Continuing Professional Development - A matter of presentation
Karen Faux
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Karen Faux looks at courses in speaking skills.
Practitioners at all levels are now likely to find themselves in situations where they have to give a presentation. This can include presentations to colleagues and managers as part of workshops and in-house training, to parents or to other professionals outside of the setting.
Presentation and communication skills form an important part of Early Years Professional training and candidates sometimes say they find this a challenging aspect.
Training company the Centre for Strategy and Communication runs a competitively priced one-day course on presentation skills aimed at those who are not yet practised presenters. Customer experience manager Ben Brookes says, 'At a maximum of 12 people, the group is quite small and individuals get plenty of personal attention. This includes feedback on the video footage of their presentation which helps them to get a better perspective on how they are doing.'
He adds, 'Giving a presentation can be a scary prospect, but this course aims to build confidence, with plenty of advice on developing a style that has impact.'
The course looks at presentation skills from every angle:
- Knowing what you want to achieve and finding the right way of doing it
- developing and communicating clear messages
- understanding how to inform and motivate your audience
- organising your material
- tips to make your presentation lively and effective
- developing an upbeat personal presence.
Larger groups of 20 people are catered for by Acorn Childcare Training with its six-hour Introduction to Presentation Skills. This is designed to help candidates to think carefully about what an audience might be expecting from them and provides guidance on how to create resources and present to either groups or individuals.
At the more expensive end of the market, Skillstudio offers a range of courses. Its Personal Vocal Impact workshop for those who want to speak with greater confidence and be able to communicate in all environments. Candidates make short ad hoc speeches and use role play to practise vocal techniques.
FURTHER INFORMATION
