You know what you want to say, and you have belief in what you are offering, so make sure you commit to your conviction and don't let anyone devalue you!
Recently, in reply to a social media advert, an online troll decided to try to compete/compare Open Dawes Training's Public Speaking training and Presentation Skills workshops with a "course" that only cost £5 per person.... Having initially been taken aback, it was very clear that there was absolutely no comparison, and it was very easy to be reminded of the quality of the training services we are able to offer. "There is no instructor..", "Instead, members evaluate one another's presentations" were some of the words describing this "alternative", which even questions why there is any charge at all... Not only did this actually act as a positive by reaching a confident conclusion and re-evaluation of what we offer, but it also made us think about the relevance of this situation to every one else, and in fact when any of us have to speak/present to people about anything.
Whilst it is imperative to listen as well as talk, and learn from alternative points of view, it is vital not to be bullied off of your message. It may be true that not everyone in the audience will agree with you; which is healthy; but they also don't want to listen to someone who is easily forced to wallow from one way of thinking to another. It does not result in a coherent or convincing presentation. When you are trying to inform, motivate, and win over/convince someone, you need to have established your message before you start, and then present it with maximum conviction and passion to at least give them a chance to go with you.
Someone is sitting through a presentation or speech to listen to new information, options, or points of view from the presenter/speaker to open up their thinking. Someone is also sitting through a training course to be informed and motivated by the trainer and their experience/knowledge. If it is to be an open discussion (this of course does not include a potential Q&A section at the end), it is a forum or a chat down the pub; or the non-trainer led "course" that was inaccurately trying to be openly compared with training courses such as those we and others offer.
You are sharing your knowledge/opinions/skills to provide people with alternative/additional points of view/knowledge, so you owe it to yourself and your audience to present it in the best possible way. Click to find out more how our training/workshops (led by professional and experienced trainers) can help you, click on either Individual Public Speaking Training, or if a contracted/bespoke training schedule is more appropriate, then Organisational Internal Training. Also, if you are looking to aid your efforts with pursuing a professional sporting career, then click Sports Communication/Media Training to ensure you are optimising communication with sponsors, media, fans, and teams, etc.
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