid for the body. With this layout, you can have one very wide column, two equal wider columns, four equal narrow columns, or an unequal three-and-one column arrangement. In Figure 1, the first body text spans all four columns; the remaining bullet list and graphic span two columns each. Regardless of the layout, always appropriately align the text and graphic items. Items can be top, bottom, left, right, or center aligned, as appropriate. For example, the side-by-side boxes in Figure 1 are aligned both top and bottom. They are also right and left aligned with the heading “Excessive Audit Violations.” The important point is to develop a grid that works for you and to use it to achieve visual consistency among all of your slides. A grid gives your slide presentation a well-organized, professional appearance. (To make sure the gridlines don’t show on your final slides, use the gridlines feature of your software, rather than drawing your own.) 2. Use a Running Agenda Display a running agenda (outline) of your presentation content (in Figure 1, see the agenda in the dark blue bar on the left side of the slide). A running agenda produces two benefits. First, it shows your overall information architecture, which your audience can use for mentally organizing what you present to them. Second, a running agenda helps the audience remember the big picture, even when you take a deep dive into the details of your presentation. Without a running agenda, listeners can easily get mentally lost, not knowing how the details tie in with the overall information. The running agenda can be on the left side of your slides, as shown in Figure 1, or across the bottom. Always include a pointer or other visual indicator to show where you are in the presentation. For instance, while talking about “Analysis” information in your presentation, change the color of “Analysis” in the agenda, and/or place a small arrow beside it (see Figure 1). When you move from the “Analysis” section to the “Conclusion” section, change the color of “Analysis” back to the normal color and highlight “Conclusion.” Also move the arrow to the appropriate point beside “Conclusion.” A running agenda is especially useful for informative presentations, such as training or briefing presentations. Be sure to repeat the agenda on every slide, or at least on the first slide of each major segment of your presentation, to remind the audience of the big picture. 3. Have a Distinct Front Door Make sure each slide has an obvious front door—a clear point of entry. The front door should be a visually dominant object or text item that you want your audience to notice first. Because people’s eyes naturally go to the top of a slide, generally place your front-door item in that area. For many slides, your front-door item will be the slide’s title, displayed in a large font to make it stand out. For example, you could make a slide title highly visible by using a 44-point, bolded Arial font, while using a smaller, less visually emphasized font for the rest of the text on the slide. The large title would attract the audience’s attention and serve as the entry point (front door) of the slide. For other slides, the front door could be a large photograph or another eye-catching visual. 4. Have a Clear Pathway After entering the front door of a slide, your audience should be able to see an obvious pathway through the body of the slide, generally following a natural reading trail from top to bottom and left to right (except for languages written from right to left). For example, with a two-column layout, this path might run from top to bottom in the left column and then top to bottom in the right column. Regardless of a slide’s specific pattern, the path should be visually obvious. As needed, include numbers, arrows, or other visual markers to make pathway clear. For instance, if six text boxes are arranged in a two-by-three pattern, use arrows or numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) to designate whether to read the boxes in top-to-bottom-left-to-right or left-to-right-top-to-bottom sequence (see Figure 2). As you work with slide layout, feel free to alter the layout as appropriate. For instance, use three columns in your body area grid (see Figure 2), rather than using four as shown in Figure 1. To help decide how to lay out your slide content, ask yourself, “Given the information I want to display, what is the best way to organize it on a slide?” You might also ask your colleagues for their input. Two heads are often better than one.
