Within the confines of this paper, I will be discussing the time I had an opportunity to step in and give a presentation in the absence of my Director of Operations. The audience consisted of several members of my own organization and members from another organization that my company wanted to partner with. I will further analyze what characteristics of the audience I considered at the time and what I deemed as appropriate communication channels in order to get my message out. I’ll furthermore provide a conclusion as to what the outcome of the presentation was.
When being tasked with the assignment of giving a presentation to members of my own organization along with representatives of a very large online auction, the first thought that came to my mind was that I needed to understand exactly who and what my audience was. I quickly realized that my organizations General Manager and VP would be in attendance along with the AVP, Director of Business Development, our IT Director and several of my peers would also be present. From the online auction company there were members of their vendor management team who were accompanied by senior managers who ultimately could decide whether or not to do business with us. Once I understood the magnitude of the meeting I was reminded of something I read in an article entitled, How Not to Conduct a Presentation. In the article, author H. Dennis Beaver says, “Public speaking is a process. It is a transaction, that is, an almost constant exchange of “messages” between the speaker and audience.” (Beaver, 1999) In other words, I needed to make sure that I kept my audience engaged and was willing to give information as much as except information in return. This in fact was accomplished by keeping a few things in mind that our text, Business and Administrative Communication talks about. First I needed to understand how the audience would initially react to the message. I understood right away that most of the people in attendance were expecting to hear the message from my boss. With that however, I figured that because it was me providing the message and not my boss, they would be paying even more attention to me. While that did add some additional pressure on me, it helped me gain the audience’s attention even further. Also, considering I am an employee who is well liked and received by my peers and others I felt like I had a good chance of being successful. It was at that point I relaxed and felt slightly more comfortable.
Next, I needed to identify the characteristic of what Locker and Kienzler identified as determining “how much information does the audience need.” (Locker & Kienzler, 2008) I knew that everyone in the meeting knew the purpose of the meeting and presentation and therefore all I needed to do was give them the additional facts surrounding the product my company was offering. As Locker and Kienzler suggests in the text, in order to bring everyone up to speed and add a new flavor to the information while also being sure not to insult anyone’s intelligence, I “prefaced information with words such as “As you know” or “As you may remember.” (Locker & Kienzler, 2008) Next as I drove towards the main section of the presentation I kept in mind the number four characteristic of my audience which was “What positive aspects” will I be able to emphasize. It was at this point that I had already accomplished the following. I was successful in reminding the audience why we were all together, and had giving them a fresh look and understanding of our product. Now it was time to unveil the fruits of my company’s labor. That was when I introduced the new home page and website for the consumer vehicle inspection product called Inspect My Ride. (www.inspectmyride.com) The new and positive information I provided not only to the members of my organization but also to the members of the online auction company was well received. I used the website to point out features that would benefit the customers of auction as well as our organization from a vehicle inspection standpoint. When I used language such as “150 point vehicle inspection” representatives from the online auction company stated that was what they needed for their customer base. That led me to believe that I had touched on characteristic five in our text, where the question is asked, “What are the audiences expectations about the appropriate language, organization and form of messages.” (Locker & Kienzler, 2008)
Let me now explain how I was able to accomplish and subsequently identify and use these characteristics to my advantage. Not only did I have the benefit of presenting a great product that is mutually beneficial to both companies, I was able to hold the attention of the audience by utilizing several communication channels. By using PowerPoint and web conferencing tools the electronic communication channel was the primary method of assisting me in getting my message out. Secondly, while talking to the group and using the PowerPoint as a guide, I made a conscientious effort to maintain eye contact and vary the speed in which I was talking. Doing this kept my audience engaged and allowed me to stay in tuned with them, determining if they were lost or losing interest. Next, I was able to show the benefits of our product while also providing facts related to how our website would enhance the lives of our mutual customers while simultaneously giving those same customers all the necessary information they needed to make a well informed purchasing decision. The last thing I was able to accomplish was establish with the online auction company, that my organization was committed from an operations and technology standpoint to do what was necessary to partner with them and provide a high level of customer service to mutual customers. In short this was a business gesture of goodwill that was made to clearly state that my organization was committed for the long haul. It is obvious that using these communication channels was beneficial to the success of the presentation.
In closing, we have clearly indentified which characteristics of the audience I was speaking to were considered. In doing so I believe the audience was satisfied with the information being presented to them. To further add in the success was the fact that I used several communication channels to enhance that information.

References
Beaver, H. D. (1999, July). How Not to Conduct a Presentation. Retrieved October 2010 from the EBSCO Host Database
DataScan Field Services. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2010, from Inspect My Ride: www.inspectmyride.com
Locker, K. O., & Kienzler, D. S. (2008). Business and Administrative Communication, Eighth Edition. McGraw-Hill Companies.