Presenting the best for Shop Direct

Stephanie Davies headed off to Shop Direct where she took a group from the organisation’s Talent Team through an in-depth two-day Presentation Skills boot camp to learn the art of effective presentation.

On day one, eager students learnt about the theory behind presentation and the practical skills needed, including memory techniques, managing nerves, visual presentation, audience engagement and participation. Our Presentation Skills workshops focus in part on methods delegates can use to hook in an audience and ensure they remember the message and remember the presenter, a key skill to have when delivering effective presentations. On the second day, the team got to put their new skills into practice and bought in material that they needed to present in their jobs for try-out sessions in front of the rest of the group. They also learnt about effective preparation and planning, something Stephanie could brush up on in her own development, as she managed to turn up to the event a week early after the date had changed and her diary hadn’t synced. In her defence, it was the first time in 12 years she’d got a date wrong, so we won’t be too hard on her – and she got a free morning to go to her favourite café, The Quarter and eat cake whilst catching up on emails, so there was a silver lining.