Training

 

Public speaking: You can do it

One day intensive course at the Institute of Directors, 116 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5ED, United Kingdom on dates to be advised

Speaking in front of others in a meeting or more formal environment is many people's greatest fear. Yet it needn't be. With a little bit of guidance and practice, all of us can be accomplished communicators and public speakers.

These days the ability to communicate well to an audience of 1, 10, 100 or 1000 can help to ensure personal and professional success. Selling yourself at an interview; presenting a new product or service to colleagues, prospects or customers; motivating staff to persuading management to accept a proposal; capturing and holding the attention of media, analysts or investors. In each of these situations good communications skills are of vital importance.

The purpose of this one-day course is to equip people with communication skills that will be invaluable both in work and everyday life. Conducted within a supportive and encouraging environment, this one-day course helps delegates to feel relaxed when speaking before others. The course focuses on:

• Speaking before an audience to time

• Impromptu speaking 

• The importance of vocal variety

• Selecting the right words to communicate ideas

• Organising thoughts into a logical sequence

• Learning the value of gestures and body movement

• Learning the value of props

• Being a Toastmaster / Master of Ceremony

Delegates will benefit from the tuition of a facilitator who is a member of Toastmasters International, a global organisation devoted to the art of public speaking. The facilitator is an Advanced Communicator and was runner up in the UK & Ireland Public Speaking Championships 2006. She is also a Past President of one of London's oldest Public Speaking clubs. At the end of the session, each delegate will be provided with a comprehensive booklet that delves deeper into the art of communication and speaking in public.

Benefits for organisations / delegates:

• Improved communication skills when speaking to audiences of 1 or more people
• Increased motivation and confidence 

• Improved ability to capture and hold the attention of others
• Improved corporate image due to better representation of an organisation

• Improved external and internal communication

• Better communication within teams

• More effective execution of presentations and work

Number of delegate: 6 maximum, to maximise the amount of practise time for delegates .

Price: £495 + VAT per delegate

* Note that the IoD operates a strict dress code of smart/casual wear. Guests wearing jeans, t-shirts, trainers or open toe shoes will be refused entry to the building.

 

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Comments from delegates include:

 

Professional pitch... slick presentation skills, Evan Davis, Broadcast Presenter, Dragons Den, BBC TV

Good presentation, James Caan, Investor, Dragons Den, BBC TV

Evan and James were both commentating on the presentation of Shane Lake and Tony Charles from hungryhouse.co.uk who won £100,000 worth of investment from investors James Caan and Duncan Bannatyne on BBC's Dragons Den, broadcast 19th Nov 2007.

Commented Shane Lake: We approached CustomerClix after having been given very short notice by the BBC for our initial interview to pitch to the researcher's of the Dragons' Den. After having failed miserably with our presentation the year before, we thought we should try and prepare better by getting some professional training. Although it was only a half-day session, both Tony and I learned a lot about how we could improve our presentation skills and I'm sure this went some way to us eventually making it on to the show and securing our offer of investment!

Click here to see the video.

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'A really brilliant session and I've got a renewed sense of passion for speaking, Tamara Littleton, CEO, eModeration Ltd.

Thanks so much for doing the session – I really enjoyed it, Kate Hartley, Managing Director, Carrot Communications

Excellent value for money.

Very useful and enjoyable - thank you!

Pertinent, perfectly timed and provides tremendous, confident framework to work on... brilliant.

The session was extremely useful to me... it was a very interesting day and, even though it was an intense course, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The facilitator was very warm and helped open up my speaking abilities.

Thanks so much for the very useful training course - I found it really helpful, confidence building and enjoyable. Focused, knowledgeable and energetic.

Great opportunity to try it out in a supportive atmosphere - the many different tasks during the day built confidence swiftly.

Excellent and informative with lots of practise. I feel I have all that I need to make a significant improvement to my public speaking skills.

Very useful course; it has highlighted some positives as well as areas requiring attention/practise.

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Very good. I have started to overcome my fear.

Thank you. I really enjoyed it.

Clear, focused, precise and very thorough.

Thanks for a wonderful day.

Good tips and demonstration of the different aspects of a good speech. Well worth attending and fun, thank you.

I wanted to thank you for all the effort you put into running the training - it must take a huge amount of preparation, and then so much focus during the day. I found it an extremely useful session, and whilst it is never going to come naturally to me, I do feel better armed to tackle any situations thrown at me, and know how I must approach it.

Very well and clearly delivered course and the props exercise was great fun.

Very good style. Informal and put us at ease. The right approach for the audience. Thought provoking and challenging.

The pace of the course was good. I learnt a lot; it was intensive but I never felt overwhelmed, which was good. I have a lot to put into practise.

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Excellent course. Nothing springs to mind in terms of improvement. The facilitator was excellent at public speaking, very confident and cleary knew her subject matter in great depth. I would recommend this course to anyone that might be involved in presenting.

Feedback was expertly and constructively delivered. The facilitator was polished and relaxed, maintaining excellent eye contact with participants and involves all the candidates. She expressed great energy, warmth and a very genuine interest in what we were saying and our personal improvement.

The facilitator was very calm and clear, unflustered and empathised well with the delegates.

It was an intensive course... we were thrown in at the deep end and it is now up to us to put it into practise. I am very glad that I did it!

Very supportive, extremely good advice and good fun too! Thank you for a stimulating day!

