CDA Training Academy Presentation Skills

CDA Training Academy

Content Outline for 5-day Professional Development Workshop

Presentation Skills

Prepared by: Sarah Salah Ud Din

January 2015

Sarah Salah Ud Din

CDA Training Academy Presentation Skills

Delivering a brilliant presentation needs effective planning, choosing the right delivery method,
outstanding content, use of technology and communication skills.
This course will provide you knowledge and skill building in the planning, preparing and
delivering of an engaging presentation. The use of the specific tools and techniques for
presentation creation and delivery enable you to give powerful presentations every time.
Learning Outcomes Presentation Skills Training Course

Learn to design effective & engaging presentations

Select the most suitable delivery method based on the audience, the environment & the
message being delivered

Master powerful & effective verbal & non-verbal communication techniques

Gain insight into effective techniques for calming nerves

Learn to create fantastic flip charts to support the key messages

Create compelling PowerPoint presentations

Learn different tools to add diversity & interest to engage an audience

Learn to pump it up a notch to deliver higher energy presentations

Workshop Activities Include:

Powerful/Powerless Presentations

Apply a five-step process for preparing a

Utilize techniques to add variety, interest, and emphasis.

Presentation dos and donts

Using the three v's: visual, verbal, and vocal

Manage difficult questions and audience members.

powerful

presentation.

Good information, great ideas or the best proposal only gets you half way. To be a successful
professional presenter you need to be able to capture your audience and take them on your
journey using effective presentations.
Positioning yourself and your ideas in a consistently positive and professional manner enables
you to make a professional impression the first time and every time. Raw information is
logical but being logical does not capture anyones attention for too long. Persuasive
presentations start with raw information, opinions are added, colored with imagery, and given
personality. The more of the mind you tickle, the more retention and motivation you reap.
Sarah Salah Ud Din

CDA Training Academy Presentation Skills

This Presentation Skills Training Program will teach you how to prepare quickly, utilize the best
method for delivering your message, and maintain audience interest at all times.
Content Outline:
Preparing Your Presentation
Your listeners will appreciate it when your presentations are thoughtfully and appropriately
prepared. This session focuses on organizing your presentation so that its listener-focused,
concise and easy to follow. It includes strategies and tools designed to help you understand:

How to clarify your goal

How (and why) to identify your listeners wants and needs

How to develop your message and visuals so that they focus on listeners (not you)

How to be concise

How to prepare and deliver a straightforward introduction that gives listeners a sense of
direction, purpose and reason to listen

How to be appropriately persuasive given your topic and your audience

How to organize the information in the body of the presentation for greatest impact

How to craft a clear, actionable conclusion

Working with Your Default

Ever wonder why some people have no trouble preparing their presentations while others
struggle and fret and still dont quite succeed? The reason is because everyone has a unique
default approach to the preparation process. What works for one presenter may not work for
you. This session provides you with the insight to understand:

How to assess, understand and work with your default

How to capitalize on your strengths

How to overcome your weaknesses

Improving Your Visual Aids

Dont let the look of your slides undermine your credibility. Well-designed slides not only
demonstrate respect for your listeners, they also sharpen your message and increase retention.
This session helps you develop audience-friendly visual aids (or fine-tune the ones you already
have) so that they support you and your key messages. This session provides guidance on:

How to improve the visual impact of slides

Sarah Salah Ud Din

CDA Training Academy Presentation Skills

How to use slide titles to set up the conversation

How to organize content on slides to focus attention (both yours and the listeners)

How to apply these concepts to handouts and leave-behind decks

Managing Nervousness & Engaging Listeners

Nervousness is no fun. In this session you will uncover the roots of your nervousness and learn:

How to control it

How to stay focused (and on track in spite of it)

Why engaging listeners is the key to reducing nervousness (and how to do it)

How to settle your racing thoughts

How to stay in the moment (so you can manage the unexpected)

How to make your presentations feel and sound more conversational (and why this
matters)

