Together

Together

Having sat through, and having participated in many presentations throughout my days in school and in the workplace, I feel that I can be an excellent critique of speeches and presentations. All the presentations have been developed in some way in order to relate a message to an audience, whether that audience is large or small. In my experience, I have received that message by lecture, in a handout, and by participating with the speaker and the audience. I have found that some speeches are boring, drawn out, and do not always convey the message across to the audience in the way that the presenter had planned.

Many factors must be considered when preparing a speech. The audience, the environment, the content and the purpose are some of the most important. Recently I was a part of a company meeting that was held in College Station. This is the central meeting place for the south Texas properties. I was able to observe and participate in this meeting and found the speech to be well designed.

The meeting had a theme, a rock concert theme, to make everyone more interested in the presentation rather than thinking that this was another boring and pointless meeting. I thought this was a good idea it really did make us think we all were going to a concert rather than a meeting. We all arrived in College Station from our home cities by way of a party bus. The bus ride was nothing more than a normal bus ride; we played a few games and told a few stories but that was all. This may have been because it was much too early to be interacting with our co-workers or partly because we were on a bus and it was difficult. When we arrived at the hotel in College Station, our superiors who were dressed as rock stars, bouncers, and ticket stub checkers, greeted us. On the bus we were given name badges that were made to look like backstage passes. Without the backstage passes we were unable to get into the made to look like concert. The presentation started at a scheduled time, and there was a playbill handed out once the participants of the presentation entered the doors. I definitely agree with a handout that shows what the presentation is about. It is easier to follow along when you know what to expect.

Lunch was served prior to the beginning of the meeting, and music was played to help motivate the audience and speakers. By this time we had finally woken up and were ready for the show to begin. We had a spirit contest to prove which city was ready to get started, and of course Houston won! The presentation was given a title, Together. The meaning behind this title was to show how Equity Residential is a better company when we all work together. Giving titles to a presentation helps sum up what the presentation is about and shows organization. The presentation began with a welcoming by the CEO and AVP and moved right into the subject of the meeting. Our CEO discussed our new mission statement, company vision, and commitments by lecture and a slide show. We were also given a handout that went into more detail regarding each