Presentation Training Skills

Presentations Skills Training Workshops

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

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Top Ten True Talk Tragedies - Presentation Training Workshops

We've all been there! You've begun your presentation, and then something unexpected happens that threatens to derail your speech. If you're fairly new to public speaking, this list will affirm that you're not at all alone. If you're a more experienced speaker, then I hope this list will give you a few laughs and inspire you to share some of your own stories.

Rest assured that these are all true stories. Most of them either happened to me or were witnessed by me, and a few are from friends or reliable sources. If you disagree with the ordering, please feel free to comment.

Top Ten Presenting Mishaps, from least mortifying to most (in my opinion):

#10- The tried and true classics: presenter's pants zipper down or food stains on the presenter's clothes. These two are the most common, so I grouped them together as one.

#9- Realizing in the bathroom after a presentation that a half inch long booger was hanging out of the presenter's nose. That one didn't happen to me, but Mike Michalowicz, tells a hilarious story about his booger-presenting experience when asking for funding for one of his proposals. Nope, he didn't get the money on that one!

#7- Spider dangling from the presenter's ear. This happened to my husband. His corporate audience was leaning forward in their seats, listening intently to his every word, or so he thought. He was thrilled. Instead, he was later told that a spider was dangling from his earlobe for the entirety of his presentation. Everyone was watching to see what the spider would do, and the audience barely listened to a word he said.

#6- Audience member vomiting all over themselves and on the floor and chair. That one happened to me. After arranging for her to be driven to a doctor and cleaning up, I actually got to finish my presentation. The room didn't even smell that bad afterward. Going with the flow is a good lesson to think about here.

#5- A fistfight breaks out between two men in the audience. Sadly, this is one of mine as well. As it so happened, they were fighting over a woman (not me), so it wasn't my fault. Unfortunately, once they were subdued, removed, and the furniture picked up, there was no time left to continue with the presentation. I'm much better about finding less unruly audiences now.

#4- Digging several spitballs out of the hair every day for several weeks after a presentation. This was one of my experiences as a young school teacher. Makes you learn not to turn your back to the group too much and develop strong peripheral awareness of the room.

#3- Presenter's skirt falls down. Happily, this did not happen to me, but I did witness the event. The knot on the speaker's wrap skirt came loose without her noticing, and the whole thing fell to the ground while she was in mid sentence. But to her credit, after an initial shriek and a highly coordinated dive under a table, she grabbed her skirt, tied it back on, and finished her presentation as if nothing had occurred. Very impressive!

#2- Vehicle in parking lot just outside the building catches fire and burns to a crisp. The room where I was giving my presentation had large windows about a dozen yards from the burning vehicle, so we were all mesmerized. Not only that, but the heavy fumes from the burning rubber of the tires made us evacuate the room. My presentation had to be rescheduled. What took the fire department so long?!

#1- Audience member has seizure during presentation. Unfortunately, this was one of mine. An audience member, seemingly asleep, was having a narcoleptic seizure during my talk. I chose not to pay her any mind, since she appeared to be only dozing. Bad choice. At the end of my talk, I couldn't wake her up, and we had to call an ambulance to take her to a hospital. Big lesson: never let anyone sleep during your presentation. You don't want a corpse on your hands. But more often, that sends a message that your talk isn't that important.

Have you been traumatized by a negative speaking experience that resembles any of these? They may shake your confidence awhile, but don't let them get you down. We all have them!

Source: Lily Iatridis link

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