Archive for the ‘public speaking classes’ Category

The Leaders Institute hosted a Fearless Presentations workshop in Houston Texas in April 2013.The group included employees from Hess, Chevron Oil and Invista Chemical Engineering companies. The participants were looking to improve their public speaking skills as their companies were requiring them to deliver presentations more frequently. The individuals had heard that the Leaders Institute helped people reduce public speaking anxiety and trained them to design and organize successful presentations.
The two day workshop started out teaching how to reduce speaking anxiety then transitioned into how to develop introductions, power of stories, and how to be persuasive among other techniques. The participants performed an introductory speech at the beginning or the workshop so that they could see their improvement at the end of the workshop.
The participants found their potential rise as they proceeded through the presentation and speech development exercises that have helped so many individuals after completing the Fearless Presentations workshop. The end of the two workshop concluded with a final presentation that the participants developed. The results showed amazing improvement and many happy graduates at the end of the two day workshop.

Fearless Presentations class in Seattle, Washington helps participants tap into their public speaking potential.  Enthusiastic participants in this public speaking class were eager to find ways to reduce public speaking anxiety and improve the quality of their presentations.

The training room had a stunning view of Seattle and Mount Rainier, but that didn’t stop participants from focusing on ways to improve their preparation techniques.  A few participants commented how they have written out their presentations almost word for word, but then have the problem of feeling locked into doing their presentation exactly as it was written out in their notes.  During the presentation, they become all too aware that they are not connecting with their audience because their heads are buried in their notes, increasing their nervousness.  One of the techniques participants are able to practice in the class is delivering presentations with a minimal amount of notes.  Participants are surprised at how well they can connect with their audience without the crutch of excessive notes.

Fearless Presentations® offers many ways to cope with public speaking anxiety and make presentations more dynamic and engaging.  Classes are taught year round in Seattle, Washington and across the U.S. and Canada.

Chris McNeany is a Vice President and Instructor for the Fearless Presentations® course. He is based in Los Angeles, California, but he teaches classes in San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Seattle as well.

Public speaking class in Los Angeles, California helps participants become poised, compelling presenters.  The Leader’s Institute® returned to the Golden State to work with a group of individuals eager to overcome public speaking fear and learn how to structure presentations for a variety of work-related topics.

This class had participants who work in health care, banking, tire sizing, and the housing industry, to name a few of the professions people typically come from who take this class.  The morning of the first day is devoted to ways to cope with public speaking fear.  As the class progresses, participants get up in front of the group to do work-related presentations.  The advantage of having a diverse group of people in the class is to be able to see very different styles of presenting.  There is a tendency to get stuck in one way of presenting, which is natural because if something works, why not continue to do it the same way over and over?  By seeing a certified instructor provide feedback for presentations in all of these different industries, participants come away with a whole range of ideas to keep their presentations fresh and exciting.

Fearless Presentations® comes to Los Angeles, California every three months, and to cities across the U.S. year round.  Whether you would like to overcome nervousness when giving presentations, or improve your overall presentation skills, this public speaking class is a great way to make presentations exciting for you and your audience.

Chris McNeany is a Vice President and Instructor for the Fearless Presentations® course. He is based in Los Angeles, California, but he teaches classes in San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Seattle as well.

The Leader’s Institute® conducted its Fearless Presentations® class in Minneapolis, Minnesota for a group of 40 engineers who wanted to improve both presentation skills and their networking abilities within their own company.

This was a half-day workshop where individuals at Barr Engineering could elect to take this course.  While some came into the class with “training fatigue,” since this was the last day of a full week of training, participants had renewed energy when they were able to practice in small groups and in front of the entire class.  Some came in with common concerns:  ways to relax when public speaking anxiety occurs, how to deliver a good introduction, and how best to handle PowerPoint and other visual aids.  These topics were discussed, with strategies given by a certified instructor to overcome the challenges associated with them.  This training was set up by a couple of employees at Barr who went though our 2-day class open to the public in Minneapolis.  They realized that not only did their presentations improve, they were also able to network within their own company more effectively.  The culture at Barr is designed so that you are able to succeed the more you build your network and brand.  By implementing a simple exercise designed to get a conversation going at social gatherings, they were able to feel more comfortable talking to people they didn’t know at these mixers at Barr.  In fact, they said these conversation starter techniques became so ingrained that they didn’t have to think about them anymore.

