Presentation Skills
The number one fear of people worldwide is speaking in public. Even more than fear of death. People would rather die than speak in public. But in most professions it is impossible to progress in your career unless you have some comfort in public speaking.
This class teaches you how to improve your comfort level by learning some important skills:
- How to stand and walk around
- How to use your hands
- How to begin your speech to get people to pay attention
- How to use slides and other visual aids
- How to avoid 'Ums and Aahs'
- How to respond to questions
- How to NOT memorize your speech
We start each class with a little introduction and some lessons followed by your first two minute speech. Don't panic! This is your baseline. You will have someone record it on your own phone to do with as you wish. We recommend not erasing it so you can see the improvement over the two days. Your classmates and instructor will throw 'Rocks and Roses.' We will tell you what you did well and where you can improve. Then you will go off on your own and look at your recording to see what we were talking about. This is a big moment. You'll see that you didn't look half as scared as you felt but you'll also see some distracting mannerisms that you never realized you had.
Then we will teach you a lot of tools on how to craft a speech. What's an 'Adrenalizer?' What do we mean by the 'Baseball approach?' What should your notes look like? By the afternoon you will be ready to give your second speech. This one is three minutes long and you have a purpose. Once again we will throw rocks and roses and you will view your video. When you've all spoken and viewed your videos, you will be sent home to prepare your third speech. One where you will be selling us on an idea, product, service etc.
Day two begins with some more lessons and then you speak again. This time for five minutes. You'll be amazed at how your confidence has increased from the first speech. After that, we teach you how to deal with questions, both friendly and obnoxious. You will have time to re-craft your third speech and deliver it in the afternoon. During this seven minute speech you will be dealing with questions, friendly ones from your classmates, funny or obnoxious ones from your instructor. You will deal with them and the whole speech will be recorded on your camera.
Bring your films home and show your family and friends how you progressed from your first, awkward, unplanned speech to your smooth last one. And take the lessons to heart so that you become adept at handling any speaking opportunities that come your way. And watch your professional and personal life benefit.