As you create your next slide presentation, apply the four steps presented above. Initially, your layout might take a bit of time to set up. But as you persist, your slides will become more organized, both logically and visually, thus enhancing both the logos and ethos of your presentation. Give it a try and let us know how it works for you. -Bill Baker
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The current election contest between Trump and Clinton serves to remind us of the importance of developing trust in our relationships. Public-opinion polls show that both Clinton’s and Trump’s trust ratings are below 50 percent. News media report that some voters are feeling compelled to choose the lesser of two evils, rather than the better of two good options. The causes of this erosion of trust highlight the importance of one of Aristotle’s three time-proven modes of rhetoric—ethos. Ethos reminds us that the message content intertwines with who and what the speakers are themselves. Ethos requires that the audience must trust not just the speakers’ knowledge, skills, and abilities, but also the speakers’ genuineness, integrity, and honesty. Examine your own ethos within your organization and between you and your clients. What can you do to earn and build other people’s level of trust in you? Here are a few suggestions.
Consider three additional ideas that can help build trust when you use social media:
According to George MacDonald, “To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” Therefore, always seek to develop high trust in your relationships. Further, seek never to lose the trust you have earned, because trust is much easier to gain than to regain once it is lost. Apply these suggestions in your own workplace and personal life. You’ll find that the resulting increased ethos will give you additional persuasive power as you seek to influence others. -Bill Baker Most of our blogs have focused on topics related to business writing, but with the presidential debates occupying so much of our news these days, it seems appropriate to address a few factors related to oral persuasion. As the pundits argue about who won the first presidential debate, remember that the most important point is not who won that debate, but rather who will win the election in November. The first debate was simply one step along the way. Nevertheless, the outcome of future debates, and the entire election, might hang on the principles described in this month’s blog. A number of forces are at work when you attempt to persuade an audience. Graber (2003, 182) has identified four factors that affect your ability to persuade and influence others: 1. You must have relevant information. 2. You must have social capital (respect and credibility). 3. You must have good persuasion skills. 4. The audience must be open to persuasion. Let’s examine Graber’s four persuasion factors as they relate to the message, the messenger, and the audience. Message The message element addresses the first of Graber’s factors—the need to have relevant information. To select relevant information, take time to complete a thorough PACS planning process. Identify the purpose(s) of your presentation, analyze your audience, analyze the context in which you’ll be presenting, and develop a strategy. (Follow this link for more information about PACS: https://goo.gl/Hdsyfl.) When you are persuading, your relevant information should strengthen your own position and weaken the position of your opposition. Also, because humans are thinking and feeling creatures, your relevant information should include both logical arguments (Aristotle’s concept of logos) and emotional arguments (Aristotle’s concept of pathos). The relevant information you choose to share may also be either positively or negatively oriented, appealing to what the audience will gain by accepting your proposal or what they will lose if they don’t. People respond to both gain and pain appeals, those that help them achieve worthwhile gain or ease their pain. You may focus on a variety of pains and gains, including financial, emotional, political, physical, and more. Regarding pain appeals, however, there’s a big difference between a mosquito bite and a shark bite—people can put up with pain from a mosquito bite, but not a shark bite. Therefore, choose carefully the pain points you emphasize. To summarize, as you select relevant information for your message, consider all of the following options
Messenger As a messenger you need social capital, or respect and credibility (Graber’s second condition and part of Aristotle’s concept of ethos). You need to gain people’s trust—to connect with the audience and win their hearts. People gain the trust of others when they embrace goodness in a variety of ways: 1 Telling the truth. 2. Fulfilling their responsibilities; completing what they say they will do. 3. Making good decisions and doing high-quality work. 4. Working for the good of the team or organization, not for their own selfish interests. 5. Acting in a socially appropriate manner, and always keeping their emotions under control. For some audience members, our presidential candidates have multiple strikes against them even before they walk onto the debate stage! In spite of this baggage, during the debates they can help repair their damaged reputations by telling the truth, acting in a socially appropriate manner, keeping their emotions under control, and working for the good of the country—not for their own selfish interests. As a messenger, you also need good persuasion skills, Graber’s third condition. Of course, you must have well-planned, relevant information (the what), but you must also present your case in such a way that the information actually persuades (the how). Here are a few examples:
Audience Graber’s fourth condition for achieving persuasion states that the audience must be open to persuasion. When persuading in your own organization, first understand the mood of your audience regarding your proposal. Often, it might be best to present your ideas to individuals one on one. Then, after you know the feelings of individuals, meet with the larger group to achieve full buy-in. For Clinton and Trump, the large majority of the nationwide audience is not highly persuadable at this point in the campaign. Their minds are already made up (although each candidate needs to continue to reinforce that commitment). Therefore, in the remaining debates, candidates must concentrate on the persuadable portion of the audience. As you watch the remaining presidential debates, keep in mind the foregoing message, messenger, and audience elements and see how well Trump and Clinton perform. Further, begin to apply these guidelines and principles in your own persuasive presentations. See if they help you improve your own win-loss record. -Bill Baker References Graber, Doris. 2003. The Power of Communication: Managing Information in Public Organizations. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. Throughout a normal day, you write to or talk with many people about many different situations. You can usually rely on your intuition to guide you in how to approach each situation, but a knowledge of different tactics can give you added confidence as you select the best approach.
