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Visual aids can help or hurt a presentation. Whether you are using PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, slides, video, a software interface, or other visual support, you need to make sure that the visuals won’t distract from the presentation. Many speakers have chosen abandon visual aids altogether and even proclaim that they are above using such tools. However, well-utilized visuals will significantly improve a presentation. This training will teach the best visual aid practices and offer the opportunity to practice techniques with individualized coaching feedback. Listeners will appreciate how the skillful use of visual aids truly enhances your presentations.
Speakers must prepare to answer real questions about their topic. Sometimes, listeners ask friendly, genuine questions, but often, you might be tasked with answering aggressive or set-up questions. In either case, the ability to handle even the most challenging question in a clear, comfortable, and competent manner is an important skill. Whether you have been called to answer questions at a congressional committee, in a sales meeting, or during a team presentation, this module will teach you how to hear and understand questions in order to respond with practical answers.
Have you ever wondered how some people always have the right thing to say at the right time? There is an art to handling yourself well in just about any setting—from dealing with an angry customer to holding a political debate or managing a contentious investor meeting.
Imagine yourself in front of the executive committee, the board of directors, the press, or a client, and someone requests that you speak on an unfamiliar topic. Perhaps you are asked a tough question that you hadn’t anticipated. What do you say? Thinking on your feet is a module that teaches you how to process and organize your thoughts quickly in a way that will help you communicate clearly and with confidence
What two words would you like people to say about you after you have left a meeting or a conversation? The answer defines your communication style. Style coaching is one of our most popular leadership and management offerings. It allows senior executives, managers, and emerging leaders to achieve their personal vision of how they wish to present themselves. Our coaches work with clients on their core communication skills, beginning with their two style words. The result is authentic, comfortable, and effective leadership or management capabilities.
Most crucial business communication occurs between leaders, managers, board members, and shareholders. Because Boards advise and direct management teams on key decisions, it is critical that leaders and managers clearly communicate the vision, metrics, and progress of the organization. Having worked with thousands of managers and board members, we have developed valuable insight into how relationships, presentations, handling questions, and more can affect your communication success. Whether you’re new to senior management or an old pro, this module will allow you to hone your Board and shareholder presentations and share your thoughts in a clear, concise manner. Our guidance will help you strengthen your relationships and effectiveness with your Board and shareholders.
Since the 1990s, coaching and mentoring have become widely used to develop employees in the business world and are important skills for anyone in a managerial or leadership role. Learn how to communicate in both coaching and mentoring styles while learning the differences between the two. Among other things, learn Socratic questioning, goal setting, skills in accountability, and ways to inspire that lead to complete development.
At times, speaking with coworkers, your staff, your boss, and, yes, your customers can be difficult. They may come to you with stories about their problems or your mistakes. They might even mistreat you. We need to remember that there are always two sides to every story. Learn how to diffuse difficult situations and become the difficult person’s advocate rather than the enemy.
When relationships are strong, you can communicate anything. When they are not strong, even the simplest feedback becomes difficult. This module provides an understanding of why and how strong relationships are created using our original research, which has unveiled the two most essential characteristics for building a solid working relationship. This module utilizes practice to strengthen the techniques and skills that foster trusting relationships.
Listening is not just about hearing—it involves the understanding and evaluation of what is heard. Whether you’re in a face-to-face meeting or talking on the phone, leaders and managers must exhibit comfort and proficiency in six specific areas of listening, or messages can be misunderstood. These qualities and techniques are the focus of this module. In addition, this module covers the top ten barriers to listening and how to overcome them. This is one of our most popular topics.
Have you ever felt that your listeners were confused? Have listeners ever asked you to get to the point? Truly connecting with your listeners is fundamental to all communication and critical for a successful presentation. This module teaches you how to make your point and engage all of your listeners. It does not provide a one-size-fits-all methodology but instead covers a whole range of skills from which you may choose the best approach for specific groups.
Business speaking requires a mixture of information and persuasion. Both are critical, and you use both in different situations and for various reasons. The distinction between these two types of speaking is that informative speaking lists data and impartially clarifies and enlightens with no particular goal other than making information clear. Persuasive speaking urges a partisan decision, favors a position, and tries to garner acceptance for that position. In many presentations, the speaker will use both information and persuasion in order to convince the listeners.
This training will help you understand the difference between informative and persuasive presentation. It teaches how to implement these concepts in your content and delivery and the three ways of persuasion that are used in virtually all presentations we see today. You’ll learn how to choose the proper mode of persuasion and how to match your message to your listeners.
Do your listeners ask you to repeat keywords? The ability to speak clearly is an important skill, no matter who you are. There are several ways to lose your listeners, but poor articulation, mumbling, and lack of volume are the most preventable. Don’t force listeners to work harder to understand the words coming out of your mouth! This module on communication excellence will teach key sounds and practice techniques to ensure that you are speaking clearly.
Your customers will often pay attention to how you sound as much as what you are saying. A positive interaction can depend on your tone and inflection, speed, and projection.
Plus, words matter! Your choice of words, such as “customers,” “clients,” “guests,” or “patrons,” will shape their perception, and perception shapes service communication. Don’t let your choice of words become a distraction during a customer interaction. This teaches participants the various sounds of service and how to master their sounds to best communicate with customers.
