Last week, I co-presented a course at Enterprise University, “Public Relations 101: ‘The Earned Advertising.'” Here is a link to the Power Point presentation, http://bit.ly/bwSqmd.
What made the course fun to teach is that even though Mary, my co-presenter, and I had put together a Power Point and put a lot of thought into making it a “how-to” class for participants, the class participants provided us with many great items that they wanted to discuss, which helped us better illustrate how to provide specific answers to the questions they had.
Take aways that I learned after this presentation include:
- Solicit class participation immediately: Before we started the class, we asked each of the class participants what they wanted to learn. It helped guide the conversation so we could refer back to their questions and discuss specific examples.
- Make sure the conversation is about the students’ learning and not the presenter’s experience: The feedback received after the class is that people appreciated having their questions answered during the presentation. Being able to tie in the content with examples of what they could do to implement some of their own public relations.
- Acknowledge when the class will end: When you only have 15-20 minutes left in the class, let everyone know so that you can prioritize the content that they want to discuss. It’s best to cover what the group wants to discuss and not rush through material to reach the end.
Getting invited to make a presentation to a group is an important part of your marketing plan. Being prepared is expected and a must. Being flexible with how the content is presented is a skill that is developed but one that can make a difference in the learning experience for the attendees.
Did you like this blog? Please provide your comments or send an email to annmarie@ammcommunications.com.
Best regards,
AMM
Founded in 2008, St. Louis-based AMM Communications LLC is an integrated public relations and marketing firm that provides public relations, marketing, crisis communication, social media and sales management training for small- and mid-cap financial institutions, professional service firms and manufacturing companies. For more information, please navigate to www.ammcommunications.com or call 314.485.4390.
Hi Russ,Thanks for the feedback. That is a great idea and one that will be incorporated into the next presentation.Have a great week!AMM
Perhaps even soliciting questions days or weeks before the presentation would give you a real chance to customize the presentation. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.