When deciding on the approach to take in your creating messages, you have two general options—direct or indirect. In other words, you can either get right to the point at the beginning of your message, or you can delay the main point until later in the message. Review the following guidelines to help decide which option to follow. Direct Approach Use the direct approach for good-news or routine messages. For instance, if your sales team has met its goals for the current year, give them the good news in the opening sentence: “Good news—we have just met our sales goals for the year, and we still have over two months still left to go!” Or if you need to call a routine meeting with your sales staff, give them the main point of the message, followed by appropriate details: “We will be holding a one-hour staff meeting next Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the west conference room. The purpose of the meeting is to review progress on all current development projects and to establish goals for the next quarter. Therefore, please come prepared to. . . .” Compare the foregoing direct approach with this one, which uses an indirect approach. I think you’ll see that the direct approach is much better. “Each quarter we find it beneficial to review progress on all current development projects and to establish goals for the subsequent quarter. The time for our second-quarter review has arrived; therefore, please plan to attend a meeting next Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the west conference room.” Placing the main idea at, or near, the beginning gives meaning and purpose to everything that follows. Delaying the main idea leaves the message receiver wondering where the message is going. Unless you have another pressing reason for using an indirect approach, use the direct approach—when there’s good news to share, when you have relatively routine information to transmit, or when you have important information that you don’t want your readers to miss. Direct should be your go-to approach in the majority of situations. Indirect Approach Use an indirect approach for situations when you need to first prepare your audience for the main point of your message. For instance, if you are writing to an outside consulting group to terminate their service, first explain the reasons for the termination, and then announce the termination. "We have appreciated your efforts during the last six months to help us improve the quality of our customer service. During this time we have closely monitored our online customer reviews. We have found that, in spite of the new procedures, our ratings have not improved. As a result of this continuing problem, we have decided to pursue an alternate approach and to use the services of a different consulting group, effective July 1. We regret having to make this change, but our customer-service problem is a top priority that needs a solution." In another situation, if you need to persuade a subordinate to accept a management assignment that would require her to move to Denver, you might approach it this way: “We’ve been experiencing sagging sales in our Denver region. The downward trend began two years ago, and each quarter since then has continued this negative pattern. We are now down 18 percent from where we were two years ago. We need someone from the home office to move to Denver for the next couple of years and manage operations there so we can get things moving in a positive direction. We would like you to be that person.” Placing the main idea first would result in the following: “We want you to move to Denver and manage that region for the next couple of years. We’ve been experiencing sagging sales in our Denver region. The downward trend began two years ago, and each quarter since then has continued this negative pattern. We are now down 18 percent from where we were two years ago. We need someone from the home office to move to Denver for the next couple of years and manage operations there so we can get things moving in a positive direction.” Placing the key point of the message in the first sentence would obviously be a major shock to the receiver. A few sentences are needed to prepare the reader for the main point in the message. In summary, whether you have to give bad news in a written message, or in a face-to-face setting, use the indirect approach—facts first, bad news afterward. This approach is most appropriate for giving significant bad news (the direct approach may be acceptable for minor bad news) and for persuasive situations when the receiver needs to be convinced. One final note—these guidelines are most appropriate for most audiences in the western hemisphere. Asian audiences, in contrast, are generally more indirect in their communication practices. Therefore, be sure to analyze your audience (see the PACS planning model in a previous blog) before deciding on a final strategy. Communication is the means by which managers manage. As a result, communication is the most vital management skill. Put the guidelines of this blog to practice in your own communication, and you’ll find yourself writing and speaking with greater confidence and power. -Bill Baker Whether working on an internal report, blog post, or manuscript of an oral presentation, you may find that you need to include information written by another author. This blog explains how to integrate that information smoothly into your writing. The building blocks for smooth integration include (1) understanding the difference between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing and (2) following the three-step process of introducing, inserting, and interpreting. Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Writers and speakers use three general techniques when integrating sources into their communication: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Quoting involves using exact words or phrases from another person’s unique material. As writers integrate quotations into their own writing, they should enclose the quotations in quotation marks and cite the source of the material. Here is an example quote: “Effective communication skills are critical in business. Across all organizations people exchange millions of texts, emails, telephone calls, letter, proposals, and reports each day.” Paraphrasing conveys the content of the other original author’s unique material, but the writer uses his or her own words. As writers integrate paraphrases into their own writing, they don’t need to enclose the material inside in quotation marks, but they should cite the source of the material. Here is an example paraphrase of the previous quotation: The ability to communicate is extremely important in the business world. In all companies, employees engage in communication in various forms, including on phones, on computers, and in print. Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing except that summary generally condenses the original author’s material into its main points. As writers integrate summaries into their own writing, they don’t need to enclose the material inside quotation marks, but they should cite the source of the material, as follows: Business professionals need to know how to communicate because they engage in many types of communication every day on the job. In some cases, a writer might need to utilize more than one of these three options for integrating outside material. For example, a writer might choose to summarize a four-page report into a single paragraph, but include a key quotation to emphasize a certain finding from the report. The following chart summarizes the main points from the previous paragraphs: Introducing, Inserting, and Interpreting
Building on the knowledge of quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, you need to know how to effectively integrate quotes, paraphrases, and summaries into your business message. Here are three steps that can help. Introducing: Lead your audience into your quote, summary, or paraphrase by providing a context for the outside material. Here is one example of an introduction: Contrary to popular opinion, one author suggests that… Inserting: Once you introduce the outside material, insert the appropriate quotation, paraphrase, or summary (be sure to insert quotation marks when using an exact quote.) Building on the previous example, the following example inserts a summary and the citation in APA (American Psychological Association) format: Contrary to popular opinion, one author suggests that business professionals need to know how to communicate because they engage in many types of communication every day on the job (Baker, 2013, p. 2). Interpreting: Once you introduce and insert the outside material and its citation, interpret the outside material for your audience. In other words, help your audience understand why you included the material in your communication. Building on the previous examples, this example interprets a summary: Contrary to popular opinion, one author suggests that business professionals need to know how to communicate because they engage in many types of communication every day on the job (Baker, 2013, p. 2). With such frequent opportunities to communicate, employees must know how to communicate professionally. The next time you need to integrate outside material in your business communication, I invite you to include quotes, paraphrases, or summaries and then to integrate the material, using some form of the introduce, insert, interpret process. Feel free to be flexible, such as including quotations in your paraphrases or interpreting before you insert. Effective integration of outside material can add credibility and power to your work, making you a more effective communicator. -Matt Baker References Baker, W.H. (2013). Writing and speaking for business. Provo, UT: BYU Academic Publishing. |
AuthorsWe're Bill, Matt, and Vince, and we hope these posts will help you more effectively teach business and professional communication. If you like what you read, please consider teaching from our business and professional communication textbook. Archives
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