Chapter 26 - Oral Presentations

Advantages and Drawbacks of Oral Presentations
Oral presentations allow for face-to-face interactive ways to get what you're trying to tell across.


Avoiding Presentation Pitfalls
These presentations can represent you since they may be the only thing your audience knows from you.

Planning Your Presentation

• Analyze Your Listeners
• Work from an Explicit Purpose Statement
• Analyze Your Speaking Situation
• Select a Delivery Method
• Memorized Delivery
• Impromptu Delivery
• Scripted Delivery
• Extemporaneous Delivery

Delivering Your Presentation

• Research Your Topic
• Aim For Simplicity and Conciseness
• Anticipate Audience Questions
• Outline Your Presentations
• Plan Your Visuals
• Decide where visuals will work best
• Decide which visuals will work best
• Decide how many are appropriate
• Create a storyboard
• Decide which can realistically be created
• Select your media
• Prepare Your Visuals
• Be selective
• Make visuals easy to read and understand
• Look for alternatives to word-filled visuals
• Consider Available Technology
• Use Powerpoint or Other Software Wisely
• Check the Room and Setting Beforehand
• Rehearse Your Delivery

Delivering Your Presentation

• Cultivate the Human Landscape
• Get to know your audience
• Display enthusiasm and confidence
• Be reasonable
• Don't preach
• Keep Your Listeners Oriented
• Open with a clear and engaging introduction
• Give concrete examples
• Provide explicit transitions
• Review and interpret
• Manage Your Visuals
• Prepare everything beforehand
• Manage Your Presentation Style
• Use natural movements and reasonable postures
• Adjust volume, pronunciation, and rate
• Maintain eye contact
• Manage Your Speaking Situation
• Be responsive to listener feedback
• Stick to your plan
• Leave listeners with something to remember
• Allow time for questions and answers

Chapter 25 - Front Matter and End Matter in Long Documents

Cover Sheets
Should be used for long documents and center the information presented.


Title Page
Should be used to report the title, the author's name, the name of the person or organization that it's being submitted to, and the date of submittal.


Letter of Transmittal
Use as a gesture of courtesy to possibly:

• acknowledge those who helped in the report
• refer to sections of special interest
• offer personal observations
• urge the recipient to immediate action

Table of Contents
These should guide the reader to the information they are looking for. Some guidelines include:

• List front matter, numbering in lower case roman numerals
• Number end matter in arabic numerals continuing from page 1 of the actual report
• Include no headings
• Phrase headings just as in the report
• List headings at various levels

List of Tables and Figures
When the report has four or more visuals, they should be listed on a page for Tables and Figures.

Abstract or Executive Summary
This gives the reader a quick overview of the report without having to read the whole thing. Some suggestions include:

• Make sure it stands alone
• Write for a general audience
• Add no new information
• Present in sequence of identifying the issue, offering information on it, then including a conclusion

Glossary
This page alphabetically lists terms and definitions. This page should:

• Define unfamiliar terms
• Define special terms
• List all in alphabetical order
• Be listed in table of contents

Appendices
Should be added if large blocks of the relevant information would bog down the document. This includes formulas, experiments, and samples.


Documentation
Outside sources should be listed in alphabetical or numerical order at the end of the document.

Chapter 24 - Formal Analytical Reports

Purpose of Analysis

1. Asking the right questions
2. Searching the best sources
3. Evaluating and interpreting your findings
4. Drawing conclusions and making recommendations

Typical Analytical Problems

• Casual Analysis: "Why Does X Happen?"
• Comparative Analysis: "Is X or Y Better for Our Purpose?"
• Feasibility Analysis: "Is This a Good Idead?"
• Combining Types of Analysis

Elements of a Usable Analysis

• Clearly Identified Problem or Goal
• Adequate but Not Excessive Data
• Accurate and Balance Data
• Fully Interpreted Data
• Subordination of Persona Bias
• Appropriate Visuals
• Valid Conclusions and Recommendations
• Self-Assessment

An Outline and Model for Analytical Reports

• Introduction
• Collected Data
• Conclusion
• Supplements

Guidelines for Reasoning through an Analytical Problem

• Casual Analysis
• Be sure the cause fits the effect
• Make the links between effect and cause clear
• Clearly distinguish between possible, probable, and definite causes
• Comparative Analysis
• Rest the comparison on clear definite criteria: costs, uses, benefits/drawbacks, appearance, or results
• Give each item balanced treatment
• Support and clarify the comparison or contrast through credible examples
• Follow either a block pattern or point-by-point pattern
• Order your points for greatest emphasis
• In an evaluative comparison ("X is better than Y"), offer your final judgment
• Feasibility Analysis
• Consider the strength of supporting reasons
• Consider the strength of opposing reasons
• Recommend a realistic course of action

Chapter 23 - Proposals

How Proposals and Reports Differ in Purpose

• Reports
• Persuasive
• Informative
• Proposals
• Explore
• Sell

The Proposal Audience

1. Sell out the problem ( and its causes) clearly and convincingly.
2. Print out the benefits of solving the problem.
3. Offer a realistic, cost-effective solution.
4. Address anticipated objections to your solution.
5. Induce your audience to act.

