Our presentation training seminar is the most highly participatory and personalized seminar of its kind. Participants have two instructors to help them learn and practice fundamental and advanced presentation skills. There are 10 digitally recorded personal presentations and each of the 10 presentations is followed by personalized one-on-one feedback from a senior instructor to guarantee progress and eliminate any distracting behaviors.
For more information and pricing on our presentation training seminars, please contact us.
Seminar Objectives:
Present technical information clearly, concisely, and persuasively.
Enhance voice projection, articulation, pace and fluency, body language, eye contact, and gestures.
Determine audience attitudes and needs.
Overcome nervousness, anxiety, and any distracting mannerisms.
Use both common and high-tech media effectively.
Implement persuasive communication techniques.
Project control and confidence.
Plan and develop complete, formalized product presentations around the market forces that affect business.
Structure presentations to gain maximum effect.
Use audience involvement techniques to identify and handle questions.
Set up an on going action plan to improve future presentations.
OK, you've committed to helping your friend grow into an ace presenter. She's sending you a link to a short video. Your job is to watch it and give her honest feedback on her presentation. She's supplying you an overview of those Who, What, Where questions. You're off to a great start.
But hey, this is your friend. You've known her a while. It doesn't matter if it's from school or work or even family. How can you possibly be objective when you watch her deliver a poetry reading or an extemp speech or a sales pitch?
Blink. In other words--record your first impressions and use those in preparing your review of your friends video presentation.
Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist and author with penetrating insight. His second book, Blink, is subtitled: "The Power of Thinking without Thinking". It's about first impressions, and how so very often they can be right on. In fact, decisions made on our first impressions are often better than choices made based on thorough study and evaluation.
So trust your gut. Trust what your gut says about your friend's presentation. Here are some tricks you can use.
First, don't listen to what your friend says about her presentation. It might lead you to "pre-judge" the presentation. You want to be as pure as you can when you view the video. If your friend phones up and starts complaining about how her blouse wasn't right or she twirled her hair too much, just stop her right there. Tell her politely that if she wants your help she needs to let you review the piece first. Later on you can discuss how to help her make it better.
Second, have pen and paper or a voice recorder at hand to record the first impressions of distinct presentation elements. Don't try and write an entire report during the first viewing of a video. Your friend's audience won't do that. Instead, they'll be making their own snap judgments of her presentation.
See, you probably won't be as familiar with the material your friend is presenting as her audience will be--but you are just as human as they are. Your eye can detect nuances of body-language and tempo. The first time you listen, don't try to understand the meaning of her words as much as focus on how well she delivers them.
You can re-wind the video to catch a phrase, but you can't re-wind your first impressions.
So initially just focus on your first reactions. Write those down on paper or jot them into that digital recorder. Just use phrases and simple words. "Voice flat", "Good posture", "Seems wavery", "Shoulders hunched"--all these are the types of quick, honest phrases you can build on later when you give her a detailed critique.
Next: Watch for the transitions.
Craig Lutz-Priefert is President of Marketing Hawks [http://www.marketinghawks.com], a firm providing complete marketing services to business. Craig also authors marketing advice on his blog, Funmarketer.
Marketing Hawks offers marketing services for businesses in financial services, health care, manufacturing, banking, direct marketing, insurance and legal services.