Our cornerstone on-site two-day workshop, The Human Connection®: Bring your Presentations to Life! helps your team loosen up, connect with the audience, and discover the dynamic inner speaker in novices and seasoned presenters alike.

Generally conducted with groups of 6–12, this in-house workshop is ideal for:

• Teams or individuals who have to present as part of their job.
• Companies that win work through pitches, shortlist interviews, and other forms of brutal interrogation.
• Experts who want to speak at conferences and industry events.

In this fun, interactive training, we use teaching and discussion, strategic improvisation, belief-building exercises and master-class coaching to help you learn how to:

• Connect and build trust with your audience.
• Drop nervous habits.
• Prepare and practice your material.
• Speak with personal, positive passion.
• Make technical material interesting.
• Use graphics wisely.

If you are looking for transformation, this deep-dive training is for you!

As an added bonus, this training includes a 30-minute virtual followup session with a trainer to ensure “stickability.”

Do you want to be a star presenter, whether in person or on Zoom? Looking for more confidence when you lead meetings? Want to successfully navigate your virtual calls?

This fun, interactive two-hour workshop offers a strong foundation for presenting and communicating both in person and online — in everything from shortlist presentations to client meetings, and from networking events to one-on-one conversations.

People learn best when they are involved and having fun. This virtual session will include interactive activities such as a fill-in-the-blank worksheet, chats, warm-ups and good old-fashioned discussion.

In this workshop, you’ll:

• Learn how to connect with your audience, large or small.Discover how to gain self-confidence as a presenter.
• Understand how to help your listener stay engaged with you.
• Get practical do’s — and don’ts! — for conference and video calls.
• See demos of super smart ways to use your slides.
• Experience how essential body language is — in person and virtually!
• Learn how to “reach others through your screen.”
• Discover technical must-do’s for making virtual human connections.

Depending on the needs of your participants, this two-hour workshop can be trimmed to 90 minutes. We’ll be happy to talk with you about your options.

In addition to The Hybrid Human Connection, here are some other one- to two-hour workshops and coaching sessions. Once we speak with you, we’ll customize the content to address your specific needs.

Oh, yes — while virtually conducted, these sessions are interactive and fun! You’ll be writing, chatting, responding and getting out of your chairs. We’ll do some science-based activities, so you’ll walk away with practical tools you can use right away!

The Human Connection: Bring Your Presentations to Life!

• Why make The Human Connection®?
• Help your listener!
• Let go of nervous habits.
• Speak with Personal, Positive Passion.
• Create the You-You Show, not the We-We Show.
• Use body language — it helps your listener!
• Share slides and graphics wisely.
• Practice and practice right!
• Demonstrate teamwork. Don’t say it; do it.

A Preparation Process that Works
Experience shows that firms that commit to a solid preparation process win more work; their hit-rate goes up. Period. We’ve got a seven-step preparation process that will save you time and is scalable. And, then there’s practicing — and practicing right. How do you practice to be spontaneous? We’ll help you internalize this process and run rehearsals that set you up for success.

Master-Class Coaching
After laying a foundation of Bring Your Presentations to Life!, coaching is where it all comes together. You get to try all this stuff on for size: body language, talking with individuals, speaking from your heart, etc.

We love group coaching because people learn tons from each other. From the feedback the presenter receives from their colleagues, the presenter starts to believe that what may feel weird (because it’s new) doesn’t look weird at all. And, we emphasize the importance of sharing honest, positive feedback; you’ll learn to coach as well as to present in these sessions.

In a two-hour virtual coaching session, we can coach six individuals.

Individual Coaching
While we love group coaching, often one-on-one coaching fits the bill! You’ll grow leaps and bounds with some individual coaching which is, of course, tailored to your specific needs.

You may have an important presentation coming up that is not a shortlist interview. For your client meeting, conference presentation, industry event, internal meeting, political speech or even a wedding toast, we can coach you through the preparation process.

This coaching can be done virtually or on-site — whatever best suits your needs and timeframe.

We recommend the following linear approach, and will scale the coaching to work within your schedule:

Understanding Your Audience’s Needs
With you, we’ll confirm your audience’s needs, wish list items and splinters (our metaphor for pain points!).

Agenda / Content Development
The next step is to create the presentation agenda. If it’s a team presentation, your full team should be involved.

Ugly Rehearsal
Yup! It’s supposed to be a train wreck! This rehearsal is a story rehearsal with no expectations, no pressure and no graphics! That’s right — you get your best stories that way! Afterward, you’ll be able to choose the right support visuals.

Individual and Tag-Team Coaching
We’ll set up meetings with you and your fellow presenters, if appropriate, to hone content and graphics, but mostly to work on delivery. We’ll help you go “big and bold” and learn now to make those vital human connections.

