The term “coaching” has acquired a wide range of meanings in the business world in recent years. It could involve developing business strategies, leadership advice, marketing assistance, or guidance on life choices or decisions. It almost always involves a joint effort between you and a professional, either in person or over the phone. But another way that many people may not be aware of is individual training for presentation skills. You typically think of presentation skills training in terms of participating in a workshop. But in today’s tough economic times, it may not be feasible to host a workshop or be able to take a day and participate in one.
When a workshop is not possible, individual coaching can be a solution. This is where you work with a personalized trainer to improve your presentation skills. There are both disadvantages and advantages to honing your skills this way:
DISADVANTAGES
All the downsides of individual training center on one fact: you don’t have an audience.
Artificial. Getting training in public speaking or presentation skills will always be more powerful when done in a group setting. There is great value in having an “audience” to present to, as well as a group of peers offering feedback. When you do it one on one, where it’s just you, the coach and a camera, you lose the sense of an audience and it can feel a bit more artificial to pretend you’re talking to one.
Not as anxiety-busting. The main problem with public speaking is, of course, anxiety. That anxiety mainly comes from the fact that you’re presenting to a group of people, whether it’s three hundred or three hundred. It is the overwhelming concern of the vast majority of people who want to improve their presentation skills. They want to get rid of butterflies and build their confidence in front of a group. Practicing in front of a group is the best way to face your fears and overcome them. When working one on one, there can be some nervousness; after all, a trainer and a camera can be a bit intimidating. But it is not the same as the anxiety caused by facing an audience.
No visual communication practice. Finally, it is extremely difficult to practice visual communication in a one-on-one setting. When you face your audience members, it is apparent whether or not you are connecting with each of them individually, giving them a sense of looking at them and speaking to them. That level of connection simply isn’t possible to replicate in a one-on-one setting, so it’s a skill set that can be neglected.
ADVANTAGE
However, these disadvantages do not rule out the value of individual training. It has many advantages:
Personalized training. When you work with a trainer, you get one-on-one feedback directed specifically at you – there are no other people in a class you need to share training with. You get specific, detailed attention, which means you get a specific benefit and are more likely to learn more and retain it better.
More time efficient. Since there are no others giving presentations and receiving feedback, you are the sole focus of the trainer/trainer. So you can accomplish in a couple of hours what might have taken a full day if you had to share the stage with others.
Your Own Rhythm. Setting up a workshop by its own design means there is an agenda and time considerations. The coach must stick to a schedule. That sometimes means something may change or it may mean too much time is being spent on something that is not relevant to you. When it’s just you and the trainer, you can work at the pace you want, only on the topics you want. You are restricted only by the time limits that you both agreed on.
Targeted to your needs. Maybe you feel good about your content and delivery and just want to work on improving the PowerPoint that will accompany your presentation. That can be done in one training session. Perhaps you are struggling with your organization and would like help organizing your speech and perhaps adding appropriate humanizing elements. Again, that is what training can be focused on. Maybe you have a big 30-minute presentation coming up that you want to polish and practice. That would be impossible to do in a workshop, but it’s ideal for coaching work.
A trained and experienced trainer can work with you one-on-one on your presentation skills and give you more for your money!