Presentation Training to Engage Your Audience and Project Confidence

Here’s a familiar scenario for many of you: someone important is asking you a question. It’s a tough question, but one in your wheelhouse. Like most people, you need a split-second to quickly organize your response. The question is, how do you, as a presenter, handle that moment in a professional and engaging way?

While taking a quick spin around the internet, we found this interesting approach to presenting, just in time for the holidays: When planning your content, think about what gifts you will be giving to your audience. We’re not talking about giving everyone in the room an Oprah-like gift hidden beneath their chairs, nor a financial gift, nor even a Tootsie Pop. But a recent post by Scott Mautz at Business Insider identifies the types of audience-centric gifts that a good public speaker can deliver, based on an idea from Briar Goldberg, the director of speaker coaching for TED. Mautz, a speaker on workplace motivation and engagement, shared six specific gifts that can be wrapped within a presentation:

We’re not going to tell you much about this piece except to recommend it highly. Aaron Beverly, a thirty-year-old project manager, managed to demonstrate how a speaker can be dynamic, funny, entertaining, poignant, and inspiring, all within seven minutes. So take a quick break and read all about why he’s making news.

When a relatively young community activist won a primary election against a long-serving congressman in New York City in 2016, the national news media took notice. Ever since then, the legislator known as AOC has been making headlines, partly for her confrontational style, and partly for her ability to excite crowds. But apparently she shared on Instagram recently that she gets anxious before she speaks. How does such a high-energy politician deal with that fear and anxiety?