Most admired business person

Most Admired Business Person Strategic Word Choice

The Prompt For this presentation, imagine you are speaking at Forbes’ annual Under 30 Summit during the kick-off event. Surrounded by hundreds of your fellow young business leaders, innovators, and game changers, you are tasked with presenting your nomination for the Most Admired Business Person award. Your goal is to get your audience to vote for the person you are nominating. When planning this presentation, consider what we have discussed in class about appealing to your audience and motivating them to action - you should explicitly ask for votes. While the Summit is a large, global event, your MABP may be someone you know personally, a local business person, or one you admire from afar, living or deceased. Rationale Consider this presentation a cumulative midterm exam and your opportunity to individually demonstrate everything you have learned this semester about effective presentations. Essential to this presentation is demonstrating your ability to appeal to your audience in a way that persuades them to vote for your Most Admired Business Person (MABP). Yes, the class will actually vote after the last presentation. Learning Objectives

 Use specific word choice and rhetorical techniques tailored to your audience.  Organize and content into a story that motivates and appeals to and motivates your audience.  Manage delivery and demonstrate command and control on stage.

Presentation Requirements

 Dress: Business Professional  Time: 4-5 minutes, individual  Research: Orally cite 4-6 sources.

o At least one source must be from the databases discussed on the C104 Library Guide.  Organization: Choose a clear theme/storyline to organize the presentation and avoid chronological

order. See additional thoughts below.  Deliverables Packet: Due in Canvas before class starts on your presentation day.

o Outline: Submit a one-page outline that clearly indicates each element we have learned for effective outlines. If you still need help with outlines at this point, review the previous readings and see me during office hours

o Slide Deck: I am looking for decks with strong claims, a rolling storyline, and intentional design.  Audience Persona Slide: On slide 1, replicate Durate's recommended "audience persona

slide," including a picture or icon of your audience. This is a thinking tool for YOU and not something that you present in class.

 Persuasive Title Slide: Include a persuasive overview, your name, and stunning imagery. Use this slide to get us excited about your content.

 Content/Data Slides: Use no more than 5 slides to highlight your argument. Follow the best practices we know about claim headings, the Rule of 3rds, and color choice/font size. Remember: NO bullet points (read this).

 Review/Call to Action Slide: Remind us of your main points, stay consistent with your theme, and tell us what you want us to do.

o Works Cited: Follow MLA formatting and be careful with EasyBib, it does not properly cite many sources and often leaves strange highlights behind the text.

 "Central Authentication Services..." is NOT a source. Check your final document carefully.

 The Overdone List: Below is a list of business people who have a well-known public image and lead to boring presentations because we already know a lot about them. Do not use them in this assignment.

o Bill Gates o Donald Trump o Elon Musk o Howard Shultz o Jack Ma o Ma Huateng (Pony Ma) o Mark Cuban o Mark Zuckerberg o Richard Branson o Sean Combs (Puff Daddy/Puffy/Diddy/P. Diddy/etc.) o Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) o Steve Jobs o Taylor Swift o Warren Buffet o And any other of the most popular business people we hear about regularly.

Required Reading

 Language use and word choice: o Werden, N. (June, 2002). Language: Churchill’s key to leadership. Harvard Management

Communication Letter. (pp. 3-4). (page 5 below)

Recommended Reading  For more on language use and word choice:

o Ferriss, T. (27 July 2007). The 10 Most Common Words You Should Stop Using Now. The Tim Ferriss Show, http://fourhourworkweek.com/2007/07/27/the-10-most-common-words-you- should-stop-using-now/

o Fraleigh, D. M., & Tuman, J. S. (2009). Framing Your Argument Based on Audience Disposition. Speak up! An illustrated guide to public speaking (pp. 480-493). Boston, MA: Bedford’s/St. Martin’s.

o Godin, S. (08 June 2016). “Um and “Like” and Being Heard. Seth’s Blog, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/06/um-and-like-and-being-heard.html

