Executive Education - - Presentation Skills Program

Program Details Takeaways Content Format Session Leaders Inquiries

About the program

In business, your best idea is only as good as your ability to effectively share it with others.

Strong technical analyses, breakthrough insights and sound strategic decisions risk being undervalued, misinterpreted or worse yet — ignored — if they are not clearly and convincingly presented to key stakeholders.

The complexity of ongoing innovations in analytics, digitization and artificial intelligence have driven the need for businesses to think differently and adapt quickly. Success ultimately depends on ensuring that your organization's employees have the communication skills to take advantage of the changing world of business so that information flows clearly and seamlessly between them and the outside world. Absence of either needlessly costs your firm money and damages stakeholder engagement at every level.

Communicating with Impact is a new online program, designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to confidently share your insights, analyses and recommendations with diverse audiences both inside and outside your organization.

In this program you will learn to:

Deliver presentations that engage, inform and motivate others
Understand the impact of voice and body language on how a message is received
Select the presentation content, structure and format that best aligns with your target audience

Dynamic virtual classroom

Participate in the program from anywhere. Our online learning platform combines live, interactive video instruction with breakout sessions, panel discussions, and expert Q&A.

Who should attend:

This program is designed for professionals within all business units who have responsibility for delivering clear and concise verbal communications or persuasive, impactful presentations.

You might also be interested in: Business Storytelling

CCDI Partnership

Smith School of Business is an Employer Partner of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion.

Personal Benefits

We all know an effective presentation when we see and hear one, but few of us have the chance to learn the essential ingredients. This program is designed to bridge that gap, as you will:

Learn to connect with your audience authentically on a logical and emotional level
Develop confidence in your ability to manage your nerves and overcome anxiety when speaking in front of others
Improve your personal leadership capacity with improved communication style
Learn to establish trust and credibility with new and known audiences
Use practical frameworks to best organize content and cater to target audiences, including supervisors, advisory boards and prospective clients

Organizational Benefits

Build organizational strength and skills in presentation design and delivery. Organizations will:

Overcome frequent internal communication challenges
Improve their success rate for business development and new client pitches
Streamline the translation and transmission of knowledge between units, particularly those who do not share the same technical expertise
Improved agility with technological innovation, decision-making and problem solving.

Program content:

Pre-Program:

Complete a simple and quick pre-program assignment to gain a better understanding of your current verbal presentation abilities, communication style and development challenges.

During the Program:

Through a combination of expert coaching, experiential exercises and video analysis of business presentations you will learn:

The key principles of influence and persuasion that resonate with any audience
How to build a communication strategy that takes into account your goals, target audience as well as the internal and external contexts
How to deliver higher quality business presentations that engage, inform and motivate others
Methods of critically analyzing your presentation style to better understand the impact of voice and body language on how your message is received
Strategies to overcome negative associations with pre-presentation anxiety and use nervous energy to your advantage
How to better select, organize and structure presentation content to craft a compelling narrative arc
Appropriate use of imagery, personal stories and data to engage and inform your audience
Techniques to critically analyze your presentations to ensure ongoing improvement and future success

Post-Program:

Reflection assignments will challenge you to put new skills into practice once back at work. New self-assessment skills will allow you to continue optimizing presentation abilities throughout your career.

Post-session coaching is also available, at an additional fee, should you desire.

Dynamic Virtual Classroom

Participate in the program from anywhere. Our online learning platform combines live, interactive video instruction with breakout sessions, panel discussions, and expert Q&A.

Our learning platform is fully encrypted, allowing you to connect securely from home, office or anywhere in between.

Virtual programs are designed to fit within your schedule, allowing you to learn new skills and immediately put them to work.

This program is available in an alternate format: View in-person program

Session Leaders

Session leaders include senior professors from Smith School of Business and knowledgeable experts from industry. These outstanding teachers are constantly in touch with today's business world through real-world business experience, Board memberships and their own consulting practices.

Matthew Reesor is the Director of the Full-time MBA at Smith School of Business. He has held administrative leadership and faculty positions at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (NUCB) and Queen’s University. He was a recipient of the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award while at NUCB. His research, focusing primarily on communications and language policy, has been published and widely referenced in academic journals. He is the author of a best-selling communications textbook published by Macmillan Japan.

Communicating With Impact - Virtual