Instructor: Dr. Derek R. Lane drlane@pop.uky.edu Office: 238 Grehan Building (257-4651)
Office Hours Monday - Thursday 1:00 - 2:00 (And by Appointment)
Course Materials
O?Hair, D., Friedrich, G. W., & Shaver, L. D. (1995). Strategic communication in business and the professions, Second Edition, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Note: The benefits you receive in this class are
directly proportional to your efforts in keeping up with the assigned reading
and participating in class.
Course Description
Persuasive Speaking (COM 287) is designed to provide students with experience in the construction and delivery of persuasive messages within professional and corporate contexts. Students select an organization they wish to represent, analyze the organization, and design, create, and deliver persuasive discourse that will advance their career and promote the goals of the organization.
Course Objectives
Our mission is to develop and refine the skills required to construct and present persuasive messages in a public forum. Specifically, this course will help students to:
*COM 287 is part of the University Studies Program designed to provide undergraduates with a comprehensive liberal arts education. The class can be taken to fulfill the Oral Communication Skills requirement in University Studies.
If you have questions about this requirement, contact the Course Director (Dr. Alan D. DeSantis, 257-1975) or the USP office (257-3027).
Common Challenge
To learn to improve persuasive communication behaviors and technological competence in organizational contexts through the trust, support, cooperation, and mutual respect of fellow students. Any student in this course who has a disability that may prevent him or her from fully demonstrating his or her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible so I can discuss accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and facilitate your educational opportunities.
Policies and Procedures:
Learning in this course takes two major forms--cognitive and experiential. The latter requires participation and observation in common experiences. This is a public speaking class "public" being the operative word. As a result, the class will need a public if we are to learn to construct and deliver persuasive messages to a live audience. Therefore, attendance is required! Persuasive public speaking REQUIRES an audience to persuade. Students will be expected to participate in class activities and contribute to class discussions of topics. You will be allowed one unexcused absence, to be used at your discretion. After the discretionary absence, your final grade will be lowered 5% for each additional absence. If you miss a class on the day you are scheduled to speak, you will NOT be allowed to make up the work.
If you are going to miss a class it is your responsibility to speak with me PRIOR to the class session you will be missing. If you should have an unanticipated EMERGENCY, please contact me directly or leave a phone message (257-3621). For university-sponsored absences, notification must be given to me prior to the absence.
Late or Missed Assignments (Performance Speaker
Order)
At the onset of the semester, students will be randomly assigned to speak in a specific order. Students MUST BE IN CLASS PREPARED TO GIVE THEIR PRESENTATIONS ON THE ASSIGNED DAY. In the event that a student is not prepared or is absent on the day that his/her presentation is to be given 50% WILL BE DEDUCTED for every class day the assignment is late. If a student is aware of a scheduling conflict, it is the RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STUDENT to make arrangements PRIOR to the day the presentation is due. Acceptable excuses BEFORE the day of the presentation will be considered. Excuses (acceptable or not) are NOT CONSIDERED if they come AFTER the day of the presentation.
The University of Kentucky code for classroom behavior and academic misconduct will be enforced in this course.
Classroom Ethics
We expect that all of the work you do in COM 287 (and in all your other courses) is always your own. We find, however, that many students are not sure exactly what "your own" means. We want you to read again the information on PLAGIARISM and CHEATING from your UK Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook:
3.1 Plagiarism
All academic work, written or otherwise, submitted by a student to his/her instructor or other academic supervisor, is expected to be the result of his/her own thought, research, or self-expression. In any case in which a student feels unsure about a question of plagiarism involving his/her work, s/he is obligated to consult the instructor before submitting it. When a student submits work purporting to be his/her own, but which in any way borrows ideas, organization, wording, or anything else from another source without appropriate acknowledgment of the fact, the student is guilty of plagiarism. Students may discuss assignments among themselves or with an instructor or tutor, but when the actual work is done, it must be done by the student and the student alone.
3.2 Cheating
Cheating is defined by its general usage. It includes, but is not limited to, the wrongful giving, taking, or presenting any information or material by a student with the intent of aiding him/herself or another on any academic work which is considered in any way in the determination of the final grade. Any question of definition shall be referred to the University Appeals Board. The sanction of punishment for a student who is accused of either plagiarizing or cheating is a minimum of an E grade for the entire course, but it may involve suspension, dismissal, or expulsion from the University. As you can see, these are serious measures for academic offenses which we believe are serious. If you have any questions about whether you may be committing either of these academic offenses, be sure to contact your instructor.
Critique Sessions
Each presentation should be a shared growing experience based upon the ability of each student to evaluate one another. The strengths and weaknesses of each presentation will be identified through in-class discussions and written critiques following each students' speech. Methods to remedy weaknesses will also be determined. Students will be responsible for completing a self-evaluation form following each of their presentations. Students will regularly receive critiques from their classmates. At all times these critiques will remain CONSTRUCTIVE and stress POSITIVE traits of the speaker.
