Topic: Presenting for Impact - Creating Presentations that Persuade Audiences and Generate Results

Speaker: Diane West, Presentation coach, Founder and President of 2Connect

CPE Credit: 1.0 hours
 

The Details: Discussion Topic and Meeting Agenda:
 

Every business day, 33 million business presentations are delivered.  Most miss the mark. We've all seen some of them.  Some of us have even given some of them ourselves.  A mumbled delivery... slides with microscopic print that can't be read... a speaker who reads his or her presentation word for word... contorted wording or a monotone that soon has you tuning out... a speaker who won't make eye contact to save his life... the talk from hell, leaving you wishing you were anywhere but there.  
 

Been there?

In the course of our jobs, our leadership roles in organizations, our participation on boards or similar groups, or even in job interviewing, we are often called upon to do a presentation.  Sometimes it is formal, sometimes informal. It always has the objective of conveying vital information, to people who don't already have that information, let alone our understanding of it, for the purpose of getting them to act in a way that will benefit ourselves and our organizations.

As senior financial executives, we are challenged all the more, because we often have to present nuanced, complex, quantitative relationships to an audience that doesn't have our appreciation for the significance of those numbers.  We and our staffs may see all the connections, and the numbers may truly sing their message to us -- but if the song remains inside our head, and we can't convey it to our listeners, it will never get any airplay... and the message will be lost. 

Whether presenting to the board of directors, your boss, a strategic partner or your executive team, how do you ensure your message is not only heard, but acted upon? 

This session focuses on packaging a message so that it engages and motivates audiences.  Diane will facilitate this hands-on and interactive virtual session.  Techniques shared are based on data 2Connect has collected from thousands of audience members: 

- What works, and what doesn’t, in business presentations?

- How to tell an engaging and compelling story.

- Why brevity and simplicity are essential. Ways to identify and cut fluff.

- Special considerations for virtual presentations.

These techniques, once learned, can make us more effective for the rest of our careers, helping us:

- Raise capital

- Secure new strategic alliances

- Influence critical decisions

- Present complex data to diverse audiences, whether in-person or virtually

- Translate industry concepts to laypersons

- Present high-stakes proposals to other executives.

Participants will leave this session with:

- A fool-proof method for delivering a compelling story to any audience

- Specific strategies to use brevity to increase listener value

- Guidelines on how to maximize your virtual presence. 

We all have our own war stories of giving or receiving noteworthy presentations.  Noteworthy for either their success, leading the audience to action and inspiring them to reach for the stars, or noteworthy for their failure, where the speaker appeared to be in an endless bungee jump... without the benefit of a cord!  Bring your stories of both kinds -- and leave with more knowledge, more confidence and more ability to engage and persuade your future audiences. 

About our speaker: 

Diane West is the best presentation coach in San Diego.  That's not her talking; she wouldn't say that... but I would.

Diane is president and founder of 2Connect, a nationally recognized firm that develops better presenters. For over 20 years, Diane and her team have designed, managed, and delivered presentation training programs for companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, General Atomics, The Food Network, Genentech, BAE Systems and Johnson & Johnson. The results of these programs are significant, ranging from companies landing multi-million dollar contracts, to individuals securing executive support for significant initiatives. 

Prior to founding 2Connect, Diane served as Vice President of Tamayo Consulting, Inc., a leadership training firm. In that capacity she designed and delivered training for companies such as Baxter Healthcare, Kyocera and Idec Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Tamayo Consulting, Diane led the training department of a nationwide services company, Rescue Industries.  

Diane holds a B.A. in Economics from San Diego State University and certifications in AchieveGlobal, Leadership Management, Inc., Myers-Briggs and Temperament.

If you’ve heard Diane speak before, you’ll want to hear her again.  If you've not heard her before, you’re in for a treat.

Some Meeting Details and logistics info:

We’ve planned this virtual meeting to be open to all FENG members from around the country and the world.

Please REGISTER for the meeting no later than Noon (PDT) on Monday, June 7th, as we need to have time to get the key Zoom logon info back to you.

To register:

Members: Some of you have already registered. To register as a FENG Member, log in with your password at http://www.thefeng.org/. (Be sure to log in at the top of the page.  This page works ONLY for FENG members). This will take you to your personal home page, which will show any FENG chapters to which you belong. If you scroll down to the picture of the meeting/date, you can click on “Register Now.”

Guests of members: https://www.thefeng.org/chapters/california/san-diego/33, filling in all requested information.
 

After you register and before the meeting, you will be sent the link and meeting ID that will enable you to easily enter the meeting.

If you have trouble registering after following the above directions, please reply to Dan Ruchman directly at [email protected], and we will register you.

Again, all FENG members are welcome to register. You are free to invite outside guests, as well, especially those whom you think could directly benefit from knowing how to present effectively -- or who can contribute their own war stories to the discussion.

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CPE Credits: Reminder for those members maintaining their professional certifications - we offer the documentation for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits for our speaker presentations. For those members interested in this, you may complete the appropriate forms, which we'll have available at the meeting, for 1.0 hours of CPE credit

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Zoom Screen: Make sure your First and Last Name appear on your screen.