Presentation Skills Workshop

Part One

The Essentials - The Presenter – You

• What is it that makes formal presentations so scary?
• The qualities of a successful presenter
• A few tricks of the trade
• The 2, 20, 2, 20 Rule
• Be aware of “distractors”
• Preparing by carrying out the ‘essential checks’
• What are you going to say, why and to whom?
• Presenting the ‘right’ image
• Acknowledging and overcoming nerves
• Using relaxation techniques
• Using mannerisms and gestures to enhance the impact
• Ice Breaker: Either singly or in pairs, each delegate will be asked to select an item in the room and then stand in front of the group to tell us in only a minute, why we need it or would want to buy it.

The Essentials – The Material – What Are You Going to Say?

• The concept of decency - three things!
• Strong opening, strong content, strong close
• Writing the basic outline
• The “business card” technique
• Editing to keep it simple, punchy and “on message”
• Establishing a clear purpose and ensuring the presentation reflects this
• Getting the audience’s attention
• Identifying the key points but without going into too much detail
• Creating strong openings and closings
• Knowing the pros and cons of different visual aids
• Moving towards making it big, bold and brilliant but with the expectations of the audience as an anchor/driver
• Exercise: Working in pairs if preferred. A high profile and well-known subject will be allocated to each member of the group (can be changed if you don’t like your topic). Each member will prepare a 5-minute flip chart presentation to tell us about the topic. These will continue one or two at a time between each session. The group will be asked to give positive feedback to each presenter

The Essentials – The Audience – Who Will You be Saying it to?

• Who are the audience?
• What are their expectations?
• Being engaging and if applicable entertaining… but not too much
• Knowing your audience well enough to develop presentations that appeal
• Building rapport right from the outset
• Getting and keeping the audience on your side
• Working with questions
• Handling difficult people
• Understanding group dynamics
• Dealing with very senior or important audiences/members
• Exercise: Presentations as above

Part Two

Next Step – Delivery Methods

• The three-stage technique
• The basics
• The essentials – eye contact, movement, audience engagement and involvement
• Rhetorical questions
• Varying tone, pitch and delivery style
• Having a prompt that looks professional and does its job dealing with nerves and fluffing your lines
• Watching the audience to gauge engagement/impact
• Listening and Hearing: They aren't the same thing
• Asking questions if you need to generate engagement
• Communicating with confidence, fluency and conviction
  Example: Each delegate working in pairs if preferred, will be asked to prepare a presentation based on their own product or service (the delegate to choose) and will be asked to present it to the group. The group will give positive feedback after each presentation. These will be completed either one or two at a time.

Next Step – Communication Skills

• How we can keep the audience engaged using communication skills
• Knowing your stuff and memorising key parts of the presentation
• Preparing mentally
• Physical relaxation techniques
• Appearing confident in front of the crowd
• Non-Verbal Communication Skills – “reading the audience”
• Body language – yours and theirs
• The signals you send to others
• It's not WHAT you say, It's HOW you say it
• Presenting your case with impact
• Exercise: Presentations as above    

Perfecting your skills

• Only when you feel able to
• Make them laugh a little
• Ask them a question encouraging discussion
• Dealing with questions
• Creating Fantastic Flip Charts
• Creating Compelling PowerPoint Presentations
• WOW your Audience
• Vibrant Videos and Amazing Audio
• Exercise: Presentations as above

Course Conclusion – Summary & Wind Up