Executive Training in Debate & Public Speaking

INTRODUCTION

This Executive Training in Debate & Public Speaking training course will give you the tools and inspiration to become a master of the spoken word. You will hear many practical experiences from renown speakers; these will help you work out how to speak and present in public in ways that feel right for you and your organisation.

Over our five days together, expect your ideas and presenting style to be challenged and refined as you hear best practices from around the world and discuss whether they will work in your situation.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

• Speak authentically in front of any audience
• Control the way they are perceived through body language, voice and image
• Walk confidently onto a stage, building rapport with the audience
• Use storytelling to engage and motivate audiences
• Manage difficult audience members including debates, hecklers and experts who know more than themselves
• Keep calm when things go wrong and save their presentation from disaster.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This training course is designed for:

• Experienced presenters who give speeches and presentations regularly and want to uncover the tips, techniques and tools of celebrity speakers
• People who represent their business unit or organisation as an official spokesperson, speaking at formal events for employees and external audiences.

TRAINING OUTLINE

Day 1 : Tricks and Techniques of a Master Presenter

Your Image from the Platform

Projecting your character and personality in an authentic way

• How to decide on your personal image
• Tips on image for women and men
• Learning to act the way you would like to be perceived
• Focusing on your audience as if they are your friends.

Conquering Stage Fright

Techniques for controlling the scary feelings that come to the surface as we stand up to speak

• Reducing fear through preparation and rehearsal
• Preparing mentally to still your fears
• Deep breathing exercises that remind us to breathe normally
• Dealing with dry mouth and other nervous reactions.

Day 2 : Engaging Imaginations and Persuading Audiences to Act

Motivating an Audience

The steps to take before you can issue your audience with a call to action

• The five levels of motivation we take audiences through during a speech
• Reasons people may not listen to us
• How to grab and hold their attention
• Devices that help them remember the messages we share.

The Art of Storytelling

How to narrate experiences with enough detail and feeling so your audiences are engaged

• 6 types of story and how to tell them
• Essentials of a great story – knowing ourselves, standing for something, connecting with others
• Finding stories to tell – honouring achievements, explaining purpose, sharing good practices, imaging possible futures, acknowledging mistakes, and more
• Time in narratives – learning from the past, standing in the present, imagining the future

Day 3 : Avoiding Pitfalls of the Podium

Arriving On Stage

Making a great first impression as you walk onto the stage

• Mingling beforehand to begin to understand who they are
• Checking the setup – lectern, mic, lighting, steps onto the stage, visibility from the back
• Working with introducers
• Making a memorable entrance
• Using ice breakers to warm up the audience

Building Rapport with Audiences

How to win over audiences and have then listening intently to what you say

• Tips for making eye contact
• Helping the audience feel good about themselves and you
• Engaging the right and left brains, the heads and hearts of your audience
• Creating an interactive debate, question, friendly atmosphere

Day 4 : Troubleshooting

Dealing with Disruptive People

Preparing for questions, debates and handling tricky interruptions

• People are unwilling to ask questions and engage with you
• Managing hecklers who interrupt your presentation
• Working with a hostile or irritable audience
• Dealing with extroverts who think they know more than you and want to show you up
• The audience shows they don’t care about what you are saying

Keeping Calm When Problems Happen

How to respond when something, anything, goes wrong during your speech

• The lectern becomes a barrier, or the microphone plays up
• The previous speaker went over time and now you have to cut material
• Your story or joke falls flat
• Checklist to save you presentation from disaster.

Day 5 : Putting Learning into Action

• Creating two, five and ten minute presentations
• Videoing ourselves as we present
• Evaluating performances and giving constructive feedback