FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Question About Working Together
Private coaching is designed around the communication situations that matter most to you. Here are answers to some of the questions that often come up before we begin.
1. What does a public speaking coach help with?
A public speaking coach helps you communicate with greater clarity, confidence, presence, and control.
That can include presentations, meetings, interviews, pitches, difficult questions, storytelling, vocal delivery, body language, and speaking when you have little time to prepare.
The objective is not simply to become a better presenter. It is to become a more effective communicator when the stakes are high.
2. Do you offer private public speaking coaching?
Yes. Private coaching is customized around your role, your communication challenges, and the situations where you need to perform at your best.
Rather than working through a standard curriculum, we identify the areas that will make the greatest difference and build the coaching around them.
3. What is executive presence under pressure?
Executive presence under pressure is the ability to remain clear, credible, and composed when the conversation becomes more demanding.
That may mean responding to a difficult question, defending a recommendation, handling an interruption, thinking on the spot, or bringing a discussion back to the central point.
The goal is not to eliminate pressure. It is to communicate effectively while it is happening.
4. Can you help me become more confident speaking in meetings?
Yes.
Confidence usually improves when you have a clearer way to organize your thoughts, enter the conversation, make your point, and respond when the discussion changes direction.
The work can address speaking up in group meetings, contributing with greater authority, handling interruptions, answering questions, and communicating expertise without over explaining.
5. Is the coaching customized?
Yes. The work is shaped around you. Your role, audience, communication environment, strengths, pressure points, and immediate priorities all help determine where the coaching should focus.
Featured areas include Investor Narrative Control Executive Presence Under Pressure, and Leadership Communication Strategy, but the work can also address presentation skills, speaking confidence, storytelling, interview preparation, vocal presence, accent clarity, and other communication priorities.
6. Who do you typically work with?
Paul works with executives, investment professionals, business leaders, technical experts, entrepreneurs, and other professionals whose expertise needs to land clearly with other people.
The common challenge is often not a lack of knowledge. It is communicating that knowledge with enough clarity, confidence, and direction to influence the room.
7. Do you help with difficult questions and speaking on the spot?
Yes. This is a significant part of private coaching.
You can work on organizing your thinking quickly, answering before over explaining, maintaining composure during challenges or interruptions, and returning to your central message when a conversation moves somewhere unexpected.
8. How long does private coaching last?
The length of the engagement depends on the objective.
Focused communication issues may require a shorter engagement. More significant changes involving executive presence, speaking confidence, communication habits, or performance under pressure benefit from enough time to practice, apply, refine, and reinforce the work in real situations.
You do not need to know exactly what kind of coaching you need before reaching out.
A brief conversation can help determine the best next step.
Presentation Skills Training
What are effective presentation skills?
Effective presentation skills include knowing how to:
Prepare out loud
Trust your perspective and authenticity
Build your Hierarchy of Ideas
Discover and use your Bumper Stickers
Leverage human listening behaviors
Utilize good body language
Project to scale
Slow down your rate of speech
Mitigate public speaking anxiety
Invite your audience in with storytelling
Why do we need presentation skills training?
Presentations are the fastest way to promote yourself and your ideas. It’s you in the spotlight, and that can add a lot of pressure. Since so much is often riding on your presentation, you want to know the proven techniques that will make you a consistent presenter. Your career depends on it!
What is the 10-20-30 Slideshow rule?
A PowerPoint presentation should have 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 points. Why 10 slides? Because you are always in competition with your slides. You want your audience to listen to your narrative. Why 20 minutes? Your narrative has to be impactful. Make it resonate right from the start using characterizations, or Bumper Stickers. Why 30 point font? Your audience will only look at a slide for five seconds. Larger font helps them process and quickly move back to focusing on you.
How can I develop good presentation skills?
Seeing and doing are the best ways to develop presentation skills. A group program or workshop will give each individual the opportunity to recognize the positive adjustments in others and experience true learning “on their feet”. After that, it’s just repetition of best practices.
Public Speaking Classes
What are the different types of public speaking?
All business communication scenarios are a form of public speaking. Meetings, presentations, sales calls, and networking events are all very similar in approach. You want to get your point across with as much clarity and brevity as possible.
What are the tips for public speaking?
Take your time when delivering your message. There can be a strong urge to pick up the pace. This will not make what you’re saying more interesting. More importantly, it gives you listeners the time they need to process what you’re saying. Take the time to breathe. Most people forget to do this because they feel nervous. We are all very empathetic listeners. We may not be smiling and nodding our heads in total agreement, but we do want to hear what you have to say. Look and feel as comfortable as possible when you take us on the journey.
How do I reduce the fear of public speaking?
You can begin to mitigate public speaking anxiety by recognizing the forces that are ever-present. You have to learn how to habituate with the energy of attention, the sense of judgment, and the fear of consequences. Luckily, there are proven physical and mental techniques and tricks that you can use when you feel the pressure. Deliberate breathing, coordinated gesturing, bold Bumper Stickers, and presenting a strong framework all work very nicely. Putting them all together does require some professional guidance.
Soft Skills Training
What are the top soft skills?
Work Ethic consists of accepting responsibilities, meeting deadlines, and performing to the best of your ability.
Communication Skills can be verbal, nonverbal, and aural (listening). Written and visual communication skills also test your ability to relay information clearly and concisely.
Problem Solving Skills show that you are able to determine workable solutions for various problems.
Adaptability shows a willingness to shift gears as needed and even take on multiple roles.
Teamwork demands accountability, collaboration, and compromise. A clear understanding of strengths and weaknesses is also essential.
Leadership Skills are an expectation as you cultivate relationships and learn how to resolve conflicts.
Why do soft skills matter?
Demonstrating good soft skills is often an indicator of whether a new hire fit within the existing company culture. They are the glue that secures a productive work environment.
Can soft skills be taught?
Soft skills can be demonstrated and recognized. Becoming skilled at them simply means creating habit-forming behavior around them. The balance of language is crucial to achieving these desired results
What does soft skill training include?
Concept recognition, problem solving exercises, and integration role play, are used to show teams the gaps they might not even be aware of. Assessment, guidance, and repetition lead to the adoption of proven best practices.
Leadership Training
What should be included in leadership training?
A good leadership training program will touch on these important topics:
The art of retaining your people through inspiration and motivation
The ABC’s of time management
Embracing Self Assessment
Defining accountability and demonstrating it
Knowing how and when to delegate
The tricky balance of change management
Effect persuasion and negotiation
What is the best leadership training?
The best leadership training takes place in a group setting. We all know good leadership practices when we see them; we just don’t always know the fastest way to adopt them. Group leadership training offers the change of mindset and language utilization that leaders to maintain the company’s productivity and the company’s culture.
Can leadership be trained?
Many leaders reach the top through sheer will power. Once they have reached their goal they are surprised at how often they find themselves in a transitional situation. Whether they are scaling the company, implementing new initiatives, or downsizing, effective communication mitigates redundancies and unnecessary costs. Exploring these inevitable scenarios, or revisiting them, is the most practical way to achieve “changes at the top”.
