Message first: using films to power the point.(to students of business communication)

"The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right; greed works; greed clarifies ..."

SO DECLARES Gordon Gekko, the steely corporate financier played by Michael Douglas in the popular film Wall Street (Stone, 1987). Wall Street is one of a small collection of business-related films that contain at least one powerful speech--a speech that can remind students of the central purpose of business communication and of the potential pitfalls of presentation software.

Although students may aim for an oral presentation that is clearly organized, well supported, and effectively delivered, teachers recognize that the primary goal of a presentation is communication; that is, the message received should be as close as possible to the message sent. Tools of message transmission, such as PowerPoint, are just a means to that end. How do we underscore this point to our students? When teaching the oral presentation in a business communication course, the instructor is concerned that the speaker has a coherent message, is able to formulate and support it, can organize and effectively deliver it, and can …