Communications Training Archives - The pincus Group

Why you flub those media interviews

aileen — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:02:55 +0000

Those speaking on behalf of their companies or organizations often dread media interviews more than any other kind of public speaking. Reframing the understanding of media interactions could help those same executives prepare to make the most of those opportunities. Here are just a few suggestions from your on-call media trainer, to help any senior leader prepare to meet the media:

1.) You’re not there ONLY to answer questions.
As a former reporter, of course I’m not going to advise you to avoid answering reporters’ questions. That doesn’t mean you’re in the spotlight only to be led by them. The truth is that every reporter assumes you have something you want to say. That’s called a message. Why would you sit down for an interview without one?

2.) It’s not about the reporter.
You’re not there to speak to a reporter. You’re there to reach a much broader audience through the reporter. Don’t be distracted by the person asking the questions. Focus on the audience reading, listening or watching the interview. Do you know who you’re speaking to, why, and what your message is?

3.) There is no “context”.
How many times do we hear subjects of interviews complain afterwards they were “taken out of context”? Of course, your interview will be edited if it’s not live. Reporters aren’t stenographers. Everything you say needs to stand on its own merits and be understood without further explanation. If you “had to be there” to understand your answer, learn to deliver answers that don’t need intervention to be understood.

4.) Do interviews anyway.
No one can speak for you or your company like the person responsible for its decisions. NOT speaking to the media is a missed opportunity to own your story, which will be supplied by others if you neglect it. What CAN you do to make sure you’re media ready? Call for a free consultation: www.thepincusgroup.com

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What Your Team Gains From Communications Coaching

aileen — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 20:30:10 +0000

What Your Team Gains From Communications Coaching

“The greatest mistake in communication is in thinking it’s been achieved”. That quip from George Bernard Shaw gives us some insight into why you may be noticing a frustrating variety of skill levels among your team members.
Communication skills need development like any other skill set. They are what make all you are offering obvious to others and help you showcase your company’s unique brand in a way nothing else can.
Powering up your team’s skills can help them advance to a whole new level by:

1.) Unifying Your Messaging
Brochures, online marketing tools and websites all have their roles, but they can’t replace the power of having people who can speak to what you do and why you do it better than anyone else. That takes being sure of your messaging and being comfortable in delivering it in ways that are authentic.

2.) Team Performance
When your team is comfortable with each other, those outside your organization will be able to see it and hear it in your communications. Organizations that work cohesively are comfortable supporting each other to get things done. That cohesiveness sells itself to your target audiences.

3.) Confidence has a ripple effect.
There’s nothing as powerfully instructive as watching a confident, skilled communicator. Success breeds success. Those team members with less confidence and developing skills have a greater chance of improving their own performance in turn.

Your teams can and will learn to communicate powerfully is given support. Invest in a coach that’ll help elevate your collective success and help you match the power of your ideas to the power of your communications.

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Practice Makes Perfect: How Much Do You Really Need?

aileen — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 14:28:59 +0000

We’ve all heard the old joke about the best way to get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice.

The best way to ace your next presentation or speech is the same: through rounds of practice. But how much do you really need and what type of practice should you be using to get comfortable with your material and perform at your best?

While getting to maximum levels of readiness for public speaking of all kinds varies, there are some common techniques that will help you. Here are some practice tips to try before you next take the spotlight:

1.) Don’t forget the “movie”: Many, if not most professionals, spend the bulk of their time before presentations or speeches on their content. Of course you want to get the content right, but if you forget to practice the delivery (the ‘movie’ since people are watching you), content won’t save you. People need to SEE the confidence and authority as you communicate to trust you’ve got it right.

2.) Don’t forget the “movie” (part 2). Practicing your delivery doesn’t mean just reading the content silently to yourself, Stand and actually deliver your presentation or speech orally as you will be doing, mimicking the real setting you’ll be speaking in as closely as possible. You’ll need to hear and feel yourself deliver your talk to be able to catch where you need revision, how you need to emphasize key points, and hear what’s working and what’s not.

3.) An audience helps. After you’re comfortable with your basics, try delivering it to someone. Give them some specifics to look for (i.e. Tell me what stands out to you and if you think my pacing is about right.) If you can get someone to listen to your talk who isn’t from the same field of expertise, so much the better. They can give you a different perspective on how clearly you’re communicating.

