Republic of the Philippines

Commission on Higher Education

Region III

LYCEUM OF WESTERN LUZON ZAMBALES, INC.

Batonlapoc, Botolan, Zambales

PURPOSIVE
COMMUNICATION
Module 8: Communication for Work Purposes

MARIE AILEEN M. SANTOS

Instructor

JOSSETTE Y. PEREZ-DAES
School President
Purposive Communication Page 2 of 18

Lesson 8. COMMUNICATION FOR WORK PURPOSES

An interview is a two-part conversation that

always has a specific purpose. One participant in
the interview always has a serious reason for being
there. Most interviews contain a question-and-
answer format. It is the interviewer’s job to direct
the conversation and keep track of time.
Interviewing is different from other kinds of
conversation. The difference lies in the amount of
speaking by each party. In an informal conversation, the time is distributed equally between the
two parties. In an interview, the interviewee mostly does most of the talking in a 70 to 30 percent
ratio.

There are many kinds of interviews (Adler & Elmhorst, 2008):

1. Selection interview help organizations and prospective employees screen applicants
before the hiring process.
2. Performance appraisal interview review employees’ job performance and help set
targets for the future.
3. Disciplinary interviews help organizations decide on issues relating to employees’
misconduct or poor performance.
4. Diagnostic interviews inform health practitioners, councilors and attorneys about the
needs of their clientele.
5. Research interviews gather data for future decisions.

Planning the Interview

The following pointers can help you in planning an efficient and effective interview.
1. Define the goal. You should make your goal as clear as possible.
2. Identify and analyze the other party. When you interview, you must select the best
person to give you the needed information. The success of your interview depends on the
person you choose as your interviewee. As you decide who will you interview, consider
the following factors:

a. Knowledge level. Ask questions that are related to the interviewee’s experience and
educational background. If you are the one being interviewed, remember to figure out
the knowledge level of the interviewer so you can avoid giving too complex or too
basic information.
b. The other’s concept of self. If you are in interview, consider the other party’s self-
concept. If for example, your teacher is interviewing you about your performance in
class, consider whether s/he sees her/himself as a teacher doing academic research, an
inexperienced educator trying to figure out what works best with the students, or an
Purposive Communication Page 3 of 18

employee who will be in trouble if your answer does not match her/his expectations.
Each attitude will influence the flow of the conversation, so be sensitive what role
does the other party play.
c. Your image. In any organizations, an employee’s self-image is his/her banner. Who
are you may not be as important as how other’s think you are. If your boss thinks that
you are demanding for a salary raise when in fact you are just discussing the success
of a project you recently completed, you are placing yourself in a hot spot. If you are
being interviewed for a job, you must show that you are a well-informed applicant
about the company’s profile. If you appear lost in the middle of the interview, you
will have poor chances of getting hired.
3. Prepare a list of topics. It is best to go to the battlefield prepared with all the weapons
you need. Before facing the other party, write down the questions you would like to ask.
Sometimes, you do not get the information you need because you ask the wrong
questions.
4. Choose the best interview structure. Adler and Elmhorst (2008) presented the
differences between highly structured and non-structured interviews:

Highly Structured Interview Non-structured Interview

 Usually takes less time
 Easier for the interviewer to
control
 Provides quantifiable result
 Requires less skill by interviewer
 Low flexibility in exploring
responses
 Usually takes more time
 More difficult for the interviewer
to control
 Results more difficult to quantify
 Requires high degree of interview
skill
 High flexibility in exploring
responses

A highly structured interview consists of a list of well-defined questions. The questions

follow a particular order in which they are asked. Research papers use highly structured
interviews in gathering data. Answers are easier to check and tabulate. Because they have
detailed structure, it does not require so much skill from the interviewer.

Highly structured interviews may be ideal in gathering large amount of data, but they
may also be disadvantageous when the range of topics is strictly predetermined. In some
instances, the interviewer may not have the chance to go back to intriguing and unclear
answers that may arise during the conversation.