“I have heard lots of GREAT hallway feedback about the class.  Thank you for taking the time to learn about Barr and our culture.  I think that knowledge really made your content relevant and applicable to the attendees.” Sara Gaffin, Barr Engineering

Fearless Presentations® comes to Minneapolis, Minnesota and other cities year-round, and can also be taught on-site at companies throughout the country.  It’s a great way to learn and master presentation skills that can make the difference in taking the next step in one’s career.

Chris McNeany is a Vice President and Instructor for the Fearless Presentations® course. He is based in Los Angeles, California, but he teaches classes in San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Seattle as well.

Fearless Presentations® class in San Francisco, California helps participants overcome the fear of public speaking and improve presentation skills.

Fearless Presentations® returned to sunny California to teach a truly international public speaking class.  Participants in the class were from the United Kingdom, France, India, and the United States.  Some of the participants experienced a fear of public speaking, while others were looking for ways to deliver presentations creatively.  Tips to cope with public speaking fear are given by the instructor on the first day of class, while ways to creatively engage the audience are covered on the second day:  including examples and stories in presentations, the use of analogies, flip chart drawings, and more.  By practicing the inclusion of these elements in their presentations, participants were able to see immediate and substantial growth in their presentation skills.

Whether you are in San Francisco, California, or any other city across the U.S., Fearless Presentations® is a great way to overcome public speaking fear and take your presentations to a new and higher level!

Chris McNeany is a Vice President and Instructor for the Fearless Presentations® course. He is based in Los Angeles, California, but he teaches classes in San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Seattle as well.

The Leader’s Institute® recently held a public speaking class in Columbus, Ohio for a small group of enthusiastic participants eager to improve public speaking skills.

Participants in this class were especially interested in how to connect with an audience in presentations.  A portion of the two-day public speaking class is devoted to looking at personality types and how they relate to public speaking skills.  A number of our strengths as public speakers can be attributed to our personality type.  Likewise, a lot of our weaknesses as public speakers are also related to our personality type.  A trained instructor looks at ways to compensate for these weaknesses, and also look at ways to structure presentations according to both our personality type and the personality type of the audience, especially for groups we regularly present to.

The Leader’s Institute® regularly holds a two-day public speaking class in Columbus, Ohio and other cities across the country.  The small group setting allows for participants to not only learn how to improve public speaking skills, but also repeatedly practice them so that they become second nature.

Chris McNeany is a Vice President and Instructor for the Fearless Presentations® course. He is based in Los Angeles, California, but he teaches classes in San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Seattle as well.

Early in March, The Leader’s Institute® held it’s Fearless Presentations® course for the first time in New York in 2013.  On an early Thursday morning where the weather forecasters predicted tons of snow, the dedicated folks who signed up for the class braved the elements and could not be deterred.

New York is known for it’s diverse population and the members within the course certainly represented that element well.  The class included a CEO of a Supply Chain Consulting Firm, an expert Lawyer within the oil & energy market, as well as a manager within the corporate offices of Jaguar Land Rover in North America.  In addition, the participants were rounded out by leaders in distribution mgmt., human resources and marketing of alcohol spirits.

One of the benefits of having a diverse group for a class like this is that it pushes the participants to mold and shape their presentations so that anyone can understand their message.  A main focal point in the course is to drive ourselves to create concise and powerful presentations without overwhelming the audience with unnecessary details.  We come to learn that our audiences typically have a tolerance level for the amount of points they can digest and process from a presentation.  Therefore, by keeping our number of points to three or less within a presentation can dramatically increase the retention of material by the audience.  After all, presentations should be designed to allow our audiences to ‘get’ our message rather than for them to feel bogged down with tons of info.

