For many people, when they find out they need to give a presentation, host an online meeting or pitch to clients they feel nervous, worried or slightly sick. When the time comes to present, their face goes red, their mouth goes dry and their mind goes blank.
These internal worries and external physical symptoms are commonly caused by a negative, unhelpful state of mind. In our multi-award-winning system and book we refer to this state of mind as ‘Public Speaking Monkeys.’
How to adopt a positive, fear-free attitude
We are passionate about helping people to bring out their best. For all sorts of reasons, you can’t do that when the monkeys are in control. We will work with you to tame and train your Public Speaking Monkeys and adopt a new mindset for success.
Working one to one with a highly experienced trainer (either in person or virtually), in this tailored public speaking course you will be coached into developing a confident, constructive and positive attitude.
Watch our video testimonials to see and hear how our clients feel so confident after ‘taming their monkeys.’
You can choose whether to do the course in person face to face or virtually. Both options will be individually taught, so it will just be you and your presentation skills coach.
Business presentations online and off e.g. boardroom presentations, pitching internal ideas, webinars, technical presentations, conference presentations, customer proposals and sales presentations, internal meetings, investment pitches, keynote speeches and more… (learn the principles of virtual presenting and for in-depth training on the subject, see our Virtual Presenting course).
You can choose to meet your coach in person or do the training virtually.
Face to face in person:
OR
Virtual training:
Optional extra: Ideal for face to face and virtual learners (Part 6): 1 x 60-minute live post-training review via web call
Prerequisites: Before doing this course, you must have committed to Stage 1 Present With Confidence and Stage 2 Present Like a Pro.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
This multi-award-winning 6-part system is perfect for nervous presenters, or people who dislike presenting, who want to get to the root of the problem and improve their confidence and delivery long term.
Here’s the course breakdown:
Part 1 – Where could your fear or concerns have originated from?
You’ll be invited to complete the ‘A Bit About You’ pre-session workbook (hard copy or e-version available). This means that in part 2 we’ll be more easily able to identify what the root cause of problems could be and how to tailor the session to you. The actual cause of your fear is not important, other than to understand why it developed and therefore how to let it go.
Part 2 – Catching your Public Speaking Monkeys
Here, you will discuss the findings in your workbook and through your coach’s experience and skilled questioning techniques we’ll discover even more about your issues around public speaking. By the end of this session both you and your coach will have a more in depth understanding of your individual situation, i.e. – what physical symptoms you show, such as shaking, going red or shortness of breath. We’ll discover when these symptoms do and do not appear (because they usually don’t happen in every situation).
You’ll then receive the book ‘Taming Your Public Speaking Monkeys’ by Dee Clayton. Your coach will guide you to the most relevant sections to help you get ahead of the game with your preparatory reading.
If you’re doing the virtual training, your (optional) home play will include creating a short video of your session realisations. This embeds what you have been taught, allows you to practice your new-found mindsets and habits and drives improvement as your coach provides constructive feedback.
Part 3 – Connecting with your Monkeys
By piecing together all the information gathered so far – and by tapping into your coach’s experience with other clients – together we’ll be able to pinpoint when, where and why your monkeys began. We call this ‘connecting’ with your monkey, and it is a vital stage on the path to success.
If you’re doing the virtual training, you will use what you’ve learnt in a short video and your coach will provide constructive feedback.
Part 4 – Challenging Your Monkeys
After understanding the situation fully and identifying the negative feelings you have about your presentation skills and abilities, together with your coach, you will unpick these negatives and begin to see which ones are totally untrue, which are partly true/exaggerated and which are genuine missing skills that would be useful to develop upon. (You may have already tried and failed at something similar yourself before, but this time it works because you’ve followed the system in parts 1-3 and you are being guided by your expert coach.) You may even come to realise how the monkey was (ironically) trying to help you – but he got a bit carried away and confused!
If you’re doing the virtual training, you will use what you’ve learnt in a short video, your coach will provide constructive feedback.
Part 5 – Creating new Helpful Monkeys that work for all situations
Now you no longer entertain those negative monkeys that were destroying your confidence, we need to replace those nagging doubts with more constructive self-talk. You’ll go through every scenario that would have worried you in the past, and test that the New Helpful Monkey is working to support you. You’ll develop an action plan to develop any missing skills identified previously and get ready to begin the next stage in your programme.
Whether you are doing the virtual or in person face to face training, you will be invited to show what you’ve learnt throughout the programme in a short finale review video. Your trainer will provide constructive feedback and highlight next steps.
Part 6 – Embedding the change
This session is an optional extra, but highly recommended. Once your monkey is tamed, it will be gone for good. But, for some, because they have had the monkey for so long, they not only need to change their mindset but they need a little extra help to change their habits. In this session we will help you to unstick those bad habits (which include never preparing, rushing through your presentation, focusing on the negatives of a situation, not volunteering to speak, among others). And we’ll develop a detailed plan of how to continue to improve on your habits long after the course has finished. To embed your new learnings you’ll create a short video, your coach will provide constructive feedback.
“The training has helped with my calmness and breathing What I like most was the live feedback. The training will enhance my frequent presentations on the job. Highly recommend this to others.”
Alfie – Senior Bid Development Manager
“It pushed me out of my comfort zone, but not too far, I felt empowered to stand up and talk, not forced to. I believe in myself more and at least have body language to appear confident. Looking forward to what’s to come with rest of training” [Stages 2 & 3]
Abigail – Executive Assistant
“I know what to do with my body language, how to be clear with my voice and how to make my message simpler. I’ll use this when presenting to the management team and externally. Definitely recommend this to others”
Jeff – Sustainability leader
I was so, so looking forward to today, I got a few laughs and got my point across – I had some amazing feedback. I can’t believe how far I’ve come and if it weren’t for banishing the monkeys I would still be shying away! Thank you a million times to the moon and back! I have achieved things beyond my wildest dreams! Do not hesitate if you need help – fear can be conquered.
Claire Hartnell – Director ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
When you invest in all three stages:
Sounds just what you need? Want to know more? Then get in touch today to discuss your situation and we’ll take you through step by step investment requirements, timelines, logistics and anything else you need to know.
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