Program Description

Today’s business leaders are expected to be effective spokespeople for their companies. Even though they give presentations on a regular basis and feel confident in their skills, continued skill training is vital to your organization’s long-term success. As business challenges emerge, leaders need to keep their speaking skills sharp so they can project confidence and communicate with greater strength and clarity. Yet their time is precious and they resist training that will keep them out of the office for several days.

• Challenge: How do seasoned business leaders who want to reach the next level of speaking proficiency balance their need for training with everyday business demands?
• Solution: Accelerate! Advanced Presentation Skills is an innovative training program delivered within a flexible schedule that provides intense individual analysis, coaching, and skill building delivered in small time blocks over a period of three days. A rigorous training schedule balanced with time for business tasks equals increased participant commitment, greater attention to skill development, and ultimately success.

Accelerate! Advanced Presentation Skills is a three-day program designed for eight participants. Day one starts with a full group half-day review of advanced presentation skills. During the afternoon the large group is divided into two small groups of four. While half of the group works with the coach, the other half works independently refining their content structure and messaging. There is also free time to work on business issues. Day two is devoted to intensive small group coaching. The morning of day three is focused on finalizing content and slide ware and refining performance skills in preparation for the final presentations, which are delivered to the large group.

Target Audience

Business leaders, including executives, vice presidents, senior directors, and senior managers.

There are two scheduling options for Accelerate!

• A half-day large group review of essential presentation principles followed by two, one-hour long individual coaching sessions scheduled over two and one-half days.
• A half-day large group review with small group and individual coaching sessions, ending with final individual presentations to the large group.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of Accelerate! Advanced Presentation Skills, participants will be able to:

• Understand the importance of creating and maintaining audience connection throughout their presentation, and use effective performance techniques to keep their audience engaged and responsive
• Strengthen their performance energy by using advanced physical, vocal, and verbal skills, and techniques
• Implement the DeFinis Navigator, a fail-safe method for content development that ensures the speaker’s ability to develop a convincing message, stay on track and keep their audience engaged
• Use a variety of rhetorical devices including stories, examples, data, quotes, and other rich sources of support evidence to create a meaningful connection with the audience
• Use tools for continuous learning to keep their presentation skills sharp throughout their career

Program Overview

We begin by introducing our core learning model, The Connection Loop. Participants will discover why their audience wants them to succeed, and they will be introduced to concepts, tools, and best practices to help them do so. We will explore the public speaking challenges they routinely face and they will learn reliable solutions for everyday communication success.

But theory is never enough to drive behavioral change. That’s why participants will practice their skills in small group coaching sessions. We will carefully analyze their skill strengths and development areas. Then, using our signature Line by Line Coaching process, they will receive immediate and specific feedback and coaching that is focused on their individual challenges. The proven DeFinis training method and the expert guidance of our professional coaches ensure that participants will experience immediate results. Everyone should expect to work hard, achieve steady improvement, and leave transformed.