Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Teaching Presenting?

Recently I have been involved with a lot of people that are either needing to present, wanting to learn the skill or simply tuning their skills. I was ask to co-present a training to a team of people. I have to be honest, I have co-presented before and it is “OK” but it isn’t great! If you have to give a lot of content it definitely can reduce the load. However many times I have found that it increases the load. You have to sit down together, you have to play nice (I know I should anyways) and it ends up being more work. It definitely depends on who you are doing it with. My opinion is to only do it when you get to pick who you co-present with. NOW I do realize that the person being ask is not doing the choosing. Problem. Anyway, back to presenting training. After thinking this over quite a bit I have determined that it is personal. Sure you can give some over all structure guidelines. The real issue to me is the fact that when presenting you have to remain true to your natural style. If you are quit and reserved you cannot be loud and interactive. I am sure there are many other comparisons. But basically you can’t “Teach” a reserved person to be large on stage (I am sure there are exceptions) The best coaching that can be given is to; • Why are you presenting (What is in it for you) • What is in it for the crowd • Have a structure (No rambling) • It is a performance – be entertaining • Have fun (It will show) • Details matter (Where you stand, can they hear you, how you dress and so on) • Stories are best (Personal experiences are even better) I get it, not a complete guide but some starting thoughts.

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