Presentation Training Skills

Presentations Skills Training Seminars

Presentations training seminars are provided across the country via public open enrollment presentation training seminars in major metropolitan areas and can also be delivered on-site via private training sessions. Our presentations training seminars can be provided as off-the-shelf sessions, ready to be delivered to a diverse audience or can be specifically customized to provide a tailored and personalized approach based on client needs. All presentations training seminars are limited to a maximum of twelve participants so as to increase seminar effectiveness and provide the individual level of coaching and interaction that is associated with the Presentations Training Seminar Center.

For more information on our presentations skills training seminars please contact us.

Presentation Seminar Keys to Success - Personable, Polished, and Professional Presentations

It is a simple given that when you connect with your presentation audience they take in more, understand you better, and absorb the material with greater intensity. A room of five or a gallery of five hundred requires many talents and connections to make a vital impact.

The majority of my audiences have been teachers. Some are there by force, others by mildly disinterested interest, and then there is the tingly, wiggly, thrilled group that has attended to learn, improve their skills, and exit with a dose of enlightenment. Re-envision the group who showed up for your last presentation performance. Scan the group as you tap a face into place on each body. Now you can recognize Group 1 - the Tinglers. They are in the front with notepad in hand and a bulging briefcase packed neatly next to their feet. Group 2 - the Oughters - are not exactly opposed to learning and trying new things and they know they ought to, but they require some persuasion. After all, they could be out shopping or home watching television, but they came today with at least a teaspoonful of enthusiasm, and they dot every part of the room.

Group 3 is comprised of the Pricklers. Not only are they disinterested and unmotivated, they often believe that they already know everything there is to know and could not possible squeeze in a single novel idea. Plus they like to judge the presenter through the "I could do 10X better" lens, never acknowledging the remote possibility that there are new thoughts in the world. They often sit in the back, laptop open as they surf the internet or cell phone in hand as they chat and disturb.

Your job, since you have agreed to accept this assignment, is to move the Tinglers, the Oughters, and the Pricklers into a cohesive group for learning "TOPs". If you are working with a single school or company, you want this oddball assortment of individuals to return to work united in effort and desire to improve, increase production and productivity, and develop more effective and efficient skills, delivery, and talents.

You must connect, knowing that connections are contagious and will spread throughout the audience and back to the work place. Your techniques will include being personable, polished, professional, and knowledgeable without being overwhelming, over-confident, and conceited. Begin your presentation on a personable note by telling the audience something about you. This is not your resume or portfolio of accomplishments, but a snippet of what makes you human. A link to the community or state is valuable so scan the newspaper for a recent articles and subjects of interest, check out an internet story from the area, or chat with locals. Tie the event/topic to you, your life and your beliefs. For example while presenting in Las Vegas I read an article on a private school that recruited basketball players and no one else. Their goal was a national championship and they achieved it. Tying this topic to teaching in "regular" schools, I opened with recruiting for excellence in every school. The room was abuzz with interest from the outset.

Be polished. This does not mean memorize until all naturalness disappears but there are few things worse than a disorganized presentation that starts late, drags on, and hypnotizes the audience with the doldrums. Use metaphors to bring your presentation to light and to life. Peruse the faces that are uplifted towards your voice and project confidence and humility. Continually add meaningful links to keep them in tune. Stories about your experiences, hobbies, successes and disasters will ring true if you are true as well. I love to run - that fits in the introduction with a training schedule that leads to a goal; I love to write - I let the audience know that they possess magnificent stories and information that only they can tell; I was once upstaged by a bedraggled dog who had snuck in from the thunder so I made him my working partner. The same can be true anytime a scruffy student or co-worker taps on your door.

Professionalism is essential if you want others to believe in your skills. A disheveled appearance does not add credibility nor do hand-outs that are a mishmash, timing that is abysmal, misspellings on the Power Point, or improper use of English. Arriving late begets trouble so plan to get to your destination a day early or at least several hours ahead of time to check out the room, gauge the audience, ask pertinent questions of others, and gather your stage presence. Presenting is acting as well as delivery of good.

Sometimes, however, the dynamite intentions are detonated. I had been led to my room three hours prior to "the show" so I had projector, laptop, hand-outs, and chairs arranged perfectly. I turned out the lights and headed towards the keynote speaker to assess my upcoming audience. As the speech ended and the applause died away, I gathered my final notes and headed towards my room to discover that I had been uprooted. New presenters smiled as they relayed hope that I did not mind a room change. They pointed to my pile stuffed onto a cart and then returned to their own presentation preparation.

I rolled my little cart with my supplies to a second room. Just as I began to feel calm and composed enough to carry on, new invaders arrived on the scene and my second room was snatched from my grasp. I spied space across the hall and away I rolled yet again. By this time my audience had begun to assemble, in fact I appeared a bit like the Pied Piper as I tooted them along with my cart as we searched for available space. Thinking wildly but coherently, I quickly plugged in my projector, scanned my screen, sorted my hand-outs (fortunately I had fourteen hands with me that day), and confidently clicked the "Start" button. Red lights flashed their over-heated warning and I knew that the Power Point was now in collapse.

I wiped sweat from my brow, tugged at my jacket, and then looked up to meet the eyes of my assembled crowd. A sign-up of twenty-five had morphed into forty-two, but what could I do but begin. Acknowledging my moves (they nodded as witnesses) and the orneriness of the projector (they'd felt the heat), I embarked on my presentation adventure. The group joined with me and with an engaging topic and hands-on activities and peer interaction our next ninety minutes passed in a snap.

That is where the knowledgeable part comes to play. In professional development I have been called upon to present on a vast variety of topics. My former boss always said, "Just Do It!" and I did, lacking the preparation time necessary for excellence and the deep knowledge base and experience to ever feel 100% ready. It was never that I came without an arsenal of ideas, but a compartmentalized understanding with minimal direct practice left me ill-at-ease and less than positive in my explanations, examples, and knowledge excellence. Time and again I beat myself up as the party ended with "would have, could have, should have", those stealthy thieves and sappers of strength. Now that I operate independently I am able to only accept assignments where my background is solid, researched, practiced, and honed. What a relief!

While every single Prickler may never join the ranks of the wise and educated, know that your personable, polished, professional, and knowledgeable presentation has impacted them if they listened for even one minute. The Oughters now have had the opportunity to recognize the value attached to competence as they realize that new techniques are tangible and within their reach with some effort and drive. The Tinglers are thrilled and ready for action and your powerful presentation has left them with tools and capabilities to drive success. They perhaps could have utilized your ideas by reading your hand-out or scanning your website without you are the leader, you have made their lives easier and more likely to be filled with achievement because you have connected to them and assured future triumphs and brilliance.

Source: Gini Cunningham link

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