4.) Don’t OVER practice. The point here is NOT to get every word memorized and scripted. You want to practice to the point where you’re not only comfortable with the material, but comfortable with being in the moment. You want to be able to adjust the material and your delivery as you go, depending on your audience’s reaction. Connecting with your audience is your primary goal here, and that can’t happen if you’re tied to every word in a script. If you see nods of agreement, expand. If you see signs of disagreement, stop and address it.

5.) You’re the only one needing perfection. Your audience doesn’t care that you skipped a slide or a phrase. They won’t notice it until you point it out, and why would you? If you make a mistake, keep going. You can even refer to a point you missed later on, without calling it out as a mistake. No one will remember that you got every word right, or that you didn’t. They’ll only remember how they felt about it.

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Communicating Executive Confidence

aileen — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 18:52:34 +0000

Some hard truths about communicating even when you don’t have all the answers

Whether speaking to clients, colleagues, or the general public, there’s a tendency for speakers to follow the adage given to writers: stick to what you know. Generally, solid advice for communicators, but there’s a more complicated dynamic at play for executives operating in the real world. There are going to be times when you simply can’t wait for all the answers before being called on to communicate what you know.

If you’re an executive, you’ve got a timetable for action and that means communicating your priorities, to inform or persuade others. If you’ve got a briefing or meetings scheduled, board or investor presentations, testimony or speeches to deliver, you’re not scheduling your communications solely at your own convenience.

The competing pressures of communicating about what you know and having the time to be certain of the path forward are always present for decision makers. That doesn’t mean that your communications must suffer.

Even when uncertain of what you might later learn, confidence in the communications you do deliver is essential. Communications can’t always wait for the underlying problem to resolve, so the strength of your communications simply can’t depend on those definitive outcomes.

So how do you communicate confidently, despite uncertain outcomes or lack of time to get all the data you’ll need? Start by reframing your vision of what confident communication looks like. Separate those powerful communications from definitive outcomes. In fact, there is a silver lining for executives involved in what we might call ‘transitional communications’, and that is to demonstrate real leadership.

Remember that demonstrating executive presence isn’t about having all the answers. It comes from inspiring confidence in those you’re communicating with that those answers will be found, and that there is a path forward to finding them.

Consider these tips to demonstrate your confident communications, even when you don’t have all the answers:

Focus on what you DO know

In crisis communications, it’s best to communicate what you know when you know it. That advice works for other kinds of communication as well. You don’t have to know everything possible about an issue to confidently outline what you do know. Keep your communications straightforward and concise. You can use a simple: “Here’s what we know at this point,” rather than dragging your audience through a painstaking rendition of how you got here. It’s up to you to focus your audience on what you’d like them to focus on. Leave the exploration of what alternatives were considered, what didn’t work out, or speculation about what might go wrong for later. Remember that whatever your title, if you’re speaking, it’s an opportunity to lead.

Take responsibility

Whether a particular outcome is completely within your control or not, take responsibility. Leadership isn’t about blame-laying or wishful thinking. Leadership isn’t even about your title. It’s about owning the moment and shining a light on the way forward. Assume the role of CEO (chief explanations officer). What do you want your audience to know now and how can you inspire those around you to come together? Demonstrate your own commitment to working toward a solution and to keeping the dialogue going. That may mean engaging an audience or challenging the status quo. If you want to inspire others, you must be inspiring. (So never let anyone hear you utter a phrase like “It is what it is” in one of these settings.)

Be authentic

There’s no need to display a competency you don’t have in an attempt to demonstrate leadership. Authenticity is one of the widely prized attributes of real leaders. Instead of trying to “fake it till you make it”, find a way to confidently recognize the expertise of others. Leaders aren’t recognized as such because they can replace each and every person in the organization. They’re leaders because they demonstrate an appreciation for the ability of others and can inspire them to recognize and work toward a common goal. Regularly highlight ability and talent where you find it and learn to inspire others by confidently being yourself.

