PRESENTATION SKILLS TRAINING COURSES
Does your team want to deliver more effective presentations?
Presentation Skills Training Courses for Companies – High Impact Seminars for Teams
Does your team, group, or business need public speaking training courses to deliver more effective presentations?
Nothing boosts interpersonal skills, trust, and connection between team members than a group training session in the form of a presentation skills training course.
This is why facilitating public speaking training courses to groups is one of my primary offerings.
I conduct my presentation skills training courses using the tools I learned in hundreds of acting classes. That means I make sure to give participants a safe space in which to play and take risks, and an experience that allows them to learn by watching, listening and—above all – doing. Sessions are content-rich, exhilarating and fun– and designed to nudge participants out of their comfort zones and into new areas of self-expression.
I offer private, in-house training of varying lengths on topics like presentation skills, pitching techniques, or storytelling for business at your facility or a location of your choosing. (And if an engaging, online, virtual training is easier for your team to manage, I can do that too).
Searching for an In-House Presentation Skills Workshop for Your Team
What are your presentation skills training objectives? Are you looking for an in-house presentation skills training courses that can help your team of IT, sales, engineering, manufacturing, or financial specialists pitch and present with greater confidence and poise? Do your team members need help using PowerPoint slides in a way that attracts clients instead of pushing them away? Would you like your management team to learn Improvisation Skills, so they can handle a surprising question or an awkward moment in a meeting or presentation? Would you like to encourage the women in your organization to step up to leadership by offering them an empowering training course that can help them be seen and heard more with more authority? How about offering your team a virtual training on how to put together and deliver an effective virtual (online) training, so they can reach even more people with their words and wisdom?
Clients hire me for private, in-house presentation skills training courses of varying lengths at their facility or a location of their choosing. Topics include Presentation Skills training and related subjects like PowerPoint best practices, Storytelling for Business, Pitching Techniques for more effective networking, Creating and Delivering Virtual Presentations, and Improvisation tools for spontaneous speaking. I also offer Stop Playing Small, a training session for women who want to be seen and heard more effectively in the workplace.
Each of my presentation skills training courses is described in detail below, so please scroll, scroll, scroll.
Take your team to new levels of presence and presentation power!
Call 734.622.0522 to talk about presentation skills training courses, or send us a message to discuss your needs.
Think Like an Actor, Present Like a Pro
To stand out from your competition and move your business forward in a crowded market, it’s essential that be able to pitch your product or service with confidence and clarity—whether you’re speaking to one person, or one thousand. To that end, this foundational presentation skills training course features presentation techniques to help you speak fearlessly, memorably, and persuasively, igniting what I call your Charismatic Presence. Attendees deliver a short prepared presentation in front of the assembled group. I work with them to finesse their presentation and help them better understand their strengths and liabilities as presenters, including body language and use of voice. And, in the tradition of great theatre training, attendees l learn by doing and by observing one another in action.
Please note – This is my most requested flagship program. This workshop can be conducted in various formats and timeframes – from a high-level 90 minute program, to a 3-hour time slot, or over one or two days. For one or two day sessions, the number of attendees is intentionally limited, so workshop participants receive intensive learning, attention, and feedback.
Participants learn:
- “We’re Going to Disneyland”: How to structure an effective presentation.
- The Five Principles of Transformational Presence.
- Preparation and rehearsal techniques to increase confidence and engagement.
- Taming the Fear Factor: How to minimize and manage performance anxiety (breathing and relaxation basics).
- How and why to create an individualized “Presentation Preparation Toolkit.”
- Techniques to increase audience interaction, attention and buy-in.
Think Like an Actor & Amp Up Your Communication
Like great actors, great leaders are great communicators. They’re able to listen and really hear, and to speak in ways that invite others to listen and connect. They use their words to paint powerful pictures that propel others to trust and follow them. And they’re able to maintain a cool-headed presence under the pressure and scrutiny of high-stakes spotlight moments.
This interactive program uses techniques from an actor’s toolkit to reinforce and maximize the three essential elements of communication: Speaking, Listening and Presence in the moment . You’ll learn and practice evergreen communication skills that will ultimately help you build trust, rapport, and lasting relationships with team members and customers.
Through a combination of discussion, demonstration, and individual, paired, and group interactive exercises, you’ll learn:
- Tools to activate and optimize your three presence planes (physical, verbal and energetic)
- The value of heightening your commitment to optimum communication by honoring the “sacred stage” and the “sacred eight.”
- Right Speaking and Right Listening techniques for communication excellence.
- A tried-and-true formula for managing difficult conversations and building bridges instead of animosity.
- Tools to help you step with purpose and ease into critical conversations.
Techniques to give (and get) feedback that encourage meaningful personal and professional development— for both you, and the people who report to you.
From Offline to Online: Shifting Your Live Presentation to a Virtual Format
The world of meetings, conferences, and communication has shifted in a big and necessary way, from live-and-in-person, to online and virtual. If you are used to selling, speaking or training in a live audience format, it’s time to take your wisdom and big ideas and shift them to a virtual platform.
If you’ve been dragging your heels about making that shift because it feels overwhelming, you’re not alone. I admit that, as a theater actor and professional speaker who loves live audiences, I initially stepped into virtual training with some hesitation. But when I did, I was thrilled to discover that online, virtual training isn’t as complicated as it looks! And it can be fun, highly interactive, and help you reach an even larger audience of people who need to hear what you’ve got to share.
