Advanced Presentation Skills
(Delegates already need to have attended Professional Presentation Skills)
Could you stand up and address a group confidently on the spur of the moment?
This advanced presentations course shows you how to be in complete control when you are in the spotlight. It will help you present with intelligence and deal with complex questions or difficult audience members astutely and with confidence. You will practice skills to put your message across most effectively and hold your audiences’ attention throughout the delivery.
What will delegates get out of the course?
- Confidence to competently deliver a memorable message
- Ability to present powerful impromptu speeches
- Clarity on how to effectively persuade the audience
- Skills to use high impact visual aids and props
- Use of sensitivity when having to deliver a negative message
- Techniques to handle difficult questions and challenging audiences
Do you need to deliver presentations often but you aren’t sure if you are truly being as effective as you could be? Do you have trouble finding the right topic for presentations? Do you know exactly how to use PowerPoint powerfully? Are you worried you might fumble when speaking to a large audience, particularly, business people or peers in your workplace?
Constantly troubled with finding the right materials and tailoring them for the right audience? Nervous about having to deal with office peers or clients simply because you feel like you are “not prepared enough”? Not being able to “connect” with your audience or clients effectively?
This course will put you on the right track to pick out the best materials and topics so that they are truly appropriate for each audience. Our proven techniques will help you understand effective body language at an advanced level. You will understand how to present persuasively. It will also give you insights on the latest research for using PowerPoint and visual more effectively.
Polishing your Presentation Skills – Going from Good to Great!
When skilled properly, a speaker or presenter has the power to convince, to uplift, to influence any audience into making decisions and taking action. Like any form of art, it requires discipline, practice and constant development in order to reach its full potential.
Great presenters are not born. Sure there are some personality trends - some people are introverts and some are extroverts. The simple truth is that exceptional presenters have been trained to present well. All great speakers share a common trait: they learned to be great by studying those that went before them. Although we are enamoured by the oratory skills of public figures from time to time, none were born with the ability to persuade or inspire. Instead, what makes them great is the depth of their desire to study and learn the skills that set great speakers apart. Jack Kennedy studied Roosevelt and Churchill and put his own very human stamp on their style. Bill Clinton studied Kennedy and Martin Luther King; Obama has studied them all, and when he shares stories from his life, you can even hear the comforting tones of Ronald Reagan.
So what does it take to be an exceptional presenter? Here are five tips any speaker can use today to get better at presenting and speaking:
- Get an idea as to where you are – have a colleague that you trust observe you while you are presenting. Have them agree to give you honest, unvarnished feedback on what you are doing well and on what you could improve. Someone else needs to observe you, because you can't be objective. You can't see yourself when you're presenting, and may not have an awareness of your habits and idiosyncrasies. You may use certain hand motions repeatedly. You may say "okay" twenty times in five minutes. Having an objective observer helps you to identify both your strengths and areas for improvement.
- Read and learn – when was the last time you worked on your own development? If you have to stop and think about it, it's been too long. Get some books or audio programs on public speaking. A quick search of Amazon.com revealed that there were 1,929 books listed on public speaking alone! Start studying the art and science of speaking and presenting. Write down specific ideas and techniques you want to incorporate and try the next time you speak. The book I highly recommend is “The Inside Secrets of Powerful Presenters Revealed” by Judeth Wilson available at www.secretsofpowerfulpresenters.com
- Watch other speakers – Every time you see other speakers, notice the techniques they're using, what they are doing well, and, in your opinion, what doesn't work. Notice what they are doing vocally. Notice their body language. Take note of any visuals that they may use. Observe how they organize their content. Notice how the audience is reacting. Try to determine if some of the techniques they are using would work for you. Great speakers always study other great speakers and emulate them.
- Videotape yourself – as the old saying goes, the camera doesn't lie. Set up a camera and film your next presentation. When you record yourself giving a speech or a presentation, you get a picture of what the audience is seeing and hearing. No editing or polishing, you see it all. Take some quiet, uninterrupted time and watch the video. Set aside your ego and your pride. Write down what went well. It is important to know your strengths because, obviously, you want to keep dong them and build on them. What do you see on the video that makes you unique and compelling? Write down areas for improvement, and, more importantly, what you can do to change them. (If you've been studying and reading, as suggested in step 2 above, this will be a lot easier for you.)
- Get outside help – there are many valuable resources to help improve your speaking and presenting skills.
Option #1- Join an organization dedicated to helping people improve their speaking and leadership skills. Here is how it works: they have regular meetings in your area. At each meeting, people give prepared speeches and get feedback from predetermined evaluators. This method of learning is very effective, because people who attend these types of seminars are all there for the same reason - to get better at speaking.
Option #2 – Attend a group training session where you will be equipped with the 20% of the skills that are going to make an 80% difference to the way you present!
Option #3- Get a private speaking coach who can work with you one on one. This is a highly effective, method, because you get individual attention.
Leaders, in any shape or form, must be great communicators, and when they speak they have to make an instant impression - a positive one. If you don't feel that you can make a strong impression now, then get help before it's too late. Don't become another statistic. Don’t make the excuse that you are already a pro – because the best of the best know that in order for them to stay on top of their game, they must continue to learn and practice and improve on their skills and talents.