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Seven Factors Biotech Companies Should Consider When Using a Public Speaking App
AI, or artificial intelligence, has taken root in biotech. From lab assistants to drug discovery, AI provides a cheap, quick, and more effective process for advancement. And the AI push is visible within public speaking development, from counting your “uh’s” to determining if you speak with enough passion.
There is no shortage of apps, software, and computer programs that claim to increase your skill as a presenter and public speaker. Many Biotech companies have embraced Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps, software, and programs that offer a “speech coach in your pocket.” Should you whip out your credit card and sign up? And if you have joined the AI coaching bandwagon, what do you need to prepare for while using the app? Here are seven critical factors to consider:
1) Technical Difficulties– Utilization of AI for improved communication skills is a reasonably new technology and there are still technical issues to prepare for: Blank screens, constant reinstallations, “free plans” with little value, outdated versions that require a help desk to resolve, restricted content, a lack of continued learning opportunities after a certain point, lessons that won’t load, and any other tech issue you can imagine. This puts a damper on progress.
2) Lack of Context – Your app may flag you for pausing too long, but if you are a skilled speaker, you can hesitate for an extended amount of time and investors will wait with bated breath in anticipation of what you will say. The app may tell you your pace was too fast or slow, but again, a speaker telling a funny story or sharing a heartbreaking loss will utilize different pacing speeds to help create excitement, momentum, suspense, or surprise.
3) Minimal Support with Execution – Perhaps your app has analyzed that you need a stronger opening to your pitch presentation. Now what? What should you open with? How does a speaker determine why people should listen to them? And if you do decide to create a stronger opening with a personal story, for example, what should it include, how long should it be, and what is the best story to tell?
4) You Can’t Leverage All the Data – After recording a 17-minute investor presentation, your presentation app may list 43 ways you can improve, at which point you will calmly close your laptop, back away slowly, and take a long lunch. But truthfully, this data dump can derail and impede your momentum and confidence. How do you prioritize what will actually make a positive impact on your presentation skills? And is there a preferred order of learning and development? Do you conquer the “umms” first, or focus on your content organization? The decision making is left to the user, who may be so overwhelmed by how terrible they are that they decide just to avoid presentations and public speaking until they have more bandwidth to throw at their investor presentation development.
5) There Is No Accountability – Once your app tells you how subpar of a speaker you are, or even worse, how perfect you are, you are under no obligation to take action. You may also say to yourself, “Well, section three of the feedback doesn’t even apply to the types of presentations I do so I’ll just ignore that section.” The data and analysis to-do’s slip away you as you put out other work fires and respond to urgent emails. And since AI-generated performance tracking doesn’t feel urgent, it falls to the bottom of the pile.
6) Apps Cannot Process Non-Verbal Communication – We all know that non-verbal communication can hold more weight than spoken words. If gestures and body language is such an essential factor to becoming a skilled speaker, how will you incorporate this into the AI feedback? On most biotech teams, there are one or two members who are uncomfortable speaking in public, and will sabotage the pitch with unconscious pacing, wringing hands, and restless legs.
7) AI convenience often backfires – You will hear how easy it is to have a speech coach “right in your pocket,” which is great until your data is lost, or the app won’t load, or you need to update the app every three days for it to work, or you try to share your recording with your team but you mistakenly send a recording of what you need to pick up at the grocery store, and now your colleagues know you use Preparation H which will now be brought up at every holiday party.
The question to ask is: Will an app provide better communication analysis and training compared to a seasoned communication coach? I say no. As a communication coach, I admit I am biased but hear me out:
A Winning Combination
To understand how to best leverage AI data with your current public speaking and presentation competencies, a combination of AI software and an experienced speech coach is a robust, successful approach.
As humans, we rarely hear or see ourselves the way others do. We are flabbergasted when someone tells us we rushed through the presentation, or that we said “um’ 47 times. And when you have a recurring session with your communication coach on Tuesdays at 8 am, you can bet that you prepare well ahead of time (late Monday night) so that you can get the most out of your coaching and get specific feedback on what you are currently working on.
There are hundreds of apps available that claim to support and strengthen communication skills, and as a speech coach, I appreciate that data can be helpful as a starting point. Yet, even with the fanciest app or software, relying primarily on data-driven AI-generated feedback is a mistake.
Human judgment is still the most effective central processor. We feel, we see, we observe, all in real-time, when deciding how we feel about a speaker and their content. The best and most efficient way to become a better speaker is to speak out loud to another human being in real-time and get honest, insightful feedback. Whether it’s a presentation for a conference of 3000 people or a pivotal Investor pitch for the funding you desperately need, all Biotech companies require help presenting both their ideas and their team in the best way possible.
The Next Phase in Public Speaking and Presentation Coaching
To be clear, I do see a place for Artificial Intelligence to support public speaking and presentation training. Embracing AI is an initiative at my company, and we are always working to understand how to best support our clients with the smartest tools available.
Since public speaking and presentation AI technology is still in development, smart organizations know that embracing technology alongside human contributions will yield robust growth and professional development for all forms of communication.
To a large extent, AI and Communication skills are combining, and are here to stay. What will be the best use of apps for Investor pitch development is still to be determined. The future of both AI and biotech is being written at this moment. But biotech company’s need more than data on their presentation skills, they need a coaching plan to get them where they need to be. Biopharmaceutical companies can then utilize the AI findings to target their investor pitch weaknesses with a solid coaching program.
Author
Laura Mathis
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