Effective Technical Presentations workshop, aimed at the unique considerations of presenting technical material

Phone: 503-293-3557 Toll Free: 800-577-3528 Fax: 503-293-8499

Continuing Education for Technical Professionals

Effective Technical Presentations

1-day Workshop

This course can be customized to meet your needs, and is delivered at most locations internationally.

Contact us for more information.

What People Said About Effective Technical Presentations

"The instructor was very well prepared. Good class size, interaction, and case studies."

- Eyleen Hernandez, Intel Corp.

"A lot of interaction and exercises that enabled feedback. Good pointers that are easy to do."

- Pat Thompson, Fred Meyer

"It's valuable to now understand the key components of a presentation: engage, prepare, deliver."

- Kirk Powers, QUALCOMM

"I liked the use cases and the opportunity to do some excerpts of the technical presentation instead of having to do an entire one."

- Karen Jones, Product Evaluation Specialist, Sage Software

"Good focus on interaction with the audience, and tips on resolving common 'de-railing' issues."

- David Rogers, Product Engineer, Micro Systems Engineering, Inc.

"I walked away with the five key objectives in mind. I'm sure I will find those useful immediately."

- Ed Smith, Fred Meyer

Description

Technical professionals might say, “What? Me? Present materials? To a group?”

The fact is that engineering and high tech work depends on informal and formal presentations to further the work, yet many professionals have not been prepared for this aspect of the job in any way.

This workshop is aimed at the unique considerations of presenting technical material. It’s not a general “101” type of business presentations class. Instead, this class gives you techniques you can apply to technical content, technical visuals (PowerPoints, handouts, etc.), and technical Q&A that are guaranteed to improve your ability to create a technical presentation from scratch (or improve existing presentations) and deliver it effectively -- better than you ever imagined!

The focus is on the unique considerations of technical topics and material. Participants will explore and practice the key elements that separate successful presentations from those that fall flat: Energy, enthusiasm, confidence of your delivery combined with the visual elements of presentation materials, where clarity is vitally important.

Note: We do not use video cameras in this workshop.

Benefits

This course enables you to:

become a more confident, capable speaker
reach your audience, whatever their knowledge or experience level is
optimize your visual materials and handouts
inspire others with energy and enthusiasm for your material
demonstrate a level of professionalism as a presenter that will carry your message and information!

Who should attend:

Technical professionals who currently make presentations to groups small and large
Technical professionals who have little or no presentation experience but want to prepare and deliver credible, comprehensible material

Instructor: Susan de la Vergne

Workshop Content

Audience

Keeping focused on the one question the audience wants to know

Knowing what “success” is for your presentation

How technical should you get? Approaches to use for different levels of expertise

Anticipating reactions and adjusting to politics that may be present in your audience

Preparing Yourself

Knowing the gist, the core message you're conveying
Structuring your presentation -- best practices for sequencing and organizing materials
The importance of subject matter expertise

The #1 most important ingredient for success

Why you should practice!

Tips for successful practice, even when you don't want to

Preparing Materials
Keeping it simple; the “Rule of 3”
Contingency planning for unpredictable technology
Effective use of graphics and art
Charts and graphs and “TMI” -- When is too much information really too much?

Delivery

Enjoying yourself: Finding your "heart" in your material

Mustering enthusiasm if you're not naturally enthusiastic

Practical advice for coping with "stage fright"

Effective -- and deadly! -- "openers" and "closers"

Using notes well

Staging dynamics -- projecting your voice and your energy

Handling Q&A (questions that are too detailed or not deep enough)

Other Considerations
Small groups vs. large groups
How long should you talk?

Adjusting your timing midstream -- when you're running over and you need to recover
Addressing non-native speakers of English

Connecting with a video conference audience
Handling criticism

Our Guarantee

If for any reason you are not satisfied, write to us within 30 days after attending the workshop and return the course materials and we'll arrange for you to receive a full refund - hassle-free!

Fee includes a comprehensive workbook and email/phone follow-up with the instructor after the workshop to assist with implementation. This workshop can be customized to meet your needs and is delivered at most locations internationally.

Minimum of eight participants needed.

Contact us for more information.