Presentation Wizard’s Boot Camp

Basic Lessons

Wizards present more effective, more persuasive talks that are easier to remember -- and lots more fun for them and their listeners than other presentations.
How?
By chosing a purpose for their talk that is more exciting than usual, then structuring the emotional logic of their presentation so that it will inspire listeners to want to take the decisive action the wizard wants them to take. The wizard uses memorable stories, humor and strong, but covert, persuasion techniques in every talk they give.

A real presentation wizard can turn even the driest data into a riveting and memorable experience. Here are just a few of the presentation wizard's secrets we can teach you:

• Learn to be comfortable and have fun being in front of an audience
• How to develop a clear and exciting, action oriented purpose for your presentation
• Defining “The One Thing” you want people to take away
• Use story telling to emotionalize your subject and make it relavent to your audience
• Assessing your audience / adjusting your presentation to the audience
• Practicing Speaker Skills
• Rehearsing your presentation
• Getting feedback
• Expanding your range and power as a speaker
• The importance of controlling attention – and how to do it
• Designing and using visual aids and other media

Expanded Version

• Learn to be comfortable and have fun being in front of an audience
  • According to recent surveys, most people think of public speaking as one of the things they fear most – even more than death, for some. Of courrse, there are others who just can't seem to get enough time in front of others. It's not too difficult to move form one camp into the other, and my workshops provide the experiences that will help you make the transition with maximum fun, minimum pain.
• How to develop a clear and exciting, action oriented purpose for your presentation
  • The number one cause of bad presentations is that the speaker has failed to define a clear purpose. In some sense, all talks are sales talks – and if the speaker doesn't know what action she wants her audience to take as a result of her speech, the audience will rarely get the message.
• Defining “The One Thing” you want people to take away
  • Audiences tend to take away one big idea from each talk they here – and it's extremetly important for the speaker to clarify what they want that one big idea to be. Once you've clarified your thinking, the next step is to find ways to make that idea an inspiring one.
• Use story telling to emotionalize your subject and make it relavent to your audience
  • People make most of their decisions emotionally first – then use their mind to rationalize the decision. Raw data is seldom enough on its own to move an audience to action. Part of the speaker's job, therefor, is always to emotionalize their content. There are few better tools for this than the use of story. We help you learn to turn your logic and date into interesting stories you can tell in order to inspire your audience and convince them to take action.
• Assessing your audience / adjusting your presentation to the audience
  • We don't speak to our children in the same way we might speak to a board of directors for a major corporation. Every audience is different from every other, with different concerns, different vocabularies, different cultures, etc. A talk that one audience finds inspirational will put another to sleep.
• Practicing Speaker Skills
  • Presentation is something you can learn about through abook, but can only really learn to do by DOING. Our workshops are designed to be primarily experiential – you will be on your feet in front of others for the maximum possible time during the workshop, and will leave with tangible evidence of your progress
• Rehearsing your presentation
  • One of the big reasons for mediocre presentations is the failure to rehearse. Few things are worse than an executive trying to read his talk off the teleprompter, obviously unrehearsed. One of the reasons Steve Jobs is known to be such a brilliant presenter is that he always rehearses he presentations for days before stepping in front of the audience. Every “natural” digression or “off the cuff” comment has been rehearsed again and again, for maximum effect.
• Getting feedback
  • Successful professional performers welcome direction from knowledgeable sources. Amateurs fear criticism, often feeling it as an attack of some sort. It is important for the master speaker to know where and how to seek out appropriate, honest and useful feedback on their performance, and to learn ways they can measure their success.
• Expanding your range and power as a speaker
  • Actors and other performers learn techniques in order to enhance the power of their performances. Simple things like physical and vocal warm-up techniques, the ability to express emotion without becoming ruled by that emotion, and more, can all be learned relatively quickly through a few simple exercises.
• The importance of controlling attention – and how to do it
  • Magicians and the directors of both live and filmed entertainment know that their primary job is to let audiences know where to focus their attention. The human conscious mind can focus effectively on only one thing at a time, and the speaker who fails to direct that attention will fail not only to achieve his or her purpose for their talk, but will probably fail to even succeed in holding that audience's attention. We can teach you how to direct attention, and avoid splitting your audiences' focus.
• Designing and using visual aids and other media
  • In most large, and many small meetings today, talks are routinely backed up with Powerpoint presentations. While this can be a powerful tool for a speaker, more often it only provides distraction and confusion. There is an art and a science to creating and using visual and other speaker aids effectively, and it is not difficult to learn.

I invite you to pick up the phone today and learn more about my Wizard's Bootcamp. There are few things you can provide for your executive team which will go farther, faster, in raising their ablities to lead and inspire their teams and potential customers. Clarity is essential. Combine it with real passion and the ability to inspire, and your team can become unstoppable.

Call now to arrange for sessions for your group of up to 20 at a time, or for private consultation and coaching for an individual or particular presentation:

Tobias Beckwith
(415) 889-9491
tobias@yourmagic.com