The non-structured interview encourages a flexible conversation between the interviewer

and the interviewee. The nature of questioning varies depending on the concerns that
arise. Employers who have general agenda without specific questions use a non-
structured interview. They may want to ask employees about whether or not they are
happy with their job, if they find their co-workers stressful and why, and whether they are
experiencing personal and work-related problems.
Purposive Communication Page 4 of 18

5. Consider possible actions. It is easy to formulate questions once you have decided on
your agenda. You may consider writing different question formats:

a. Open and closed questions. Closed questions do not give the interviewee the chance
to respond naturally. Choices are predetermined which restrict the interviewee to
explain and elaborate her/his answer. Open questions encourage the interviewee to
elaborate. These questions invite detailed answers. If you are being asked with a
closed question, you may want to turn it into an open one, so you can share more
information.
b. Factual and opinion questions. Factual questions look for facts. Example: what is
your bachelor’s degree? Do you have a work experience abroad? When did you take
your licensure exam? Opinion questions ask for interviewee’s discernment. Example:
Who among your employees in your department deserves salary increase and why?
Do you think that a photocopy machine in your office is worth the investment?
Always consider your reason for asking a question before you decide which one to
use: factual question or opinion question.
c. Primary and secondary questions. Primary questions introduce the main topic while
secondary questions aim to generate more information.

Type of Question Examples

Primary Question Why will our company hire you?
Secondary questions  Have you undergone trainings
related to the position you are
applying for?
 What work experience helped
you gain the skills that we are
looking for in an applicant?
 Are you a team player?

Secondary questions are helpful when a previous answer does not give complete
information. They also serve as a follow up query when the given answer is vague:
What do you mean by “It’s a classified information?” Secondary questions are used
also when a previous answer is significant, irrelevant, or inaccurate.
d. Direct and Indirect Questions. The best way to get a direct answer is to ask direct
questions. However, some interviewees may not appreciate being asked directly
especially when their answers would put them in trouble.
A direct question will not work if the interviewee is not sure of the answer. Do not
ask your interviewee a direct question if you think s/he is not the right person to ask.
It is smart to ask indirect questions that elicit the same information as would a direct
question.
6. Arrange the setting. When you plan an interview, determine how much time you need
to accomplish your purpose. Let your interviewee know the exact time and place of the
Purposive Communication Page 5 of 18

interview. The other party should be informed how much time you need from her/him. If
you can avoid, do not schedule an interview right before mealtime because the
interviewee might be too hungry to answer your questions. Interviews that are done
immediately right before or after a stressful meeting may not be successful at times
because the interviewee is too preoccupied to answer your questions. Most importantly,
always remember to respect time. Be punctual.

Choose a neutral place for the interview. A neutral place is anywhere that is away from
both party’s familiar settings. This is truly important if you want your interviewee to
focus on your questions and not on many interruptions like matters concerning her/his
work. Also, interviewing someone in a place away from work makes the person thinks
more freely and creatively.

Be cautious also of the implications of the physical arrangement of the setting. The
person sitting behind a desk demands formality and respect. If both parties sit across a
table facing each other or sit close together or sit without a barrier in between, this
arrangement suggests equality of power and touch of informality. If a supervisor wants to
assert authority over a disrespectful employee, s/he should sit behind the office desk. If a
counselor wants to create a friendly and low-anxiety atmosphere and to gain the trust of
the client, s/he has to avoid the barrier of a desk.

Conducting the Interview

An interview consists of three stages: an opening, a body, and a conclusion.

1. Opening. First impressions last. This is true about giving self-introduction during
interviews. The first 30-60 seconds of your introduction should be spent carefully,
as this is the time your interviewer makes 50 percent of his/her decision whether
to hire you or not. Twenty-five percent of the evaluation is placed during the first
15 minutes. The remaining 25 percent is difficult to recover if you badly carried
out during the first couple of minutes.

a. Getting and building rapport. A good introduction should begin with a

greeting and self-introduction. You need to build rapport with your
interviewee. An informal conversation can help both parties feel comfortable
with each other; thus, the result is more likely to be better.

You can start by asking one’s own opinion about a popular movie or
television show, a national event, or any interesting political, social, health,
and economic issues. In building rapport, you must also be ready with sincere
remarks like those words of encouragement (e.g., Oh, that is good start!
Wonderful!, That’s pretty amazing!).
Purposive Communication Page 6 of 18

