The aim of these workshops is to build confidence and be able to produce amazing looking but, crucially, effective presentations, in a variety of styles depending on how important the presentation is and how much time you have.
Everything in this hands-on training is based on the research into multimedia communication, and how to get your key messages to stay in the minds of your audience: how to make your message stick. No gimmicks, just achievable ideas and techniques which work.
“It has actually made me look forward to practicing the skills I learned, and doing presentations. The instructor was excellent and his advice was spot on!”
“Fantastic training session, so useful... Best course I have been to in a long time””
“I’ve been to many, many workshops + seminars and this was by far the best - interesting, engaging and very useful. Thank you!”
“Fantastic course, wonderful trainer. One of the best training sessions I have ever been on! Presentation and pace was perfect with plenty of time to try things out.”
“Ned is an expert and an engaging speaker. Very supportive atmosphere for learning. I’ve looked at Ned’s material online but it was great to have him explain it. Very, very relevant and a big help in my day-to-day work. Thank you Ned!”
“I would definitely offer it to other colleagues as I feel the techniques covered are ones that could be practically incorporated into working practice i.e. they’re not just a gimmick to do once to show you’ve attended the workshop, but something that you can build in to your presentations to continue that search for best practice and therefore better experience for attendees – whether they’re students, staff, or members of the public.”
“The best training I have ever been on.”
The course usually runs from 10:00 - 4:15 but this can be adapted to suit. The morning session covers the golden rules of creating presentations, finding amazing images without breaking copyright laws or spending any money, and creating PowerPoint Presentations in three different styles. The three styles vary in complexity and flexibility so you can choose which to use for a given presentation.
The afternoon introduces alternatives to PowerPoint, including Prezi and Sway, and interactive tools like Menti and Kahoot. The final section of the day centres around researching presentations, delivering talks and teaching, and conquering nerves.
When running this workshop in-house for organisations it is tailored to suit your requirements, and your template and branding guidelines will be used in the examples.
Other versions of this training I've done have included a version adapted for school libraries, a version with a more technical emphasis on PowerPoint, and versions which spend more time on Prezi.
I have also adapted this training for the online environment, running it via Webinar software. You can find detailed information about this course, including timings and technical specifications, here.
Feedback on previous presentation skills training
““Great session, a mixture of theory and practicality which means that you’re able to retain the knowledge you’ve learn much more easier “
”Really great all round training - excellent communication, handout and examples given throughout the day”
”I was not expecting to find this course interesting, as I despise bullet points and white-background powerpoint presentations that make my eyes hurt, but this was the exact opposite. It has actually made me look forward to practicing the skills I learned, and doing presentations. The instructor was excellent and his advice was spot on!”
”Very helpful workshop. Presenter was knowledgeable & friendly & made this an enjoyable workshop.”
”I have learned a great deal from the presentation and will put it in to practice”
”Very effective course, useful and clear.”
”Fun, enjoyable, very applicable to our work””
““Ned was a fab tutor, very engaging, interesting and the time to do the tasks was good as it gave you a chance to really get into it. It was a brilliant course and would be interested to attend others of his.”
”Fantastic training session, so useful and was completely what I was expecting. Best course I have been to in a long time”
”I will definitely become a better presenter it was a really worthwhile training event. 10/10”
”Doing the slides was great and you could explore and try things out and came away with a piece of work”
”I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking of attending in the future.””
““The content was excellent! It’s the best course I’ve been on in a long, long time! Ned was very engaging and was very knowledgeable on this topic. He put us at ease from the very beginning and I felt able to ask any question.”
”The course had the right balance of listening and learning with hands-on practical. It’s great to be shown how to get the best use from software rather than trying to work it out yourself and give up because you don’t have those useful tips to get you going.”
”I thought Ned was excellent and gave sufficient opportunities to explore the different aspects of the workshop as it was being delivered.”
”All of it was relevant and interesting. I thought the pace, style, number of attendees was just right. The day flew by.”
”I thought the content was very good, it had a mix of images sites, practical ways of using the images and building on a ppt presentation, which was effective to the needs of the audience.”
”I thought that the content and pace of the session were very good; there was a well-thought out spread of show-&-tell vs. hands-on which worked very well and ensured that we were active participants rather than receptors.”
