Coaching

If you’re delivering a conference speech, a CEO communicating your vision to thousands of employees, a Research Scientist pitching to secure millions in funding, a team leader of thirty, a lecturer to hundreds or someone who has volunteered or been elected to deliver a presentation, then you might relish the prospect and feel ready to deliver an outstanding presentation.

However, if you feel daunted at the prospect or are keen to develop and improve your chances of success, then I believe I can help through a pair of tailored presentation coaching sessions, each lasting just one hour but separated by time and held remotely. After the first, you have a chance to reflect on the ideas and then put into practise the exercises that we’ve discussed together. During the second, a chance to evidence your progress and plan for further development.

Presenting is the creation of an experience for an audience that provokes change in how they might think, feel or be prepared to behave afterwards. Aiming for less might feel safer, but no audience ever sat down hoping to see a mediocre performance and no presenter ever woke up energised at the prospect of delivering one. The success of organisations like TED and the wealth of online content now available have raised audiences’ expectations about how effective and engaging presentations should be, but this same success has suggested a formula for delivering them. No matter how good, even the best formula can only produce a standardised output.

Public speaking is often seen as a skill that a talented few have, but I argue that it is a series of behaviours that anyone can choose to develop and deploy. Presenting is the act of speaking in public with care, and the two stages that must be addressed are firstly to identify which particular behaviours help you individually and secondly to rehearse them effectively and as often as is needed to forge them into new habits. Whilst my presentation skills courses, such as In the Wings or Potential Energy, can raise your level of awareness in a group setting and offer exercises, processes and ideas that will help, there is no substitute for the kinaesthetic learning, video feedback and support from a one to one coaching session. Even more important is the fact that coaching sessions designed to change just one thing stand a far greater chance of success. Maybe you want to stop waffling? Better manage your nerves? Speak more clearly? Create more of a buzz? It doesn’t matter whether you’re an exec, a student or somewhere in between; if your work involves public speaking or presenting, then a coaching session with me will help you improve that one thing in a tailored, supportive and no-nonsense way.

Before we begin, you’ll choose or create a short presentation (or just an excerpt) lasting approximately three minutes that you want to work on. You’ll practise it a bit and share with me your thoughts, questions, or ideas about what you’d like to be different. This will give me the clues and ideas to help me structure the first session so we can hit the ground running.

In the first session, you’ll deliver your piece with no pressure or polish required, and we’ll record it at least once. We’ll explore what’s working, what could work better, and what might be getting in your way. We’ll try a few things and narrow down some options. You’ll leave with some practical exercises, tailored techniques, and specific things to try in your own time.

In the second session, you’ll bring back an updated version of the same presentation. We’ll rehearse and review it, compare it with the original using video, and spot what’s improved and anything else that’s bubbled up. You’ll finish with evidence of what you have achieved, a clear routemap for future development, and a few ideas for your toolkit to keep building from there.

All presenters find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place; the rock being the unavoidable truth that an audience requires us to at least match if not exceed their expectations, and the hard place being Abraham Maslow’s assertion that our need for personal safety must be satisfied before we can concentrate on fulfilment and creativity. The good news is that it can be resolved by anyone prepared to roll up their sleeves and work hard to exercise, refine and hone their message, voice, physicality and mindset.

Get in touch to find out more!