The Leader’s Institute® offers training on public speaking and more in all of the major cities across the U.S. and Canada.  It revisits New York frequently and also provides classes in Philadelphia, Boston, Hartford and Providence.

Mitesh Kapadia is the Regional Instructor for the Northeast region. He is based in New York City, but he also teaches in Newark, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and all New England Cities including Boston, Providence and Hartford.

Fearless Presentations® in Denver, Colorado provides participants with numerous tools to work with to improve the quality of presentations.

A few participants in this public speaking class were interested in learning some new techniques for structuring presentations.  Questions came up about the challenge of structuring presentations that are relatively short, but have a great deal of content.  All participants deliver a work-related presentation on the second day of class, with feedback provided by a trained instructor.  Options are provided for delivering a presentation with 3, 5, or 10 points, or even more!  One participant commented that she was so engaged listening to one of the participants, she forgot that the presenter was following a structure that had just been provided.  Another issue that is addressed is how to avoid death by PowerPoint.  Most of us have been through presentations that are painful to sit through, since the presentation is more about the PowerPoint slides than the presenter.  This class is designed to help with structuring presentations in a way that is memorable to the audience, and not an exercise in boredom.

Fearless Presentations® comes to Denver, Colorado approximately every four months, and comes to cities across the country year-round.  It’s a very wise investment for both peace of mind and career!

Chris McNeany is a Vice President and Instructor for the Fearless Presentations® course. He is based in Los Angeles, California, but he teaches classes in San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Seattle as well.

The participants in the Fearless Presentations Workshop in Phoenix Arizona learned how important it is to understand that most audiences don’t want you to be scared or nervous when you speak in public.  As presenter’s we sometimes feel that they are only there to watch us fail and embarrass ourselves. They understand what it’s like to have fear when standing up in front of a large or small group.  Because fear of public speaking is the number one fear for most people, they really are pulling for you deliver a great speech and not be nervous.  That’s one of the reasons that when you look into an audience, there are several people smiling back at you.  So the next time you feel scared or nervous when delivering a presentation, look out for the smiling faces in the crowd and it will help settle you down and speak with confidence.  So, consider Fearless Presentations for all your public speaking needs.

Wirtgen America recently held back-to-back 1-Day Fearless Presentations® classes for it’s Senior Sales team at their American headquarters. The two days kicked off a week long meeting geared towards the overall strategy and direction of the sales force within the company.  A total of 25 regional sales managers from California to Boston as well as a handful of individuals from Canada including cities such as Vancouver and Montreal attended the training.

Typically, a Fearless Presentations® course is held over the course of two days.  Yet, the Wirtgen group had specific needs in which they wanted to address pertaining to presentations.  They wanted to target their specific challenges in communicating with their current as well as prospective customers.  Primarily, the sales team was looking for ways to generate greater sales by gaining buy-in from the customers they interact with. As a result, The Leader’s Institute®, tailored the course to a one-day program targeting sales presentations.

Within our Fearless Presentations Course, we emphasize the importance of creating trust and rapport with the audience.  When we are able to successfully establish that trust with the person across the table, then they are more likely to listen to what we have to say.  In the same way, in order to gain buy-in from our customers, we must first work on developing a sense of rapport rather than trying to push a product or highlighting how great we are and how awesome our company is.  Ultimately, the customer is most concerned with how their challenges can be addressed.  As simple as this sounds, most folks tend to forget this simple aspect and eventually find themselves having a tough time getting a sale.

Overall, the Wirtgen America team crafted their presentations and talking points from scratch and equipped themselves with valuable tools for when they approach their clients.

The Leader’s Institute® offers many on-site trainings throughout the year to address a variety of challenges that organizations face.  From conflict resolution, to leadership programs, and of course sales training as well.  Give your team the opportunity to effectively communicate their expertise to the people who need to hear it the most.

Mitesh Kapadia is the Regional Instructor for the Northeast region. He is based in New York City, but he also teaches in Newark, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and all New England Cities including Boston, Providence and Hartford.