Presentation/pitching skills
Every business needs people who are good presenters and pitchers. The ability to engage an audience and make them want to listen to you is key to winning work, raising your or the company’s profile, having influence and impact, being seen as a dynamic business leader etc. A recent poll revealed that 75% of the population fears presenting more than dying, so you’re not alone if you (or your colleagues) find the idea of presenting or pitching challenging!
Learning how to engage people and build rapport with an audience is at the heart of good presenting. Fear and nerves prevent us from doing this as they stop us from being able to think clearly, relax, breathe and be ourselves in these situations. My courses give you the chance to explore how to become a powerful, engaging and dynamic presenter who can emotionally connect with your material as well as the audience, adapt your style for different purposes, gain confidence in expressing yourself freely and ultimately be comfortable presenting ‘within your own skin’.
Case study
Over 10 years ago I was asked to I create a ‘general’ presentation skills course for BDO LLP, which was to replace a rather outdated and formulaic course. We wanted to fundamentally change people’s views and attitudes towards presenting so that they would focus on the audience experience and would begin to have a dynamic conversation with their audience, talking ‘to’ them rather than ‘at’ them. On the back of this I created an advanced course/master-class ‘Engaging your audience’ for partner/director level. Over the past few years I’ve run presentation skills courses for BMT Group Ltd, RBC, Chariot Oil and Gas, Tri-media Group etc, adapting the work to reflect their specific industry or candidate needs.
Course objectives:
- Structure and deliver an engaging presentation that’s relevant and interesting to your audience
- Understand how you come across, your style of presenting and how to express yourself with greater clarity and confidence
- Hook the audience at the beginning with strong powerful messages
- Adapt your tone, body language and style of delivery
- Deal with nerves and tension to appear confident and relaxed