The University of Iowa Tippie College of Business recently opened a brand-new recording studio for business students to practice their pitches and presentations.

The One Button Studio, which opened in March, joins the ranks of other recording studios on campus, including those at the Main Library, Phillips Hall, and the Hardin Library.

The studio is one of the newest additions to Tippie after renovations to the third-floor BizHub earlier in the year. Originally a room for tutoring and study, the college decided to make it a “hybrid room.”

“We designed this in mind with elevator pitches and presentations for our business classes,” said Carl Follmer, the assistant director of the Accounting Writing Program.

Because of the focus, Tippie’s studio has fewer features than, for example, the Main Library’s.

Pamela Bourjaily, the Frank Business Communication Center director, said she wanted students to use the One Button Studio technology for an assignment in her course that required a video recording of students’ business pitches.

For business students, the studio is a resource to practice oral presentations such as elevator pitches. With the press of one recording button, the studio’s video camera and microphone are set to record the room, and the video file is automatically saved to the user’s memory stick if it has enough space.

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The addition of the studio brings a change in curricula for some courses, Bourjaily noted.

“Faculty see a real opportunity for them, because we have so many large classes; you can’t schedule face-to-face presentations without eating up a lot of classroom time,” she said. “But you can do recorded assignments, and then you can assess those outside of the classroom, and students can do the work outside of the classroom.”

Megan Donahoe, a UI senior majoring in accounting and finance, said the studio has helped her improve aspects of her presentation technique that she would not have considered without seeing herself on video.

She was able to correct her mannerisms and vocal inflections, such as “uptalk,” when doing a presentation.

“Being able to have a professional video of yourself and being able to say, ‘Oh wow, I’m not saying this the way I thought I was saying it,’ and just hearing yourself talk on the computer is very different,” Donahoe said.

Follmer said the ability for students to submit their presentations digitally and to use numerous takes eases the pressure of a “one-and-done” class presentation.

College officials plan creating a second studio for Tippie in the BizHub on the third floor, Follmer said. That studio will be operated by the college’s library; One Button is operated by the Frank Communication Center.

Bourjaily said the college has been showing off the studio during tours and alumni visits.

“The college has very much liked what they’ve seen here,” Bourjaily said.