How To Calm Your Grammar Fears In English To Give A Successful Presentation
(photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@markusspiske)
Today’s blog post is about how to calm your grammar fears in English to give a successful presentation.
Situation:
How To Calm Your Grammar Fears In English To Give A Successful Presentation To A Potential Investor.
Two founding directors, from a company we work with, needed training. It was their second funding round and it was a pivotal moment in their company’s history. Their training needs were specific and focused on ‘how to give a successful presentation in English to a potential investor’.
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Problem:
The main problem for our clients was how to calm your grammar fears in English to give a successful presentation to a potential investor.
Working with the two founding directors we identified the following problems:
1) they were worried about making mistakes in English and not projecting a good professional image.
2) they felt they lacked fluency and confidence speaking in English.
3) they hadn’t identified their key communication goals to deliver a successful presentation in English.
4) they weren’t focusing on their key communication goals to deliver a successful presentation in English.
5) they had only prepared 60% of the Q&A part of their presentation (Q&A – questions and answers).
Solution:
The training solution we offered was in three parts:
- Training – part I:
- we helped them identify their key fears.
- we gave them coping strategies to manage their fears.
- we identified the key communication points for their presentation (structure, getting their ideas across, key takeaway points for the audience, prepare answers to key questions for the Q&A part, clear and concise content, good visual slides).
2. Training – part II:
- 1st real practice + answering difficult audience questions + coaching feedback.
- 2nd real practice + answering difficult questions + coaching feedback.
- 3rd real practice + answering difficult audience questions + coaching feedback.
3. Post-training:
- we identified their key learning points from the training and presentation.
- we got their detailed feedback (good points and areas to improve) after their presentation with the potential investor.
- developed an action plan which included follow up and accountability for further learning.
Results:
1) the two founding directors persuaded a potential investor to invest in their company for their second funding round, a real pivotal moment in their company’s history.
2) they both realised that focusing on effective communication is more important than worrying about making mistakes in English (e.g. calming their grammar fears).
3) they both feel they’ve really improved their presentation skills in English.
4) they both feel they’ve improved their speaking confidence and fluency in English.
I hope this helps you in your professional career! Christopher Wright
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Do you have a similar Business English dilemma you’d like us to help you with? Get in contact with us (chris@englishtco.com or info@englishtco.com or our web’s contact form).
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