Surveys regularly reveal that public speaking is the most feared business activity and is dreaded even more than death!
Almost every university career requires you to present your work to colleagues, at meetings, in seminars or at specialist conferences.
This workshop will begin by exploring the basic components of communication including listening skills, the power of body language, how to make an impact and strategies to hold the attention of your audience. We will cover planning for your meeting, structuring the content and preparing to deal with questions.
Participants are invited to deliver a short presentation and to receive coaching and feedback within the supportive workshop environment.
As a result of this workshop participants will:
- Understand the contributions of words, voice and body language
- Know four essential questions to answer when planning for a meeting
- Have structures to plan the content of a presentation
- Be clear about strategies to hold the attention of your audience
- Be prepared for dealing with questions
- Have effective strategies to deal with “presentation stress”
This workshop can be delivered to meet specific needs of your participants.
This includes preparing for presentation of papers at National or International Conferences, multidisciplinary meetings or cross departmental strategy meetings.
The emphasis used and examples delivered are chosen accordingly.
At conferences, it can also be important to understand how these skills apply to the “business networking” opportunities that present themselves or to have and to use skills to chair a session effectively.
See Comments from previous participants below or return to the Workshops Page:
It was an absolute pleasure to meet you last Wednesday – I’m not sure I have come down from the high yet!
I came to the workshop with a deep fear of public speaking but left wanting to conquer that fear and perhaps even enjoy the experience in the future.
Your calm demeanour and sound advice will, I hope, stay with me and inspire me, not only when called upon to give a presentation but also in day to day life. I really didn’t expect to have so much fun and to come away having thoroughly enjoyed the day! Thank you so much.
Sally
The day had a good range of activities and learning, having the day scheduled rather then cramming a session into a couple hours ensured there was time to learn, absorb, reflect and participate in exercises. Margaret is an excellent trainer, helpful, presents at a steady pace, maximises opportunities to involve the trainees.
Overall, the course was informative and inspiring. Watching the presentations of the other students provided me with a lot of ideas on how I will structure my future presentations. I also like Margaret as a trainer/facilitator. She is strict but funny and inspiring. Thank you for including me in this course.
Michelle Sharie
Please would you pass on my thanks again to Margaret for the fabulous workshop she presented. It was extremely professional and enjoyable due to Margaret’s expertise with people and presentation skills.
This was the best course that I have ever been on – Dr Collins has given me the skills to get up and present devoid of many of the negative connotations this had for me prior to the course. I discovered that I do not need to be confident in myself (something with which I have always struggled) in order to be a confident and engaging presenter – this course was like a practical and therapy session in one!
