storytelling in presentations - sylvie verleye...these presentations powerpoint is often an...

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A DIFFERENT VIEW ON PRESENTATIONS

Storytelling in presentations By Storytelling/presentation coach Sylvie Verleye

COMMUNICATE. WITH. IMPACT. BY


CONTEXT

Being a Storytelling/presentation coach I am constantly looking for new trends concerning effective presentations. A couple of years ago it struck me that I heard lots of complaints about presentations being too long or not clear enough. Speakers complain about time slots that are not respected or an audience that is more interested in their smartphones or who interrupt.

The past few years I have interviewed CEOs and VPs to understand what they expect from a presentation. By now it is crystal clear for me that they expect short presentations not necessarily supported by PowerPoint. This means you need a clear story which is why I call myself more and more a storytelling coach.

I have developed a communication model called the 'Simply Talking model' which helps speakers to build their story. This model can help you whether you need to communicate to 1 person during a meeting or for a big audience. It creates clarity for the speaker and for the audience.

FOCUS

When I work with people to help them communicate in a crystal clear way, I always use the ‘Simply Talking method’ as a basis. You can use this model for every kind of presentation: an internal meeting with colleagues or management, a meeting with customers, a one on one communication or even for a big audience. This model focuses on 3 elements that are important when you communicate: A clear STORY, knowing how to use SLIDES, and connecting with the audience to optimize your STYLE and reduce STRESS.

For the story, the SimplyTalking method offers some alternatives for our classical way of presenting. Most speakers, regardless their experience, present in an 'automatic pilot' style. What typically happens then is that every speaker uses the same sentence to introduce the topic and it sounds like 'today I want to talk to you about...' which rarely provides clarity. In most cases the structure used is an agenda with bullets, which is good for a meeting or a written report, though not for a story. A structure based on the pyramid principle is much more interesting to tell your story.


For the visuals the SimplyTalking method makes a clear difference between the use of slides as a report and the use of slides as visual aid. Though the most important question for me is this...do you always need slides to make your point? Sometimes yes, and often actually not. It depends on your style, your audience, your message and the length of you presentation. But the thing is, you have to think about it and now we often don't. We use slides out of habit or because we think it is the most professional thing to do and sometimes because it was actually asked.

As for stress, it is important to realize that speaking to a small and especially big audience is a stressful event. To know how to deal with stress you have to get to know your personal style and see how you can empower that style. Key here is learning how to really connect with the audience.

When people I work with don’t use PowerPoint we focus on the story and stress. When they prefer Prezi as a visual tool we focus on that tool.

Questions that will be answered are: • How do you introduce a topic? • How to make messages crystal clear? • How to attract and keep the attention? • How to 'stand' in front of an audience? • How to connect with the audience? • What are visual slides? • What are the alternatives for PowerPoint? • How to deal with nerves? • How to present for a high level audience? • How to do a short (sales)pitch? • How to present for a big audience? • How do you keep in control? • How to present during a conference call? • How to end in a powerful way?


I offer my tips and tricks in different ways and different formulas. The idea is that you can choose what works best for your company and if you still have another formula in mind, feel free to discuss this with me. This is a list of the different programs I offer:

KEYNOTE The timing for a keynote is ideally 1,5 hours although I can adapt this timing to meet the needs of your event.

In a keynote participants discover in an interactive way my tips & tricks. This keynote is often used in team building sessions or during a lunch & learn session mainly for companies that don’t know me yet and want to get to know my ideas and style. The number of participants is unlimited. Your investment is 1200€.

WORKSHOP open to mixed companies About 4 times a year I organize a half day workshop where people from different companies can subscribe. This is limited to maximum 20 people. I organize this at my home (region Ninove).In this workshop I cover the 3 topics (storytelling/stress/PowerPoint) in an interactive way and there is room for a few exercises. Though the tips in this workshop won’t be personal. Investment is 250€ per person. This is an ideal formula for companies or individuals to get to know my Simply Talking model and my coaching style.

WORKSHOP in-company This same workshop can be organized in-company. The number of participants is ideally limited to 20 people. The timing for this workshop is ideally from 10:00 till 13:00 although I can adapt to the needs of the company. Your investment is 1200€.


3x half day WORKSHOP in-company

This is the formula I prefer and do most today because it allows me to work in a very individual way to detect the presentation style of the participants and work more in-depth on the content of the presentation. In this program the 3 topics are divided over 3 workshops. This works best with a group of 7 people though a maximum of 10 people is possible.

