Presentation skills was not much of a thing before 1995. There was a bit of media training, learning how to talk to camera, handle journalists turning up on the doorstep of head office. But not much more beyond that.

Gradually the idea that the spoken word mattered and that it could be trained and taught, caught on. Hard to know where to start the story, but advertising man Peter Rogen out of New York is certainly part of the story. His firm, Rogen (later RogenSi) built out the market for presentation skills and it’s cousin Pitching. I cut my training and facilitation teeth at Rogen in the late nineties and I ran countless presentation skills workshops. It was the mainstay of the firm.

Presentation skills teaches two things - Design and Delivery.

Design is how to put the ideas together into a coherent and compelling string - we can only say one thing at a time, so we have to put things in the best order. Delivery is how to take those words and express them to an audience such that they are captivated by the approach and compelled to act as a result.

Gaining and holding attention and inciting action on our ideas is a pretty heady stuff. Done well we show ourselves that we worth listening to, that people care what we have to say and that our words can inspire others to act.

The Impact of developing the craft of presenting

I have had several people cry in presentation skills over 20+ years as they hear the feedback from their peers and colleagues listening to their presentation. Words like - “I believed you”, “I trusted you”, “I wanted to follow you”, “I want to act on your recommendation”, “you seemed knowledgeable and confident”, “you came across as likeable and fun”. We can go years and possibly decades in ordinary life and never find ourselves in a situation where people might say these sorts of things to each other. So, to have it happen on a Tuesday afternoon at a soft skills training course while at work, is quite a surprise for some and can be a very moving personal development experience.

Some of my proudest moments as a presentation skills trainer is hearing about birthday and wedding speeches that were a hit, and even eulogies that were gratefully received by those in attendance on that sad and important day.

So while there’s no walking on hot coals, a good old-fashioned presentation skills course is right up with some of the finest professional and personal development anyone can do.