Effective Presentations grew out of a need to address a large basic course (130+) sections/semester at a large Midwestern university whose primary focus is on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The students in our population were struggling to relate to the course and text. We needed a book that engaged our students, their interests and their strengths. While we strongly believed it was necessary for the text to address the five cannons of rhetoric including: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery, it had to do so in a less conventional and more contemporary way. So, we took a three-pronged approach to making the book more accessible for our particular students