“We’re drowning in data and starving for insights.”
– Former Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy
Why present? Why stand in front of a live audience when you could just as well email a report?
The goal of a presentation isn’t simply to share information, even if there’s a lot of data changing hands. Information’s not enough. The real purpose of a presentation is to engage and inspire your audience so that your ideas are remembered and acted upon.
For the last 13 years, we've helped amazing speakers bring their ideas to life: Founders, executives, humanitarians, authors and entrepreneurs, across an insanely wide range of industries. This in-company training distills our hands-on lessons and insights – the same practices that have helped them garner millions of views on TED, secure venture funding, and build their business by attracting their “right” people.
You’ll learn:
- How to better understand your audience and how you, as speaker, can guide them to shift their thinking and behavior
- Ways to highlight your expertise in a relevant, engaging way
- Time-honored structures that engage right off the bat, plant the seeds of action, and leave your audience with a new world view.
- Practices for simplifying your ideas so they can shine clearly
- Visual storytelling techniques that make every slide work for you
- Ideas for bringing more emotion into your presentation so that your points are remembered and acted upon
- Mindset practices to manage stage fright, envision positive outcomes, and step out in front with confidence
What most excites us is that “aha” when an idea coalesces, and the pattern of the presentation becomes clear. There’s an electricity as your idea takes root. These workshops are dynamic and interactive, allowing participants to put the principles immediately into practice.
KEY TRAINING MODULES
PART I: Plotting Your Path: Structure and Sequence
Great presentations are a journey. You’re taking your audience from point A to point B (where you want them to go). You want them to have a transformative experience: an evolution of awareness or an eagerness to engage in the topic. Ultimately you want activation – a desire to act.
Modules include:
- Know your audience: What they value, why they should care, and what you want them to do or decide
- You as speaker: How to highlight your expertise and create credibility in a relevant, engaging way
- Structure and sequence: Elements of an effective presentation: What happens where, and in what order, from your first 30 seconds to your final call to action
PART II: Visual Storytelling: Bringing Your Ideas to Life
Does your visual story match the strength of your ideas? Most slides we see out in the wild are way too busy. Neuroscience shows that people can’t easily listen and focus on visuals at the same time – two tasks that involve the same area of the brain. If your slides are too busy and cluttered, your audience literally can’t hear you. Your audience should get your idea in a matter of seconds – and focus back on you. Slides should foster connection, not distraction.
Modules include:
- Do’s and don’ts: the most common visual storytelling mistakes
- How to make information clear, compelling, and comprehensible
- The power of simplicity, giving the audience mental space to focus on your core ideas.
- Tips for how to implement classic visual storytelling principles (even if you’re not a designer!)
- Resources to get started (the ones professionals use)
Come with your own slides and be prepared to workshop them live!
PART III: Increasing Engagement: Emotion, Retention, and Action
Emotion enhances the brain’s ability to encode, store, and retrieve memory. In this module, you’ll learn how to bring more emotion into your presentation so that your speeches are more meaningful, moving, and memorable.
Learn how to:
- Present data wrapped in human emotion for retention, empathy, and understanding
- Tap into the alchemy of story to connect all areas of the brain
- Activate neural coupling, mirroring, and dopamine to generate connection to your topic
- Use contrast and the power of surprise to keep audiences engaged
- Understand the power of authenticity: How humor, humanity, and honesty make your message resonate with any audience
PART IV: Delivery Coaching: Step Out in Front and Shine (included in our two-day training)
Once you’ve got your content and design down, your presentation needs to get through you: Your voice, tone, body language, and delivery.
As a part of our two-day trainings, this module focuses on delivery skills to ensure that your idea is heard and remembered. Participants will literally put their presentation into practice, delivering it in front of their peers. This provides a great “safe space” in which to grow, shift, make mistakes and have breakthroughs, which you can then take into the arena.
Learning includes:
- Voice and tone
- Facial expressions
- Body language
- Holding space – with small and large groups
- Creating empathy and connection with an audience
CUSTOMIZATION for COMPANIES AND TEAMS
Due to COVID safety protocols, this training is currently offered virtually via Zoom. Sessions are dynamic and interactive with live insstruction, break-out rooms, focused work sessions, and follow-on assignments. We customize the learning experience on the front and back-end:
Pre-training prep:
Prior to the training, we will:
- Review your team’s relevant background material (CVs and strengths/challenges; sample existing presentations as a starting point for your specific needs)
- Conduct pre-training intake calls with key team members, to identify challenges and areas for growth
- Customize training modules for your team (e.g., before + after slide-design examples using actual company slides to show what’s possible)
Live training:
Full 1-3 days of training including:
- Training content (see summary above)
- Interpersonal interaction (lots of it!), exercises and dynamic Q&A
- Leave-behind materials each team member can take with them
Post-training consults (optional):
Following the training: One-hour follow-up call (typically 1-2 months out) with each participant, to:
- View how they’re putting the learning into practice
- Offer customized feedback and ideation
- Address questions that may have cropped up since the training
- Identify further opportunities for growth
Training days contain a rich and diverse set of skills and experiences. This optional follow-up helps each trainee cement their learning and ensures your investment in these techniques gets every participant operating at their own next level.
For further details and pricing, please call us at 510-817-4567 or email alison@alimat-inc.com.
Service: Presentation Skills Training
Customization: In-person workshops for companies and teams
Trainers: Alison Macondray and Matt Clark (co-founders of Alimat)
