As we move into the new year, we’ve been talking about things you can do to start the year off on the right foot, with tips to help you crush your goals in 2019 and make it your best career year yet. Taking the time to invest in your professional development is top of the list when it comes to boosting your career.

Whether you’re aiming to land a promotion, secure your dream job, or move your career in a new direction, spending time on professional development will help you get where you want to go.

Doing this will also show employers – both current and potential – that you’re committed to improving your skill set and capabilities, through continual learning and developing. And you’ll also be proving this to yourself, while growing more confident in your skills all the time.

If you’re going to get serious about professional development in 2019, you’ll want to check out what’s on offer through online learning.

Online courses are one of the easiest and best ways to help you get from where you are right now to where you want to be in the future. There are eLearning courses covering a huge range of professional development topics, from role-specific skills like programming and graphic design, to plenty of courses aimed to improve your interpersonal soft skills such as communication, teamwork and dealing with change.

Ready to get learning? We’ve hand-picked five of the best online courses to help you take control of your professional development and kick start the new year on a positive note!

Improving your communication skills can be a great place to start if you want to stand out from the competition and reach your career goals.

Because regardless of where you work or what you do for a job, being able to communicate with colleagues, stakeholders, clients and senior leaders is one of the most important skills for any employee. And if you want to move into a management or team leader position, you’ll need to know how to communicate effectively with your team.

This online course, How to Communicate Effectively, will help you find the right methods and channels of communication, to help lead you to more engaged and productive working relationships.

You’ll leave this course with plenty of tips and tricks to use, and a clearer understanding of the environment you’re trying to create within your workplace. Added bonus – improving your communication skills won’t just benefit your work life – you’re bound to see positive benefits in your personal life also.

Another skill that’s incredibly valuable for professional development is knowing how to work well within a team. Which also means knowing how to handle and manage team conflict.

Many people naturally tend to shy away from difficult conversations or conflict – if that’s you, you’re not alone! But unfortunately, avoiding conflict won’t make it go away. If anything, it will only make it worse, as negative emotions continue to boil under the surface and grow larger in magnitude.

When members of a team are in conflict, it can also begin to affect their other team mates, causing rifts and division and resulting in a toxic work culture.

With the eLearning course How to Manage Team Conflict,  you’ll learn how to get to the bottom of team issues, learning practical ways to tackle conflict head on. The course will provide you with plenty of tips for how to communicate and restore balance, while helping you to become an ace team player.

If you work in a customer-facing role, you’ll want to be sure your service skills are up to scratch. But improving customer service skills can greatly help your career, no matter what position you’re in – because we all deal with customers daily, whether they’re external or internal to the business.

Good old-fashioned customer service is still one of the most important factors when it comes to deciding to do business with a company. It’s no good having the most up-to-date tech gear or fancy office suites if your business doesn’t deliver on customer service. And these days, with the huge impact of social media, providing good customer service has never been so important.

89% of people say they’ve stopped doing business with companies because of poor customer service – that’s a huge percentage! This online course, Customer Service Success, is designed to give you the skills you need to provide great customer service, so you don’t become one of those companies.

The course content has a strong focus on improving your listening skills, as without this fundamental skill you won’t be able to respond to your customers’ needs.

You’ll also learn about paying attention to your body language and gestures, as well as the words and language you use in the work environment. All of these things have a significant impact on how customers perceive you and the company you work for.

Just as customer service is central to many other jobs outside of the retail or hospitality industry, project management skills can be super important for employees in all kinds of roles.

When it comes down to it, project management skills are a set of techniques and tools that focus on helping you to achieve goals and manage your workload more effectively.

As an employee, taking the time to improve your project management skills can be a great way to boost your career, while making yourself more valuable to employers and building your confidence at work.

Project Management Fundamentals takes you right from the beginning of PM, so it’s great for anyone who is new to the subject or is keen to start their study from scratch.

The online course explains the basics of project management, including:

Establishing project goals and objectives

You’ll receive plenty of practical tips for how to keep your project on track, manage your project team and report on project performance.

All jobs have their unique challenges and stressors. In our increasingly fast-paced world, employees should do their best to be aware and conscious of the potential signs of low mental health or burnout and to take action before it starts further impacting their health.

