Public Speaking: Presentation Survival School

A great presenter has two unique qualities: appropriate skills and personal confidence. This confidence comes from knowing what you want to say and being comfortable with your communication skills. In this workshop, participants will master the skills that will make them a better speaker and presenter.

At the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:

  • Gain rapport with their audience
  • Reduce nervousness and fear
  • Recognize how visual aids can create impact and attention
  • Create a professional presence
  • Prepare and organize information in different ways

Course Outline:

Introduction and Course Overview

You will spend the first part of the day getting to know participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.

Communication

To begin, participants will explore key communication skills, including how to start and end a conversation.

Edit Your Conversation

Next, participants will learn about characteristics that can make or break the audience’s impression of a speaker, including volume, clichés, slang, diction, jargon, and tact (or lack thereof).

Appropriately Sharing Yourself with Others

During this session, participants will discuss self disclosure using the Jo-Hari window.

Trust

This session will explore the idea of trust and how self disclosure can help build relationships.

Positive Self-Talk

During this session, participants will learn how to build their self-confidence – a key skill for any public speaker.

Making the Most of Meetings

Meetings are a central part of communication and cooperation within any organization. This session will give participants some ways to successfully prepare for and present at any meeting.

Body Language

During this session, participants will learn some ways to make sure their body language is sending the right message.

Sticky Situations

This session will give participants some tools to deal with uncomfortable situations.

Why Talk?

Next, participants will explore the value of oral presentations.

Planning Your Presentation

During this session, participants will learn how to use PAFEO to plan their presentation.

Overcoming Nervousness

To conclude the first day, we will look at some suggestions about delivery.

The STARR Pattern

To begin the second day, participants will learn a second way of organizing their presentation: the STARR pattern.

Start Writing!

This session will focus on the nuts and bolts of creating your presentation.

Limit Your Information

During this session, participants will receive tips on how to reduce the volume of information in their presentation without watering it down.

Audience Profile

Next, participants will look the value of audience profiles.

Your Speaking Voice

This session will look at the eight key parts of a presenter’s message.

Add Punch to Your Presentation

There are many types of visual aids. We will provide an overview of, and tips for, the most common visuals during this session.

Your Presentation

To wrap things up, participants will prepare and present a short presentation. Participants will evaluate each other and provide constructive feedback.

Workshop Wrap-Up

At the end of the day, participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.