Rise above it

Every organization has their share of those who get stuck in the negative. If your job is to focus on problems, that’s exactly what you’ll focus on. For every executive tasked with getting beyond the problem to resolving an issue, there’ll be a gauntlet of naysayers to get through at every layer of the organization focused on why the given solution won’t work. It’s your job as the executive communicating about any issue to light the way out. Focusing on solutions doesn’t mean being naïve about the possibility of failure. Focusing on solutions doesn’t mean dismissing real concerns or even always having the right answer. What it does mean is considering those concerns but resolving to persuade others to shift their focus to action. If you can demonstrate the ability to be a problem-solver, and better yet, to inspire others to do the same, your confidence is going to be more infectious than those naysayers and right or wrong about your conclusion, that’s going to be recognized as real leadership.

Aileen Pincus is President and CEO of The Pincus Group, Inc., providing tailored presentation training and media coaching to executives worldwide, with headquarters in Washington, DC.

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Keeping Oral Communication Skills Fresh Even in a Virtual Workplace

aileen — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 09:47:21 +0000

A recent (2023) survey by the Conference Board of well over 1,000 corporate executives around the world, revealed only 3% of them are planning to implement full return to the office policies anytime soon. Even fellow CEOs in the US are apparently reluctant to follow the lead of companies like Starbucks and Amazon in issuing return to the office mandates, with only 3% of the 24% US executives responding they planned on limiting remote work options going forward.

While the debate over return to the office policies rages on, communication training firms like The Pincus Group have heard from more and more clients who worry about oral communication skills suffering over time. After all, like any skill, confident oral communications including briefing and public speaking require practice to stay at their best. So, what’s a remote executive to do to keep these skills top notch?

Here are some tips to consider, whatever percentage of your work is now remote.

Everything is an opportunity to practice

Every phone call and every virtual meeting gives you a chance to keep your communication skills sharp. Don’t allow yourself to begin thinking of these communications as unimportant because they’re not in person. Show up and use the same discipline you would in preparing for an in-person briefing or meeting. That means thinking about who you’ll be speaking with, why and what you have to say before every communication. Take time to write that information down so you make sure you stay on track. You don’t want to be known as one of those people who wastes the time of others. Keep your communication focused and concise, regardless of the mode of communication you use.

Keep it professional

One of the many reasons senior managers dislike remote work is because they suspect the quality of the work product suffers when people are surrounded by the distractions of home. Every study on productivity published in the last year and a half has not shown that to be the case, but that doesn’t prevent people from believing it. That means when you are communicating with a higher up, act like it. If you’re joining a web conference, keep your camera on and be aware of what others are seeing. Mind your tone of voice, pace and projection to compensate for not being in the same room. Don’t let your communication get sloppy (lots of “ums”, “ahs,” asking others to keep repeating information, or allowing distractions that others can hear or see). Show up. Be your best self..

Prepare and participate

If you’re asked to return a call, or join a virtual meeting, do your due diligence. Find out what’s on the agenda and figure out what you can add to the discussion or what questions you might have. Come prepared to comment on topics, even if asked to provide written comment during a remote discussion. Look for ways you can follow up with key players after the meeting or conversation, particularly if there’s a task you can take on or issue you can work on. Pay attention during the discussion and jot down key points that you might want to comment on, ask about, or follow up with later. Spend a few moments before every conversation reviewing what you’d like to add to the discussion or how you can “show up” in a direct, concise way.

In short, it’s the communication, not the mode of transmission that makes all of the difference in keeping your skills sharp and enhancing your professional reputation. Yes, it can be harder to make sure you’re being heard and heard correctly when you’re not in the same room as others. If you take your preparation seriously though, you can keep your skills sharp, even when at a distance.

Aileen Pincus is President and CEO of The Pincus Group, Inc., providing tailored presentation training and media coaching to executives worldwide, with headquarters in Washington, DC.

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What To Know About Presentation Skills Training Topics

dev360 — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 22:09:19 +0000

If you’re planning on delivering a presentation at work, brief the boss, or take part in a company event
presenting in front of your peers, you’ll need to depend on best practices of effective presentation skill training. These skills can be learned with practical presentation skills training with a minimum time commitment. The right training can help you no matter what the subject, be more confident and clear. Being a confident, skilled communicator not only reflects well on you as an individual, but also on your team or organization. That’s why presentation skills are highly valued in every professional organization.