”I would definitely offer it to other colleagues as I feel the techniques covered are ones that could be practically incorporated into working practice i.e. they’re not just a gimmick to do once to show you’ve attended the workshop, but something that you can build in to your presentations to continue that search for best practice and therefore better experience for attendees – whether they’re students, staff, or members of the public.” ”
““I found this session very useful indeed and will be using all the tips to help improve my presentation skills. For me it was the perfect balance of information, activity, and experimentation. Hugely enjoyable, when are you coming back??”
”Really interesting, learnt lots of new things. Very relevant. The most I have learnt in a workshop for ages, very, very useful and I will be acting on the ideas.”
”Very helpful, new ideas and ways to make PPT more exciting; level was spot on. Overall a very helpful and encouraging session.”
”Really interesting and useful, very helpful to have this training from an actual librarian – increases relevance. Trainer supportive of those who were slow doing task, but not condescending. Brilliant speaker, easy to hear and interesting, inspiring presentation.”
”Packed full of useful content. Great workshop! I’m feeling very inspired to go and create new presentations (with wow factor) and to present them with confidence. Thank you!”
”
““Excellent course, would definitely recommend to anyone preparing for presentations. A good amount of content covered but the most
beneficial thing was the time allowed to practice and try out the different methods discussed”
”The trainer is recognised a leader in his field but was very approachable and down-to-earth.”
”Overall a thoroughly worthwhile course.”
”Very knowledgeable and enthusiastic course leader. Well structured course and effective methods of presentation””
““The trainer really knows his stuff, but doesn’t get bogged down in the technical aspects, allowing all participants to get to grips with the content of the course. The fact that there are significant periods of time to practice using the tools and techniques taught is brilliant! I’ve
been on far too many University courses where you learn something useful but don’t get to practice it”
”Really worthwhile. I do hope that many more colleagues get the chance to go on this course in future, almost everyone would learn a lot from it.”
”Fantastic course, wonderful trainer. One of the best training sessions I have ever been on! Presentation and pace was perfect with plenty of time to try things out.”
”Fantastic course, Ned was a wonderful trainer and I was really impressed with the whole day. So many useful tips. Really great day.”
”Useful and enjoyable - the day went very quickly!”
”Found it very useful. Presenter was obviously very knowledgeable in the subject and made the course interesting. There was plenty of time for hands on practise and time to “Play” with the various software. Handouts gave clear step by step instructions and also gave more advanced tips”
”What a great opportunity to learn from an expert, and practise with various software applications and image sources. Highly recommended.”
”Really interesting content a lot of which I hadn’t heard before and if I had the course presented it in a much more interesting and useful way””
““I found the day very useful - a very practical session with time for hands-on practice and a lot of good advice given. I have heard a lot of about Ned’s presentation expertise. He was great!”
”Really useful and informative. Good to have practical sessions as well as demos.”
”Ned was fantastic, and there was a great balance of practical exercises, and presentation of examples and tips.”
”Training delivered by Ned was excellent.”
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““Tips and tricks about perfect presentations - it was fantastic! Very informative, very attractive content of the course. I’d recommend it to anyone.”
”The trainer’s knowledge and approach to the presentation were outstanding. We received numerous references for further learning and finding resources, which is greatly appreciated.”
”It was excellent. It is a particularly difficult topic to present on, as the audience is looking to see excellent presentation skills in action. The trainer succeeded in demonstrating presentation skills as well as talking about them.”
”It was just perfect.”
”Ned is very engaging and was able to get across his enthusiasm and expereince of presenting at a high standard.”
”The trainer gave lots of useful tips and could draw on own experience in libraries to illustrate points; there as a good balence between written and spoken input and time to practice new ideas.”
”The course was really fantastic, I came away with lots of practical ideas and feeling enthusiastic about sharing them with my team.”
”The best training I have ever been on.” ”
““Excellent course, presenter let you work out things for yourself, but was on hand to help. Useful resources to use and good tips on presenting.”
“I found the session really useful and will use skills picked up in this.”
“This was a very useful course – the PowerPoint bits looked at presentation style rather than the technical side (which I already knew, so I was glad about this emphasis), and the Prezi section gave us enough time to really try it out. I also heard about many new sources of images!”
”I really enjoyed the course and it gave me plenty of ideas for presentations going forward.””