While online courses can’t replace the guidance and expertise of a mental health professional, they can help individuals understand more about the importance of taking care of their mental health in the workplace. These resources can also help managers and employers learn how to support their employees in this area, which is incredible important.

Take a look at Positive Mental Health. This eLearning course provides a good foundation for understanding the various components of mental health and wellbeing and has plenty of information on particular tools and methods that can prove helpful in promoting positive mental health in the workplace. It wraps up the equivalent of a day’s course in an online format that you can get through at your own pace, and in your own safe environment.

You’ll learn about self-care in relation to good mental health, wellbeing and resilience, and how to identify specific methods which can be applied to support people experiencing low mental health.

Remember – professional development training needs to be continual, not just something that you tick off once a year. It requires ongoing investment of your time, focus and energy, to get the best results. So make it your new year resolution to keep it up all year round!

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5 professional development courses to help you get ahead in 2019

Happy new year to all our Go1 followers! We hope you had a refreshing and relaxing break over the holiday season and are settling back into the swing of things at work.

As always, these first few weeks of January are the perfect time to think about setting some new year resolutions and career goals for the year ahead.

This year, you might have your heart set on getting a promotion, landing your dream job, or moving your career in a new direction. Maybe you’re entirely happy in your current role, but want to improve the way you manage deadlines, or develop new leadership skills?

Whatever your goals are for 2019, taking the time to invest in your professional development is one of the best things you can do for your career. By taking charge of your own development, you can make sure you’re filling in any skills gaps and keeping up-to-date with current knowledge in your industry. You’ll also feel more in control of your own happiness and direction.

Here are three things you can do to start the new year off on the right foot, while making 2019 your most successful career year yet!

Set Clear Career Goals for the Year Ahead

Have you never really been all that keen on setting new year resolutions or goals?

That’s fine – if you’re happy to find yourself in the exact same place this time next year. But if you want to change things up, you’ll need to get real about goal setting, especially when it comes to your career.

Like it or not, goal-setting is the best way to achieve results. To get where you want to go in 2019, you’ll need to map out a clear pathway of what you want the year ahead to look like. Goals, both short and long-term, act as a catalyst to help direct you where you want to be.

Take some time to look back at 2018 and take stock of the year’s events. Think about what you achieved professionally. Also think about what you wish you’d done differently. Is there anything you weren’t proud of, or could have handled better? Opportunities you didn’t take advantage of because you were too busy, or scared, or just couldn’t be bothered?

These questions will help you identify things you need to improve, work on, or eliminate, in order to reach your goals.

Let’s say you didn’t go for that higher role because you weren’t feeling all that confident about your public speaking skills? Or you let yourself get really run down and burnt out at work? You can then start outlining a plan of attack – to improve your interview skills, manage your stress levels… you get the idea. Identifying the areas in which you want to see positive change is the first step in achieving your goals.

Make sure you’re setting goals that are realistic, specific, and measurable. Your new goals will help keep you on track and accountable throughout the year. Put them somewhere visible and check in on yourself regularly.

Get Real About Whether You’re Still on the Right Track

Start the year by thinking about exactly what it is you want from your career. If you feel that you’re getting what you need from your job and employer, that’s great!

But if you’re dragging yourself back to a job that you hate, use the fresh energy of the new year to look realistically at your work satisfaction. Because you’re most likely on the wrong track.

One of the main reasons why people are unhappy in their jobs is that their work, career or employer is at odds with their values. Often, employees won’t even realise their dissatisfaction stems from this mismatch – there’s just a general feeling that something isn’t quite right.

While not everyone can have the luxury of working in a job that aligns perfectly with their values, or feels endlessly emotionally rewarding or meaningful, it is important to find some satisfaction in your daily work – even if that job is simply a stepping stone to somewhere else.

This year, think about what your personal values actually are. What motivates and inspires you? What are your passions? This will help you identify what exactly it is that you need from a job role and an employer (besides a pay cheque).

If you’re stuck in your current role for the time being, get to work on an action plan that will help move you further towards a job or industry that is more in line with your values. This will allow you to stay true to yourself and your goals and derive more happiness from your current situation.

Improve Your Skill Set with Online Learning

Those goals you set in step one? The career track you’ve identified in step two?

This is the learning pathway you need to be on in 2019. And professional development training is what’s going to help get you there.