Course Assignments and Grading
There will be six assignments throughout the course of the semester:
Tuesday, September 3 Introduction to Organizational Communication Chapter 1
Thursday, September 5 Model of Strategic Communication Chapter 2
Tuesday, September 10 Diversity in Business and the Professions - Ethics Chapter 3
Thursday, September 12 Persuasion: Advanced Strategies of Persuasive Message Construction
Tuesday, September 17 Assignment One Due (Organizational Analysis Report Due)
Thursday, September 19 Assignment One Due (Organizational Analysis Report Due)
Tuesday, September 24 Listening Skills Chapter 4
Thursday, September 26 Verbal and Nonverbal Skills Chapter 5
Tuesday, October 1 Leadership and Management Skills Chapter 6
Thursday, October 3 Work Relationships Chapter 7
Tuesday, October 8 Principles of Interviewing Chapter 8
Thursday, October 10 Interviews in Business Settings Chapter 9
Tuesday, October 15 Assignment Two Due (Interview with Resume)
Thursday, October 17 Assignment Two Due (Interview with Resume)
Tuesday, October 22 Public Presentations that Inform Chapter 13
Thursday, October 24 Public Presentations the Persuade Chapter 14
Tuesday, October 29 Assignment Three Due (Selling your Company at a Job Fair)
Thursday, October 31 Assignment Three Due (Selling your Company at a Job Fair)
Tuesday, November 5 Election Day - Academic Holiday
Thursday, November 7 Fundamentals of Group Communication Chapter 10
Tuesday, November 12 Meetings: Forums for Problem Solving Chapter 11 Thursday, November 14 Negotiation and Conflict Management Chapter 12
Tuesday, November 19 Assignment Four Due (Sales Presentation w/ focus on competition)
Thursday, November 21 Assignment Four Due (Sales Presentation w/ focus on competition)
Tuesday, November 26 Social Persuasion and Change (campaigns, public relations, and advertising)
Thursday, November 28 Thanksgiving - Academic Holiday
Tuesday, December 3 Non-traditional Social Persuasion (campaigns, public relations, and advertising) IN LAB
Thursday, December 5 Media Presentations and Special Presentations (for Assignment Six) Chapter 15
Tuesday, December 10 Assignment Five Due (Internal speech advocating social cause)
Thursday, December 12 Assignment Five Due (Internal speech advocating social cause)
Monday, December 16 Assignment Six Due (Nontraditional public communication) 3:30 p.m.
Your First Step: Selecting an Organization
Your first task is to select an organization, either profit or non-profit, that is presently in operation. A cultural inventory will illuminate a myriad of organizations that should not only spark your interest, but have a pragmatic application to your life after college.
B. Constraints
While you are free to select any organization, there are a few constraints. Specifically, your organization must:
2. be approved by your instructor.
Organizational Analysis Report (100 points)
After you have selected your organization, you must create a report describing and analyzing its history, management, and goals. The purpose of this project is to supply you (and the person that will interview you) with information needed to appropriately create persuasive discourse for your organization.
B. Specifics of the Assignment
This report should be a minimum of 5 to 7 typed, double spaced pages and should incorporate five different sources. Your report should include five major areas:
4. A description and brief analysis of your company’s major competitors (2 pages)
5. An analysis and samples of frequently employed persuasive strategies of your company (print ads, radio spots, web pages, TV commercials, etc.) (2 pages)
The Interview with Resume (50 points each--100 Total)
A. Brief Description
You will be pared with someone in the class with similar professional interests. Each of you will exchange your 1) organizational reports from assignment one and 2) resumes. This should supply each of you with enough appropriate information to conduct a realistic interview.
B. Specifics of the Assignment
2. You will be graded on both sides of the interview process
Interviewer: Did you prepare and conduct a well thought out interview
Interviewee: Were you appropriately persuasive given the demands of your interviewer
3. These interviews will take place in front of the class, enabling your fellow students to reflect, comment, and critique your performance.
4. Resumes will be no longer than one page
Selling Your Company at a Job Fair (100 points)
A. Brief Description
Your specific goal as a representative of your company is to construct a speech that is 1) sensitive to your audience, 2) well researched, and 3) persuasive, highlighting the dominant reasons why one would want to work for your company. It is suggested that you focus the majority of your attention on your company’s products/services, reputation, influence, ethics, and leadership--not on particular details of employment (retirement plans, health coverage, salary, specific assignments)
B. Specifics of the Assignment:
2. You must turn in a typed, detailed sentence outline to your professor before you speak
3. You will inform us of your specific contextual constraints:
Sales Presentation with Focus on Refuting Competition (100 points)
For your fourth assignment you must sell your company’s specific product or service. More specifically, your speech must utilize a refutation format in which your arguments detail the benefits of your organization in comparison to your major competitor (information that you will have obtained from your organizational report). If your organization is diversified, narrow down your selection to a single focus.