Presentation skills training is essential whether you’re a naturally good speaker or one that is reluctant to stand in the spotlight. That’s because it’s a trained skill that has far less to do with personality than with understanding some basic learnings of how audiences perceive presenters. Any kind of public speaking can be difficult, particularly in high stakes environments, but the principles of preparing well to communicate with any audience remain the same. Understanding that preparation for presentations in any situation will help ease anxiety and enhance performance. Briefing senior executives takes the same skills in understanding the audience and preparing as speaking at informal meetings. It all begins with understanding your audience, what your intent is and what specifically you want to say for the best results. Whether you’re speaking in formal venues before large audiences, or in small briefings or meetings, you’ll need to organize your communications in ways your target audience can understand and for maximum effect. Learning how to prepare to present is as important as the delivery of your speech or presentation itself.

Consider Your Audience

Depending on the audience, you can change your approach to the presentation. Understanding what your audience already knows or thinks about a subject allows you to tailor your approach for maximum impact. Even presenting remotely, as we more often now do, requires paying attention to understanding why your audience is listening. Confidence comes with a clear understanding of what you want to present, to whom, and why. You can’t speak with authority when you’re crippled with doubt about your audience’s judgment. Speaking with authenticity takes a clear understanding of what you’re bringing to your audience and how you can help motivate them, move them and inspire them to an understanding. That’s where the practice comes in. Public speaking requires not only an understanding of your audience, but an understanding of your own communication strengths in connecting with them. That ability, commonly known as “executive presence” is part of the ability to motivate, inspire and inform others.

Workshops in presentational skill basics can help introduce you to best practices. Tailored presentation skill training courses however are what’s needed to really improve individual skills, giving you feedback on your current delivery style and how to maximize your strengths. Effective presentation skills and public speaking training focuses on the individual and your style of communication. It’s not about creating communicators who present the same way. It’s about enhancing the individual skills that make each communicator a powerful speaker, paying attention to the strengths individuals bring to the workplace. This type of training is highly beneficial because it helps build confidence individually and in employees as a whole. Presentation skills training builds strong communicators.

Always Start from The Basics

Whether you’re presenting to a small group of people or a large, basic good practices help build effective public speaking. There will be any number of “right” ways to present and powerful ways to connect with an audience, but they will all depend on getting the basics right, regardless of the audience. Even small changes in presentation styles can make large differences, like not ‘hiding’ behind lecterns when speaking. Connecting with an audience is as essential as paying attention to your messages and your delivery with each audience.

If you’re preparing to present to a large group of people at work, you’ll need to be sure that you’re prepared to make the most of the opportunity. Many organizations depend on industry presentations to help build their brand and nurture new relationships. Employees who can deliver powerful presentations and who are comfortable with public speaking are simply invaluable for these organizations, regardless of the employee’s title. To get the most out of every public speaking opportunity, presentation skills training for organization spokespersons becomes vitally necessary.

The number of people delivering formal speeches for your organization may be limited, but each appearance presents an enormous opportunity to build brand, gain clients and cement reputations. Speech training helps speakers build confidence whatever the venue. Whether they are participating in panels, delivering keynotes, or speaking at company meetings, employees who can confidently craft and deliver a message through powerful public speaking are highly valued in every organization. Motivating and inspiring audiences is a skill that’s highly valued in every organization, but it’s one skill of executive presence that impacts so many others. A leader who knows the ins and outs of a company but who cannot communicate them well or motivate others isn’t a leader of much use to any organization. Powerful presentation skills on the other hand can convey even to less experienced employees that someone is worth listening to. Training is what makes the difference.

Speaking to any audience effectively takes an understanding of that audience and what might motivate them to action. There are many different roads to getting there in presentations and public speaking, but all effective communications starts there. Any presenter can learn to be a good story teller, capturing an audience’s attention and motivating that audience to some action. The skill however takes some developing and that’s where customized training comes in.

