The Rhetorical Situation Meets Adult Education: A Public Speaking Workshop for B-School Graduate Students

Extant research indicates that there continues to be a gap between employer expectations and the oral presentation skills of B-school graduate students. In order to address this gap, the authors undertook a three-year effort to research, develop, and administer a public speaking workshop focused on preparing new business graduate students to meet industry demands for presentation skills and strategies. Survey and focus group data informed several revisions to the workshop plan. The series of revisions and participant responses point toward the importance of adjusting the elements of the rhetorical situation in order to account for the principles of andragogy when planning workshops for graduate students. The results of this study provide useful insights and direction for management and communication educators, trainers, and public-speaking specialists when developing their programs for their audiences.