Two-Day Public Program : Las Vegas, NV July 16th-17th, 2007

Topics Covered

Who should Attend

Sales Representatives
Account Representatives
Financial Executives who present material to others
Public Relations Specialists
Instructors
Any Subject Matter Experts who present to others

Length of Program

Two Days (9am – 5pm each day)

Location of Program

Monte Carlo Resort &  Casino, 3770 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada  89109

The Process

Program is highly participative with each attendee giving several types of “real world” presentations. Videotape     and individual critique are used after each presentation. Positive aspects of each presentation are reinforced and     options are given for turning negatives into positives.

Tuition

  $795/person
  $695/person for 3 or more people
    
 (Tuition includes all program materials, continental breakfast, lunch, and refreshments on both days of program.)

Detailed Course Description

Day one morning session

The program begins with the instructor welcoming the participants and explaining the following:

The program will cover both “organization of content” and “delivery skills”
The program is designed to be nonthreatening and fun.
The participants will be delivering presentations to their fellow classmates.
All presentations will be videotaped.
Following each presentation the instructor will lead the group in obtaining feedback.
The tapes will then be privately reviewed and rated on a 1-10 scale by the participant.
The participants do not rate one another.
The instructor will then explain that the morning of Day One will be spent covering Delivery Skills. 

The afternoon of Day One will be spent covering Organization of Content.  Day Two will put those skills together!

A briefing is then delivered covering some things that presenters frequently do to distract their listeners.  Topics covered in this briefing include the following:

The participants are then told that the instructor is “finished for awhile” and it is now time for the participants to begin presenting.  The first presentation will be a “benchmark” in which each participant will tell four things to the group:  Name, title, a brief description of a project they’re currently working on, and the benefits they would like to gain from the workshop.

1. Each participant then delivers this benchmark presentation and is critiqued by the instructor and the other participants. For example, the instructor will say to the group:  “How was the eye-contact?  Were there any nonwords? How was the speaking pace?  What about intonation? etc.”  Positive aspects of the presentation will be emphasized and solutions will be given for turning any negatives into positives.
   
   Each participant then watches the videotape of the presentation and rates themselves on a 1-10 scale in terms of eye-contact, enthusiasm, pauses, speaking pace, intonation, appearance, use of hands, etc.

2. The group is then reassembled and each participant is asked to tell an exciting or embarrassing story that has happened in their lives.
   
   This presentation, again, is critiqued and the videotape is reviewed and rated.
   
   The instructor explains that the purpose of this module is to show the participants that inside every one of them is already a good presenter when they are comfortable with their content. He explains, “It was your story.  We weren’t there when it happened.  Well, the same things can apply to a business presentation.  The listener’s weren’t there when you rehearsed and there’s no difference between relating a story that happened to you and delivering a business presentation.  In either case you’ll want to make it interesting, concise, enthusiastic, etc.   The key, of course, is to be organized, and this afternoon we’ll be discussing organizing a presentation.”

Day One Afternoon

1. The instructor passes out a worksheet to each participant and takes them through a step-by-step process of organizing a presentation through a process called “The Listener’s Point of View”.  The instructor works on a presentation while each participant is developing a real-world presentation of his or her choice.
   
   After these presentations are completed, the instructor delivers the presentation that he has been developing to the group. 
   
   His presentation, however, is delivered with visual aids that were prepared in advance.  He then explains, “The only difference between my presentation and yours is that I used some simple visual aids.”
   
   He then explains when and how visual aids should be used,  shows the group how to design effective visual aids,  and explains that they will now put together some visual aids to support their presentation.  They then will deliver the presentations that they just developed to the rest of the participants.

2. The participants deliver their presentations.  These presentations are again videotaped critiqued and rated.  The critique and rating, however, will focus mainly on Organization of Content. .i.e.  Was the presentation organized correctly (using “the listener’s point of view” or was too much time spent using “the presenter’s point of view.”)  Was there a specific and understandable action step?  Etc.
   
   The instructor then summarizes Day One emphasizing that “This morning we covered Delivery Skills.  This afternoon we covered Organization of Content.  Tomorrow, we’re going to put those things together.

Day Two Morning Session

1. Day two begins with a brief review of  the skills learned in Day One.  The instructor then has each participant add some details to the presentations developed in the afternoon of Day One and explains that they will again be delivering  that presentation to the group;  however, on Day Two, “we will be critiquing the entire presentation in terms of both content AND delivery.

2. Some participants may be asked to repeat sections of the presentation and encouraged to add more enthusiasm.  As usual, this presentation will be videotaped and reviewed. 

Day Two Afternoon Session

1. The instructor then explains techniques for adapting everything that was covered in the program to one-to-one presentations.  (“Organization is certainly important one-to-one.  Eye-contact is important one-to-one. Controlling Q&A is important one-to-one. Etc.”)

2. The instructor then answers any remaining questions and summarizes the workshop.

Eachparticipant is given a “leave-behind” containing material about everything that had been covered in the program (the step-by-step outline in organizing a presentation from the listener’s point of view, designing visual aids, delivering the presentation from the listener’s point of view, overkill,  controlling nervousness, eye-contact, pausing, speaking pace, intonation, appearance, controlling Q&A situations, obtaining action,  etc.)