The Client

Chief Executive, not-for profit organisation

The Brief

To bring her presentations skills back up to the standard expected of a Chief Executive, bring back the sparkle she used to have, and regain the visibility and reputation she enjoyed as a popular speaker with a hard-hitting style and up-to date knowledge. 

The Programme

Two sessions of two and a half hours over three weeks

Key issues

1. She was an experienced and knowledgeable presenter, but had gone stale and lost visibility within her profession. 
2. She needed to re-build her confidence and re-build her personal brand at the same time
3. She wanted to regain an edge as a speaker and  be excited about her specialism

Some actions

• We used the micro-training model of believing that "within the micro lies the macro" and so we focused on delivering a conference paper to a critical and specialist audience of her peers due in four weeks time
• She agreed to stop dwelling on the past and possible future failure, look forward to relearning skills that were a delight and pleasure, recalling that she was good before and could be good again, if not better.
• She was aware that delivering an academic paper had certain constraints in terms of style and delivery, but within those constraints wanted to make her mark both in delivery and content. 
• We quickly realised that she should use her excellent memory for facts and figures plus the ability to tell a compelling story to support her strong views. She enjoyed taking questions and could think on her feet. She felt a rush of real adrenalin when she made the big decision to build on her strengths and cut the paper in half and make the second half a question and answer session.  
• Structure - she decided not to use the traditional structure of an academic paper because it would inhibit the new brand she wanted to promote. The content and structure of the paper had to be re-thought so that she could present her key findings in a dramatic way but had the paper written up in the orthodox and expected manner for the audience to take away. 
• Content - she had to be really clear about what to leave in and what to take out so that only the new and hot issues, the most recent research, the most compelling statistics were included in order to maintain her position as a specialist. Ruthless pruning of material was necessary.
• Style - we used a used a self-completing communication style questionnaire to determine her preferred presentation style and she learned to major on that style but also to flex that style to meet the needs of a large audience, by making it more audience-centred and encouraging comments and questions. 
• Delivery - she was confident that working from her preferred style meant she didn't have to act a part and waste energy on being inauthentic. She could be forceful in her argument but open and friendly in her style.
• Rehearsal - a short technical rehearsal covering comprehensiblity, logical flow and support material was all she needed as passion for her subject plus well-honed techniques brought her confidence flooding back.

The Outcome

She felt confident, strong and energised. The presentation was very well received. The organisers asked her to speak again at a series of road shows. The audience asked interesting questions and came up to share views and offer congratulations afterwards. She successfully re-branded herself as a confident and knowledgable speaker with greater status within her peer group and beyond.