Course Outcomes

This web-based client presentation skills course for people who present to customers and clients will:

  • Explain what most clients want and/or need.
  • Suggest strategies for planning for and addressing different types of clients.
  • Outline preparation strategies.
  • Provide a strategy for identifying and organizing salient points.

Course Overview

Producing great work for clients is one thing, but knowing how to talk about your product or process is an entirely different skill set. Furthermore, all else being equal, people who know how to deliver presentations to clients effectively are more likely to show value, generate new business, and keep competitors at bay.

This two-hour course teaches people how to determine what clients want, prioritize the people in the room, identify a storyline or presentation plot, and tell a succinct story.

Note: For a more complete workshop experience, consider adding a second training segment where we coach participants on delivery skills.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Identify a client’s top needs and wants.
  • Find opportunities in the narrative to show needs and wants are being met.
  • Determine the correct depth and breadth of information to share.
  • Develop audience personas.
  • Choose a presentation plot.
  • Determine how an audience could influence how content is presented.
  • Proactively address client idiosyncrasies.
  • Build a story using the plot + subplot + characters (PSC) method.
  • Write a presentation goal and headline.
  • Create a mind map.
  • Follow an answer-first structure.
  • Use examples, stories, and analogies to add color to data.
  • Leverage various language models.
  • Follow design best practices.
  • Read a room and adjust delivery.

Program Modules

  • What Clients Want: Understanding Needs
  • The Story: Picking a Plot
  • Information Organization: Building a Framework and Putting Pages in Order
  • Tools to Advance the Story: Using What’s Available
  • Slide Rules: Choreographing with PowerPoint
  • Reading the Room: Getting Delivery Right

By the end of this two-hour training session, participants should be able to create a client-centric presentation.