Many employees rely solely on the training provided by their employer for their career development – but there’s nothing stopping you from spending your own time learning and developing new skills. With so many online courses and eLearning solutions available, there’s never been a better time for employees to take charge of their professional development.

Think about the gaps in your skill set that are preventing you from achieving your goals. It’s very likely that you can find high-quality eLearning courses that provide training in those areas.

It’s not just technical skills that can be developed through online learning. Many employers these days are placing great emphasis on soft skills – those skills that help us become better communicators, leaders and team players.

Online training and eLearning courses are great for brushing up on your soft skills, while also showing potential employers that you’re committed to self-improvement in this area. And if you’re looking to change fields or industries, you can identify the courses you need to complete to move forward in this new direction.

As we said before, whatever your goals are, there’s nothing to stop you from learning in your own time and it’ll be well worth it in the long run!

Get ready to crush your career goals in 2019

Welcome to the Go1 Course Category series. Each month I will introduce a different category of content and several suggested courses you should consider including in your learning program.

This question often troubles Human Resource Managers, and the doubt around leadership courses means leadership is often left out of learning programs in favour of courses for more tangible skills such as Excel or speech preparation.

The distinction to make is that leadership courses don't have to be broad brush theory based - it’s the skills that can be taught under the tag of leadership that make the difference: empowerment, effective risk assessment and management, articulating company vision and much more. The significance leadership plays in every organisation's success means it should be part of your learning programs, so continue reading if you want to better understand how to best do that.

How do I fit leadership training into my organisation using Go1?

Start with a leadership program that supports new and young leaders offering career pathways to employees, further increasing retention. You might have identified employees who you think are your organisation's futures leaders, however personality aside, leaders need the combination of the right training and qualities.

How to provide leaders with targeted leadership training?

Employees are less likely to trust their management when leadership skills are lacking, so its important first-time leaders have some foundational knowledge to manage their new responsibilities. Eagles Flight, a large organisation, agrees it’s important to explain the rationale behind doing things, rather than simply laying them down. But once it’s understood why things are valid and worth the time, it’s more applicable in wider settings and therefore a more useful and powerful training method.

Within Go1 Premium you are exposed to over 350 courses tagged as leadership. To begin, focus on building out a small program and pick the content areas that follow the equation of including (1) theory and (2) skills.

The spotlight is on SkillSoft this month. SkillSoft was chosen as the provider with quality leadership content, because they effectively balance the theory content with relevant tactical tips. With 418 courses in Go1 Premium, they've got 46 courses tagged as leadership. There is a strong emphasis throughout the courses tagged as leadership as being for first-time and/or junior managers.

They have a strong balance between theory and skills-based courses, including managing functional teams, performance plans and positive leadership. We suggest building out a leadership Award, and assigning to new or upcoming leaders to form part of their professional development.

First course to add to that Award is SkillSoft's 'Building a Leadership Development Plan.'

Creating your own leadership development plan is a significant part of any successful and valuable leadership development strategy. This plan will help ensure you remain focused on what is required to continually grow and develop as a leader. In this course, you'll learn about how to assess yourself as a leader, establish a vision for the future, and identify obstacles to that vision.

Come back next week to find out what other leadership courses we suggest to add to your Award.

Course category of the month - January: leadership 

As 2018 draws to a close, we thought we’d look back at some of the highlights of the past year – it’s been a very busy and exciting time for the Go1 team!

Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to throughout 2018.

Go1 Recognised in Top Startup and Business Lists

This year we were very excited to see Go1 named as one of the top 20 outstanding Australian “Businesses of Tomorrow”, from 200 businesses selected by Westpac for 2018.

The companies were recognised for their vision and drive to help shape the nation’s economic future, with this year’s applicants demonstrating the scale of movement of the Australian economy into a digital world.

“We are thrilled and honoured to be named in Westpac’s Top 20 Businesses of Tomorrow,” Go1 co-founder and CEO, Andrew Barnes, said.

2018 also saw Go1 ranked 12th on LinkedIn’s annual Top 25 Startups list.

This list honours the most sought-after startups where professionals want to work and stay in Australia and is derived from a blended score looking at factors including interest in the company, engagement with employees, job interest and retention.

“We’re excited to be included in this list alongside all of these great companies. The list really shows the strength of the Australian startup ecosystem,” said GO co-founder and CGO, Dr. Vu Tran.

