Motivational or Persuasive Powerpoint

Many times in our professional lives we need to persuade a group or motivate someone to change their behavior or to take action. We hear public service announcements against the use of drugs or drinking and driving, watch television commercials that try to get us to donate to a good cause, or are asked to speak on behalf of a proposal or project. The purpose of this assignment is to develop an automatic powerpoint presentation to persuade or motivate someone to undertake a course of action.

Assignment: Develop an automatic powerpoint, with music, to encourage someone to take action. The topic you choose should be of professional interest. Some topics and ideas that may be of interest are listed below:

• Start a physical activity program or give up a sedentary lifestyle
• Diet, for the purposes of losing weight
• Eat healthier
• Becoming a bone marrow or organ donor
• Contribute money to a specific cause
• Drug testing in athletics or in the workplace
• Vending machines in schools - pros and cons
• Dodgeball - should it be banned? or not?
• Universal health care
• Annual medical screenings
• Go green!

The following list provides you with the technical requirements for the assignment:

• There should be a minimum of 6-8 slides, but no more than 10.
• There should be a background design used for the presentation.
• The title slide must be a different color than the rest of the presentation.
• There should be a graph or chart, an appropriate SmartArt graphic, and a graphic downloaded from the Internet.
• There should be two different building effects and two different transitions effects used in the presentation.
• There should be appropriate music and the music should be available as a file, not associated with a CD.
• The presentation should be set up for automatic timing.
• The presentation should reflect at least two of the principles of persuasion or motivation.

These sites offer some ideas about theories related to health behavior change as well as how to persuade people or motivate them to take a course of action:

• Health behavior change: Summary of various models (.pdf)
• Principles of Persuasion
• A quick list of principles to change people's minds
• Principles of persuasion from a management perspective
• General principles of motivation related to learning
• Motivating employees

Evaluation: The generic scoring rubric will be used to evaluate your work. You will be evaluated on your speaking, presentation skills, and powerpoint mechanics. After your presentation, complete a short reflection on your presentation as well as which two principles of persuasion you incorporated into your presentation and how you incorporated them.