3 (or 4) x 4 HOUR WORKSHOPS – ONE WEEK APART.
TIME TO THINK – TIME TO PREPARE – TIME TO EXCEL
WORKSHOP ONE:
Introduction. Course outcomes discussion. Exercises. Instruction. Video. Practise. Review. Embed skills.
WORKSHOP TWO:
Exercises. Practise. Prepared presentations with analysis. New instruction.
WORKSHOP THREE:
Exercises. Practise. Prepared PowerPoint presentations. Analysis. Polishing. Course outcomes discussion. Set up formal workplace project. Close.
WORKSHOP FOUR:
Having a formal presentation prepared that defines or promotes someone’s work is a great resource to have at hand. Typically, they are for presenting to internal stakeholders or for external promotion and good enough to be presented to, or by, senior management.
The optional 4th workshop is for in-depth review, group discussion, content modification and delivery of these presentations.
Why 3 (or 4) x 4-hour workshops instead of 2 days back-to-back?
Presenting at Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland
1. More tightly-focused learning periods with less chance of interruption.
2. Easier to plan a meeting-free 4 hours into the week’s calendar than 2 full days.
3. More intensive interactivity = more effectively embedded skills. The required level of emotional intensity is difficult for participants to sustain over 2 full days.
4. Several days to a week’s gap is crucial in that it allows time for the preparation of formal presentations for each workshop. Each presentation is assessed for its ‘go-public’ quality, so preparation needs to be taken seriously.
5. Creates the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues and to build determination to present with excellence at the next workshop.
Tutoring at NZ Institute of Studies
Why up to 14 participants?
1. To avoid the forced artificiality of the small-group role play, we need to give these new presenters a full-size audience. Role-play isn’t real and it often undermines rather than strengthens confidence.
2. Much of the real learning is from others on the course. We understand the real value of collaboration, so it is consciously worked into the programme. It gives participants the chance to compare themselves with others and to see where others excel or struggle. This is incredibly useful as a learning tool. A smaller group restricts this potential.
3. With fewer than 8 participants, the course begins to feel like role-play. Our maximum is 14, as it still offers plenty of presenting time and opportunities.
4. As a bonus, 14 participants on a course provides significant in-house course cost-efficiency and value than a small group course. Good for everyone.
Why you need a presentations course.
Today’s business presenters need be dynamic, confident, authoritative speakers. But too few are. Most business and professional people are required to present often and they need to be able to confidently deliver well-planned material. There is no place for droning monologues, stumbling delivery or complex ill-conceived PowerPoint presentations.
Assembling business audiences and meetings is expensive. Audiences and meeting participants have no patience with poor presentations. Their time is too precious. They demand structured, authentic, informed expertise, presented in a natural, engaging, authoritative voice.
Audiences feel comfortable with capable presenters. It makes them more inclined to trust and accept their material, advice, and points of view. Their personal credibility and integrity as representatives of your organisation need to be obvious.
Richard O’Malley speaking at Old Government House
Your speakers are already experts in their fields. At the Speak•NZ presentations skills course, they learn to look like it and sound like it. They learn the values of adopting personal branding into their lives and how to use it effectively in their presentations.
Many of your people will lack speaking confidence because they feel nervous. Nervousness is a factor for most presenters. It often impacts on their willingness to speak and on their presenting confidence and performance.
Post-course, their presenting quickly becomes enjoyable and rewarding. Elements of nervousness may remain, as only a few people are not nervous at all. Once they understand the nature of it, they find that their anxiety dissipates and becomes manageable. We show them how to make what remains completely invisible to audiences.
Once people begin to present well, it boosts confidence and empowers leadership and enhances careers. Being a life skill rather than a set of work disciplines, people soon begin to use it more freely in social, community and family events.
The course is less about learning additional skills to apply and more about embedding the psyche of a presenter. Participants transform themselves into instinctive presenters. It reprograms their thinking and their approach to presenting. Many claim it to be life-changing.
Investing in your presenters is investing in your audiences. It increases the significant value of both to your organisation.
Call me anytime to talk about your ideas.