The facilitator has a wonderful nurturing style that really helped increase my confidence. She made a great impression from the outset, was warm, friendly and open. Feedback was given tactfully and constructively and even helped bond the group. The facilitator was a genuinely nurturing person. She took time and effort with everyone and was really insightful about some of the issues that held individuals back. A lovely lady and a wonderful experience which I feel that I have learnt from.

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Super course. Well-designed and highly practical. Also fun and enjoyable while covering serious professional content. Got people working well as a group while also recognising diversity and meeting individual needs.

I really enjoyed this training session. It helped a lot to build my confidence.

I really enjoyed the session and think it helped me learn some new things, which I hope to keep going. Everyone had really positive feedback and I think that it was all down to the moderator hosting such a good session. I would welcome joining another session in the future.

Thank you very much for the insights, guidance and feedback. I found it quite rewarding and enjoyed the whole day. I only realised how demanding the session had been after settling into the train journey home.

Excellent fun day in a relaxed environment. The positive feedback was very encouraging and made me feel comfortable.  

The facilitator really made people feel comfortable by breaking into it gently and the encouragement and feedback were very constructive. A fantastic day, I really enjoyed it (after having been dreading it!)! Thank you for the inspiration; I got so much from it!  

Very reassured after attending the course. I love the idea of transferring confidence in other areas to the public speaking environment' and, a week after the course, 'Yesterday I had one of my committee presentations and although there was not much call for doing a speech, I was on the spot answering a lot of questions. I seem to have far more confidence saying what I want to say after your course - I think it was very important for me to get feedback and to understand where I can improve and what my strong points are (I suppose, like a lot of people that have not had feedback, sometimes I doubted I had any strong points when speaking). It really seems that if I am confident I don't lose the plot and forget words or start hesitating. The best bit was having to be constantly on our feet, doing it again and again.  

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Excellent way to learn.  

Friendly and welcoming - brought out the best within an individual on the day.

Thank you for a very interesting and useful day... I also enjoyed working with the rest of the participants whose standard and contribution was a large part of the training.  

Would recommend it... very useful.  

Many thanks for a very helpful and enjoyable course. Very impressed.  

Excellent facilitation in a positive and encouraging environment.  

Very well organised.  

Thank you... it was fantastic.  

Made the subject extremely fun.  

Boosted confidence a lot.  

Helpful, supportive and observant.  

Excellent course.  

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Size of group, examples, encouragement all fantastic!  

Very encouraging and inspiring.  

Very effective course in bringing into focus the areas to concentrate on and how to address them.  

Good course, good host and good fun.  

Excellent - will recommend it.  

Many thanks for the course, it really helped me appreciate the areas to focus on... I particularly felt that the "unthreatening" nature of the training was a real benefit. I will refer on to you individuals within our company who can definitely benefit from it.  

Enjoyable, relaxed and positive.  

Very skilled at making trainees feel at ease - enjoyed the day immensly and feel very encouraged.  

Very enjoyable, informative and inspiring.  

Very enjoyable and fun - looking forward to my next speech!  

Interesting exercises, well described before we had to carry them out.  

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Presented in an extremely professional manner - will definitely recommend to friends and colleagues.  

Good, positive, focused feedback; good tasks which were fun; really good pace - slick and enthusiastic; saw huge improvement in everyone's skills.  

It was great to see everyone develop during the course of the day - a great day, I learned a lot.  

Very enjoyable but very hard work! Interactive so time went very quickly - too quickly!  

I really enjoyed the day, had a good laugh and learnt some valuable lessons to take away with me.  

An excellent course, run by a very excellent lady - thank you! You'll be pleased to learn that I got a chance to put the hints and tips into practise straight away, when I read my daughters their bedtime stories (used lots of voice variation!)! I have highly recommended your course to others...  

Thoroughly enjoyed the course - very nervous to start but good supportive structure helped overcome nerves. Thank you!  

Being given impromtu topics made me realise that I can think on my feet!  

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Thank you very much for the course... it was great fun and a learning opportunity at the same time and now I can certainly say: 'I can do it  

Thank you for the course... I thoroughly enjoyed myself... the course was so much fun and I'm sure that I'll remember all next time I'm speaking in public!  

Excellent, practical course - thank you!  

Well worth taking time away from work - extremely useful.  

Very well presented and led - positive feedback sensitively presented.  

I can't offer any improvements - it was excellent.  

An excellent mix of advice/guidance and practical exercises... the atmosphere and environment was very conducive to getting the most out of people.  

Very well structured course and fun at the same time.  

Very encouraging and motivational.  

The course was hugely satisfactory - no suggestions needed.  

'I can't believe that it is just over a year since I met you and took your course. The last year has been a whirlwind success and I know it all stems from the fact that I had the insight to do your course in order to stand up in Dublin last March and present to 200 Chief Financial Officersr. Since then I have presented on many occasions all round the world: Nashville, New York, Toronto, London and yesterday in Athens.  

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I just wanted to say thank you very much for your help. I know that if I hadn't done the initial presentation at work my current role would not have developed to the extent it has.  

Have thoroughly enjoyed the day - it has helped improve my confidence and meet my objectives.

 Appreciated the warm welcome and personalised attention throughout the day. Feedback after each exercise was invaluable.  

The structure, pace and content were excellent. The facilitator made all of the attendees feel very comfortable and confident so that they could fully participate.

 

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