 Explain why you are doing the interview. Describe the purpose of
your interview to make your interviewee feels at ease. If you are being
called to report to the dean’s office, you may feel uneasy about it but
to be informed of the reason beforehand will save you from feeling
anxious.
 Discuss the information you need to get and why you need it. Advise
your interviewee ahead of time about the kind of information you need
so s/he could prepare. Equally important is informing the person why
you need so much information. You can also assure the interviewee
that the data gathered will be treated with strict confidentiality, if the
situation calls for it.
 Set the rules. You need to clear out to your interviewee how you
would like the interview to be carried out. You might say: “I’d like to
ask your permission to record our conversation. Or please respond
briefly to the questions I prepared, then we can go back to each one if
you like to clarify some matters.”
 Inform the length of time of the interview. Interviewees will
cooperate with you more willingly if they know how long the session
will last.
2. Body. This is the stage where questions answers are exchanged. As an
interviewer, you must do the following:

a. Do not drift from the main agenda. As an interviewer, you have to focus on
the discussion. You may start the conversation with small talks to loosen up.
But this should not take long because it might use up the time intended for the
interview.
b. Give your full attention. Interviewing requires multitasks at the same time.
You listen, jot down notes, budget time, think of the next question, keep an
eye contact, ask follow-up questions, respond to responses and so on. Novice
interviewers often fail to hear what the interviewee is saying because of the
many tasks they have to do.
c. Use secondary questions when needed. Sometimes you do not get the data by
simply asking primary questions only. There are times when you need to
probe on the issue. Therefore, you must use secondary questions in order to
give the other person the chance to elaborate and explain in details.

If you are the interviewee, consider doing the following:

 Give your full attention. only when you listen attentively will you be
able to connect your responses to the questions of the interviewer.
Careful listening will help you understand the questions.
Purposive Communication Page 7 of 18

 Supply the information that is needed from you. Put yourself on the
situation of the interviewer. Think about what kind of information you
would like to have. Then, supply that information. Interviewees who
give off tangent remarks may not actually know the answer to the
question, or they may be hiding information that they do not want to
share. It is better not to push the matter.
 Clarify any misunderstanding. If you said something and you are not
sure if the interviewer got it correct, you may ask the other person
“Did you get exactly what I said?” or may simply ask him to retell
what you told him so that there will be no chance that you will be
misinterpreted.

3. Closing. Do not end your interview with the last answer to the last question. plan
a satisfactory way to close it. You may consider the following tasks:

a. Review and clarify main points of the interview. This can be done by both the
interviewer. But in most cases, it is the interviewer (the one with the greater
power) who becomes more concerned in clarifying issues. The interviewer
may restate what has been agreed upon to conclude the conversation.
b. Make future plans of actions. I you think that you need another meeting with
the interviewee, you may close by saying “Oh, why don’t I give you a call
next week to see what you’re thinking?” or you may also say “I’m glad you
gave me opportunity to interview you. Could I see you again next month to
see how things are going?”
c. Express appreciation. Thank your interviewees for spending his/her precious
time with you as well as giving you her/his knowledge about your topic.

Examples:
You are indeed the best person to talk to.
Your ideas are wonderful!
Thank you so much for your time.

Expressing your appreciation to the people you interviewed makes them feel
respected. The next time you visit them, they will be more likely to listen to what
you have to say and share information.

Developing and Organizing the Presentation

Whatever your course is, whatever your job will be, a big part of your walking hours
will be spent on speaking with a lone person or in a big group. Salesmen, medical
representatives, and entrepreneurs present their products and services to prospective
customers. Department chair persons present their cultural programs to their deans and
Purposive Communication Page 8 of 18

explain the needed materials like textbooks and audiovisual to facilitate learning. IT
professionals and computer specialists discuss to people how new software applications
work. Managers orient their new employees about the company and explain policies to
promote order and harmony in the workplace.

Every student aiming to find success in the future should develop excellent presentation
skills. Delivering a presentation is not only done during formal occasions. Our informal
talks with a few people or a single person also require presentation skills. The following
situations require that you must have a good spoken skills if you want to ensure success:
you plan to talk your teacher because you think you deserve a much higher grade that
what you got in the previous semester; you are a quality control supervisor and you
want to introduce a new system of packaging the goods; you are a crime investigator
and you discovered fresh evidences you want to discuss with your team.

Even if you report, most of the time, you still need to present it. Sometimes, the quality
of your spoken words may determine if people will read your work or not further, you
are judged the way you speak in front of a big crowd. As you get promoted in your job,
the more often there will be events and occasions that you are required to speak.

