To communicate the progress that has been made on a project or other deliverable in a professional fashion

In today's project-based workplace, there are a range of communication activities that focus on ensuring that projects are completed successfully. These activities include written documents, oral presentations or a combination of the two.

To be effective when communicating progress in a professional fashion, it is important to be able to describe the project completely and to be able to identify parts of the project in an organised fashion. Once the parts are identified, it is easier to list requirements and attach time markers that will measure progress. It is important to remember that progress is most often connected to a deliverable, something that can be shared or distributed and that is tangible. A meeting, for example, is not a deliverable, but the result of the meetingthe minutes or the action itemsis often a deliverable

To be efficient in these circumstances, it is helpful to be able to create supporting documents that can be shared with the relevant people (stakeholders) in a variety of different ways. In essence, we want to plan proactively to not have to update the supporting documents often and for the documents to exist as written documents and as material for a presentation.

This assignment provides the opportunity to continue to develop effective and efficient communication strategies for professional meetings.

You are to prepare for a meeting with me in which you will provide an update on your progress in our course. Drawing on material prepared for, and discussed during, the Course Planning Meeting earlier in the semester, the Progress Meetings are to include

• an overview of your progress in our course, and
• an update on your work and plans for the Recommendation Report and the Final Presentation.

To get an idea of how the meeting will go, think about other experiences you may have answering the question "How are things going?" in a professional setting.

The rough time limit for these meetings is around ten (10) minutes.

To document your progress, you are required to have a brief slide show (PowerPoint or other tool is acceptable) that you will share with me during the meeting. There should be between three and five (3 - 5) slides in the presentation. It will likely be helpful to include the following content in the slides:

• overall project description with sub-projects outlined (use the material from the Course Planning Meeting) and the progress of each,
• outline of project highlights and difficulties (what has gone well? what requires improvement?), and
• remaining deliverables with any concerns, questions or issues related to completing the deliverables.

It would also be a good idea to explore things like SmartArt, as well as Icons and Charts in order to have a balance between Verbal and Visual Communication.

You are not required to share the slides with me in advance of the meeting, but you do need to ensure that they are available to be shared during the meeting.

Remember, the purpose of the meeting is to discuss progress and that progress should be an actual reflection of the progress that you have made to date.