Presentation Training Skills

Presentation Training

Presentation Training is provided across the United States and Canada. Participants have three options to attend and participate in our presentation training. Presentations are delivered via public open enrollment courses in all major metropolitan areas and are also available to be delivered on-site via private courses. The 3rd option is to attend Online Webinar Presentations Skills Workshops. Our face to face Presentation Training can be provided as off-the-shelf sessions, ready to be delivered to a diverse audience or can be customized to provide a tailored and personalized presentation training approach based on client needs. All presentations courses are limited to a maximum of twelve participants so as to increase presentation course effectiveness and provide the individual level of face to face or online coaching and interaction that is associated with the Presentations Training Skills Center.

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

Presentation Workshop - The 4 Most Common Presentation Mistakes

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Over the last 20 years, I have trained thousands of people in presentation skills. I always require delegates to deliver a short presentation before I start training them, so that I can evaluate their starting position. I can now share with you the most common mistakes presenters make prior to training and more importantly, how you can avoid making the same mistakes!

Mistake # 1 - No clear objective

This is the most common and by far the most serious mistake. Presentations without a clear objective are doomed to failure before they have even started. The audience have come to listen to your talk for a reason. They are giving up their valuable time to attend your presentation. If you don't provide a return on investment for them, they will leave your talk dissatisfied. If no-one in the audience does anything differently as a result of listening to you, what was the point of your talk? Remember that each person in the audience is probably not interested in what you do. All they are interested in is what you can do for them. So don't give presentations to make the audience aware of what you do, or an area of your expertise. Instead, ask yourself WHY the audience need to know about your subject and what they should do to enjoy the benefits of your proposal. This will completely change what you say and quite often, how you say it. It is no good just having a subject to talk about - you need to give yourself a mission!

Mistake # 2 - Too much detail

Giving a presentation is a scary business for the vast majority of us. One of the big fears is 'drying-up' and not having enough to say. Subconsciously, we experience an overwhelming temptation to cram our talk with lots of material. This is why so many presentations over-run their time slot. Also, you will only ever be asked to give a presentation on an area of your expertise (your job). Don't underestimate the volume of expertise you have built up over the years. Because we talk about what we do (and hopefully what fascinates us), there can be a strong urge to tell the audience all about it. Unfortunately, the audience will not be as interested in your job as you are. If they were, they would be doing your job! People cannot handle very much detail when listening to a talk. It all becomes too much for them and they switch off. Even if they didn't, what would they remember at the end of your talk? Think of the last film you watched. How much of the detail (dialogue) can you recall? The chances are you can only remember the broad outline and whether you enjoyed it or not. So, omit as much of the detailed information from your talk as possible. If the audience really need it, provide it in a handout at the end of your talk. They can handle detail when it's in writing.

Mistake # 3 - Complex language and monotone delivery

These two mistakes usually come together as a package! Many presenters deliver their messages using abstract and complex language. To deliver it fluently takes up a vast amount of processing power in the brain. There is nothing left for the emotion to come through in the voice, so we get a monotone delivery, projected in a serious voice. Think about how we communicate with our fellow human beings every day. We use very simple language and lots of emotional variety in our voice. In other words, we 'chat'. It's all very informal. Complex language delivered in a serious voice is the opposite of normal communication and is therefore alien to the audience and incredibly difficult to listen to. Think of your audience as reasonably bright 13 year olds and you'll then get the language about right, which will allow you to chat to them rather than lecture them.

Mistake # 4 - Constant visual support.

Why do we see so many PowerPoint slides in most business presentations? Because the slides have not been prepared for the audience at all. The presenter has prepared them for himself, to remind him of what he wants to say. The audience does not want to see everything you say. Supporting everything we say with the written word or images is an unnatural (and therefore alien) way of communicating. It also gives the audience a big problem. They cannot read and listen at the same time. So, resist the temptation to produce a slide for everything you are going to say. You only need to show a visual aid when words alone are insufficient to convey your message. Visual aids are a visual aid to understanding and should be shown only when the audience NEED to see them. Notes are for you, to remind you of what you want to say and are of no interest to the audience whatsoever.

In summary, have a clear objective that will give value to the audience. Spare them the detail. It may fascinate you, but they'll find your talk too hard to follow and just switch off. Use simple, ordinary everyday language and deliver your messages with emotional variety and enthusiasm. And finally, only show the audience visual aids when they need to see them - so that they can 'see what you mean'.

Source: Bob Malloney link

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