Common Types of Presentational Speaking

(Source: Adler & Elmhorst, 2008)

Type of Presentation Example

Briefing and informational announcements Announcing a new health insurance procedure
Orientation sessions Conducting new employee orientation
Training programs Explaining how to operate a new computer
software
Research and technical reports Describing a market research survey
Progress reports Giving a status report on monthly sales
Civic and social presentations Reporting on company’s technological
breakthroughs
Television and radio interviews Describing the company’s position on an
industrial accident or injury
Introductions Introducing a new employee to other workers
Sales presentations Presenting a product to potential customers
Project and policy proposals Proposing new travel policy to the
management
Seeking resources Making a loan request to commercial lenders
Ceremonial occasions Speaking at a retirement celebration for a
longtime employee
Purposive Communication Page 9 of 18

The quality of time and effort you spend preparing for your talks is more important than the
number of hours you spend. Experts suggest that knowing who your audience is of utmost
importance in designing your presentation.

Even if you write your thoughts in a letter, memo, or proposal, there are still many reasons of
presenting them in person. If your reader does not fully understand your mind, it is best to
present your ideas in person. This will help you gather immediate feedback so you can clarify
points and answer questions. When you speak with confidence and in an organized manner, you
can influence people to accept your ideas. It is something that a written document cannot do.
This is the reason that requires the students to prepare completely for their thesis defense and
oral presentation of a written report.

There are different kinds of presentations and each one demands different degrees of preparation.
For example, speakers in conferences may use a very formal language and may delay questions
until they finish their talk. Sales representatives may encourage questions during their
presentations and answers them right away. It is more like an ordinary conversation between
their prospective customers because the latter are allowed to interrupt them with questions and
make many demands. Despite of the differences, presenters still follow the same steps and
amount of planning and developing. Consider the steps below.

1. Analyze the Situation

a. Analyze the audience. An adventure that may fascinate you may possibly bore your
audience. An approach that you think is proven and tested may not work in the
situation in which you will speak. Your wonderful ideas may be the highlight of your
presentation but having good ideas in a way that your listeners will understand and
appreciate. For example, doctors should not use technical terms in explaining the
effect of Dengvaxia to common people. But scientific terms are however appreciated
if used to people with medical background.

Your presentation should fit your audience’s interests, needs, and backgrounds.

Be able to identify your key audience members. Who among your audience will
decide whether to buy your ideas or not? Make your ideas appealing to this group of
people. Tailor fit your presentation to their needs, prejudices, and preferences. The
manager’s opinion should weigh more than your fellow workers’ remarks on your
presentation.

Get an idea how much your audience knows about the topic. A basic and simplified
explanation of a topic might bore and hurt a group of experts. However, les informed
audiences would require it.
Purposive Communication Page 10 of 18

You must also know what your listeners want to know. If you are invited to speak
before a group of teachers about strategies in teaching literature., talk about the best
classroom teaching and learning practices, not the best-selling novels that you have
read. If you want to get a raise in your salary, tell the management how you can help
the company better in the new position, not because you need the money. If you are a
financial adviser and you want to offer your services to an inexperienced
businessman, identify the prospect’s needs and show how you can satisfy them.

It helps to know the style of presentation your audience prefers. Do they like a casual
talk or a formal one? Do they want a presentation with humor or one that is dry? Some
audience may not appreciate a green joke but others may enjoy it.

Identify significant demographic characteristics of your audience. How are the

audiences distributed according to sex, age, cultural background, or economic status?

An approach may vary depending on the audience’s sex. More female participants
who uphold feminist values may require a gender-sensitive language.

A life insurance agent may differ her/his approach when the audience are composed of
retired employees and when they are in their 20s or 30s.

Cultural background is another demographic factor. Use politically correct words if

you do not want to get intro trouble. Your gestures in expressing your point may carry
meaning that is different from the intended meaning of your message. There are jokes
and expressions that are particularly unique to one’s culture only. Therefore, choose
only the ones that fit your audience’s background.

As a presenter, you must determine your audience’s economic status. Are they a
group pf wealthy people or less affluent ones? Do they drive their own cars or rely on
public transportations? Do they own their homes or are they still renting? Consider
these factors in deciding which products and services will you offer to your audience.

If you will present before a big crowd, you must get at least a rough estimate of the
number of participants. This will help you decide how many copies will you
reproduce for your handouts and the number of activities that your audience will do
during the workshop. Will you still have time for a group presentation and an open
forum? Know how far will the last person sits away from you, so you can adjust the
size of your visuals. If you have a big audience, you must prepare for varying needs
and interests. Experts recommend that you use formal language.

