Presentation delivered to senior design students in The Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at NC State. Topic: Why is it important to adapt your presentation message to fit your audience, and how can you craft a message that communicates your purpose?

1. WHO IS LISTENING AND WHY?
Audience , purpose, & presentation skills
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2. CLEAR
COMMUNICATION &
PRESENTATION:
WHY BOTHER?
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The ability to communicate verbally with people inside and
outside an organization is consistently one of the top 3 skills
employers are seeking from today’s new hires.

3. CLEAR
COMMUNICATION &
PRESENTATION:
WHY BOTHER?
Clear, accurate presentation of data takes hard work, but, in the
end, has helped me, my employers, and my clients make better
decisions more quickly. It is a key skill for the 21st century!
Tim Hopper
Data Scientist & Developer at Qadium, Inc
Masters in Operations Research,
College of Engineering, NCSU
“ “
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4. SARAH
GLOVA
Founder & President
of Reify Media
Previously documentation
and manualwriter for IBM
and professional writing
instructor for NC State’s ENG
331/332 courses SUSANNA
KLINGENBERG
Project Manager
at Reify Media
Previously led the STEM & Writing
Partnership
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5. MEETING OUR
AUDIENCE
What presentation of information has had an
impact on you? This could be a speaker, a
text, a TV show or movie, or even an
advertisement!
What about the way the
information was presented
made it stick with you?
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6. WHAT IS AUDIENCE?
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7. WHAT IS AUDIENCE?
What’s your reaction to
these ads?
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8. WHAT IS AUDIENCE?
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9. WHY DOES
AUDIENCE
MATTER?
Presenting information at work is a near daily
task for me. Sometimes it's a status email to my
boss, sometimes it is a peer review of flight code
to my team, and sometimes it's a formal
technical review in front of our customer.
“
“
Michael Moselle
Guidance, Navigation,
Control Engineer
at Northrop Grumman
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10. AUDIENCE
AWARENESS
Original:
This proposaloutlines an integrated approach to
lean and six sigma model. Its development,
refinement and implementation has been achieved
through working closely with a subject company.
The effectiveness of the approach is consequently
evaluated highlighting the benefits the host
organization received through this new approach
by measuring the effects of implementation against
internalcompany measures.
How might we adapt this
summary for the sales team, who
needs to advertise the
effectiveness of the LSS approach:
How might we adapt this
summary for a team of engineers
in a company thinking of
implementing the LSS approach:
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11. TEST YOUR
AUDIENCE
AWARENESS
A Project for Head Quarters
Taxidermy Supply:
Our purpose in this SOP is for us
to establish a uniform procedure
for the habitat limbs and small
mold production, painting, and
packaging process. We hope
this gives our customers quality
and consistency.
Tailored For The
Engineering Team:
Tailored for the
finance team:
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12. What would the engineers value?
How did you change the text to speakto those values?
What would the finance team value?
How did you change the text to speakto those values?
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13. …I make a car that will go in space and meet with a house that is
in space. People and things will be able to ride in my space car. I
work on the keep cooland breathe part of the space car.
Nicole Resweber
AUDIENCE
AWARENESS
From a MentalFloss article, “18 Complicated Scientific Ideas
Explained Simply”
What do aerospace engineers do?
“ “
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14. What is a stakeholder?
KNOW YOUR
AUDIENCE:
STAKEHOLDERS
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15. w w w . r e i f y m e d i a . c o m
OUR
STAKEHOLDER
YOU
Rewind to our
introductions...
How did we tailor our
introductions to YOU, our
audience and
stakeholders?
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16. WHO ARE YOUR
STAKEHOLDERS
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17. BREAK!
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18. I’VE IDENTIFIED
MY AUDIENCE...
NOW WHAT?
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19. I’VE IDENTIFIED
MY AUDIENCE...
NOW WHAT?
Road Safety 101 is an online course
that provides videos, digital tools,
and discussionspaces to facilitate
learning regardingroad safety.
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20. I’VE IDENTIFIED
MY AUDIENCE...
NOW WHAT?
Road Safety 101 is an online course
that provides videos, digital tools,
and discussionspaces to facilitate
learning regardingroad safety.
Road Safety 101 is an online course
designedto help civil engineers
learn the basics of road safety.
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21. I’VE IDENTIFIED
MY AUDIENCE...
NOW WHAT?
Road Safety 101 is an online course
that provides videos, digital tools,
and discussionspaces to facilitate
learning regardingroad safety.
Road Safety 101 is an online course
designedto help civil engineers
learn the basics of road safety.
Road Safety 101 guides
participantsthrough the basics of
road safety and shares practical
ways that road safety principles
can be appliedto their jobs.
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22. WHAT IS
PURPOSE?
As an engineer you get to design elegant solutions to
problems, but everything has a cost, and so you must
be able to convince the (sometimes non-technical)
management why you should spend the next x
months building the design that you propose.
“
Bryan Klingenberg
System Design Engineer
at Ascom Wireless
“
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23. STAKEHOLDERS FOR
SENIOR DESIGN
PROJECTS?
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24. ACTIVITY
In your groups:
Look back at the stakeholders.
Consider your topic description.
Create multiple short (1-3 sentence) purpose statements about your
project, one for each of the stakeholders.
Ensure that each purpose statement identifies the WHY. Consider what
each stakeholder values and communicate those values by highlighting
what the stakeholder could gain from your project.
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25. Audience-focused purpose
statement:
Asana keeps your teamorganized, connected, and
focused on results. Asana has re-imagined team
communication fromthe ground up. Conversations
and tasks are in one place, so everything is actionable
and transparent. When less of your time is spent in
email, you’ll have more time to get workdone.
EXAMPLE:
ASANA
Generic summary:
Asana is a cloud-based project and teammanagement
tool, built to help teams organize their content and
communication outside of email.
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26. Identify your audience(s) and stakeholders
Consider what they value and don’t value and tailor
your message to those values
Communicate why your stakeholders should care
about your project
WHO IS LISTENING
AND WHY:
AUDIENCE, PURPOSE,
AND PRESENTATION
SKILLS
Summary:
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