Helping Companies Improve their Learning Culture

Throughout the year, we partnered with many businesses to help them improve the way they deliver and manage their employee training.

We teamed up with Claim Central, to help them deliver effective employee training with a cloud-based learning platform that all staff can access, regardless of geographical location.

We also helped Mid-Cape Home Centers to fulfill all of their training and development needs with Go1 Premium, with pre-built content a very important feature for the company.

And we provided Discover Goodwill with the perfect solution for the company’s learning needs, allowing them the freedom to create their own content and deliver it to staff easily and effectively.

Working with ALARA, we were able to provide staff with an onsite, one-day first aid training course through our newly launched Training Assist – the easier way to source, book and deliver training.

We look forward to sharing more case studies with you in the new year, so you can see first-hand how Go1 is helping companies to deliver improved learning to their teams.

At Go1 we believe in bringing the learning community together so that we can all share our knowledge and help everyone to improve the way that they learn and train their team.

In July, we held the first of our Brisbane Learning & Technology Meetups, with some of Brisbane’s best learning content creators speaking about how they go about creating effective learning content.

We followed this up with our inaugural Melbourne meetup, which focused on ‘Content Curation vs Content Creation’ and which is the better option.

Our meetups are for learning and development professionals who want to discuss best practices, strategies, and innovation in learning design, delivery and instructional technology.

We'll be hosting more meetups in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne every quarter in the new year and invite you to get involved in the conversation. You’ll be sure to walk away with some fresh solutions that you can start applying in your workplace straight away!

At Go1, we’re continually making improvements and updates to the Go1 platform, to make life easier for you – and your learners.

Throughout the year, we launched a stack of new tools to help you save time and streamline the way that you deliver learning material.

As we’re wrapping up 2018 and entering 2019, we will be making more exciting changes to the Go1 platform including:

New monthly Admin emails to support your need for data on user activity.

Changes to how Go1 will be able to support you.

Training Assist: showing you how you can pair your Go1 online learning with face-to-face training.

Remember to keep an eye out for regular updates to the platform and enrol in the Go1 webinars where we walk you through our latest features.

Thank you for reading and sharing our highlights from the year – it's been a big one and we're looking forward to an even bigger 2019.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, partners, readers and followers for your ongoing support throughout the year.

As 2018 draws to a close, we’d like to thank all our readers and followers for your ongoing feedback and engagement throughout the year.

We’ve covered many exciting and interesting topics over the past year on the Go1 blog, exploring all aspects of learning and development.

To close out the year, here’s a look back at the top five most-read articles of 2018!

#1. Building Rapport with Customers Through Customer Service

There’s an old saying that customers first buy into the person and then into the product.

That’s why it’s important to know how to build good rapport with your customers.

It’s no good having the most up-to-date tech gear, fancy coffee machine or cool open-plan office – if your business doesn’t deliver on customer service you’ll find it hard to stay ahead of the competition.

This article looks at how building rapport can bring big benefits to a customer service scenario.

When people have a solid rapport, communication and ideas are able to flow easily. They feel ‘in synch’ with each other and are likely to have a good understanding of where the other person is coming from.

Being on the same page as your customers is an important step in meeting their individual needs and finding the best solution for them.

So how do you make sure that you’re able to build rapport with your customers?

In business, you can’t afford to be indecisive.

Decision making is an important skill you’ve got to have if you want to progress. It doesn’t matter what industry or role you’re in, you will always use decision making in your everyday working life.

In this article, we discuss how decision making is a skill that you can master with effective training.

Over time, you can learn more about the thought processes involved in decision making, to become more adept at identifying problems and analysing different solutions to find the best outcome to move forward.

When you know the process of decision making, you can become more efficient in the workplace, encouraging innovation that leads to new products and services and milestones.

 Find out more about using decision making to boost your career.

#3. Why You Need to be Monitoring Employee Professional Development

Have you recently invested in professional development training for your staff? That’s great.

But how do you know if you’re getting a good return on this investment?

This article looks at how and why you should be monitoring professional development across your organisation.

Professional development programs aim to improve staff competencies and increase productivity, while helping team members set goals for their career.

Improvements in technical skills can often be measured quite easily, in tangible figures and numbers. Productivity itself is a very good indicator of the success of your company’s training methods, allowing you to see if your training program has been effective.