It is ridiculous to stand behind a podium if you only have three- to five listeners, but it
will be just as crazy if you sit on a chair when you have hundreds of listeners.
Purposive Communication Page 11 of 18

You must also consider your audience attitude toward you, as a speaker, and the
suject. Your approach should vary from a group of people who like you as a person
(“I like Joe. He is such a charming speaker”) to another group who feels indifferent
(“Joe is such a bore”). Another factor to consider is your audience’s attitude toward
the topic of your presentation. Do they appreciate your stand on the matter? Do they
think that your ideas are insignificant? The audience’s attitude toward the subject
should inform your approach.

b. Analyze your goal and knowledge. You need to ask yourself why you are speaking.
What is it that you want your audience to know from you? What do you want your
listeners to do after listening to your talk? How would you know if you have achieved
your goals?

Do not believe that you know enough. Always do research and find out the least
information. It is better to exaggerate our presentation than to look like a fool on
stage.

It is important that you are sincere with what you are preaching. The audience can feel
if you are faking it. So always believe in the product that you are selling. Trust your
ideas with all your heart. When you are truly excited to present a topic, which you
really care about, you become more enthusiastic, your facial expression and bodily
movements become more natural and your voice becomes more expressive. So,
choose an approach or a topic that is close to your heart.

c. Analyze the occasion. Consider the facilities available for you to use. Will there be
enough seats for everyone? Does the occasion provide for the following: projector,
microphone, white screen, white board, markers, easel for your charts, sound system,
among others.

You must also consider the time of the day when you will speak. After lunch sessions
might require more entertaining and more energetic speech than morning hours.
Length of speed is also vital in the preparation. You mut start finish your presentation
according to the time schedule assigned to you.

2. Set your Goal and Develop the Thesis. A general goal is a broad statement of what you
want to accomplish. According to Adler and Elmhorst (2008), there are three general
goals: to inform, persuade, and entertain. Some experienced speakers may attempt to do
more than one.

Example:

A computer specialist who explains the use of new software to people who will use it
may crack some jokes in the process to keep the attention of the listeners.
Purposive Communication Page 12 of 18

Informative presentations aim to help the audience acquire new information or skill.
Example:

Speakers in seminars who give workshops on best pedagogical approaches should

give informative presentations.

Persuasive presentations attempt to influence how one feels or thinks about a particular
matter.
Example:

Sales
The agentsgoal
specific whorefers
use antoexcellent marketing
the outcome sales
that you pitchItusually
desire. get more
is a specific peoplethat
statement to tells
buy their products and services than those who deliver lousily.
what you want done by a specific person or group in a specific place at a specific time. If
your speech is the journey, your goal is your destination. What is it exactly that you want
to achieve after your presentation.

Examples:

 I want all teachers in the English Department to participate in the extension

project of the College of Arts and Social Sciences.
 I want our boss to tell the committee to approve the request for salary increase
of 10 employees who have been faithfully serving the company for two
decades.
 I want at least 20 percent of the audience to come to me after my talk to avail
our company’s limited offer of free home installation of burglar alarms.

Your goal should describe how you expect your participants to react after your
presentation.

Examples:
Weak I want to demonstrate in this room how to design and draft blueprints.
Strong I want everyone in this room to show me that s/he can design and draft
blueprints

If you know exactly what you want to accomplish, you will surely get it done.
Meanwhile, the thesis statement is the key idea that summarizes your message.

Methods in Defining a Thesis Statement

(Source: Adler and Elmhorst, 2008)

a. Imagine that you met a member of your audience at the elevator and had only a few
second to explain your idea before the door is closed.
Purposive Communication Page 13 of 18

b. Imagine that you had to send a one-or-two-sentence email that communicated your main
ideas.
c. Ask yourself if your listeners heard only a small portion of your remarks. What is the
minimum they should have learned?
d. Supposed that a friend asked one of your listeners about what you were driving at in your
presentation. What would you want the audience member to say?

If you present without a clear thesis, your audience will be left wondering, “What ae you
driving at?” “What are you trying to say?” “What is your point?”

It is important that you repeat your thesis several times in your presentation. Once in the
introduction and a lot more times in the body and the conclusion.