Be Passionate

You can’t have dynamic public speakers if you don’t have passion. It’s the same with any presentation or public speaking opportunity, whether it be in a boardroom, a conference, or a meeting. Learning how to demonstrate your passion professionally is a key skill you’ll learn in training. It’s key for speakers in connecting with audiences and motivating them. Passion is what is remembered. As the saying goes, data may move minds but it’s passion that moves hearts. Presentation Skill Training can help you understand how to connect your passion with your presentation, how to get comfortable bringing something unique to your audiences and how to motivate them. Ultimately, your presentation skills training should be fun, memorable and transformative. Clear and effective presentation skills will serve you in building confidence and motivating others. The Pincus Group gives you presentation skills training that enhances your confidence, motivates others and builds powerfully skilled communicators.

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How to Improve Your Presentation Skills

dev360 — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 21:57:11 +0000

Presenting yourself well is critical to successful businesses and those who can communicate
powerfully on behalf of an organization, team or themselves are highly prized. Public speaking
training will help you develop your unique skills and use them to enhance your performance in any profession. Presentation Training builds confidence in communicating well with others in all sorts of situations,
whether it be informally at meetings or more formally in business presentations. When you’re confident
in your communications, it shows. Presentation skills are among the leadership skills necessary to succeed at senior positions.
Here are some ways to improve your presentation skills.

Points to Remember

Studies show most listeners are likely to forget presentations they attend almost immediately. To keep that from happening, you need to be very clear on who your audience is, why you’re presenting to them, and what your presentation wants them to consider most of all. That takes not only creating engaging content, but ordering that content in a way a particular audience can understand it and be motivated to take some kind of action. Developing compelling content is an essential part of presentation training, but knowing how to order that content most effectively is also important. Learning how to prepare for effective presentations is as important to your career and learning your craft and a means by which you will be able to open up a world of networking and collaboration opportunities.

Investing in presentation skills training is an important decision for any organization. It helps not only individual performances by improving confidence, it builds powerful spokespeople for an organization in many situations. Presenting isn’t acting, so by making sure your team, particularly senior leaders, understands how to effectively deliver messaging, you build credibility outside your organization and heighten morale inside it. Presentation Training is an invest in individuals and in the organization or company they work for. Consider presentation skills training today from a presentation training company to improve your business performance and increase individual satisfaction and results.

Learning how to present effectively is a vital skill for any business, since it creates opportunities for that individual as a spokesperson for others, as well as build skills for that individual to reach his/her full potential. It can be a means to draw out talented but reticent individuals, uncertain of their skills or effectiveness. Individuals open up a wide variety of additional career prospects, by having the kinds of presentation skills that influence others and inspire others to action. Public speaking of all kinds, whether carrying the message of an organization, or enhancing personal reputations is a skill well worth investing in.

In addition to helping you develop your professional confidence, presentation skills training will improve your organization’s confidence in your and increase your value to any organization. A good presentation can make or break a business by either cementing or enhancing it’s reputation or damaging it. As a result, presentation skills training benefits your career as well as your company. Investing in presentation skill training builds leaders and leadership skills and is an investment any organization will reap benefits from. Confident communicators make great brand ambassadors for any business, while enhancing personal executive presence in the process.

Make sure any presentation training company provides references and explains its methodology of teaching. Reading reviews is an excellent way of determining what past clients have benefited from training and why. Good and powerful presentation skills training equals professional success that is visible and verifiable to others.

Confidence

Presenting a complex idea to a group, especially if members of that group aren’t versed in your area can be difficult. Great communicators have to learn to understand their audiences and what they already know or need to know from presenters. That’s where the right presentation skills training comes in. The skills you learn help prepare you to communicate well with any audience, building confidence, and building success through connections. Whether you’re presenting to a small group or a large crowd of either internal or external people, one thing that is consistent with many presenters is the fear of public speaking. Overcoming that fear, or “teaching the butterflies to fly in formation” is one of the great benefits of public speaking coaching. Overcoming those anxieties allows you to stay in the moment with your audience and give them what they need, true and powerful communications that move and motivate.

If you’re a newcomer to public speaking, you know that familiarity with your content is absolutely key to preparing for success. You’ll learn in public speaking and presentation training that powerful communications starts but doesn’t end there. Understanding how to communicate what you know to specific audiences to achieve some kind of understanding and rapport takes preparation.

