Our next speech gives you an opportunity to inform your classmates by summarizing and presenting an MIT Case Study. You may choose one of the case studies listed here, most of which are available at https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/Pages/Case-Studies.aspx: Any case studies not available there are hyperlinked on this assignment sheet. Other MIT case studies may be allowed at the discretion of your instructor. [DB1]
· Managed by Q
· Scaling Sanergy
· Zipcar and an Inconvenient Discovery
· Amazon.com
· Spartan Race
· BP and Deepwater Horizon
· Harry Markham’s Loyalty Dilemma
· “We are Market Basket”
· Restoration Affiliates
· Formula 1: Unleashing the Greatest Spectacle on the Planet
· Lobster 207
· DeBeer’s Diamond Dilemma
· Tesla’s Entry into the US Auto Industry
· Nike Considered
· Netflix Goes to Bollywood
· Nintendo’s “Revolution”
· Ventures in Salt
Case Studies are what Communication Scholars would call “rich texts,” full of complex information, technical data, and other details that flesh out the scenario. Even short cases are at least 15 pages of text. If you read that aloud, it would yield about a 20-minute speech! You get to present it in just under 5 minutes, and you may not use any visual aids.
Your task is to develop an informative speech of 4 minutes and 30 seconds (with 30 second grace period) that summarizes your chosen/assigned case study in a way that is informative to your audience of junior-level business school classmates. In a way, your task is to teach them this case study. Keep in mind that the “thesis” of the case study may not be an obvious “this is the right choice” conclusion. Your speech should have the normal components (introduction, conclusion, transitions, and a clear organizational structure) and should also do three key things: 1) Provide the necessary background information about the case study, 2) define key terms and concepts, and 3) provide a coherent and clear overview of the case.
Practice, synthesis, and summary are crucial here. If you just try to present the whole case but cut it down to 4:30, you will struggle to complete the assignment and to reach the time limit. Instead, think of this informative speech as a new distinct thing that you are creating. With 4 and a half minutes, what are the key ideas of the case? What terms or concepts does your audience need to know to understand it? What background information is needed to grasp the case? What shared knowledge can you expect your audience to have and which terms will you need to explain? What quantitative data is crucial to the case and how can you present it verbally?
Purpose:
The assignment is designed to help you exercise several different skills at once. Your audience no doubt has some shared knowledge and experiences you can draw on, but they have likely not read your case nor studied the technical or quantitative information. You must summarize the case but also synthesize its key points. These skills are related but distinct, together pushing you to decide what information is most valuable and to present it effectively. In addition, this assignment asks you to present quantitative information without visual aids–a routinely underutilized skill. You’ll also need to teach certain terms or ideas. This assignment seems deceptively simple. Good summary is challenging, and it takes time and revision to do it well. We’re going to take that time with this assignment and the next one.
In addition, case studies like the MIT ones we’re using are the “coin of the realm” in many industries. Being able to talk about a case study or how to apply a given scenario to a new one is valuable in your professional life. This assignment gives you an excellent set of resources both from being a speaker and as an active audience member. A single day of class can give you 15 different talking points for potential employers! These are the studies used at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
The task links to the following course-level learning objectives:
· Determine when to effectively use visual technologies and speaking aids.
Habitually revise and edit work before making a presentation.
Produce examples of spoken and visual communication that are engaging, clear, professional, evidence-driven, ethical and persuasive
Evaluation:
The speech will be evaluated using the accompanying rubric. As the rubric indicates, there are two key things being assessed here: 1) the “form” of the speech–is it completed within the time limit, is there a clear hook, strong transitions, an obvious organizational structure, and does it show practice? 2) the “content” of the summarized case study–are necessary terms defined clearly, is the study contextualized, is quantitative information presented effectively, and could an engaged audience member understand the essence of the case from the speech alone?
[DB1]COM 3021 Faculty, this is up to you. There’s a lot of great case studies, and this list has about 2/3 of them. If you’d rather not have that many different ones, feel free to trim it to a smaller number so you can familiarize yourself with them more easily. However, remember that you don’t need to be the expert on each of these case studies.