Additional Helpful Tips To get started, resist the temptation to pick a well-known/popular business person (see the Overdone List). Because of their familiarity and frequent exposure, most of us already know their start-up story/innovative products/renegade persona/etc. Instead, first consider what admiration means in the business world and what you personally value as an aspiring business person. As part of your brainstorming and planning, write down a long list of your values (some of you have already done this in Compass). What are they? Where do these values originate? How important are they to you? Create a list of your top 1-3 values. Now, using those values as criteria, which business person makes the cut? Remember what you know about building a story and organize the presentation in a way that highlights what makes this person special and avoid a chronological/biographical approach (it’s boring). Pay special attention to give this presentation a clear theme. Finding the theme should be easy by looking at the criteria you established, your research on this person, and by considering what will keep this specific audience (members of the Summit) interested and engaged. It is essential that you find reliable information from strong sources by performing appropriate business research. Your research will need a variety of evidence to support your position including market data, quotes,

personal stories, notes from an interview, etc. You are looking for information that supports your values and admiration for this person. The audience does not want a mere list of accomplishments, they want moving, insightful stories with which they can identify. Grading Rubric Please see the attached rubric to know how your presentation will be evaluated.

Name: Most Admired Business Person

Grading Rubric

Prepared Score: __________/200 -5% for not having deliverables packet properly formatted/submitted.

Checklist Excellent Good Weak

Content Word Choice Aud. Appeal

Citations

Language is specific, appropriate, and emotionally moving. Speaker uses rhetorical techniques and emotional appeals. Content is tailored to meet the needs and values of the audience. WIIFM is clear and valuable to audience. Research includes a variety of reliable and credible sources with clear citations.

Some effort is made to tailor word choice for rhetorical and emotional impact. Content is interesting, and generally applicable. WIFFM is clear but assumed. Research includes multiple sources. Citations are apparent.

Word choice lacks specificity, impact, or appeal. Content may be overly general or confusing and lacks specific focus or tailoring to audience so that WIIFM is obscured. Research is unclear. Citations are unclear or lack credibility.

Organization Action

Orientation Values Intro

Conclusion

A clear theme/story ties presentation together and leads to motivating action. Presentation is organized to highlight values/qualities/traits of recipient. Intro includes all necessary elements and engages audience. Conclusion provides sense of finality and includes a clear call to action.

A theme/story is evident, may be missing or assuming motivating action. Presentation loosely focuses on values/traits/qualities of recipient.

Intro includes most necessary elements. Conclusion provides sense of finality but may be missing call to action or call to action is assumed.

Audience works to understand overarching theme/story, chronological order, and or lacking audience action. Presentation lacks focus on values/traits/qualities of recipient. Intro is missing several elements or is not engaging. Conclusion is missing or presentation fizzles without a valuable call to action.

Delivery Vocal Variety Non-Verbals Use of Space

Voice is conversational throughout and used intentionally with effective pauses and inflection points. Speaker appears confident and poised through strategic body language, gestures, eye contact, and audience interaction. Speaker stands confidently, moves naturally, and engages audience to command attention.

Voice is mostly conversational with some distractions. Speaker shows comfort on stage with effective body language, gestures, eye contact, audience interaction. Speaker stands confidently and engages audience.

Voice may lack variety by sounding memorized, over-rehearsed, apathetic, too fast/slow, or too quiet. Speaker displays discomfort in delivery through choppy or ridged body movements or gestures. Eye contact may be inconsistent or overly focused. Speaker does not move, or moves too much, so that it becomes distracting to the audience.

Visuals Design

Message Data

Opening & review slide are compelling and exciting. Images, text, and graphics are designed intentionally and help the audience. Clear message through claim headings and “skimable” rolling storyline. Data is cited and searchable.

Opening & review slide are clear and helpful. Images, text, and graphics help the audience. Can work on intentional design. Headings help guide viewer through message.

Data is cited.

Opening & review slide are dull or standard template used. Images, text, and graphics are unnecessary, not relevant, distracting, or designed poorly. Confusing claims/headings cause audience to work to understand slide message.

Data is not cited clearly.

Time Met time window, +/- 30 seconds. Met time window, +/- 60 seconds. Met time window, +/- 90 seconds.