If you’re not sure how to measure the professional development of your employees, this article will link you to the popular Monitoring Performance and Professional Development course.

In this online course, managers will be shown the steps they need to take to properly monitor and track employee training. You’ll learn how to analyse each team member’s past performance, to identify strengths and challenges before setting goals and plans for personal improvement.

Check out the full article and online course here.

#4. The Facts About Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

In this article, we presented you with some clear facts about sexual harassment in the workplace.

Some people are still unsure of what behaviours and actions constitute sexual harassment. Or how prevalent it is in Australian workplaces.

Would you know what to do if you saw someone being harassed at work? Or if you experienced it yourself?

Reading this article will help you understand more about sexual harassment, with important steps you can take to address this issue within your own sphere of influence.

All organisations should have clear policies in place around any form of bullying or harassment. These policies must define what sexual harassment is, outlining unacceptable and inappropriate behaviours, as well as the consequences employees will face from those actions.

Regardless of whether someone is staring inappropriately, making sexually suggestive comments, telling inappropriate “jokes” or subjecting you to unwelcome physical contact – all of these examples are considered sexual harassment and are behaviours that are completely unacceptable in any work environment.

Take a minute to learn the facts about sexual harassment so you can work to create zero tolerance in your organisation.

#5. Why Non-Verbal Communication is So Important in Business

Rounding off the list, we looked at the important role of non-verbal communication in business.

Did you know that around 75 percent of communication happens through non-verbal signals?

Whether we like it or not, our facial expressions, gestures, movements and even posture are conveying a story to our audience. We use non-verbal signals all the time – whether it’s something we agree with or don’t agree with, our bodies are telling the story for us.

In addition, there’s a lot we can read from other people’s non-verbal signals, which can help you understand more about them and even what they aren’t saying directly to you. Very handy in the workplace!

This article looks at the three ways we communicate in business – using verbal, written and non-verbal signals. Each one of these methods is an important way to talk to others and share your views and opinions.

Of course, you have complete control over what you say to another person, as well as what you write down. But, non-verbal signals are very different. This is something we aren’t always aware we’re doing.

Learn more about understanding body language in the workplace.

We hope you enjoy these five articles and look forward to bringing you more in the new year!

Happy reading, and happy holidays, from the Go1 team.

Go1's online corporate training library has added value to many businesses in different ways. For our small business customers, Go1 is easy to implement and an assured way to reduce your HR compliance risk. The extensive learning library, can increase your staff retention rates and their skill-set! The learning platform was designed with our user in mind, the platform is intuitive to use, the administrative overload is low and it it is easily integrated into your business workflows. If you are new to Go1, continue reading to understand our tips for getting the most out of Go1. 

Our top tips for small businesses using Go1: 

 As a Premium subscriber, you can access the extensive compliance content library for free. Whatever your needs are, feel confident Go1's verified online courses will reduce your compliance risk. All Premium content is regionally grouped and updated if/when any detail becomes outdated, it is these little details that minimises the Administrative work for small business owners, making Go1 easy to use. If you’re a small organisation it takes one click and a search of your staff members name to assign your selected courses to your staff.  Staff can keep track of the training assigned to them, using their individual learning dashboard.

 A subscription to Go1 unlocks access to more than just compliance content for your business. Once you've managed the compliance content side of e-learning, encourage your staff to make the most of what else they can learn using Go1. All staff in your business with a Premium account can Explore and freely access the Premium library.  We have courses that can address common employee skills-gaps in Microsoft, or let your staff extend themselves by choosing to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop - the options are endless!

 Need help choosing compliance content? We suggest you checkout Biz Library's extensive HR Compliance content (available in Premium). 

If you already have a HRIS, or user management application, connect your applications to save yourself time. This means you can control user accounts on one system, whilst keeping your Go1 learning management system up to date. We do support data-feeds from HR systems into Go1. 

 Or if you are a Xero user, we have developed a user integration to push data from Xero into Go1. The Go1 and XERO integration is intuitive to use; with only a few clicks you can import your staff information (name and email) from Xero into the Go1 platform. This saves you the time of creating new users, and makes it easy to assign them training from the content marketplace. 

