Presentation Skills Training with a Creative Twist

With a little imagination and preparation, you can design and deliver a truly original presentation. The kind that lingers in people’s minds long after the event and gets them talking. The kind that changes minds and inspires action.

You don’t need to speak like a trained actor or produce slides like a professional designer.

You don’t need to deliver the whole thing word perfect.

You don’t even need to know everything there is to know about your chosen topic.

You just need to connect with your passion and the audience’s interests — and inject a little creativity into your preparation.

Creative presentation skills training

Creative Presentation Skills is for anyone who wants or needs to be a better presenter. And these days, that includes most of us.

Whatever your line of work, making a powerful connection with a live audience is critical for success – in team meetings, and at conferences, auditions and client pitches.

And in many creative industries, pitching to win business is essential for companies to survive and thrive.

Creative Presentation Skills is perfectly suited to the specific needs of creative teams and creative industries workers, in fields such as television, design, advertising, marketing, publishing, architecture, computer games, music, fashion, film, theatre, dance or technology.

The workshop is also relevant to anyone who needs to present their ideas – and wants to take a creative approach to making an impact.

What you will learn

Creative Presentation Skills is a practical workshop that will teach you simple principles of presentation design and delivery, unlocking your creativity and releasing your natural speaking voice.

This presentation skill training will teach you the three skills that are essential to creating a compelling presentation:

1. Get Your Thoughts In Order

You will learn to organise your material into a logical structure that makes it easy for you to remember and deliver – even if the worst happens and the projector breaks down and the dog eats all your notes!

The same organising principles will make it easy for your audience to grasp your ideas and remember them.

2. Captivate Your Audience with the Power of Storytelling

An entrancing presentation appeals to the emotions as well as logic – and stories are one of the most powerful ways to engage your audience emotionally and persuasively.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a natural storyteller, I’ll show you how to dream up stories that will resonate for your audience, and tell them in an engaging way.

3. Speak Confidently, Fluently and Persuasively

Once you have your material, it’s time to concentrate on delivery. I’ll teach you how to get into the right frame of mind to present, by tapping into your natural enthusiasm.

I’ll also show you how to add some verbal polish by using some simple but powerful rhetorical patterns. And I’ll help you handle stage nerves and deal with challenging audiences.

4. Enhance Your Talk with Eye-Catching Slides

You don’t need PowerPoint slides to give a great presentation, so we leave them until the end, as an option you can use to enhance your delivery.

Most PowerPoint slides are monstrosities – crammed full of bullet points, text in tiny fonts, hideous clipart, and ill-advised corporate logo templates. Don’t go there.

I’ll show you how to create stunning slides that illustrate your presentation and help you make an impression on your audience. Even if you’re not a graphic designer (I’m not), you can create beautiful and memorable slides – and take a lot of satisfaction in doing so.

A practical and enjoyable learning experience

The workshop is highly interactive and gives you plenty of time to practise your presentation skills in a safe (and fun) environment.

During the workshop you will design and deliver a short presentation about a subject that matters to you — ideally one that you will have the chance to deliver as part of your work.

The course is delivered in person by me, and features:

• Inspiring stories and relevant examples
• How-to instruction
• Lively group discussions
• Practising your presentation skills and receiving individual feedback

When you attend Creative Presentation Skills you will receive access to an online summary of the workshop, which relieves you of the need to make detailed notes. So you can focus 100% on your experience of the training – listening, asking questions, sharing ideas and practising new skills.

I make sure everyone has plenty of fun during our time together – and that you leave with useful ideas and practical skills you can start applying the very next day at work.

Mark McGuinness – Creative Business Trainer

I’ve been coaching and training creative professionals since 1996.

Organisations I have worked with include the BBC, Channel 4, Transport for London, The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, TBWA Media Arts Lab, Dare Digital, ASOS, Magnum, Econsultancy, Gist, Vodafone, BT, Servier Laboratories, The Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment, The British Library Business and IP Centre, The Cultural Industries Development Agency (CIDA), The Arts Council, The Cultural Leadership Programme, Arts & Business, Spread the Word, The University of Warwick, King’s College London, the University of the Arts, London, and the Royal College of Art.

As well as facilitating others’ creativity, I know the creative process from the inside-out, as a poet and author of a string of successful ebooks and two of the most popular creativity blogs in the world, at LateralAction.com and WishfulThinking.co.uk.

I originally qualified as a psychotherapist and hold an MA in Creative & Media Enterprises (with distinction) from the University of Warwick.

In the course of my career I’ve given hundreds of presentations, as a trainer, lecturer and conference speaker.

My audiences have included executives, corporate teams, artists and creatives, students, healthcare practitioners and wedding guests (four Best Man speeches).

Topics I’ve spoken on include creativity, management, entrepreneurship, psychotherapy, communication skills, time management, personality types, marketing, motivation, – and of course, presentation skills.

As well as the usual presentation formats, I’ve given live readings of my own poetry, delivered podcasts and audio seminars over the internet, and presented my work in a TV documentary for the Discovery Health Channel.

In the process, I’ve made just about every mistake in the book – and found practical solutions to all of the major challenges facing public speakers.

I’ve created this presentation skills training to give you the benefit of what I’ve learned – and to make the process quick and easier for you than it was for me.

Book this workshop for your organisation

To enquire about booking this workshop for your organisation, please contact me using the form below or by telephone at +44 (0)1707 644 665.

Be first to know about the next public workshop

If you’d like me to let you know next time I run this workshop as a public event (usually in London), enter your email address and hit ‘subscribe’.

I’ll then send you occasional email announcements whenever I launch a new event, product or service for creative people.

Of course I will never share your email address, and you are free to unsubscribe at any time.

P.S.

If you’re considering booking this workshop for your team but you’re not sure whether it will address the specific challenges you’re facing, feel free to contact me using the form above.

I’ll be happy to discuss your requirements on a no-obligation basis – and of course I will treat anything you tell me as strictly confidential.