Ten senior managers from the Business Moves Group took time out from their busy schedules to take part in a public speaking and presentation skills course run by The Mover magazine.

             

The Mover’s editor, Steve Jordan and his brother David began running their Speakeasy courses in 2002 to help business people overcome their fear of speaking in public and improve their presentation skills.

During the two-day course the BMG managers were given an insight into the techniques professional speakers use to overcome fear, engage with their audiences and make sure they get their message across.  However, the Speakeasy course is more about doing than listening and everyone had the chance to put the theory into practice and present to the rest of the class on a number of subjects. Naturally everyone was very nervous at first, but by the end of the first day the butterflies began to go away and the personalities started to shine through. 

“Standing up and speaking to an audience, even a fairly small one, is a scary experience if you’re not used to it and most people simply avoid speaking if they possibly can,” said David Jordan. “The trouble is those that are prepared to face the limelight are the ones that get noticed and are seen as industry experts while others remain in the shadows.”

Like many people who reach a certain stage in their careers both David and Steve were ‘dropped in at the deep end’ and expected to speak at major events with no experience or training. “It was back in the 1980s when my boss told me I’d be the main speaker at a product launch to about 200 key account customers,” said David. “I lived like a condemned man for the next three weeks, terrified at the thought of facing all those important people and having to answer their questions.  I survived, but vowed never to be in that position again - I enrolled on a public speaking course the very next week.”

Even now, thirty years later people are still expected to stand up in public and give a presentation with no proper training, so there’s little wonder so many get it wrong.  It is good to see that BMG has recognised the importance of presentation skills training and has chosen to include it in its management training programme.

For more information about Speakeasy courses please contact David or Steve Jordan at The Mover.


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