3. Organize the body. Consider these two steps in organizing the body of your talk: (1)
identify the details that support your thesis; (2) design your organizational plan.

Before you organize your body, it must be clear to you what your thesis is. Then you start
gathering information, examples, and other details to support your claim. If you are a
medical representative wanting to sell to customers (doctors and pharmacists) your
product, you might want to research which competing products they are using now and
how they feel about them. You might also want to know if they are familiar with your
product and what they think about it. If you would like to explain how a new machine
works, the manual of operations would likely be the body of your talk. If you are an
insurance agent, you might want to research about the leading insurance company in your
community and the reasons of the many people patronizing it. You can also include in
your research what people might want from an insurance company and their changing
needs. once you have gathered all the details you need, you are ready to organize your
body.

Many people are not happy with speakers who are taking too long to get to the point.
Some discuss irrelevant topics and leave out important details. Those who have not
mastered their topics even mixed up their ideas. There are speakers who fail in their
presentation because they have not organized their ideas well. One good way to organize
your talk is to follow this outline (Adler & Elmhorst, 2008):

Introduction
-Attention getter
-Thesis
-Preview

Body (two to five main points)

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

Conclusion
Purposive Communication Page 14 of 18

Many people appreciate speakers who follows this pattern. However, may speakers still fail to
practice it. There are those who jump into the body of their presentation without giving any
preview about what they want to say. Some end their talk abruptly without their conducting
statements. Others could have done it perfectly following the five-part plan but they do not stop
after the conclusion. They still continue their talk by saying, oh, I should have told you also
that… or Did I tell you about the…? Or, Oh another thing is… such is a very poor way to end
talk.

Another point that you should do is to identify main points and sub-points. Which are the main
ideas in your talk? The main ideas are the ones you claim to be true and they are usually what
experts say about the topic. How do you plan to support your claims? You can do this by giving
examples that are relevant to your audience’s interest and by presenting what previous researches
have said about the matter.

After gathering all the information that you need, choose the best organizational pattern for your
purpose. The following are the suggested patterns of presentation:

a) Chronological pattern. Use this pattern if you want to present your points following
their sequence in time. It is commonly used to present a process or to give instructions.
This pattern is also used to discuss events that develop over time.
b) Spatial pattern. Use this pattern to show the physical location of an object or how ideas
are put together. For example, you may want to show the location of a new building in
school campus or parts and functions of a new product.
c) Topical pattern. If you want to group your ideas together under one topic or category,
use the topical pattern.
d) Cause-effect pattern. This shows that events happened or will happen as a result of
some circumstances. You can demonstrate using this pattern how a new monitoring
program in schools can help improve the punctuality of teachers in attending their
classes. Another way to present a cause-and-effect relationship is through an effect-cause
structure. Present the result first, then show how it came to happen. You may use this to
explain why a school has a strict implementation of absenteeism policy and the factors
that brough this out.
e) Problem-solution pattern. You begin by presenting the problem and then propose
solutions. Make the audience recognize that there is a problem in the present situation
Purposive Communication Page 15 of 18

before you can present remedies. An IT professional may start a talk by pointing out the
difficulty and lack of efficiency in manually accessing files in an office. After the
audience realizes the problematic situation, s/he can now proceed to presenting how an
office database can improve the processing of office documents.
f) Criteria satisfaction pattern. You present a set of criteria and proceed to how can
satisfy each audience member. This is particularly useful when you are selling a product
or service or an unpopular idea. You make your audience accept first the criteria that you
set. Afterwards, present your proposal. Look at this example: As a middle management
manager, you are assigned to present the company’s decision to defer the employee’s
salary increase. You have to start your talk by leading your audience to understand the
company’s present situation, which resulted in the deferment. If you start by announcing
your thesis first (worker’s salaries need to maintain status quo), the audience might not
listen anymore and even show violent reactions.
g) Comparative advantages pattern. This pattern works well when you compare the
products or services that your company are selling and the competing companies. You
can demonstrate how your company’s products and services are at greater advantage than
the other one. This pattern is useful when you want to influence your boss’ decision on
company matters.
h) Motivated sequence pattern. It follows a five-step process, which is usually very
interactive. The steps are:

 Attention. Capture your audience’s attention by telling them about a problem.

