Presentation Skills Training Workshop
Speech Coaching (one-on-one)
Executive Shadowing and Executive Coaching

Presentation Skills Training Workshop

2-day workshop; limit 10

Presentation skills training, presented to groups within companies, focuses primarily on communication self awareness, not only as a speechmaker, but perhaps more importantly, discovering how each client comes across to customers, employees, higher level executives, boards, and the public in normal everyday business interactions. Although we will be working with a group, we are focusing on individuals. Our belief is that there is no process that fits everyone. Our goal is to help each person be the most believable presenter he or she can be working with their own unique personalities. For that reason, no two workshops are ever exactly alike.

The primary goal of our two day presentation skills training workshop is to:

help participants build confidence in themselves as presenters
discover how they come across, and how they need to change in order to become more believable, more convincing, more persuasive, and more interesting
give them the necessary skills to make that change

Depending on the needs of the group and the individuals within the group, topics may include:

Planning, organization, and structure
when should planning begin?
how do I get started?
what do I need to know about my audience?
how do I organize my presentation to keep my audience interested?
what can I do to engage my audience from the beginning?
how do I handle tough questions and/or hostile questioners?
how do I close?

Confidence and controlling anxiety
what can I do to gain confidence and keep my nervousness from shutting me down?

Visual Aids
when should visual aids, including PowerPoint be used?
how can I use handouts effectively?
what do I do if I have a PowerPoint presentation and the equipment fails?

Delivery
how can I set the tone?
what can I do to come across the way I intend to?
do I have distracting habits?
do I have voice issues that need to be addressed?
what can I do to keep from sounding scripted?
what is the most important thing to remember?

Our presentations skills workshops are successful because we do our homework, insuring that each session targets the specific needs of the group and the individuals within that group.

Prior to the workshop, each participant will receive a presentations skills pre-assessment questionnaire which he or she will be asked to complete and return to Wheless-Wyatt Communications. The purpose of the questionnaire is to (1) help participants start the process of identifying their strengths and areas of concern in preparation for the workshop, and (2) provide meaningful information to Bill Wheless and Sherry Wyatt so that the training can be better targeted to individual needs.

Communication Philosophy and Training Overview

Our approach to presentation skills training is built on the concept that communication is a leadership skill; and that effectiveness is more than an intellectual process. As a communicator, we have to make contact emotionally with the person we are trying to convince, persuade, sell, coach, inspire, etc. We have to be engaged in the process. We have to project genuine interest in, and concern for the audience. We absolutely have to know how we are coming across so that we can control the impact we're having.

Our training will make it clear that there is no communication technique more important nor effective than talking from the heart about something we believe in, and having the skills to do that convincingly. Along with our energy and passion, our success depends on our ability to appear believable, confident, comfortable, knowledgeable, organized and easy to follow, flexible, concise, creative, interesting, and likeable (we do business with people we like).

What to Expect

Bill Wheless and Sherry Wyatt are known for helping participants feel comfortable - for creating an atmosphere where clients want to challenge themselves and also contribute to the success of their colleagues within the group. Participants will come to the presentations skills workshop with prepared presentations they will deliver over the course of the two days. They will become comfortable with the process of being recorded while we create presentation skills DVD's so they can see for themselves what behaviors are adding strength to their communication style, and what may be getting in the way. With the help of these presentation skills recordings, they (many for the first time) receive accurate feedback that will allow the two days to actually pay off in behavior change that will be of value to them as they return to their "real world".

The workshop is an intensive, positive experience. Many of our clients comment that the training is the most beneficial they have received in their careers.

We would be delighted to talk with you about how we can assist you or your team to create powerful effective presentation skills.

"All of the executives you have worked with here have improved, in many cases, dramatically. We will be calling on you in the future to make sure that we are continuing to progress."