Final Rehearsal
It’s time to put the presentation back together! Practicing out loud — whether you’re delivering virtually or on-site — could not be more important.

Q&A Preparation & Practice
Depending on the type of presentation it is, if appropriate, you’ll want to brainstorm the five questions you hope the client does not ask. We’ll practice answering them and other questions. Practice, practice, practice. It works.

What do you experience before an important presentation? Many of us get the jitters. We think:

“I’m going to mess up.”

“How can they respect me when I’m sweating this much?”

“I wish I could be anywhere but here right now.”

The pressure to be poised, polished and perfect makes us forget that we’re humans in a room full of humans, and we “freeze up,” stumble over our words, or deliver our information like robots — even if we’re presenting information we truly care about.

We can help. All our training and coaching services are designed to free you and your team to be your best.

We work from the inside out to build comfort and confidence through discussion, interactive exercises and coaching. In most scenarios, two Graceworks Freedom Finders will work with your group to help each individual understand and shed nervous habits, identify and overcome fears, and begin to shift focus from themselves onto their audience.

Our techniques include teaching and discussion, strategic improvisation, belief-building exercises, Whole Brain® Thinking, master-class coaching, video recording and one-on-one consultations. We provide video review not to harp on your flaws, but to show you what you’re doing well and build on your strengths.

Our proprietary process, The Graceworks Way®, weaves structured follow-up into all of our programs. We’ll evaluate performance, measure progress, celebrate success and address problem areas while challenging and preparing your staff to rise to the next level.

While we tailor each workshop to meet our clients’ individual needs, all of our Presentation Training courses touch on these core concepts:

• Fundamentals
  What is The Human Connection®, and why is it so important? We’ll explore the basic elements of communication and discuss how to connect with others in any situation.
• You, the Presenter
  You are your own greatest asset when presenting. But, our nerves often sabotage our best efforts. We’ll help you get past your nerves and create a real connection with your audience.
• The Presenter’s Task
  What is your single task in the moment of presentation? What’s the key to making technical information interesting? We’ll share the seven simple steps that will help you make The Human Connection®.
• The Preparation Process
  We take those seven steps and put them in a preparation process that works! Then there’s practicing — and practicing right. How do you practice to be spontaneous? We’ll help you internalize this process and run rehearsals that set you up for success.
• Body Language
  Did you know that only 7% of what you communicate is conveyed verbally? That means 93% of communication is intonation and body language. Yes, you’ve gotta use your body when you present, and we’ll help you deliver your message in a big and bold way.
• Presentation Graphics
  Graphics in your presentation can either trip you up or make you shine. We’ll examine how people take in visuals and which options are best for enhancing your presentation.
• Presenting as a Team
  How teams work together is a huge differentiator that many teams overlook. We’ll help you be — and act as — a team.

Over the years, we’ve developed many spin-offs to our cornerstone program at our clients’ requests. Here are a few of our favorites — let us know how we can customize one just for you.

PowerPoint and Personality: You Can Have Both!
Never get upstaged by your graphics again. In this workshop, you’ll learn to use compelling visuals that support your story and enhance your audience connection.

Q&A The Big Bold Way
These days, a shortlist presentation is often won or lost during Q&A. Your teams need to be prepared to listen, think fast, and share their stories with personal, positive, passion. This Graceworks workshop uses improvisation techniques to help you do just that!

Empathy & Energy: The Neuroscience of Better BD
At the heart of effective communication is the conscious use of your body, both in making a human connection and in generating the emotional energy required to reach the hearts and minds of your listeners. We delve into and unpack the neuroscience behind Empathy and Energy in this highly interactive workshop giving you practical and specific tools for building better BD.

Then What Happened? How to Create a “Lessons Learned” Story
It’s inevitable. Whether it’s in the “invitation to the shortlist” questions or in the Q&A portion of the interview, a client is bound to ask about “lessons learned.” Learn how to help your team craft short stories about their experiences that not only answer the question but let the personality and smarts of your team shine through.

Presenting Your Project: Help Your Client Make the Right Decisions
You’ve been hired – now what? Learn to create and deliver presentations that build trust and develop lasting positive relationships.

Be the Expert: Presenting at Industry Events
How many times have you dozed off during a keynote speech? Don’t be that speaker! With this training, your audience will love you, remember you and call you when they need your expertise.

We understand you have a budget — not just of money, but also of time and talent. Developing your staff’s communication skills is an investment in all three and can have powerful results.

Your organization will:

• Improve its hit-rate in shortlist interviews.
• Deliver more effective staff and client presentations.
• Provide memorable speakers at industry events.
• Retain its best talent — and attract even more!

Your presenters will:

• Present with passion.
• Prepare efficiently.
• Overcome nervous habits.
• Work as a team.