Presentation Skills Training

I am fortunate to work with some very bright people and I find myself learning from my clients all he time. One of our clients’, Sue Gaulke, CEO of Successworks, provides presentation skills training to Fortune 500 clients, she also teaches at the Protocol School of Washington.

Sue wrote a book “101 Ways to Captivate a Business Audience” a few years back that is absolutely timeless when it comes to presentation advice.

It has been reproduced in several languages and has been used by salespeople and CEO alike. I’ve read it a couple of times through, but really focused on implementing its’ strategies for this week’s presentation at SMX Advanced.

Though every page has what Sue would call a “teachable” moment, two things really struck me this reading. One, that most great presenters have concerns about presenting. It’s okay to be nervous, athletes need the adrenaline as do presenters. It’s just not okay to make nervousness a focus. Second, and this is really a revelation, is to forget about yourself for a moment (your fear, your nervousness, your message, your deck) and think about your audience. She recommends actually taking your shoes off and figuratively putting on the shoes of the person you’re speaking to. It’s easy to spend too much time in your head, but asking, “How can I help someone benefit from my past knowledge and past mistakes?”

I really focused on that recommendation for this presentation. As a group over the course of a few calls the panel and I (directed by our fearless leader and moderator Chris Elwell) really honed in on the question of “What can we bring our attendees that no one else can bring to the table,” “How do we engage our audience in a way that is so meaningful to them that what they take away will stay with them throughout their careers”. No easy task, but I’m confident that Marty, Will and I will illuminate a topic that many consultants and agencies pay little attention to and one that can define the course of their business.