The Complete Presenter™

Who is it for?

This masterclass is ideal for anyone who presents to small groups, large audiences, or to the press and media. You will receive plenty of practice and hear evaluations about your delivery from our instructor and other participants. Other groups who will benefit include:

1. Anyone concerned about communications - including senior executives, managers, sales and marketing professionals, technical specialists, financial analysts, public affairs experts, and training professionals.
2. Anyone who needs to be clear - convincing and memorable when speaking to others.
3. Anyone who doesn't relish the idea of speaking in public - dealing with difficult questions, or being put on the spot.
4. Anyone who needs to demonstrate good leadership qualities - to convince and persuade others, to be seen and acknowledged as a leader.
5. Technical and sales teams who need to sound like the expert they are - balancing effective communication with technical information and the listeners' needs - without causing confusion, over-selling or information overload.
6. Anyone who is pressed for time - this masterclass is intensive. Delegates would normally spend four days learning the core tools featured in the Think on Your Feet® and The Skilled Presenter™ workshops.
7. Anyone who is looking to make their training budget work harder - investing in this masterclass dramatically reduces the cost of attending these workshops separately.

Whats it all about?

COMMUNICATION IS EASY - RIGHT?  Everyone communicates every day. You speak on the phone, in meetings and in presentations. As you become more senior in your organisation, you are asked to deliver more presentations, which are more significant and to bigger audiences. Communication is easy - right?

WRONG - Bad communication is the single biggest block to career progression and effective leadership. If you can't get your message across with clarity, brevity and impact - chances are you will simply not be a good leader.

The reality is that communication is often viewed as a 'soft skill'. A semi-important skill everyone assumes they have and spend little time improving. Yet, why is it that top leaders and heads of industry can communicate effectively on demand, every time? Simple answer - they have been trained to!

What makes The Complete Presenter™ different is that, we bring together the core of Indigo's presentation skills workshops in one skilfully woven event that condenses four days of training into three. We do this by interlinking the different techniques to provide one complete, total solution where delegates learn, practise and reinforce these vital communication skills as they apply them through a range of practical exercises. The skills developed enable delegates to use structured thinking and clear language when communicating, both informally and formally:

When communicating:

• Respond confidently and concisely in all formal, informal and ad-hoc situations, especially when caught on-the-spot or under pressure!
• Buy yourself time when you don't know the answer or need more time to think about it.
• Explain complex ideas and handle tough questions by condensing your thoughts, simplifying information and avoiding listener and information overload.
• Think on Your Feet® is the only workshop that trains you to analyse, organise and present your ideas - fast!

When presenting:

• Craft content and position your ideas.
• Overcome stress, field questions and maintain control.
• Learn the most powerful forms of persuasion to achieve impact.
• Practise your presentation skills in a safe environment by delivering stand-up presentations - receiving feedback from the instructor and other participants.

What will you get out of it?

By the end of this masterclass delegates will be able to:

• Communicate with clarity, brevity and impact.
• Use structure to organise their thinking.
• Handle difficult questions.
• Use techniques to communicate with no time, little time and plenty of time to prepare.
• Plan a face-to-face or online, formal, audience focussed presentation.
• Deliver a high-quality presentation having practiced and developed performance skills including: eye contact, gesture, stance, movement and voice.

The masterclass includes opportunities for delegates to practise skills and techniques covered during the training and to receive individual coaching and feedback.

What will your organisation get out of it?

Your organisation will benefit from employees who are more confident when:

• Structuring their ideas quickly - to provide well thought out, understandable and memorable responses.
• Answering tough questions on-the-spot - listening and understanding the question, using techniques to buy time to think about a response that doesn't over-sell, waffle or provide too much information.
• Making a lasting and professional impression - winning the 'heart-space' of their audience, every time - positioning the brand in a positive way.

Typical workshop content

Thinking, structure and clear communication:

• Clear speaking is clear thinking.
• Structuring ideas simply and persuasively.
• Techniques to package persuasion.

Getting to the point and being remembered:

• Using 3-part plans to focus communication and display analysis.
• Providing your listeners with simple, memorable, unifying ideas.
• Relying on structured reasoning to answer questions.

Organising information in chronological order:

• Organising topics in terms of time.
• Handy fall-back whenever you're caught off guard.
• Explaining step-by-step processes clearly.

Using geography and places as your organising framework:

• Achieving instant, visual impact.
• Supporting big topics.

Dividing information into well-defined facets or aspects_

• Conveying thoughtfulness and fair-mindedness.
• Addressing questions in terms of different viewpoints.

Handling questions quickly and coherently:

• Answering questions when under fire.
• Buying time to think.
• Clarifying the question.
• Reframing to move forward.

Broadening or narrowing your listener's perspective:

• Avoiding direct confrontation.
• Handling sensitive or confidential information.
• Countering sweeping generalisations.

Analysing topics in terms of two extremes leading to a compromise:

• Dealing with controversial topics.
• Looking for the middle-ground.
• Displacing extreme viewpoints.

Presenting proposals, new products or services:

• Showing advantages to the listener.
• Distinguishing benefits from features.

Applying the Skills:

• When you have no time to prepare.
• Review bridging.
• Building speed.
• Speaking when "on the spot".
• Outlining a brief presentation.

When you have a little time:

• Making what you have to say relevant.
• Developing the above presentation for a specific audience.
• Deliver the presentation.

When you have plenty of time:

• Creating an audience focussed presentation.
• The "7 Question Game".
• Combining plans.
• The 3 + 1 format.

Fleshing-out your ideas:

• Adding examples for memorable explanations.
• Using analogies familiar to your listener.
• Showing dramatic contrast through opposites and extremes.
• Showing reasons clearly.
• Using "Who, What, When, Where, Why" To Tell a Story.
• Plan and present a formal presentation.

Practice and rehearsal essentials:

• The importance of rehearsal.
• Speed talking.
• Timing.

Performance skills:

• Eye contact.
• Creating rapport with your audience.
• Guidelines for comfortable eye contact.

Gestures:

• The importance of authentic gestures.
• Developing a "home" position.
• Adjusting for audience size.

Stance and movement:

• Creating confidence.
• Avoiding distractions.
• Moving with a purpose.
• Voice.
• Speed, variation and modulation.
• Reducing speech errors.
• Projecting without strain.

Prepare and rehearse a formal presentation:

• Graphics and visual aids.
• Using slides to support your presentation.
• Guidelines for impact visuals.
• Tables, charts and graphs.

At the end of the masterclass all delegates will be asked to:

• Prepare visuals for presentation.
• Deliver presentations.
• Review learning, next steps and close module.

Duration, delivery methods and languages available

Indigo is proud to be an official licensed provider of Think on Your Feet® and The Skilled Presenter™. This masterclass is an intensive and practical three day event that is available as online learning for groups and teams; or face-to-face at your choice of date and location, worldwide, if you have a group or team to train. We can also offer this workshop in a number of languages, using our international network of trainers.

Official UK Distributor

Indigo Business Services Limited are exclusive UK Distributor for Think on Your Feet® International and McLuhan & Davies Communications, Inc. Our trainers are all licenced to deliver using original licenced materials. Read more in our press release: Indigo Business Services Named Exclusive UK Distributor for Think on Your Feet®