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“Glen worked with me to build from scratch a completely new world-class talk… a talk that now captures any audience in the first 15 seconds!” That was the comment made by a celebrity speaker that I coached in both the content and the delivery of his conference keynote, but you don’t have to be a celebrity to benefit from my service! Having been involved in people development for over 30 years and being a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional- one of only 10 in NZ), I love working with people to build their confidence and competence in terms of presentation skills. I’ve worked to develop the speaking ability of a huge range of people from ex-prisoners presenting their journeys on stages around New Zealand, through to celebrities who have climbed Everest and had their own television show, and countless people in between who desired to improve their speaking skills for the workplace. Much of my coaching is based around the 10 essential elements to winning presentations in my book “Outstanding Presenters Speak for Themselves!” including:
Contact me to talk further about us helping you to take your presentation skills to the next level!
As one of only 10 Certified Speaking Professionals in New Zealand, I’ve been helping people with presentation skills for years. Some time ago I was coaching an engineering manager to deliver a proposal to his senior management team for capital expenditure on thermal testing equipment. It was quite a dry presentation and certainly lacked any dramatic opening to hook senior management in. Once I’d finished coaching him and we’d considered the purpose for his presentation including the ways his delivery aimed to achieve that purpose (or conversely failed), then we reconfigured his presentation. When it came to the day in question, he stood up in front of senior management, and a number of other representatives of the company, held up a small sealed bearing, and ask the audience what they thought it cost. Answers ranged from several dollars up to $40 or $50, so you can imagine the audience’s surprise, and even shock, when he announced the cost- $65,000!! He went on to say that this would have been the cost if he and fellow staff hadn’t acted quickly in the small hours of the morning when the bearing failed on a refrigeration unit, risking over $65,000 worth of frozen goods. Being sealed, these kinds of bearings could not be visually checked for wear- they could only be checked and tested with the use of the thermal testing gear that he was proposing the company purchased. As you can imagine he really had the attention of senior management right from the very outset of his presentation!
I must say, I love one-on-one coaching for presentation skills, especially if the coachee is gearing up towards a particular presentation like the former case study. Coaching in this case is fully customised, but largely based on the 10 elements described in my book “Outstanding Presenters Speak for Themselves” with particular emphasis on the following:
It’s my preference in coaching people in presentation skills to see a talk in action, either live, or videoed, preferably in front of a live audience. This creates a powerful starting point for the coaching process (and even if you aren’t going to engage me as a professional presentation skills coach, I highly recommend you video as many of your presentations as possible, and watch them several times over in order to see what you’re doing well and what you could potentially improve on). You’ll be amazed at what you pick up on as you watch yourself on video. I was coaching someone in keynote presentations last year who had watched himself on video prior to sending the video to me for critique. Even having watched himself once or twice, he was still not aware of his three main distracting mannerisms each of which were clearly visible to the audience- and that’s the value of engaging a coach!
Contact me to talk further about your presentation skills coaching requirements!
This free chapter (5) from the book “Outstanding Presenters Speak for Themselves- 10 Essential Elements To Winning Presentations!” focuses on the subject of choosing, crafting, and delivering stories in an unforgettable fashion. It emphasizes the fact that a great story can be poorly told and conversely a relatively mundane story can be delivered in an extremely engaging manner, making it memorable years after the telling.
Download a free PDF chapter from Outstanding Presenters Speak for
Themselves - 10 Essential Elements To Winning Presentations!
"Glen you’re a superstar and we love having you part of our extended business!"
"There was universal acclaim for the course content, the course delivery and his ability to make the course a lot of fun yet full of learning at the same time"
"He is an outstanding presenter"
"He has an authentic and organic style that brings so much energy and enthusiasm that really engages his audience"
"The way in which Sharkey captivates and engages the audience is nothing short of amazing"
"He had people really sitting up and wanting to be involved"
"Glen is one of the best facilitators I have worked with in my career"
"We absolutely appreciate having Glen present and facilitate"
"Glen is a true professional and one of the best presenters we have ever used. Highly recommend!"
"More importantly showed us first-hand, how to connect with an audience and bring any subject matter to life to have greater impact"
"A lesson from the best"
"(Glen) quickly established himself as a transformational provider to our organisation"
"Fun, charismatic, smart and professional"
"On my recommendation two of New Zealand top speakers are now working with Glen on their talks, presentations and workshops"
"Generous, highly capable and inspirational male with a very encouraging yet firmly motivational ability to move people forward in this space"
"Glen was absolutely inspiring to the leaders he trained"
"He got people out of their comfort zone without anyone feeling ‘uncomfortable’"
"Sharkey is one of those presenters that holds your attention with such ease and interest and you suddenly realise an hour has gone by and you still want to hear more"
"It's been life changing and has set us up well for progressing in life and our careers in the future"
"His ability to relate to all levels and gain trust and really entice people to speak openly and freely is a real talent"
"His focus on pre-event planning and preparation results in amazing outcomes at his workshops"
"He has an amazing facilitation style which puts attendees at ease and his use of storytelling and real word examples is his glue in achieving outcomes for his clients"
"We were thrilled with the quality and value of his presentations"
"Sharkey is a great presenter and teacher. He really does practice what he preaches in his use of stories, passion and humour to get his audience engaged"
"His presentation skills are above anything myself or my team had experienced"
"Glen Sharkey has and remains our preferred presenter for everything from leadership training to facilitated strategy sessions"
"He can relate to and influence every level of our organisation – he can keep difficult audiences engaged and challenged by demonstrating intelligent thinking in a highly pragmatic manner"
"To be coached by Glen is a huge honour, given his massive speaking prowess"
"Glen worked with me to build from scratch a completely new world class talk, new Intellectual property, other content such as a professional edited introduction video… and most importantly of all, a talk that now captures any audience in the first 15 seconds"
"To spend an hour with Glen is to drink from a fire hydrant of new ideas and be challenged and motivated. If you’re lucky enough to get the opportunity to work with him then grab the chance! (His books are awesome too!)"
