This blog is a place to provide advice, ideas and discussion around the issues of how to either present technical or specialist information to a non-technical audience or how to speak as a leader to teams of technical people. It’s designed for people who are serious about improving their presentation skills.
I aim to foster discussion in three ways:
- by offering detailed analysis of online presentations so you can fill your internal database with how people do this presentation thing really well
- by laying out detailed practical advice based on my experience of coaching thousands of presentations
- by monitoring the public speaking/presentation skills blogosphere and offering you the best articles/tips out there (so you don’t have to!)
I spend my day thinking, speaking and writing about presentations. That makes me a specialist, but not an expert. Everything on this blog is open to comments – so jump in!
I teach credible presentation skills to IT managers because presentations are a huge part of business life and are the place where you are under a great deal of scrutiny. Being able to stand up being calm, confident, clear and concise adds enormously to your credibility. In fact, if you dread presentations or feel like your skills aren’t up to scratch, having a senior role can, periodically (like around Town Hall and conference time) be a nightmare.
Why presentation skills for IT managers?
Because IT people spend a lot of time updating their technical skills, but often not enough time renewing their communication skills. Not necessarily because you’re not interested, but often because you don’t know where to start, and nothing seems to completely fill the gap you have.
I like working with people in IT as they are smart people. I work best with technical people who have the desire to get better in terms of their communication.
There’s more about our masterclass in advanced presentation skills for senior IT managers here.
You can find more information on authentic presentation skills at my corporate site:
including a free download of my new 30-page e-book ‘Rapid Presentation Planning – be ready with a smart presentation in hours not weeks.’
I’m not in IT but I am a specialist…
That’s cool. The masterclass that we run came from training hundreds of senior IT managers for companies like HSBC and Siemens. The thoughts I share here come from applying my communication knowledge to groups of people like that. The lessons are pretty much the same if you’re in some other kind of technical role or are a subject matter expert in a particular field. Small business owners who offer a service are particularly welcome here.
How do I take your presentation skills masterclass?
Go to the Contact page above, and contact me! We run in-house programmes for corporates all over the world. Emails go straight to me and I’ll talk you through the booking process.
Who are you?
My name is Andrew Lightheart and I am a communication and presentation skills specialist.
I have been facilitating groups all my working life. After spending years as an IT trainer (only end user apps, I’m afraid), and then as a training manager training all the ‘soft skills’ topics, I realised that where I could help people get the best results was helping them stand on their feet and talk to groups. After training 270 senior IT managers in our first roll-out (in groups of eight!) I felt I had found my niche.
I run very practical sessions on rapid communication planning, for groups of any size. I also facilitate an infamously intensive 2-day masterclass in credible presentation skills, where I coach an intimate group of eight through 64 presentations, ending up with them speaking naturally and fluently without notes or PowerPoint. (See some nice things people have said here
I am passionate about communication, language, human behaviour, anthropology, technology, social media, writing, creativity and finding your own way in the world.
I am the enemy of bad slideshows, scripted presentations, questionnaires that make a little kite shape and tell you what ‘kind’ of person you are, and fake communication in any form.
I spend my ‘spare’ time meditating, learning too few words in too many languages, reading too many blogs, watching too many movies and playing bad jazz piano. Born shy, I’m now pretty social, but recharge with quiet.
My (eclectic and personal) book recommendations are at:
Why ‘Real. Smart. Now.’?
These are three vital aspects of spoken communication.
Real = authentic, ordinary, natural
Smart = err… intelligent?
Now = being ready fast, plus being in the moment when you present.