It doesn’t matter what the presentation includes, whether it has handouts, slides, notes or any other materials, the real key to success is in having control over the presentation and knowing exactly what you want to achieve. Even natural introverts can gain mastery over this essential professional skill. Overcoming your fears simply takes preparation and attention to best practices, so you know you’re always at your best when public speaking to any size audience.

Final Word

Presentation skills training builds success for any business organization and any professional. You’ll need to tell your company’s story to others to build on your success, and that takes professional training. Professional presentation training will teach you and your organization to make the most out of every public speaking opportunity by building confident and successful communications. That’s why it’s important for every organization to invest in presentation skills training for employees. The Pincus Group is a professional presentation training company that offers customized courses for any professional, to create confident, powerful communicators.

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The Benefits of Presentation Skills Training

dev360 — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 21:47:24 +0000

Presentation skills training is an essential part of career development. Most people deliver presentations
at some point in their lives. If you are nervous about giving a presentation, this training can help you
overcome anxiety and improve confidence. You can even practice delivering a presentation in front of
your colleagues. Become more comfortable and more confident delivering presentations and briefings.
Learn to match body language to your messages to deliver engaging presentations. Learn how to
improve communication skills before any target audience, in any venue.

Importance of Presentation Training

It is important to remember that a polished presentation sends a message of professionalism to the
audience and can build trust. Your presentation reflects on your company and can impact your career.
Professional success involves connecting with each audience and conveying a powerful message.

Training in this area will help you learn how to bring out your strengths and use them to communicate
well with others. Training allows you to understand how to influence an audience, to win an audience
over and develop a relationship of trust with them. Strong performances in presentations and briefings
can lead to future collaborations and networking opportunities.

Presentation skills training helps you identify your strengths so you can feel more confident in any
appearance. Knowing how to deliver a presentation well gives you the confidence you need to be more
comfortable in presenting. It’s easy to complete a personalized training in a single day or two and see
immediate results in performance. Since every organization or company prizes communication skills,
these are skills well worth developing.

Presentation training can also help you overcome stage fright or anxiety about public speaking of any
kind. It’s common among even seasoned presenters to get nervous being “on stage” before delivering a
speech or presentation. We teach you to handle these fears with practice and readiness, building
confidence by bringing out your particular strengths as an individual communicator.

Training also teaches you to calm nerves through exercises such as deep breathing and to make full use
of your voice, tone, pacing and body language to enhance your performance. Everyone can enhance
their performance with expert feedback and a bit of practice. Building confident presenters and public
speakers through training gets you prepared to meet any number of professional challenges in your
career. Training builds better presenters and speakers, along with confident communicators in every
field.

Communicating well translates into a plus in a wide variety of professional fields. Speaking for a
company, a team, an organization is a skill that’s prized and has less to do with professional title than
the skill you bring to the occasion It can help strengthen business relationships and individual careers. A
good public speaker builds rapport quickly with an audience and can use that good will to motivate and inspire. Presentation skills training can help you get noticed in your professional life and build skills to
develop even more opportunities.

Comfort in Delivering Your Message

During a presentation, every audience judges what your information means to them, how they can
apply it, and decides for themselves whether to trust what you are saying. It’s crucial then to be
comfortable and confident when speaking or presenting to others. A good speaker knows their audience
and can target their messages to that specific audience’s needs. They can help the audience feel
comfortable with the content of what they’re saying. Small things, like learning to use your voice to
build confidence and interest are hugely helpful in improving performance in presentations. Using the
right tone and adopting the right pacing of your voice, can do more to convey your messages effectively
to an audience that almost anything else you can do. When an audience can hear your commitment and
passion for themselves, it’s easier for them to engage with the presenter and develop trust.

Most seek public speaking training to simply build confidence. Even those who may resist being a public
speaker can gain confidence. Training teaches speakers to learn about their own strengths as a speaker
and play to those, rather than try to emulate others. It’s about using your natural style as a speaker to
gain trust and build on the power as a communicator that you already have. Establishing a rapport with
any audience begins with knowing where you want to take that audience. Professional skill training
helps you enhance your existing performance and build your persuasive skills with an audience. Being a
powerful public speaker will deliver professionals more benefits than almost any other skill, building
their own confidence in the process.

