Speak Like You Mean It!™

Learn what it takes to present with clarity and confidence.

Want to gain the skills you need to give powerful, compelling presentations?

Speak Like You Mean It! combines improvisational acting exercises, public speaking techniques, story-telling principles, and practical guidelines for designing and creating presentation graphics.

Morning: Developing a presence

Through a series of physical and verbal exercises, you will learn to feel comfortable with your physical presence, project and enunciate your words correctly, and connect with your audience through speaking rhythm, vocal emphasis, eye-contact, body language, and other essential public speaking skills.

Participants will engage in fun, challenging, and insightful exercises designed to help them focus on how they look and sound to their audience.

The morning session includes:

• Physical warm ups
• Listening Skills
• Spontaneous Thinking
• Improvisation Structures
• Body Language Skills
• The Power of Sounds
• Two-minute presentations
• and much more.

  

“John is an excellent speaker and is able to engage the class with stories that make his concepts relevant. I highly recommend this to anyone in business. It was a great experience.”
Theresa Li
Senior Engineer
British Columbia Transmission Corporation

Mid-day: Planning the presentation

You will learn how to generate ideas, craft a story, other skills you need to plan and create a compelling presentation. Either working in groups, or individually, participants will:

• Develop presentation ideas
• Assess their audience
• Create a story line
• Outline their presentation
• Write the presentation draft
• Learn how to rehearse effectively

Afternoon: The Power of Visual Support

Most presenters rely on visual support – often PowerPoint slides or other computer-based programs.  Unfortunately, few people understand how to use their visuals correctly. (Think of all those boring, tedious, and confusing presentations you've sat through!)

Speak Like You Mean It! shows you how to create visuals that clarify, enhance, and strengthen your oral presentation.

You will learn:

• What PowerPoint is good for. And how not to use it!
• How to develop a slide presentation that moves smoothly.
• Ways to use visuals to illustrate your story.
• and much more!

Presentations & Critiques

Each participant will write a final script, develop their visuals, and deliver their presentations to the class.

About your Instructor

John Sturtevant is an International Association of Business Communicators All-Star Speaker.

He earned his degree in Fine Arts with a focus on acting, directing, and script writing.

John created a university improv troupe and taught improvisational acting. He was also a writer and performer at Houston's original comedy club - The Comedy Workshop.

John taught Business Writing for five years at Harvard Business School and the European School of Economics.

Today, he teaches business people around the world how to think clearly and communicate persuasively.

Learn more about John Sturtevant  here.

See presentation video clips here.