We would like to share something a little different to our usual news stories. Lately, we received this touching feedback from a manager who had recently attended a Presentation Skills workshop run by Azure Consulting. We were humbled to hear of the impact the programme had on this individual and are delighted that they have developed the confidence to volunteer to deliver their own presentations.
“Last year when I was advised that a colleague and I would be going on a Presentation Skills course, I immediately felt sick followed by a deep feeling of dread.
Although I have had cause at various times in my working life to do short presentations it was not something that I felt comfortable doing. If I am being honest, given enough warning I could make myself physically sick before the event – just down to the stress of being the focus of attention and being frightened that someone would ask me something I couldn’t answer.
The big day arrived and off I set to meet up with my colleague at the Azure office – as well as not being overly good at presenting my navigation skills also leave a lot to be desired so when the satnav left me at a dead-end in the road I was completely lost.
After a lot of help from various people at the Azure office, I managed to find my way there and arrived just in time to start the course. By now I really felt like a ‘muppet’ but did not have time to go through my usual panic routine – in addition Sharon and her team made me feel welcome.
Sharon immediately put me at ease and asked us to present a short piece of material we had prepared – we then discussed what was good what could be improved and also how I had felt.
This was a light bulb moment as I realised that being nervous was natural and that feeling comfortable with your material and engaging with your audience were key to gaining back control of the situation.
Sharon let us experiment with various techniques in controlling our nerves, so we could find out what best worked for us and as it was an open but safe environment, I felt free to experiment.
We also looked at the best way to present our material and to maintain audience interest by varying the media that the information was presented in.
By the end of the day we had looked at both the content and the delivery of the material and I had found techniques to help me feel more comfortable and in control of the whole experience.
I returned to work excited about creating my own material for the Company Induction presentation and then to my surprise found myself getting excited (in a good way) about presenting the material.
Gone now are the feelings of dread and physical sickness when I am expected to present material. Good preparation skills and an ability to engage with the audience make it a pleasant experience.
My new found skills and confidence have even lead me to volunteer to share some personal experiences so that others can learn from them. This is something I never would have dreamt of!
I owe Sharon a vote of gratitude, as when people came up and thanked me for sharing and said they could relate to what I said, it gave me such a great feeling of achievement that I will not forget.
Thank you.”
If you would like to enquire about Azure Consulting delivering Presentation Skills workshops in your organisation, please click here.
September 2018
