Challenge

An executive from the European Commission needed help preparing for an important presentation. He had been asked to make a high impact presentation as the opening speaker at a global summit on biodiversity and we were invited to comment on content, form, style and how effectively it was delivered. To make it interesting, the speech was due to be delivered in 48 hours!

What we did

We applied our Keynote Presentation Development process, which started by providing our client with a professional sounding board. We started by looking at the material he already had and provided a soft audience. This helped him to practice, get the timing right and work on his presentation style. It also allowed us to understand his strengths and how his presentation could be improved.

As with any presentation, our client’s primary challenge was to ensure he communicated the main points in his speech effectively. This in turn involved helping our client define his aims and major message which were not initially clear.  We helped him to go through each slide and modify them to ensure they catered for a wider audience combining strong visual images with clear statistical evidence. We also worked closely with him to develop the way he delivered the presentation giving him feedback and advice from the initial dry run forward and repeated the process until he was entirely confident.  We even took some extra homework to make the final slide refinements as he left for the airport and ran these through with him by phone after he landed!

Outcome

Our client was thrilled with the result and was told by several people that his talk was the highlight of the conference and got things off to a great start. Our client described the help we gave him as the best and most practical piece of training he had ever received.

Customer comment

“Carcharodon came in very late in the process and immediately lifted the pressure off my shoulders. They were very empathetic, clearly knew what they were doing and converted a stressful process into an invigorating one as my confidence grew with each incremental improvement.  I learned more from 2 days with Carcharodon than I ever have on a training course.”