This lesson module explains how developing effective oral presentation skills can help students achieve more in the classroom, during competitive events, and in their future careers. Students also learn the characteristics of effective presentations and detailed steps for making their oral presentations a success. The lesson module contains a student narrative, discussion guide, individual and group activities, and a posttest with descriptive key.

This assignment creating a Graduation speech is targeted to 11-12 grade students in a Business Communications course. Through this assignment, students will be using the knowledge they have gained about oral presentation skills to prepare a graduation speech to give to their peers in class.  

After reviewing characteristics of a good leader and how to develop leadership skills, students are assigned the Leadership Project. In this project, students will break themselves into teams of two or three. Groups will play the role of a marketing/leadership team (they pick who they are representing) giving a 10 minute presentation (they should tell the audience who they are during the introduction). For example, in the past, students have played the role of Bo Ryan speaking to the Badger Basketball Team.

This rubric includes three scenarios (one for the classroom, one for the workplace, and one for career-technical student organizations) that can be implemented to assess students' abilities to make oral presentations. It also includes a comprehensive rubric and instructions for using the rubric to assess student performance. A downloadable document containing the full set of activities, intructions, and rubrics can be found in the Resource Library. For more rubrics and other instructional tools, visit https://mbastatesconnection.mbaresearch.org/.

Working collaboratively students pick a company to research to learn more about the history and success of the organization. The group needs to find the following pieces of information:
Company NameList of Products ProducedCompany HistoryCompany Future Outlook/Current Company NewsProduct AdvertisementsProfit/Loss Information (listed and compared to another company)CEO and Other Important Figures ListedCurrent Stock Price (graph)Five Other Pieces of Pertinent Information