Presentations can be nerve-racking chores. A consultant drew on her firm's 35 years of expertise in business communication to demystify presentation skills — offering practical planning and rehearsal techniques to deliver clear, effective speeches.
Oakland, CA, January 20, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Carmine Gallo of Forbes reported last fall that a full 70% of Americans who give presentations consider that task “critical to their success at work.” Yet 20% of respondents in a Prezi survey said “they would do almost anything to avoid giving a presentation” — including faking an illness.
Prezi reports that 46% of its respondents admit to texting, emailing, and checking social media during coworkers’ presentations. The workbook Develop and Deliver Effective Presentations offers practical techniques to help teams or solo readers master professional speaking skills and minimize audience confusion and boredom.
The quality of our presentations improved after Write It Well's training. We're more effective now, and it takes us less time to plan how we'll communicate.
Craig Pampeyan, Director of Business Operations, Hewlett-Packard Technology Solutions Group
Write It Well is the leading developer of content on business writing; the consulting firm has 35 years of experience and offices in California and Singapore. Managing Director Natasha Terk is the author of The Write It Well Series on Business Communication.
“Like all businesspeople, I’ve had to sit through some seriously dull presentations in my time,” Terk says. “I want to help my readers feel confident about the messages they present. I also want to prevent their audience members from wanting to check their phones.”
HR managers around the world hire Terk’s firm to foster leadership and communication skills for their employees. The workbook has been equally useful across a range of Write It Well clients:
- From small businesses to multinationals
- From individual readers to large teams
- From new hires to seasoned managers
“For years, we’ve listened to our training participants say what techniques really work for them,” Terk says. “All our client organizations need their managers to give effective presentations — from small businesses and nonprofits to Fortune 500s, going from in-house meetings to major talks for external audiences.”
Presenting well is a complex, learned skill — not an innate gift. Develop and Deliver Effective Presentations sets out the immediate benefits in planning a presentation:
- Saving time
- Boosting confidence
- Keeping ideas easy to grasp, follow, and act on
- Projecting a crisp, professional image for both speakers and their employers
Terk starts the workbook with a straightforward five-step planning process to break the ice and articulate a clear message. The book concludes with a thorough five-step process to practice, rehearse, and deliver complex aspects of presentation delivery.
Terk gives readers everything they need to triumph over these and other challenges:
- Focusing a message
- Structuring everyone’s time
- Avoiding rote regurgitation by exchanging ideas with listeners
“You can kill your career or choke off business opportunities if your presentation’s technical slides are too dense,” Terk says. “And multinational stakeholders have told me they’ve lost millions through ineffective meetings.”
The workbook emphasizes techniques to identify audience members’ most likely questions. Terk says, “Any professional can use the book to catch listeners’ attention, thread it through engaging Q&A sessions, and unite all the listeners with a persuasive central message.”
The book prepares readers to take the lead and help listeners follow a set of clear, effective ideas. A successful presentation can help anyone grow as a professional — with stronger leadership skills, brighter career prospects, and a record as a reliable ambassador for the employer.
“Our client employees apply these techniques to stop being afraid of public speaking and deliver a strong message for their companies,” Terk says.
“It’s very satisfying to see readers apply the book’s techniques to their jobs. We love helping people get their voices heard and respected in today’s competitive workplace.”
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