Communication tools are important but often costly for small businesses. Go1 offers you another means to share your own business material with multiple employees. Go1 has the features to track informal knowledge sharing and general corporate information via content uploads in courses, so we suggest making Go1 a learning and information repository for your staff. Allow it to be accessible by all (or certain) staff based on the parameters you set in a group/or sharing to the whole organisation, making the social learning process more accesible in your organisation. We've found especially for regionally dispersed staff, having the ability to make a recording or notes available from a meeting, event or conference makes your jobs easier.

Get the help that you need when you need it with our friendly customer support team available via our live help service. With offices all over the world, Go1 is happy to support you to maximise the success of your platform. 

*This post was inspired, by the release of the Go1 to the Xero Add-on Store. We want to help Small Business Owners understand how Go1 can streamline their Human Resource Management, so it becomes part of their day-to-day business activities.  

Getting the most out of Go1: small business edition

Totara and Go1 are pleased to announce the release of Totara Learn, which is creating a single, comprehensive training solution for organisations worldwide.

The partnership unlocks a new learning and administrative experience for customers of Totara, by making Go1's compliance, professional development and general training marketplace available directly from the Totara platform. The partnership will see Totara Site Administrators and Content Creators be able to experience and explore the Go1 content library and then develop new courses or supplement existing courses with content selected from the marketplace.

By enabling the Go1 content marketplace in Totara Learn, users will benefit from:

Simple set-up, it takes only one click to activate the content marketplace

Users can access content settings to create a Custom Collection of content, most relevant to their organisation

Helpful search filters that make it easy and quick to explore the content marketplace

A detailed course overview feature enabling users to view an outline of each learning item before they use it in their course

Totara users can feel confident in the accuracy of the Go1 content, with the SCORM based content updated automatically by its expert course authors, saving administrators time updating content and ensuring users are always compliant.

Early this year, Richard Wyles, CEO of Totara Learning, highlighted the value users will experience through the partnership which, "makes it easier and more convenient to access a large library of e-learning content that can be curated to the specific needs of your workforce, or your business outcomes, all through our Totara Learn platform.”

Totara Learn, includes the Go1 content marketplace natively installed in all v12 platforms and v10 and v11 when updated. Look out for a notification within your Totara platform, prompting you to activate a Go1 trial or sign up for a trial here.

A Go1 Premium content subscription will allow you to enrol in over 5000 content items created by industry-leading providers, alternatively, access the 150,000 free and pay-per-use courses in the marketplace.

Go1's Marketplace is now available for Totara Learn users

Have you ever attended a conference, symposium, or some other business event where the guest speaker captivated the entire audience from the first word they spoke? Some people have a natural gift when it comes to giving presentations. However, others struggle to some degree. If you fall in the latter category, you can learn how to get over stage fright to make every speech incredible.

If your career’s success depends on you communicating ideas in a clear and compelling way, it’s essential that you overcome your fear of public speaking. People in businesses of all sizes and industries give presentations on a consistent basis. As an excellent speaker, you can promote ideas, grow your business, encourage people to take specific actions, and advance your career.

Physiology – When someone feels threatened, the autonomic nervous system automatically responds by making it difficult, if not impossible, to perform comfortably.

Thoughts – Has someone ever said to you, “You’re overthinking things?” That’s what happens to some people when speaking to an audience. They begin to question their abilities, causing them to feel inadequate as a speaker. The outcome is a poor performance.

Situations – Certain situations also have an impact on public speaking. For instance, if you have little experience, give a presentation to an audience consisting of high-ranking members of a corporation or industry experts, plan to share new ideas, or ask the guests to complete an evaluation of your speech, there’s an excellent chance you’ll feel more intimidated and scared.

 Skill Set – Having excellent skills in the subject of the presentation will make you feel confident and in control. On the other hand, if you plan to address a topic that you know little about, you might begin to feel fear creep up before, during, and even after the speech.

The best way to add value to your presentation is by telling a story about a topic you believe in and understand. If necessary, you can make a copy of any PowerPoint slides to have in front of you or use a laptop that no one sees.

A lot of speakers use PowerPoint as part of their presentation. Unfortunately, they make the mistake of creating slides with too many colors, fancy fonts, graphics, and animations, which distract from the message. With an exaggerated design, the audience will focus more on trying to decipher the slides than on the topic itself.