Assignment four will be delivered to perspective consumers of your product or service. These consumers may be individuals, small businesses, or major corporations. Since the context will vary from speech to speech, you will once again take 20 seconds before you begin your speech to inform the class of the specific contextual factors.
B. Specifics of the Assignment:
2. You must turn in a typed, detailed sentence outline to your professor before you speak
Internal Speech Advocating a Social Cause (100 points)
In assignment five, it is your turn to fight for a socially significant campaign! Find a social cause that you feel passionate about, e.g., hunger, racism, Democratic/Republican Party, rain forest, women’s issues, crime, education, etc. Then persuade your company’s board members that they should adopt the cause as their philanthropic focus for the year. If you are successful, your company will donate $10,000 (tax deductible, of course) to your cause.
B. Specifics of the Assignment:
2. You will be competing against other class members for the support of the board.
3. This sales presentation will be five minutes in length (with a 30 second leeway).
4. You must turn in a detailed sentence outline to your instructor before you speak.
5. A visual aid must be used.
2. While the complete class must attend all of the presentations, only a selected number each day will have the privilege of sitting around the conference table. The rest of the class will inconspicuously sit on the periphery of the room.
3. The members who are seated around the conference table will have the responsibility of ranking the speakers for that day. Ultimately, they must select the best presentation of the day and award that speaker with the $10,000 donation for their cause.
4. While the board members may have different political, social, and religious views, they must try to be objective, critically thinking individuals.
Non-Traditional Forms of Public Communication (100 points)
Contemporary organizations will not be successful if they rely solely on public speeches as their only means of external communication. In our mass mediated culture, the public demands more. Your task is to create three non-traditional forms of communication that will enhance the image of your organization.
Unlike the other assignments, however, your presentation of these ideas is not the focus. You will be graded on the non-traditional messages that you will have typed and neatly presented to us.
B. Specifics of the Assignment
2. The three ideas you will be asked to present are as follows:
B. -One Symbol that visual essentializes your persuasive strategy.
C. -A Storyboard for a 30 second TV advertisement (include both narration
and visual images) that incorporates both your slogan and symbol.
In today's competitive job market, finding employment is no small task. Increasingly, companies are demanding to see empirical proof that you have the skills and refined thought needed to be successful with their company.
In an effort to help the student create this type of evidence, the Department of Communication strongly encourages you to compile the work from this class in a neat, professional portfolio. Since COM 287 was designed with this goal in mind, the creation of such a dossier should be a simple, fitting, and pragmatic extension of the course.
A professional portfolio is a collection of your work designed to highlight your strengths for interested parties. Specifically, this communication portfolio will demonstrate that you have:
1) developed writing skills;
2) refined your oral communication skills in both public and small group forums (as demonstrated through the video tape); and
3) the critical thought and vision to plan, create, and manage a campaign.
1) It should represent your best work!
2) There should be no grammatical, structural, syntactical, or spelling mistakes.
3) The portfolio should have an aesthetic consistency and balance to it.
-type everything
-be neat
-use the same paper throughout (color, size, weight, etc.)
-use the same font in each work
-be consistent with your margins
Speaker's Name_______________________
1) Introduction
___clear purpose
___grabbed attention
2) Speaker Ethos
___likable
___credible
___prepared
3) Language
___clear
___culturally sensitive
4) Delivery
___voice
___eye contact
___gestures
___extemporaneous
5) Supporting Material
___well researched
___proper citations
___appropriate evidence
6) Audience Analysis
___meeting the assignment
___meeting audience expectations
___meeting contextual constrains
7) Organization
___speech "flow"
___important information emphasized
8) Conclusion
___clear
___thought provoking
9) Visual Aids
___effective
10) Overall Rhetorical Strategy
___did it work
___was it a sound game-plan
11) Written Material
___outline
___audience analysis sheet
You will complete a peer evaluation form for every assigned speech delivered in your class (assignments 3, 4, and 5). There is a two-fold purpose for these evaluations: First, this exercise will tone and refine your analytical skills as a critic of public messages. Second, your comments will serve as helpful insight and direction for the speaker under review. As such, make sure your remarks are not vacuous; display the same care and respect you wish to be shown when presenting.
The Speaker's Name:________________________
1) Comment on a strong aspect of the speaker's "content."
2) Comment on a strong aspect of the speaker's "form."
3) Comment on an aspect of the speaker's "content" that could be improved in future presentations.
4) Comment on an aspect of the speaker's "form" that could be improved
in future presentations.