by Gilda Bonanno LLC http://www.gildabonanno.com/
Last month, I coached an IT professional who was preparing to give two one-hour presentations at a conference for a regional professional association.
He had some experience giving short presentations at work and was not afraid of public speaking. Before we met, his content was fairly well organized and his slides, which he had already submitted to the conference, were focused and easy to read. We spent about two hours together, practicing his presentation and refining his delivery.
The day after the conference, he sent me the following email:
Dear Gilda,
The sessions went extremely well. Your coaching improved my presentation at least 100%.
There are many things that made a big difference. Here are the top ones:
1. Strong opening. Stand still, wait for the room to settle down, pause, then start when I am ready (Making sure the projector screen is blacked out so the focus is on me and not the slides).
2. The story that you helped me rework was very well received. I was shocked at how well it worked.
3. Have a definitive and declarative closing. The new closing we developed was much better than the weak closing I had before.
4. Writing out the stories and the closing helped me. I did not deliver them exactly as I wrote them, but it was close enough so they were effective.
5. Reducing my notes from 19 pages to 3 pages. This allowed me to only flip through notes when the audience was working with an exercise so it wasn't distracting to them.
6. Walking into the audience to break them up into groups for the exercise.
Thanks for your help!
Whether you are an experienced presenter looking to take your skills to the next level or someone who has little experience speaking in front of groups, presentation skills coaching can help you improve your skills. Email me at gilda@gildabonanno.com to find out more about how my customized coaching can help you.
Gilda Bonanno's blog www.gildabonanno.blogspot.com
Last month, I coached an IT professional who was preparing to give two one-hour presentations at a conference for a regional professional association.
He had some experience giving short presentations at work and was not afraid of public speaking. Before we met, his content was fairly well organized and his slides, which he had already submitted to the conference, were focused and easy to read. We spent about two hours together, practicing his presentation and refining his delivery.
The day after the conference, he sent me the following email:
Dear Gilda,
The sessions went extremely well. Your coaching improved my presentation at least 100%.
There are many things that made a big difference. Here are the top ones:
1. Strong opening. Stand still, wait for the room to settle down, pause, then start when I am ready (Making sure the projector screen is blacked out so the focus is on me and not the slides).
2. The story that you helped me rework was very well received. I was shocked at how well it worked.
3. Have a definitive and declarative closing. The new closing we developed was much better than the weak closing I had before.
4. Writing out the stories and the closing helped me. I did not deliver them exactly as I wrote them, but it was close enough so they were effective.
5. Reducing my notes from 19 pages to 3 pages. This allowed me to only flip through notes when the audience was working with an exercise so it wasn't distracting to them.
6. Walking into the audience to break them up into groups for the exercise.
Thanks for your help!
Whether you are an experienced presenter looking to take your skills to the next level or someone who has little experience speaking in front of groups, presentation skills coaching can help you improve your skills. Email me at gilda@gildabonanno.com to find out more about how my customized coaching can help you.
Gilda Bonanno's blog www.gildabonanno.blogspot.com