 Need. Make them feel that the problem can affect them in many ways. They
should believe that you are there to help them find solutions.
 Satisfaction. Present the solution and show to your audience that it is workable.
 Visualization. Create a mental picture of the outcome of your proposal. Let your
audience imagine what will happen if your proposal is not adopted. Let them
visualize how your proposal will solve the problem and the benefits that go with
it.
 Action. Encourage your audience to respond by asking them what they can do to
help solve the problem.

4. Plan the Introduction and Conclusion. The introduction is the most important part of
your talk. This is the stage where the audience forms their first impression of you and
your topic. Be sure that you plan your introduction carefully because it will affect how
your listeners respond to the rest of the presentation. A meaningful introduction contains
a thesis and a preview. Consider the following functions of your introduction:

a. Capture the listeners attention. To capture their attention, you can start your talk
by presenting a problem that concerns them or begin with a task that challenges
what they know about the topic.
b. Show how important your talk is. Start by telling them the advantages they will
get by listening to your talk.
Purposive Communication Page 16 of 18

c. Set the mood for the topic and setting. If your purpose is to encourage people,
acknowledge their outstanding performances by highlighting improvements
through cooperation and hard work. Make them feel good about themselves.
d. Establish credibility. This may no longer needed if you are given a proper
introduction or the audience already knows that you are an expert.
e. State your thesis clearly. Before you proceed to the body of your presentation,
introduce your thesis clearly. Let the audience know the objectives you set for
your talk and how you plan to achieve them. In this way, the listeners will be
guided and informed where you are leading them.

How to Begin a Presentation

1. Ask the audience a rhetorical question without necessarily requiring for a response.
The aim of the question is to arouse them to think about an existing problem and see its
effects in their lives. Do not ask questions that are too risky.

Example:

If your boat is sinking, whom you are going to save first? Your wife or your mother?

Questions that do not concern your audience should also be avoided. For example, if
your audiences are farmers, fishermen, and sidewalk vendors, do not ask them about
home designs, computer software, and latest fashion styles. You can also ask questions
that call for an overt response. However, listeners can also respond mentally.

Examples:

 Let me see a show of hands by the people who come from the far north of the
Philippines?
 Who has had trouble coming here today because of heavy traffic?
 Raise your hand if you are among those who believe that President Trump should step
down from his office?

2. Begin with an anecdote. Many people love to listen about a speaker’s life experiences. It
is a good way to your topic.
3. Use a quotation to start up your talk. Quotations are used when someone has already to
catch the listener’s attention. Remember to tell a quotation that is relevant to the topic,
the audience, and to the occasion.
4. Include startling facts in your opening. Presenting facts at the beginning of your talk
can create credibility.

Examples:

 Do you know that there are more life forms living on your skin than there are people
on the planet?
 Leonardo da Vinci could create write with one hand and draw with the other at the
same time.
Purposive Communication Page 17 of 18

5. Talk about your listener’s needs and concerns. This strategy helps your audience
realize that they have needs and concerns to respond to.

Examples:

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People love to laugh but they will not appreciate jokes that make fun of other’s
disabilities, race, sex, religion, height, weight, among others. Personal jokes that work
well with families, relatives, and officemates may not get the same appreciation if they
are said to people who are not familiar with your circumstances.

Parts of the Conclusion

Expert say that talks should not be ended abruptly with a lame comment: That’s all for
today. It is not proper and it does not leave the audience something to think about. It is,
therefore, a must that the conclusion must be composed of two parts: the review and the
closing statement. The review is a restatement of your thesis. For emphasis, you have to
mention your thesis once in the introduction, two to three times in your body, and once
more in the conclusion. The review is something that the audience ponders after your
talk. The closing statement aims to give your presentation a sense of completion. Never
leave your audience wondering if you have finished already or not yet. This is the part of
your presentation where you encourage your listeners to do something in accordance with
your purpose.

How to Close a Presentation

Several of the techniques used in opening a presentation can also be used in your
closing. As discussed above, they are: use of a rhetorical question, an anecdote, a quotation
startling fact, humor, talking about listener’s needs and concerns, and telling about the
significance of the occasion. The following are other techniques that may also be used in closing
a presentation:
Purposive Communication Page 18 of 18

1. Go back to the theme where you started. Refer to your theme and give new insights
and further details. Give attention only to the key points.
2. Ask for a desired result. You can appeal for action after your presentation. This works
well if you have been very persuasive and your audience is emotionally invested.
3. End with a challenge. The aim of this technique is to demand your listeners to do
something.