Persuasive presentation design training

Who is it for?
Business developers - sales and support, account managers, technical delivery managers, consultants, general managers.

What is it about?
Communication is at the heart of virtually everything we do in our working lives. We communicate using the spoken word in the sales pitch, the leadership presentation, the bid for promotion, for team on-boarding, and in training and change management. We use it as an instrument of both our corporate and personal ambitions.

In all these cases, our objective is to affect the future behaviour of our audience. We take for granted that what we say is what is received and remembered by others. But the truth is usually very different - and the cost to us can be significant.

If we are to be truly effective, we need to design our presentation of ideas in a way which is not just understandable, but also memorable and convincing. Too often only scant and ill-informed attention is paid to design. Instead - especially in the ICT and consulting world - a mis-placed emphasis is put on over-complicated and dense slide-ware. We have all been victims of this - we should all now know that it is counter-productive.

Neuroscience and anthropology provide us with explanation and understanding; Aristotle and Cicero provide us with the techniques. Although technology has changed markedly in the last two millennia, human beings have not.

This course provides the insights and the tools to enable you to design presentation messages consistently and have real confidence in achieving the outcome desired.

How do you benefit?
No matter what your role is, acquiring the skills to be an even better communicator will provide a major pay-off, whether this is through increased sales success or through achieving more authoritative leadership of your staff. By the end of the course you are likely to have a very different way of looking at "presentations", you will have learned how to use new tools and techniques, and acquired the essential basic skills to be developed further with practice.

Course overview
• Theory of communication distinguishing spoken word from written
• How memory is created in the mind
• Understanding your audience - the tools available
• Designing for your audience and ensuring relevance
• Getting simplicity and clarity in one's ideas
• Structuring the presentation/message - introduction to the design tool
• The characteristics and sequence of message components
• The levers of persuasion
• The role of visual aids and their effective use
The course includes sessions to enable delegates to practise use of the tool and to experience, as an audience, the power of the design tool and the characteristics of successful delivery.

Course leader
Our course leader is Gareth Bunn. Gareth has had several successful careers - in the Civil Service, as a Management Consultant and Partner in Ernst & Young, and in IT services where he was Vice President at Capgemini. He is an honorary member of Intellect's Public Sector Council. For the last four years he has run his own business specialising in communications and leadership, providing strategic bid coaching, training and leadership coaching. Gareth has worked closely with Willie Macnair of The Rhetorical Company and is licensed to teach and use the tool described in this course.

Testimonials
"I thoroughly enjoyed this highly thought provoking day. It was clearly presented and, consequently, easy to understand and take away the principles. I shall certainly put my new found knowledge to practical use in both large and small presentations."
Lesley-Anne Bryant, Marketing Manager, MyAmego Healthcare Ltd

"Gareth is a skilled practitioner who was able to get everybody to participate and therefore leave with their first presentation complete using the structured model of the 'Kipper'".
Brian McAuliffe, Compliance Officer, Dell

A very knowledgeable course; I feel I am taking a lot away from the day, including confidence. Gareth presented very well."
Natasha Elliott, MyAmego Healthcare Ltd

"As you would imagine an excellent presentation course with a number of really useful ideas that will be used on my return to work"
Simon Eaves, Associate Director, d2m3 (Cadassist)

"An excellent and useful course delivered by a superb communicator. It brings a new meaning to the phrase 'stitched up like a kipper'".
David Pitcher, Business Development Manager, Power Plus Communications

"A very informative day which has given me plenty to think about for the future. I am certain my presentations to come will be vastly different from what they would have been without the course."
Keeley Hempshall, Business Analyst, Human Recognition Systems Ltd