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Presentation Skills Summary

  • 1.  Presentation Skills Summary

    Posted 12-15-1997 17:39
    Thank you Dutch, Rick, Tom, Emily, Bernie, Margie and Andrea (another
    Andrea...I did not reply to my own question!).

    For all of you who are interested, below are the responses I received to my
    questions about Presentation Skills videos. Thanks for your willing
    assistance!!!

    Andrea

    Andrea Sigetich Affiliates
    Organization Coaching for magnificent management and team development
    Personal Coaching for amazing individual results
    OrgCoach@aol.com


    When I was teaching public speaking, I used speeches taped off of
    C-SPAN. They have a block of speeches every Sat. night called American
    Perspectives. When Congress is in session the House has a tradition of
    opening its daily business sessions with One Minute Speeches. While these
    may be partisan in their nature, students can see a large degree of
    differences in the presentation styles of our elected officials. BTW some
    of these people could use some help.

    You might want to talk to your university's communication
    department to see if they have some videos that they can share. Almost
    all speech textbooks come with something of this sort. And feel free call
    on me with questions. I can point you to some other sources on the WWW.

    ______________________
    Great Optimism,

    Dutch Driver
    Abilene, TX
    Hm. Telephone: 915.698.7217
    mailto:ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu

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    A great example of a poor presentation (that might be very typical
    in a current day board room) is a scene from BIG where SALES is
    presenting the concept of a building that turns into a robot to
    the board where JOSH (TOM HANKS) is present.

    Thanks,
    Rick Corcoran
    corcoranre@excelinc.com

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    I read your posting and want to pass on some information that you may
    find useful in your coaching on presentations skills. I am a "Trainer
    of Trainers" and have recently incorporated the "Personal Learning
    Insights Profile" into my program and have had great success.

    The Profile is a flexible tool that helps
    individuals/presenters/facilitators clearly understand different
    learning preferences/styles. I integrated the profile just before I go
    into the topic on "Presentation Methods". It really strikes the
    important point for speakers to use a variety of methods in order to
    attrack and respond to the diverse learning preferences of your
    audience.

    As I think about it, this would be an excellent tool to incorporate into
    your coaching process. Perhaps it will add value and client time as
    you help them interpret their individualized profile results.

    The profile provides a self-directed scoring and interpreting process
    that actively engages the presenter in the context of his/her
    own personal experiences.

    If you'd like to examine the profile, I can send you an evaluation copy
    for just $9 (reg $13) plus postage/handling. Just let me know where to
    send it and I'll be happy to invoice you directly.

    By the way, we have a library of 8 other Profiles (self-assessment
    tools) that would be excellent coaching strategies. I'd be happy to
    send you more information.

    I look forward to contributing to your project success.


    Tom Sullivan, M.P.A. TRAINER AND DISTRIBUTOR FOR
    Learning and Training Specialist CARLSON LEARNING COMPANY
    Professional Growth Associates http://www.carlsonlearning.com
    P.O. Box 453, Library, PA 15129
    412-835-7341

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    Shortly after the Challenger disaster, there was a videotape making the
    rounds showing the presentation by the engineer (whose name sounds like
    beaujoilais, but is spelled differently, I believe) who warned
    Morton-Thiokol about the O-rings. When you watched his presentation, it
    was not surprising that no one bought his warning. It's the only case I
    know of where a person's presentation skills--or lack thereof--had a
    life-and-death impact on a situation.

    I used to have the videotape, but I left it with Westinghouse when I
    left--and I understand that later all my files were disposed of. I think I
    ordered it originally from someone in the Organizational Behavior Teaching
    Society, but I can't remember who.

    Emily Schultheiss
    Why settle for surviving...when you could be thriving?

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    I have been an advisor to Players Workshop of Chicago, a school of
    improvisational theater (in fact, the oldest continuous school here in
    the States), and taking classes there as well. We have melded improv
    techniques with straight "platform skills" (e.g., "don't turn your back
    to the audience -- they might think you are ready to leave the room") as
    well as pre-and post video playbacks of their actual presentations. You
    might want to consider something similar for your group either with
    Players or with a local group.

    To illustrate what I mean .... When a person looks at a tape of
    themselves, they tend to focus on how they look, sound, etc. What they
    generally do not consider is how they perceive their audience. In our
    Workshop we have people make a presentation as if to a roomful of
    children, gangsters, people who have been up all night drinking, etc.
    The effect on the presenter is to become aware of the implicit
    assumptions they make about their audiences (e.g., "the enemy", "empty
    heads needing filling", etc.), have fun with imagining them differently,
    be able to "warm" up their style, etc.

    If you are interested, I would be happy to put you in touch with the
    person at Players Workshop who really knows about this stuff.

    Bernie
    --
    Bernard Liebowitz, PhD
    Advisor & Consultant
    to Business & Management
    980 No. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1400
    Chicago, Il 60611
    tel} 773/334-2003
    fax} 773/334-2004
    email} bernie@liebowitzassoc.com
    http:// www.liebowitzassoc.com

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    The name of the video is PRESENTATION EXCELLENCE. I purchased the video
    from Videolearning Systems, Inc., 354 W. Lancaster Ave., Haverford, PA
    19041, 610-896-6600 as that's the company I used when I lived in
    Pennsylvania; however, I think any training video vendor could locate it for
    you. If I am able to get the name of the direct distributor, I'll
    forward it. I do have an outline and description of the video that I wrote
    if you need that.

    Margie Summerscales

    ***********************************************************

    The company who owns the rights to the Cronkite program and produced it is
    WingsNet, Inc. in Schaumburg, IL. The main phone number is: 800-824-8889 or
    you can directly order the program on the Training SuperSite at:
    http://www.trainingsupersite.com.

    Regards,

    Andrea M. Ahlsen
    Director
    WingsNet, Inc.