Chapter 13

There are various types of presentations that you may encounter or be called upon to produce in the workplace.  These may be informative, persuasive, rather facilitative, or serve a specific purpose. Regardless of the goal or purpose of your presentation, choosing your delivery method, developing supported content, organizing your information, and delivering to the best of your ability - with or without visual support - is essential.  

Before you begin, ask yourself what you hope to achieve by presenting and what your audience needs to help you achieve that goal. This will guide you to the type of business presentation you will need to give.  For example, if your boss has asked you to provide an update on how your most recent project is going, you'll want to present informatively, including facts and data and potentially a timeline of activities coming up. If your boss asks you to take a look at what other companies are doing to engage employees and make a recommendation of what your company should do, you'll want to present persuasively, first sharing details and then making value judgments and sharing your reasoning for why you want to pursue option X. If your goal is to gather information, you'll want to engage in a facilitative presentation, perhaps hosting a meeting to brainstorm, deliberate, or make a decision.