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ENGW 3335
Technical and Business Writing

Weeks 12 and 13: Wrapping Up the Collaborative Project, Oral Presentations

Posted by Quinn Warnick April 1, 2011 1 Comment

I was very happy to see how well our Green Team / Red Team review session went yesterday, and I hope that each team left class with a long list of suggestions for improving your reports/proposals. Next week I will be attending a professional conference, so we will not meet as a full class. You should, however, use our class time to meet with your teammates to put the finishing touches on all of your deliverables for Unit #3. As you work on your project, refer to three documents for guidance: (1) the original assignment sheet, (2) your team’s memorandum of understanding, and (3) the “Final Checklist” document I gave you in class on Thursday.

Your final project is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, April 12. Please bring printed copies of all deliverables and all supporting materials described in your team’s original MOU. In addition, please upload a PDF version of your team’s report/proposal to Google Docs and share it with my Gmail address. Specific directions for submitting your project can be found on the Unit #3 assignment sheet and on the Final Checklist.

For the final project, we will shift our attention from written communication to oral and visual communication. In class on Tuesday, April 12, we will discuss the details of the assignment and map out our plans for the final weeks of the semester. Your only homework for Tuesday is to finish the Unit #3 project.

On Thursday, we will begin our exploration of oral presentations. Please read Chapter 11 in the textbook before you come to class, and be ready to answer (with specific details) these two questions: What is the worst PowerPoint presentation you’ve ever seen? What is the best PowerPoint presentation you’ve ever seen? (Update: Try to watch a few Pecha Kucha presentations before you come to class, and if you find one that you really like, add a link to it in the comments section of this post. You might want to begin your search at one of these two sites: PechaKucha Night or Ignite.)

If your team has any questions about wrapping up the collaborative project, please let me know. (I will be checking email while I’m out of town and I’ll respond to your messages as quickly as I can.) Otherwise, I will see you on the 12th!

Categories: Weekly Updates

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  • Delicious Links

    The links below are the most recent additions to my collection of bookmarks that are relevant to this course. You can find a complete list of ENGW 3335 bookmarks on Delicious.com.

    Ikea Stonehenge

    This explains *everything*!

    10 Old New Rules for Business Emails

    Tim Berry offers good advice for improving business email. Here's my favorite: "Angry words are not biodegradable. Never argue in email. Walk down the hall or get on the phone. I’ve learned this myself the hard way, thinking my brilliant use of the English language could somehow make a point better than I could with old-fashioned talk. It never does. Email almost never wins a point or stops an argument. It almost always makes things worse, not better."

    10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Blogging

    Nice list of realistic advice from Smashing Magazine: "The most successful blogs are more than a broadcast tool. They are a dialogue between the individuals within your organization and your users. It is important to listen, as well as speak. Unfortunately, the most corporate blogs fail to engage. Instead they focus on telling readers how great their products and services are. Rarely do they ask for feedback or ask questions."

    If you do this in an email, I hate you

    As usual with The Oatmeal, it's funny because it's true.

    Minimalistic Callouts Heighten Visual Appeal

    Tom Johnson compiles numerous examples of callouts in visual instructions and concludes with this helpful advice: "Callouts should not distract the focus away from the image but should supplement the image. To keep the callouts in the visual background, make the callouts as minimal as possible, avoiding callout bubbles, box formatting, or background shading."

    New York Times: E-Mail Gets an Instant Makeover

    Will Facebook's new email system finally kill email once and for all? (My prediction: No.)

    Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period

    Farhad Manjoo carefully explains why some people put two spaces after a period. And why they're wrong. "Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule. It's one of the canonical rules of the profession, in the same way that waiters know that the salad fork goes to the left of the dinner fork and fashion designers know to put men's shirt buttons on the right and women's on the left."

    The TED Commandments

    A list of ten rules that TED gives to every speaker. Good advice for anyone giving an oral presentation.

    The Art of the TED Talk

    Aimee Knight offers some great suggestions for giving a TED-style talk.

    10 Reasons Why YOU Should Care About Personal Branding

    Dan Schawbel: "Our brands are going to be seen everywhere that people are searching, forcing us to manage and monitor them daily."