This presentation is filled with the ins, outs, tools and techniques you need to shift your thinking and your effectiveness as a virtual speaker or trainer. And because I deliver this presentation virtually, I get to walk my talk, pulling back the curtain from time-to-time to point out what I’m doing to make my presentation more effective and engaging.
You’ll learn:
- How to determine the virtual format that’s right for you (e.g. webinar versus meeting formats)
- Tips to demystify virtual technology components (lighting, microphones; Zoom-based tools; slides/visuals)
- Techniques to make your virtual presentation more engaging, clear, and compelling (and feel like YOU when you present live).
- An easy-to-use blueprint to help you shift an existing presentation to a virtual format that includes room for audience participation activities and worksheets.
Taming the PowerPoint Monster
Are you or your team getting overwhelmed or overshadowed by technology during your presentations? It’s time to tame the PowerPoint monster and to put the presenter front and center, where she belongs!
This presentation skills training seminar provides tools and techniques to make your slide presentations work for and not against you. Participants learn to create interactive, prepared presentations (in PowerPoint, Slides, Keynote, Prezi, or any other presentation software) that serve as visual aids and make for more effective communication. Participants will develop and present a short prepared presentation, which will be thoroughly critiqued and evaluated.
Participants learn:
- Tools and techniques to shape and create a memorable and powerful PowerPoint presentation.
- Why less really is more
- Technology etiquette and best practices.
- How to make charts and numbers palatable and memorable.
- How to use visuals to make presentation come alive.
Crafting and Telling a Story that Sells: Storytelling Techniques for More Persuasive Power
When is the last time you heard someone say after one of your presentations, “That was the greatest 3D pie chart I have ever seen?” Sure, charts and data are important, but it’s in our nature as human beings to use stories to entertain, instruct, and persuade others. After all human beings have been telling stories since we could grunt, gesture, and scribble pictures on the walls of our caves.
Stories are what make brands real, relevant, and memorable for people. The fact is, people remember a story that has moved and engaged them long after they remember a fact or figure. In a world glutted with products and services, stories are the way we help to contextualize and differentiate what we’re selling, so that it stands out from all the rest.
In this session, I demonstrate and explain the value and method of creating and delivering a story that can help make a service, product or presentation significantly more memorable and engaging. I share – and then deconstruct — signature stories from my own keynote presentations, modeling the very tools and techniques that I then teach you. Attendees present a story of their own, and receive guidance in shaping and delivering it so that it stands out and shines.
You’ll learn:
- The 9 Essential Building Blocks of Stellar Story Structure
- The 5 Principles of Transformational Presence
- 10 Ways to Tell a Story Better so it Sticks and Sells
- How to Capture, Practice and Perfect Your Story
Flying by the Seat of Your Pants: Improvisation Techniques for Spontaneous Speaking
Our world and our work are filled with unpredictable moments: Potential clients lob mind-bending questions at us when we’re least prepared; the slide projector dies in the middle of a presentation; and audience members interrupt us when we least expect it. Our ability to improvise in a nimble manner, to speak and act quickly and decisively on the fly, can allow us to make the best of an unexpected situation. Being fully and genuinely in the moment is necessary if you want to sell better, lead better, and speak better… and it’s a vital element of Transformational Presence, my defining philosophy.
This fun, extremely interactive training segment uses traditional Improvisation techniques and exercises to encourage you to leap fearlessly and gleefully into the moment, and to make, trust and act upon quick, strong choices. The exercises encourage you to step fully into the moment and creatively solve the task at hand. Glee abounds, energy soars, laughter rocks the house, comfort zones are breached, and confidence is built. And working together with others towards a desired outcome encourages a greater degree of flexibility, patience, and communication between team members.
Attendees learn:
- The Building Blocks of Improvisation
- “There’s Freedom in the Form”: Why structure matters
- The Power of a Strong Choice
- How to increase trust and connection by listening better and being present
Punch Up Your Pitches
You’re at yet another networking event, extending your business card to yet another prospect, and they ask the inevitable question: “What do you do?” How you respond will either attract or repel them. Which outcome would you prefer?
In this roller coaster economy, you can’t afford to let a ho-hum, confusing or robotic pitch drive away a potential client or customer. This session will change the way you think about your Elevator Pitch (or Elevator Overture (E.O.), as I like to call it). You’ll be encouraged to find new, more effective ways of phrasing, communicating and delivering your Elevator Overtures so that they catalyze conversations that build into lucrative business relationships.
Participants learn:
- How (and why) to craft a compelling pitch/Elevator Overture
- How to focus a pitch and increase engagement by employing a strong intention
- Four new pitching models that will make pitches/Elevator Overtures more fun, more human, more memorable and more effective.
STOP PLAYING SMALL! Standing Out as a Woman of Power, in Body, Word and Deed
As women in business, it’s in our best interest to lead out with power, passion and conviction—to stand up for what we believe and stand out in all our magnificence. Instead, and all too often, we shrink to fit, capitulate when challenged, apologize for our strengths and abilities, and diminish our unique voice. It’s time to take charge, take action and stop playing small! This session will teach attendees practical presentation and communication techniques to help them do just that, so that they can be perceived as the women of power they are.
Attendees learn:
- 10 Ways to stand out and be perceived with more authority and impact
- How gender affects listening and communication and how to make it work for you
- How to use your voice, words and body language to better reflect your power and command the attention you deserve.
- Simple techniques to help men and women hear each other with less friction and more understanding (yes, there are gender differences).
Click here for more info and a video of excerpts from Stop Playing Small.