Final Word

You’ll need the right presentation training for professional development. Training needs to be
personalized and tailored to your needs as a public speaker. Learning how to maximize your own skills
before speaking to any audience not only improves outcomes, but can build careers. Consider a
presentation skills course to enhance your own public speaking skills. You’ll be amazed at how much
improvement you’ll see as you apply practical tips. You’ll have more confidence than ever before. You
can consult the experts at The Pincus Group for professional training to help you build your career,
becoming a confident public speaker and strengthen your own career development journey.

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Importance of Presentation Skills Training in Workplace

dev360 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 19:22:28 +0000

Importance of Presentation Skills Training in Workplace

As professionals, we spend a lot of our time in front of others – whether it’s a group of clients, prospects, or our colleagues. Giving presentations, either formal or informal, is an important part of our jobs and crucial to our success.

Unfortunately, many people don’t feel they’re “naturally” good communicators and shy away from presenting to others. They may mistakenly believe this is a skill you’re either born with or just don’t possess. Nothing could be farther from the truth. While some personalities may enjoy the spotlight more than others, everyone in the workplace can benefit from training in effective communication and presentation skills. Any number of professionals lose opportunities or self-select out of promotions because they believe they don’t have the skills to stand before others and speak. Investing in presentation skills not only hones skills for an organization’s obvious “stars” but gives everyone the chance to compete for more and better opportunities. That’s why it’s important for every organization to invest in presentation skills training—developing those who are comfortable expressing their ideas in public forums or before their peers builds confidence not only in the individuals but in the organizations they represent. For individuals, a great presentation or public speaking skills can lift careers and showcase talents that might have been otherwise overlooked.

Why Skill Training?

Best presentation skills training is vital to every aspect of professional life. Skills training can help individuals gain confidence not only in larger forums but in one-on-one interactions as well. Why does it matter so much? Several reasons:

Since professional interactions have become more competitive, good communication skills have risen in importance. If you’re promoting an idea, an organization, or a company, the employee who can express themselves succinctly, confidently, AND persuade others of their ideas, is an employee who is going to get noticed. The ability to communicate well both orally and in written formats is one that is prized across industries and professions.

While the fear of public speaking of any kind is quite common, surveys show this own skill is among the most prized in any organization. In fact, public speaking skill, presentation skill, and briefing skills can elevate individuals in any industry and often has little to do with the title. When an organization needs to stand before others in any capacity, its leaders HOPE that someone with the knowledge is also the person who is comfortable communicating that information to others, but it’s often not the case. Our own fears of being judged by others can often stand in the way of those in the best position to persuade and explain ideas to others.

What Are the Benefits?

Presentation skills training provides benefits to individual employees and to the organization as a whole. Having a workforce comfortable sharing ideas as well as speaking on behalf of a department or organization enhances efforts at having all sorts of targeted audiences really understand your organization’s value. In addition, presentation skill training:

