Delivering Dynamic Presentations

What is this course about?

The primary goal of this course is to develop your ability to create and confidently deliver memorable presentations that effectively convey your message to your audience. To do this, you learn to create strong presentation openings and closings; build audience rapport through eye contact, vocal delivery and body language; organize key points into a coherent story; and capture and maintain audience interest using interactive techniques.

This course shows you how to assess the needs of your audience, use a structured development process to create effective presentation materials and use proven techniques to communicate your main points in an interactive manner.

What background do I need?

No special background is required for this course. However, you must have a very basic familiarity with PowerPoint.

In PowerPoint, you should be able to:

• Type information onto a slide
• Edit information on a slide
• Add a clip-art picture to a slide
• Switch to "slide-show" mode and navigate forward and backwards between a set of slides

Who will benefit from this course?

Those who would like to develop the ability to create and confidently deliver memorable presentations using visual support, whether it be with paper or electronic media, will benefit from this course.

This course is valuable for anyone who needs to present ideas to their colleagues, customers, clients or business associates.

Will I be giving presentations during the course and will I receive feedback?

Yes. All students create and give two presentations during the course. Each presentation is focused on developing a specific presentation technique.

Following each set of presentations, you receive structured feedback from the instructor and your peers.

What is unique about this course?

This course uses a proven method that allows you to learn effective presentation skills in a structured manner. You first learn how to identify and emphasize the main points in your presentations. You then learn to deliver your main points using interactive techniques that engage your audience.

How much will I learn about PowerPoint in this course?

This is not a PowerPoint training course. However, PowerPoint will be used as a delivery medium during the course. The primary focus of the course is on developing the skills to effectively convey your message, using visual support materials as the vehicle.

How much hands-on computer work will there be?

You work together in teams of two to develop short PowerPoint presentations for delivery in the class.

What is mind mapping and how is it used in this course?

Mind mapping is a creative technique for capturing and structuring information. In this course, you learn how to apply this technique to develop the ideas for your presentation and structure these ideas in a logical manner.

How does this course differ from Course 903, Public Speaking: Conveying Your Message with Confidence?

In Course 345, Delivering Dynamic Presentations, the main focus is on planning and delivering well-structured, polished presentations using visual support materials. You will use mind mapping to organize your key points into a coherent story and design interactive questions to communicate them in a way that captures your audience's attention.

In Course 903, Public Speaking: Conveying Your Message with Confidence, you focus more on practicing specific speaking skills, including body language, gestures, eye contact and vocal variety. The focus is on a broader spectrum of speaking skills, including delivering speeches with and without visual support. You also have the opportunity to improve your speaking style by reviewing selected video recordings of your presentations.

How much time is spent on each topic?

How much time is devoted to the workshops?

Because this is a presentation course, you learn much of the presentation techniques through the actual experience of creating and giving presentations. Approximately 70% of the course time is spent preparing and exchanging feedback on a variety of individual, pair and group activities including:

• Improving fundamental presentation skills
• Leveraging the three modes of communication
• Identifying audience expectations
• Capturing ideas using mind mapping
• Organizing the presentation story
• Selecting the key impact points for your presentation
• Building audience involvement using interactive techniques

Is this course applicable toward a Project Management Institute (PMI) certification?

Yes. Though this course is not designed as preparation for an exam, it is beneficial to anyone working toward, or maintaining, a PMI certification. Most PMI certifications require a specific number of PDUs in order to obtain and maintain the credential. Completion of this course provides 11 professional development units (PDUs).

Learning Tree offers several courses that help you prepare for PMI certifications, including Course 276, Preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP)^® Exam, which prepares you for PMI's most popular certification. For more details on these courses and PMI certifications, please see the Learning Tree PMI Registered Education Provider Q&A.

How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

Learning Tree offers other courses in communication, management and planning. The only overlap in content is to the extent necessary for a certain course to introduce skills and techniques that are expanded upon in another Learning Tree course.

• 905, Facilitation Skills provides the skills to facilitate goal-oriented results through planning, collaboration and consensus
• 290, Management Skills covers the key aspects of management--leadership, delegation, motivation and communication--and practical techniques for getting the best from technical people
• 292, Communication Skills: Results through Collaboration focuses on specific tools and techniques for improving listening skills, delivering effective messages and bridging different communication styles
• 294, Influence Skills: Getting Results without Direct Authority focuses on the specific skills, behaviors and attitudes that enable you to achieve desired results without relying on the use of authority
• 296, Project Management: Skills for Success provides the knowledge and skills needed to successfully plan, manage and deliver projects
• 340, Project Management for Software Development provides the tools you need to effectively organize and select process choices, create realistic plans and see them through to successful delivery
• 344, Time Management Essentials  are both valuable for anyone who wants to improve their productivity and strengthen their time-management skills.
• 246, Managing Information Overload: Techniques for Working Smarter provides the skills needed to process fast-paced information to develop a competitive edge.