Workshop: Speaking with Confidence and Impact

Do you sense that there is a way to enjoy public speaking more? Do you want to have more impact when delivering a presentation? Do you want to deliver your message with more clarity, and build more connection with your audience? Or do you simply want to be able to be more relaxed and ‘yourself’ when speaking to groups?

In this workshop we will work to strengthen your confidence and charisma, developing your ability to be more authentic and have more professional impact, and allowing you to remain flexible and responsive when you speak.

We will also re-evaluate what it means to feel ‘nervous’. What are we actually dealing with? How can we experience public speaking as energizing and even enjoyable?

This workshop is not about tips, tricks, and techniques. It’s about building genuine strength and confidence as a presenter – from the inside out.

Target group 

Academics with at least a little previous experience giving presentations, who want to feel more relaxed, confident, and professional while speaking.

Goals

• relax into the role of speaker and strengthen your professional presence.
• develop your ability to use eye-contact to engage with individuals and a group.
• practice delivering presentations in a more confident and connected way.
• get your point across more clearly and make your contribution more memorable.
• enjoy public speaking more and have fun getting your message across.

Content

The only way to develop good presentation skills is to practice – so we do a lot of that. We run through a series of training exercises designed to help you build confidence step by step. Every participant also gives a short presentation and gets constructive feedback from the group, and you receive a video of your own presentation to view at home.

The workshop emphasises the importance of authenticity and connection with the audience over the theatrical capacity to ‘perform’ confidence. Building core inner confidence through practice, reflection and increased self-awareness is the most effective pathway to developing effective presentation skills and building a strong professional identity on solid ground. 

Methods

We learn to speak with confidence through practice – so this is a highly experiential workshop. Participants take part in practical exercises and are given space and time to reflect on their experience. There is also some input from the trainer, time for group discussion, and a few games mixed in.

There is an option to be filmed in some exercises – these recordings are for private use only and will not be viewed in the group.

• relaxing into the role of speaker and strengthen the professional presence.
• developing the ability to use eye-contact to engage with individuals and a group.
• practice delivering presentations in a more confident and connected way.
• getting the point across more clearly and make a more memorable contribution.
• enjoying public speaking more and having fun getting the message across.