Helps Build Morale: When people are confident in their communication abilities, it shows. The ability to present yourself well is a fundamental skill for any employee, but particularly anyone in a leadership position, influencing others. The lack of communication skills in a leader can be particularly demoralizing to those who are attempting to follow that leader and perform as expected. A company with employees who can convey its messages powerfully, concisely, and persuasively is a successful company. That builds morale in those tapped with speaking for the company or those who think that skill is valued and invested in. It’s also essential for those organizations needing to build and maintain a successful network with other industry professionals.
Improvement in Retention: Investing in communication skills for your workforce is really an investment in yourself. When employees see they have opportunities to grow and use their skills, they’re more likely to feel valued and seen. Powerful presentation skills fill individuals with confidence that they can speak well for themselves, their teams, or their organizations before any target audience. Further, these communication skills will increase the chances of success for individuals in areas outside their immediate duties. Being a great communicator gets one noticed. That means an individual employee invested in will be able to see that investment blossom into other opportunities. Not only does an investment in communication skills help you retain top talent, but it also increases an organization’s ROI since this is one skill widely prized across the spectrum of professional employees.
The benefits of skills training quickly become apparent when organizations who invest in these skill sets then tap employees in a wide variety of public speaking opportunities to communicate an organization’s messages and mission. When employees feel valued and invested, they’re far more likely to want to stay with the company responsible for their new skills.
Professionalism: Surveys tell us that companies and organizations value good communication skills above almost any other. When you’re a better communicator, you simply are of great value to any organization, and your voice carries more weight. Every company benefits from employees who can communicate well, and particularly from those who are willing to communicate the company’s message because of that confidence.
Communication is not just the key to individual success but also an organization’s greatest asset; its people. The professionalism that can be seen, heard, and acknowledged are qualities of high value to every organization.
Increased Communication: Communication between team members and between teams takes excellent individual communication skills. Training helps those dealing with any kind of public speaking role, from formal to informal, take on a leadership mantle. Giving your workforce the tools to heighten their skills benefits them, their teams, and the entire organization.
Better Time Management: The art of communication is a delicate balance between time and message. If you can present your ideas succinctly, powerfully, and clearly, it leaves more time for the interaction so necessary to persuade others of your ideas. We all know the smartest people in the room are not always able to communicate their ideas effectively or persuade others. That’s why these skills matter to every level of the workforce. Time management is just one reason to invest in presentation and briefing skill development so that no one in your organization is wasting time repeating and re-iterating messages that didn’t land correctly.

Final Point

Possessing exceptional presentation skills and public speaking skills is a necessary aspect of ensuring you remain at the top of organizational decision-making. Presentation skills training by The Pincus Group lets you tap into everyone’s abilities to communicate and enhance those strengths so that they can be shared and appreciated by all.

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Mind Your Media: The Basics of Issuing Public Apologies

dev360 — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 09:32:37 +0000

Mind Your Media : The Basics of Issuing Public Apologies

And why so many fail miserably at it

There are more than a few basics we learn as children that prove quite useful in adulthood. Put things back where they belong. Don’t take things that don’t belong to you. Keep your hands to yourself. One of these that seems to be in desperate need of repeating lately is the basics of the simple apology.

For someone in the public eye, particularly in a leadership position, you’d think this skill might come with the territory. The evidence of late however suggests some reminders might be in order for those doing so in front of a microphone.

Take Rapper DaBaby’s recent apology for his comments aimed at singling out anyone attending his concert that might be on the verge of dying from AHIV/AIDS. After meeting immediate backlash, the Rapper first blamed social media for the uproar, saying “people want to demolish you before you even have the opportunity to grow, educate and learn from your mistakes.” Or consider the head of the Michigan Republican Party blaming the “increasingly vitriolic political environment” after he called the three highest ranking women leaders of his state “witches”. Predictably, neither “apology” went over well.

So what are the key elements to remember in an effective apology?

Authenticity: You’ll notice in both examples and countless others, blame is shifted elsewhere. An “I’m sorry” can’t be coupled with a “but” and be effective. (side note, that includes the back-handed “to anyone offended” another qualifier that is used too often, as though there were still some doubt as to the offensiveness of the word or deed.)
Recognition of harm: For an apology to be considered sincere, there has to be some acknowledgment of the harm to someone else, whether or not it was intentional. The person responsible has to show that they understand what they’ve done, not just that they’re bowing to pressure.
Make it Right: What are you going to do, to the extent you can, to rectify the harm committed? As the offender, it’s your responsibility to not only ask for forgiveness, but regardless of whether it’s given, and right the situation if possible.

For those in leadership positions particularly, mastering the true public apology is essential. Reputations, careers and entire companies and organizations can suffer enormous harm after a crisis of confidence, no matter how long before the stumble spent building a solid reputation.

If apologizing for mistakes were easy, there wouldn’t be so many examples of public apologies gone awry. As the headlines on any given day will tell you, we seem to have decided even a poorly worded and delivered “I’m sorry” should be good enough. It isn’t and it never has been.

Do recognize first and foremost than any public figure or leader can find themselves in the position of needing to apologize and need to take responsibility for their words or actions, even on the part of others they lead. Whether for lack of humility or the simple inability to recognize harm, the landscape is littered with those who’ve destroyed years of hard-fought gains in public reputation by the lack of a meaningful apology. Don’t let the reputation you care about be one of them.

Aileen Pincus

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