The Proposal Process

1. Client X needs a service or product.
2. Firms A, B, and C propose a plan for meeting the need.
3. Client X awards the job to the firm offering the best proposal.

Proposal Types

• Classification
• Origin
• Audience
• Purpose
• Origin
• Solicited
• Unsolicited
• Planning Proposal
• Research Proposal
• Sales Proposal

Elements of a Persuasive Proposal

• A Forecasting Title
• Clear Understanding of the Audience's Needs
• A Clear Focus on Benefits
• Honest and Supportable Claims
• Appropriate Detail
• Readability
• Convincing Language
• Visuals
• Accessible Page Design
• Supplements Tailored for a Diverse Audience
• Proper Citation of Sources and Contributors

Making a Better Presentation

Ways to Improve Your Blog

• Visuals
• Make them interesting
• Synthesis
• Points
• Bullets
• Relevance
• Examples

Improving Presentations

• Project
• Eye Contact
• Voice
• Assert Yourself
• Interact With the Audience

Changes to Apply

• Give summary sentences under headers
• Give example visuals for sections 

Chapter 22 - Instructions and Procedures

Purpose of Instructional Documents

• Why am I doing this?
• How do I do it?
• What materials and equipment will I need?
• Where do I begin?
• What do I do next?
• What could go wrong?

Formats for Instructional Documents

• Instructional Brochures
• Manuals
• Brief Reference Cards
• Hyperlinked Instructions
• Online Documentation

Faulty Instructions and Legal Liabilities

• Failure to instruct and caution users in the proper use of a product
• Failure to warn against hazards from proper use of a product
• Failure to warn against the proper misuses of a product
• Failure to explain a product's benefits and risks in language that average consumers can understand
• Failure to convey the extent of risk with forceful language
• Failure to display warnings prominently 

Elements of Usable Instructions

• Clear and Limiting Title
• Informed Content
• Visuals
• Appropriate Level of Detail and Technicality
• Guidelines for Providing Appropriate Detail
• Give everything users need
• Give only what users need
• Instead of focusing on the product, focus on the task
• Omit steps that are obvious to the users
• Divide the task into simple steps and sub-steps
• Adjust the information rate
• Reinforce the prose with visuals
• Keep it simple
• Recognize the persuasive dimension of the instructions
• Logically Ordered Steps
• Notes and Hazard Notices
• Readability
• Effective Design
• Guidelines for Designing Instructions
• Use informative headings
• Arrange all steps in a numbered list
• Separate each step visually
• Make warning, caution, and danger notices highly visible
• Make visual and verbal information redundant
• Keep the visual and the step close together
• Consider a multicolumn design
• Keep it simple
• For lengthy instructions, consider a layered approach

An Outline for Instructions

• Introduction
• Required Steps
• Conclusion

Online Documentation

• Error messages and troubleshooting advice
• Reference guides to additional information or instructions
• Tutorial lessons that include interactive exercises with immediate feedback
• Help and review options to accomodate different learning styles
• Link to software manufacturer's web site

Testing the Usability of Your Document

• How Usability Testing Is Done
• Qualitative Testing
• Use focus groups
• Use protocol analysis
• Quantitative Testing
• Usability Testing in the Classroom

Procedures

• Instructions - show an uninitiated user how to perform a task
• Procedure - provide rules and guidance for people who usually know how to perform the task but who are required to follow accepted practice

Chapter 21 - Technical Descriptions and Specifications

Purposes and Types of Technical Descriptions

• Product Description - learn to use a particular device
• Process Description - understand the steps or stages in a complex event

Objectivity in Technical Description

• Subjective - aims at expressing feelings, attitudes, and mood
• Can create impressions
• Objective - present an impartial view, filtering out personal impressions and focusing on observable details

Elements of a Usable Description

• Clear and Limiting Title
• Appropriate Level of Detail and Technicality
• Visuals
• Clearest Descriptive Sequence
• Spatial Sequence
• Functional Sequence
• Chronological Sequence

An Outline and Model for Product Description

• Introduction: General Description
• Description and Function Parts
• Summary and Operating Description

An Outline for Process Description

• Introduction
• Stages in Process
• Conclusion

Specifications

• The Customer
• The Designer
• The Contractor or Manufacturer
• The Supplier
• The Workforce
• The Inspectors

Technical Marketing Literature

• Brochures
• Web Pages
• Fact Sheets
• Business Letters