Bringing the Heat: Key Ingredients to Consistently Make Your Trainings Relevant and RedHot
Performance
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Bridgett McGowen
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Nov 14, 2019
Making presentations is just getting in front of a room, talking, right? You choose a topic, organize your thoughts, practice in front of a mirror or a mock audience, then you deliver. Simple as that. Or at least that's what you have always been taught.
As a human resource professional, one of your greatest challenges is designing and delivering trainings that are engaging and that reach your audiences. Some of the challenges you face include, but are not limited to, getting your presentations started in a way that grabs everyone's attention, keeping that attention and momentum throughout the presentation, and ensuring learning took place. That's a tall order!
You have learned during your time on the job that there is more to it. A number of your concerns include …
1. getting audiences to lean in and listen. This is predicated on the presenter's ability to exude confidence and establish his/her credibility. Naturally, establishing credibility to some audiences is easier than establishing it to others, and the challenge is compounded if the presenter does not have an impressive bio or a killer résumé. When you how to masterfully establish your credibility in a presentation, then your confidence simultaneously improves.
2. getting audience members' minds off everything else and 100% focused on you and your presentation can be one of the biggest if not scariest obstacles you face as a presenter. And the typical ways that have been recommended for starting a presentation such as telling jokes, offering startling statistics, or starting with a story simply do not appeal to every presenter or every audience, leaving presenters in a conundrum of what to do to start presentations with impact that immediately grabs everyone's attention.
3. engaging your audiences throughout the presentation, but you want to do so without using a lot of bells and whistles or feeling silly.
Upon conclusion of this high-energy session, you will know exactly how your audiences want you to communicate with them and what you must do within the first few minutes that will make everyone want to listen to you from start to finish. You will have the key ingredients that are missing from most presentations that, when added, will have you bringing the heat and consistently making your trainings relevant and red-hot!
About Bridgett McGowen
Bridgett McGowen is an award-winning international professional speaker; a Forbes contributor; a leadership network member with Entrepreneur; the founder and owner of BMcTALKS Press, an independent publishing company; and the founder and owner of BMcTALKS Academy where she helps professionals monetize their expertise and reach others with their voices!
Bridgett has been a professional speaker since 2001 and has spoken on programs alongside prominent figures such as former President Barack Obama, Deepak Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, Shonda Rhimes, Kim Coles, and Katie Couric.
The prestigious University of Texas at Austin presented her with a Master Presenter Award; Canada-based One Woman presented her with two Fearless Woman Awards; and she has facilitated hundreds of presentations to thousands of go-getters positioned all around the globe.
Bridgett has earned bachelor's and master's degrees and has taught for Prairie View A&M University, Lone Star College System, and University of Phoenix. She is the author of multiple books to include REAL TALK: What Other Experts Won’t Tell You About How to Make Presentations That Sizzle, which is a 2020 Next Generation Indie Award Finalist, as well as Show Up and Show Out: 52 Communication Habits to Make You Unforgettable. Bridgett resides with her family in Phoenix, Arizona.