Why Presenting What You Learned at a Professional Development Program is Important
Professional development programs are a great opportunity to improve your current skills or learn new ones. These skills can help you do your work more efficiently, better serve customers, clients, or stakeholders, and potentially set you up for future promotion. Because a professional development program provides value to you and your workplace, take the opportunity to tell your team about what you learned so they can reap that value as well.
How to Prepare During Your Program
Following these steps will not only help you remember and apply what you learned, but you’ll also have a list of talking points and resources ready to go for your presentation.
- Take notes during your program
- Take pictures or screenshots of any relevant presenter slides
- At the end of your program, review your notes and highlight key takeaways
- Create a list of action items from those key takeaways
- Note quotes, best practices, or other actionable advice the instructor gave
- Make a list of tools or resources suggested by the instructor
Prepare With 6 Elements of a Great Presentation
When you return to your workplace from your professional development program, you may be asked to present, or you can offer to present. Whatever the format, use your notes and prep work to prepare your presentation. Be mindful of the following elements:
1. Keep your audience in mind
It is always important to be well organized and consider your audience’s thoughts, feelings, or ideas about what you are going to present. Especially when introducing new ideas within an organization or team, it is important to consider the ‘what’s in it for them.’
2. Start with an overview of the program and its topics
Give a summary of the professional development program you went to, who the instructor was, and where it was held to lay the groundwork for your audience.
3. Explain why you wanted to attend
Tell your audience the reason for enrolling in the program and consider what need or problem you were looking to solve with that particular training.
4. Provide insights and actionable takeaways from the program
Your presentation should focus on the three to five most important takeaways you learned, as well as how you can apply those takeaways to your daily work life.
5. Use storytelling and examples from the program
If there were stories or examples that clarified a point or visualized an action or takeaway, retell it to your audience.
6. Create a great PowerPoint
Don’t just plan what you’ll communicate, but how you’ll communicate it. Create a PowerPoint to show during your talk. Make one slide per key takeaway, add any visuals that may help your audience understand the concepts better. Keep it simple and easily digestible!
4 Things to Avoid During a Presentation
Here’s what to avoid:
1. Don’t make assumptions
Don’t assume everyone is going to be as enthusiastic for change as you are. I suggest taking one or two ideas, or thoughts and presenting them, rather than come in with a list that could be overwhelming to your audience.
2. Avoid busy slides
Avoid listing all your talking points on the slide. Instead, put one key takeaway or action item on one slide, and let your speech tell the story.
3. Avoid sharing everything
Focus on three to five items you learned from that training. This will be more interesting and actionable for your audience.
4. Avoid going over time
Make sure you prepare your content to fit in the time allotted.
Preparing for Presenting Virtually vs. In Person
Much of the same prep work will apply whether you’re presenting in person or virtually. However, engagement and energy will be different in front of a virtual audience. Make sure your technology works, your video and microphone are clear, and you have a non-distracting background behind you.
Presentation Tips and Best Practices
Finally, don’t forget to employ public speaking best practices:
- Making eye contact with your audience
- Having a confident stance and a firm, clear voice
- Slowing down your talking speed and enunciating clearly
- Using your note cards as “shorthand reminders,” not as a script
- Practicing your presentation — remember, nervousness is normal!
- Taking questions at the end from your audience
- Offering to send the slides to your audience so they can use them as a resource
Next Steps: Better Presenting with “Communication Strategies”
If you’re ready to take the next step in growing your communication and presentation skills, register today.