Need a bite-size* lunchtime training session? I’ll give your team (unlimited audience size) a load of great advice in an interactive way** that is enjoyable and effective, and I’ll take questions to make sure I cover everything I can. Bring your lunch; eat, watch, and then ask questions with a mouth full of food. Simple, really. Every talk is 40 minutes with a 15-minute Q&A.
* see what I did there?
** I will ask the audience direct questions, throw in some spontaneous bits and make it fun. This is not your usual lecture.
Presentation and Pitching Skills
In this session I will cover the vital elements for a confident presentation or pitch:
- Writing: rich, concise material with a story that engages and persuades the audience. If you’re a great performer then you probably freestyle a bit on the day itself like all the other great performers I meet. You need to do yourself a favour and get your writing skills – and preparation in general – sorted. I’ll also give you top tips for elevating your Powerpoint into a simple, beautiful, way to back you up, instead of being the star of the show; that’s you. Speaking of which…
- Delivery: the power of engaging with people and keeping their attention throughout. Making brilliant slides won’t take attention away from you, and without an engaging delivery style you’ll miss that opportunity to persuade your audience that what you’re showing them is worth getting involved with. It may seem like sorcery, but great delivery comes from simple techniques that anyone – even you – can apply, every time, to reduce your stress and come across as relaxed and credible.
How to Win Referrals (AKA ‘How to Actually Enjoy Networking’)
Describing your business can be difficult and a little soul-destroying if you suspect the other person isn’t really interested. Plus, no-one likes a pushy sales shark with a handful of business cards. I will give you techniques to find networking enjoyable (seems impossible until you know how) and make it truly effective for getting real business referrals and connections. In my session you will learn:
- Effective networking strategy
- The way to easily describe your business
- How to be interesting and memorable
- How to follow-up for genuine connections
Pitching your business and networking can be both productive and fun, you just have to approach them the right way. Mainly by being a genuine, likeable person, and not an apex predator in a suit.
Storytelling
Stories are at the heart of the best communication. Think of TED talks or any charismatic speaker you’ve seen; they carry us on short journeys through relevant, evocative memorable experiences that engage us on a primal level. They make your Tuesday morning PowerPoint look boring by comparison, don’t they?
Everybody – and every company – has an interesting story to tell (yes, even you – and yours); you just have to have to discover the story and have the courage to tell it. My stand-up experience taught me the fundamentals of storytelling: characters, drama and emotion. I’ll tell you what I see of your company from an outsider’s perspective, ask difficult questions and then give you the tools to create and deliver a simple, compelling story that everyone in your company can tell in any situation.
The End.
How to Stand Out at Trade Shows
Your stand doesn’t be like everyone else: the usual pointless bowl of business cards for a competition with some branded sweets/stationery, occupied by staff who either look bored or who pounce on passers-by overenthusiastically, scaring them away.
Instead, it can be what it’s supposed to be: a way to make genuine business connections. In this talk I’ll show you the easy way to enjoy – yes, enjoy – using your company’s stand the right way so that you can return to your office victorious, bringing with you precious contact information from people who are actively interested in doing business with you, instead of a pile of worthless business cards or conference pass scan data from people who were only vaguely interested in winning your bottle of fizz. It doesn’t take a lot of effort (or money, despite what the organisers would like you to believe) to stand out; you just need to be different and authentic (you know, like a human being). It’s simple, really. And a lot of fun.
If they don’t remember you and you don’t remember them, guess what? That follow-up email or phone call will be a complete waste of time. Imagine doing 100+ of those futile emails/phone calls, getting nothing solid, and then having to tell your boss that you have precisely no warm leads from the trade show. If you follow my advice, however, you could easily be telling them that you have 10+ meetings set up with people you met who were keen to hear from you and are genuinely interested in buying.
I know which I’d prefer.