““AMAZINGLY USEFUL DAY - THANK YOU!”
”Thank you, I learnt lots and will be using it very often at work”
”Brilliant session, thank you”
”Very relevant - I’m more confident in trying things out. Excellent (as expected), thank you”
”Great session, I feel I learnt a lot and look forward to putting it into pratice”
”I thought the course was extremely well presented; I’ll recommend it to all my colleagues””
““This workshop has undoubtedly helped to get me out of the rut I’m definitely in – my PowerPoints will be changed immediately! Thank you, I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
”Ned made the topic relevant, enjoyable and instructive, and gave me lots of tips to takeaway and work on. I also now know NOT to use bullets at all.”
”I will definitely change both my style of presenting and the tools I use to get my messages across. This has given me the lift I need.”
”I feel more confident in how to deliver a presentation. I now know how to make a topic interesting via Powerpoint and top tips on how to deliver.”
”Fascinating insights into different ways of making presentations really powerful”
”Excellent session – highly recommended”
”Well worth the day out. Hope Ned will be invited again so others can attend too”
”Brilliant and extremely helpful””
““This is what I enjoyed so much about the workshops: 1. Expertise in the subject matter; 2. Relevant and highly useful information: presented and practiced; 3. Clear and engaging presentation style; 4. Professionalism with a great sense of humour, no hidden agenda; 5. Dedication to collaborative professional development, to high standards, to excellence”
”Ned was very encouraging and easy to listen to”
”The whole day was beneficial”
”Great practical tips and resources, LOVED battledecks. Fantastically prepared, presented!”
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““Excellent presentation - now feel very motivated to try all the new things I have learnt”
”Very effective speaker and very inspiring”
”I really enjoyed the day and found it extremely helpful and inspiring.”
”Lots of useful ideas and information which I will put into practice at work”
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Organisations for whom I've run presentation skills training
““Trainer is excellent, very friendly and knowledgeable.”
”For me it was about filling gaps in my knowledge base, I now know a few more powerpoint tricks than I did before and that handout was superb!”
”An excellent session all round! Nicely structured with the hands-on sections, flowed really well.”
”Lots of great powerpoint tips. New places to search for images that can be used. Definitely want to use kahoot”
”Really good trainer!””
““Ned is an expert and an engaging speaker. Very supportive atmosphere for learning. I’ve looked at Ned’s material online but it was great to have him explain it. Very, very relevant and a big help in my day-to-day work. Thank you Ned!”
”Very informative, innovative, and gave me a lot to think about. I’m now excited even more about presentations”
”Ned was fantastic - I thought I had a reasonable understanding of PPT but lots of tips will really change how I use it.”
”Brilliant stuff from Ned”
”Brilliant training - lots of new ideas and tips.”
”Very informative - going to put into practice what I have learned at an induction next week! Lots of good information to share with colleagues too.”
”A great event - I learnt lots of new things about PowerPoint and how to use it effectively. The stuff about Prezi was useful too. More like this please.””
““Fabulous day thoroughly useful and took just what I needed from it and more!”
”Informal but professional, visual tips brilliant”
”Thanks - good to be introduced to Prezi! Good to have time to have a go ourselves”
”Perfect combination of interactive and hands-on””
““Ned was a great presenter. I found him engaging and I felt that that he structured the course in a managable way, considering the amount of information we learnt. I liked the fact that it included practical excercises”
”Very impressive. The trainer not only gave an excellent training day but also demonstrated HOW to work the visual information with a
real audience.”
”Great trainer, who demonstrated how we can use visuals as a reinforcement for speech and discussion, rather than ‘instead of’.”
”Very good trainer. Produced a relaxed atmosphere, where people felt able to ask questions.”
”I can’t think of anything else [that would improve the course]. I really enjoyed it and have come away with lots of new skills and ideas to try out. Thank you Staff Development for organising such a great course!”
”I really valued the 3 parts of the course: 1) how to create interesting & memorable slides. I learnt new ppt skills, as well as a host of new image resources I can use. I was also really interested in the theory of what makes a good slide. 2) Using Prezi as an alternative - I’m not new to Prezi but I learnt some new features which could be useful in the future. 3) Presenting skills - Ned gave us some really good tips which I shall try out in the future.”
”Wonderful - he deserves the national reputation he has. A really useful course, just what I needed””