The first half day we work on body language, natural style and stress. There are a lot of filmed exercises which is the best way to get to know and optimize your own style. We look into the first part of the ‘Simply Talking model’ as well. This model helps to build the presentation story and the first part focusses on the introduction. Participants will get most out of this training when they work on ‘real’ presentations. This is ideally a presentation they still have to do or it can be a presentation they have done in the past. Participants don’t have to prepare anything though it is best they bring their laptop. Ideal timing fort his workshop is from 10:00 to 13:00 but this can be changed depending the preference of the company. Your investment is 1200€.

The second half day we work on the structure of the presentation, key messages, storytelling and how to end the presentation. After this workshop the participants will have seen the whole model and they have implemented the model for their own presentation. The aim is to create a basic 5 minute story. The model allows this timing to stretch to 20 minutes or more and they get to understand how to do that. The last part of this workshop is tips & tricks on how to use PowerPoint or any other visual aid. Timing from 10:00 to 13:00. Investment for this workshop 1200€.

The last workshop participants exercise everything they learned. They actually do their 5 minute exercise that they have prepared in the previous workshop. This exercise can be sitting or standing depending on the reality of the coachee. If they present most in a meeting setting this will probably be a sitting exercise. There is feedback from me and from the other participants. Goal is that the 5 minute presentation is crystal clear. If that is not the case we rework the presentation and do the exercise again. The last part of this workshop we transform the 5 minute story into a visual PowerPoint. This way participants fully experience the difference between presenting with and without PowerPoint. Timing again from 10:00 to 13:00. Investment 1200€. Timing in between these workshops is normally 1 week although this can be adapted depending on the needs of the company.


INDIVIDUAL COACHING This coaching is specific for people who need to do an important presentation often for a bigger audience. This can be a TED Talk or any other conference presentation. During the coaching we discuss how to attract the attention, we decide on the storyline and we discuss how to keep the attention throughout the presentation no matter the timing. For these presentations PowerPoint is often an important visual aid so we look into the best way to use PowerPoint or Prezi. The participants can make the PowerPoint themselves or I can put them into contact with my PowerPoint designer who makes the PPT for them. As there are filmed exercises, this individual coaching enables me to give feedback on the style of the speaker as well. This is a 3 hour coaching though often coachees ask me to do a follow up coaching (a dry run) to practise the whole presentation with PowerPoint. This is often a 1hour session. Investment is 1200€ for the 3 hour coaching or 1800€ for the 3 hour coaching + follow up.

SKYPE COACHING Maybe you need coaching right now and you don’t have time for a 3hour session…Then I can offer you skype coaching. Each skype session is maximum 1 hour and we discuss during that hour whatever you need. What I do most often is provide help to find a good storyline. I ask questions and together we determine what the ideal structure/storyline is of your presentation. Other people send me a PPT that we can discuss during the skype call. Or I give you insights on how to look powerful in front of an audience and I will most often advise you to look at specific TEDtalks so you understand the tips completely. Your investment is 250€ for each skype moment.


TESTIMONIALS


VISION SYLVIE VERLEYE

Being a presentation Coach crystal clear communication is of utmost importance to me. In my opinion our presentations are far too often just commenting slides. We all use the same sentence to introduce our topics like 'today I will talk to you about' but this is not the best way to attract the attention of the audience. The thing is, we just do this without thinking about it. And I want participants to present in a more conscious way. The help I offer is based on my experience as a speaker, the interviews I did, my 7year experience as a news anchor on television, my observations of many presentations and the many books I read on the topic. A successful presentation is a combination of 3 elements: a clear story with key messages, a clear decision if and how you will support that story, and a speaker who knows how to use body language to look confident. Typical for my way of working is to focus on all these different elements so participants experience the full range of a presentation from preparation, to built-up to delivery.


OVERVIEW

Keynote

Ideally 1,5u

Unlimited number of participants

1.200€

Open Workshop

3hour workshop

Maximum 20 people

250€ per person

In-company workshop

3hour workshop

Maximum 20 people

1200€

3 hour workshop part 1 : focus on bodylanguage/stress

10:00 – 13:00

Maximum 10 people

1.200€

3 hour workshop part 2: focus on storytelling/structure

10:00 – 13:00

Maximum 10 people

1.200€

3 hour workshop part 3: focus on exercises and link to PPT

10:00 – 13:00

Maximum 10 people

1.200€

3 hour individual coaching

To decide with the participant

Individual

1.200€

3 hour individual coaching + follow up dry run of 1u

To decide with the participant

Individual

1.800€

Skype coaching

Maximum 1hour/skype

Individual

250€/skype

And if you have yet another formula in mind…feel free to suggest J

storytelling in presentations - sylvie verleye...these presentations powerpoint is often an...

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