The Situation
You are a member of a seven-person campus committee that
wants to propose a new intramural activity for your school. First,
your committee must agree on one activity to support. Each
member will have five minutes to present an idea to the committee
at your next meeting. You would like to propose lacrosse,
which you have always been interested in since you learned the
game as a child, but you know it is not a popular sport.
Making Choices
1. For your presentation, would you plan to try to identify
with your audience or would you avoid identification with
them? What are the potential benefits or drawbacks of
each strategy?
2. What type of behavior is most appropriate for this situation:
Will listeners expect a lighthearted tone, a serious
demeanor, or something in between? A broad overview
or a detailed one?
3. In this situation, is the purpose of your presentation to
inform, to persuade, to entertain, or a combination of
some or all of these? Explain why.
What If…
The committee decides to support your idea for a new intramural
activity and asks you to present it to the student government.
You will have 5 to 10 minutes to make your pitch.
How would your answers above be affected by the following
conditions?
1. In addition to presenting your idea, you need to include
estimates for how much it will cost to fund the program
for a year, and you know that student government officials
will balk at what seems to be a very high cost.
2. A campus-wide poll taken by your committee shows
that most students in the governing group aren't interested
in your activity but that large numbers of students
overall are excited about your proposal.