How to preserve your natural personality and communication style when presenting

Your Default During Delivery

Long rambling explanations, presentations that lack purpose, presenters that are too
controlling and never deviate from their script. These issues and others affect a presenters
ability to succeed. This session builds on the insights presented in Session 2 and applies them to
the delivery process. This session will show you:

How to deliver clear and concise explanations (even if you tend to be long-winded)

How to be flexible (even if youd rather not)

Why you need to stop worrying about saying things perfectly (and how to overcome
that desire)

How to stay on course to keep your listeners on track (even if you arent a linear thinker)

Helping Listeners Listen

Just because youve said it doesnt mean that the audience heard it. This session focuses on the
skills and techniques you need to help your audience listen to and understand the message.
Youll learn:

How to ensure listeners understand the point of each slide

How to control where listeners focus (and why it matters)

Sarah Salah Ud Din

CDA Training Academy Presentation Skills

How to explain complex graphs and spreadsheets

How to help listeners see the big picture

How to focus listener attention, even when youre seated, on conference calls, webinars
or using handouts

Handling Questions
Most business presentations are interactive. Handling questions can be tricky, though,
especially when theyre complicated, off-topic, or out of step with the presenter's agenda. This
session will help you understand:

How to maintain everyones attention during Q&A

How to stay focused on the goals of the agenda

How (and when) to move back to the presentation after an interruption

Why sometimes the best thing to do is skip ahead

How to manage time effectively

How to avoid a defensive, knee-jerk reaction when things heat up

Managing an Orderly Conversation

No matter how much preparation goes into them, presentations are unpredictable. Thats why
we think of presentations as orderly conversations. Orderly, because they are carefully
prepared and have a goal. Conversations, because theyre spontaneous and unpredictable. To
succeed, then, presenters need to exercise an appropriate level of control and flexibility. This
session will give you the insight to do that. It focuses on:

Why interactive presentations are so challenging

How to adapt to your personal preference when it comes to Q&A and group interactions

How to encourage equal participation from everyone (and why this matters)

How to meet your presentations goals even if listeners pull you off course

How to decide on the fly how much detail to go into (and how flexible you should be)

What to do when difficult people take control

FAQs

Preparing content

Preparing for other people and vice versa

Sarah Salah Ud Din

CDA Training Academy Presentation Skills

Practicing & memorizing

Dealing with nervousness

Getting through the first few minutes

Presentation tools & gadgets

Dealing with natural speech patterns

Ive been told that I should

Presentation styles

Delivering difficult slides and content

Questions & interruptions

Dealing with challenging people & situations

Reading the audience

Handouts & product samples

Conference calls and web meetings

Presenting to executives

Lesson Plan
Lesson 1
Creating the Program
Performing a needs analysis
Writing the basic outline
Researching, writing and editing

Lesson 2
Choosing your Delivery Methods
Basic methods
Advanced methods
Basic criteria to consider

Lesson 3
Verbal Communication Skills
Listening and Hearing: They aren't the
same thing
Asking questions
Communicating with power

Lesson 4
Non-Verbal Communication Skills
Body language
The signals you send to others
It's not WHAT you say, It's HOW you
say it

Lesson 5
Overcoming Nervousness

Lesson 6
Creating Fantastic Flip Charts

Sarah Salah Ud Din

CDA Training Academy Presentation Skills

A Word from the boss

Preparing mentally
Physical relaxation techniques
Appearing confident in front of the

Required tools
The advantages of pre-writing
Using colors appropriately
Creating a 'Plan B'

crowd
Lesson 7
Creating Compelling PowerPoint
Presentations
Required tools
Tips and tricks
Creating a 'Plan B'

Lesson 8
WOW your Audience with the Whiteboard
Traditional and electronic
whiteboards
Required tools
Using colors appropriately
Creating a 'Plan B'

Lesson 9
Vibrant Videos and Amazing Audio
Required tools
Tips and tricks
Creating 'Plan B'

Lesson 10
Pumping it up a Notch
Make them laugh a little
Ask them a question
Encouraging discussion
Dealing with questions

Sarah Salah Ud Din