I am running a two day Presentation Skills course and am looking for ideas for topics for the participants to present on. Looking for around a 7-8 minute presenation on a fairly formal topic - but nothing too political. Have got things like the new Flexible Working policy, Dealing with stress in the workplace etc. but need some more ideas. Any thoughts?
Janis Reid
7 Responses
Let the delgates choose…
Hi Janis,
Have you considered letting the delegates choose their topic?
Clearly you can set guidelines, however we often find it useful for the delegate to select a subject they are comfortable with in order that they can focus upon their presentation skills rather than getting to grips with the material.
Colin Hamilton
email: colin@bis-improve.co.uk
web: http://www.bis-improve.co.uk
Let the delegate choose
Hi Janis
I’d agree with Colin. We ask delegates to choose a work-based presentation lasting around five minutes. It should be a presentation they have recently given or one they intend to give in the near future.
If they have never given a presentation before, we would ask them to prepare a simple five minute talk on any aspect of their work.
Hope this helps!
Non work related
I agree that it is more important to focus on the skills rather than researching the topic. In my experience picking something that is fun is usually more effective and more enjoyable to watch.
I have usually given the delegates the choice of picking a work related topic or ‘Bornenmouth as an ideal holiday destination’. Great if you live somewhere lively however not advisable in you live in a small village!
Thanks for the replies but..
Thanks for all the replies so far. I do agree that it is usually best for delegates to choose their own topics (which they do on the 2nd day of the course) however in our environment they are often asked to present on pre-defined topics and this is what I am trying to help with – they need to be able to pull together presentations at reasonably short notice and research the topics as well.
Some ideas
I don’t know what your business is but these ideas may trigger something:
1. An area / department of your business they do not belong to
2. Working relationship with a department they work / liaise with
3. Future business / industry trends
4. Process / procedure / protocol
5. Customer related topics
6. Environmental aspects of your business
7. How your business could integrate better with its local community
8. Designing and presenting a new advertising slogon / logo
9. Another company in the same industry sector in a different country
10. What your business has in common with …… (can choose something serious – another business – or something funny – always found a hippopotomus good for a laugh as long as there are no senior managers present!!
I have a workshop I can send you.
Janis, not sure how far you have got with the design of the 2 day workshop, but I have a number of different workshops I could send you to save you a lot of time. If you want a copy, please e-mail me at Ceri-anne.bailey@letsco-operate.com
Presentation Topics
Janis
What about ‘My role in the Organisation’. Assume the audience is a group of new starters at induction. (Or ‘The Services my Department Provides’ to the same audience). They’re business related, and give good experience in keeping the language/explanations simple – avoiding jargon etc.
Hope that helps
Bryan Edwards
http://www.abctrainingsolutions.biz