Presentation Training Skills

Presentations Skills Training

Presentations Skills Training Seminars are provided across the United States & Canada via public open enrollment seminars in most major metropolitan areas and can also be delivered on-site via private presentation workshops. Our presentation skills training courses can be provided as off-the-shelf presentations seminars, workshops, or classes. The classes are ready to be delivered to a diverse audience or can be customized to provide a tailored presentations and personalized approach based on client needs. All presentations skills classes are limited to a maximum of twelve participants so as to increase seminar effectiveness and provide the individual level of presentations coaching and interaction that is associated with the Presentations Skills Training Workshops Center.

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

Presentation Training Tip - Elevator Pitch Your Presentation

We all know that you need to get the audience's attention at the beginning of a presentation. You could open with a story, a controversial idea, an intriguing question or any statement that gets the audience involved. But after you "grab" you listeners, now what? That's where a presentation elevator pitch come in.

Most listeners like to know what to expect in a presentation, a preview of sorts. I like to think of it as a 30-second elevator pitch for your presentation. Every good presentation pitch should have at least these four elements:

A Four-part Presentation Elevator Pitch

Part 1: Announce the length. Audiences like to know how long you will be speaking. They're all thinking, "Will I be here for 15 minutes or an hour?" So, tell your listeners approximately how long you will be speaking: "For the next fifteen minutes..."

Note: you can talk about the length of your presentation at any point in your elevator pitch, but the beginning or end of your pitch are ideal places to talk about timing

Part 2: State the Big Idea. What is your presentation about? This is NOT the title, but a one sentence summary of your speech: "We're going to examine how our customer base has changed." or "The focus of our presentation is selling efficiencies-how do we optimize our sales force"? Don't belabor this. Be succinct but descriptive.

Part 3: Describe the supporting ideas. Audiences love structure. Letting them know the supporting sections or units that back up your main point is important for them to follow your ideas. When possible, use three or four numbered supporting sections: "Specifically, we will address three perspectives on our customer base: first, we'll look at what market research tells us; second, we'll examine information our field sales team has gathered, and finally, we'll look at what our customers themselves have told us." This is a road map and a contract with the audience. Follow it.

Part 4: Describe WIIFT (What's In It For Them). When you prepare your elevator pitch, try to imagine a busy and very grumpy man, arms folded in front of his chest who asks you, 'Why should I care about your speech...what's in it for me"? What would you tell him to keep him interested and engaged? Wrap up your elevator pitch with the benefit or value of listening to your speech. "By the end of our presentation, you'll have a customer-engagement plan to take back to your team."

A Sample Presentation Pitch

Your total pitch might sound like this: "For the next 30 minutes, we'll examine how to retain our existing customer base. We'll focus on three specific recommendations for keeping our loyal customers: first, what our market research tell us; second, we'll look at what our sales teams hear in the field, and third and most important, we'll examine what our customers themselves tell us in our feedback surveys. By the end of our presentation, you should have an actionable plan for customer retention."

By supplying your audience with this 30-second road map of what they will be listening to, you help create a bond of understanding right at the beginning. Now all you have to do is wow them with your content!

Source: Loraine Antrim link

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