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Archive for the ‘Presentation skills’ Category

questions are gifts

The 3 Most Important Tips – How to Handle a Great Question & Answer Session

Posted by Liz McKechnie

In our Presentation Skills training course the subject of how to handle Question and Answer sessions can be greeted with anything from  sunny optimism to doom laden dread.

Some people look forward to them as a welcome relief from having to hold court alone and have the chance to enter into a more natural dialogue with their audience. For others there is a very real fear that questioners may be challenging or even hostile  or, quite simply, leave the speaker completely at sea as to how to respond.

As trainers we spend our days handling questions and challenges. If we dreaded them we couldn’t possibly offer the high level of interactivity that we do, and all discussions would be fraught with tension. The stress level would be ghastly.

 

Questions are Vital

 

But questions are vital to the way we work. They mean people are awake (which is always a good sign) and engaged.

So we actively encourage questions and apart from a few sticky moments here or there where we have to get creative, on the whole, we enjoy sharing ideas and exploring different ways of looking at the world.

Our mission is to help people feel so good about asking questions that they all ask even more!

 

How do we go about handling them?

 

Read more

dead body outline

The single most important thing to know about structuring a Presentation – Start with the Murder

Posted by Liz McKechnie

A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end – but not necessarily in that order.

So says Jean-Luc Godard. And he’s good at telling stories.

In the many Presentation Skills courses that we have run over the years I have met some great people with huge knowledge and enthusiasm for their work.

There are other equally interesting people who come with a doom laden sense that their subject is very dry and boring to any sentient being. Of course if they believe that to be the case then they will undoubtedly be proved right by the audience reaction.

 

So time and time again I find myself asking:

What’s the point?

 

For anyone about to make a presentation or a pitch this is the single most important question you must ask yourself before you begin. If you don’t know the answer then to be honest I wouldn’t bother to go ahead.

 

Once you know, then you’re off…. Read more

Presentation Skills – Handling Nerves Video Podcast

Posted by Liz McKechnie

Pitching and presenting can be a nerve wracking business.

The very best and most dynamic leaders in industry, performers, even rock stars admit to suffering from nerves when they are in the spotlight.

And its not really surprising you’re nervous – you’re in a heightened situation where you’re asking people to focus their attention entirely on what you’re saying or doing.

How will you be judged by your audience, team, boss, organization, or perhaps an even wider audience? Read more