This PowerPoint file of 15 slides contrasts approaches that are appropriate for oral presentations to U.S. audiences and to Mexican audiences.

U.S. business culture values the qualities of directness, impersonality, and brevity. It emphasizes rational, binding contractual agreements. Mexico’s business culture values both personal and corporate relationships, indirectness, history, and narrative justifications. Because relationships between people or between companies are deeply personal, Mexican managers tend to see contracts as agreements that should be easily changed when either partner faces new conditions. The structure of oral presentations in each culture reflects these differences. The slide show compares these differences.

Engineering students in some course assignments may be asked to propose their designs or projects to either a Mexican or a US audience. This PPT guides students in making presentation choices for these two audiences.