'Mastering the room' lunchtime open workshop with William Theobald

Have you ever been in the room with a truly great presenter? Someone who gets you listening to every word they say? When you've left that room, has that presenters message really stuck with you?

Mastering a room and holding your audience from start to finish has a powerful effect on an audience - From higher information retention to faster decision making and increased buy in from attendees. It's something few are naturally good at, but it is something we can develop and master with the correct training.

With the working world shifting towards a mix of office, home and hybrid working, it's more important than ever to be able to present yourself at your best in all environments. Engaging with your audience, both in person and online, can prove tricky at the best of time.

Whether you're managing colleagues, pitching to clients or delivering training or presentations, having the clarity and confidence to deliver at your best, online and in-person, can make all the difference.

In this 2-hour interactive workshop, we will look at what makes a confident and engaging presentation. We will explore –

• How to control nerves
• Practical exercises that will help you engage your audience
• Body language that gives confidence
• How to engage our audience emotionally & intellectually
• & more

We all present in our lives on a regular basis, and being truly great at engaging our audience brings many benefits, including:

• Higher Information Retention: The human brain discards boring information. When an audience is passive, they retain less than 10% of what is said. When they are actively engaged (emotionally or interactively), retention rates skyrocket, meaning you don’t have to repeat yourself in follow-up emails. The message actually sticks.

• Faster Decision Making: Dis-engaged audiences delay decisions because they "need to think about it" (often code for: "I drifted off and missed the value proposition"). An engaged audience follows the logic in real-time and is ready to say "yes" immediately.
  
• Increased "Buy-In": When an audience participates (even just nodding or answering a rhetorical question), they feel a sense of ownership over the ideas being presented. Attendees feel they are building the solution with you, not having it forced on them.

Your trainer - William Theobald

William has been a part of Talking Shop Training for a decade and carries a BSc in Politics & International Relations from the University of Reading alongside a post-graduate degree in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University. 

William has run workshops and training for clients such as Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, and has run open workshops in Courageous Conversations, audience engagement, presentation skills among other topics.