Guests who listen to a dry and dull presentation hear, “Blah, blah, blah,” especially when it includes a significant amount of mathematical or technical data. For those types of presentations, humor is an excellent way to lighten the mood. For instance, if you use a long technical word, look at the audience and say something like, “I know, I don’t know what it means either,” followed by explaining it.

When you put your heart into giving a presentation, wonderful things happen. However, if you don’t believe in yourself, the company you work for, or the product or service it offers, you’ll never persuade anyone in the audience to believe, too.

A small number of people can talk to a large audience and roll off information without ever rehearsing. However, the majority does not spend time going over and over their presentation before the event. Rehearsing is not about learning every word of your speech verbatim but instead becoming comfortable with the subject matter and the way you tell a story.

Not smiling while giving a presentation makes attendees feel uncomfortable, which causes them to disengage. Not only will you feel more confident speaking to people when smiling, but you’ll also put the entire room at ease. During your rehearsal time, make it a point to focus on smiling.

Every person who speaks before a group hopes everything goes according to plan. Often, it does, but not always. Being ill-prepared for the unexpected is another common mistake that public speakers made.

As Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies an opportunity.” If something goes wrong during your presentation, don’t let it frazzle you. Instead, make light of it and learn from it to avoid the same situation the next time you speak before a group of people.

Even the 75 percent of people who don’t struggle with the fear of giving presentations experience some level of anxiety. Especially when standing in front of strangers, that sensation is normal. Therefore, don’t beat yourself up if you find it hard to speak at a business event. Whether you have only slight stress or a bona fide fear of speaking, you can turn things around by knowing how and acting accordingly.

Unveiling the professional speaker inside

Are you ready to take control of your career success? The following strategies will help you do just that. Although it takes time to hone presentation skills, as you apply these lessons, you’ll quickly feel more confident. As a result, you will deliver killer speeches.

For you to give a compelling presentation, you must have extensive knowledge of the topic. Conceptualization and framing are the two most critical parts of preparing to give a speech. Rather than a “speech,” tell a story.

When giving a presentation, use real-life scenarios, metaphors, and narratives. The goal is to take the audience on a journey. It’s also vital that you develop a strategy for starting the story and ending it. An excellent way to do that is to learn as much as you can about the audience and their knowledge of the topic.

Ultimately, you want to quickly introduce the subject, explain why you’re passionate about it, and then convince the attendees why they need it, as well. Instead of trying to cover every detail, give the guests specific examples. That way, you don’t lose their interest.

You want to take advantage of the intelligence of the attendees by allowing them to draw their own conclusions. For instance, you could present a specific problem, followed by describing methods of identifying a solution. As you go through the process, the audience will have an “aha” moment that immediately shifts their perspective in a way they’ll never forget.

With framing complete, you can move on to planning your delivery. As mentioned earlier, avoid a teleprompter at all costs. Along with that, never follow bullet points written on cards. Instead, learn your story, so you can present in a personalized way that resonates with the audience.

You want to speak from the passion you feel and the knowledge you have of the topic, so it draws people in. Speaking naturally is a far more convincing method. Look at the motivational speeches given by Nick Vujicic, a man born without arms or legs. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he inspires others through his storytelling and humor.

Nick doesn’t use a screen, teleprompter, or notes. Instead, he talks to his audience as though they’ve all been friends for years. Even if you give a sales and marketing presentation, don’t waste your time learning your speech word by word. All you need to do is believe in the product or service and tell a story honestly and naturally.

Remember, if you genuinely have a passion for the subject matter, there’s no need to memorize anything. Even if called upon to speak before a group at the last minute, you’ll have no problem. Again, it takes a little time to develop that skill, but if you focus on delivering the presentation with authenticity and meaning, you’ll succeed.

The way you present yourself on stage will significantly impact the message and how people receive it. If you feel nervous or scared, it’ll show in your physical actions via pacing, speaking too quickly, tapping your foot, and so on. Appearing antsy on stage is a prime example of why rehearsing your speech ahead of time is so critical.

Shifting your weight or swaying from side-to-side while giving a presentation is incredibly distracting. Instead of hearing your story, the only thing the audience can focus on is what you’re doing with your body. As part of rehearsals, stand before a full-length mirror, so you can watch yourself and make corrections.

There’s nothing wrong with walking around a stage during a speech if it looks natural. If you struggle with this, the better option is to stand still behind a podium or sit on a tall chair. Hand gestures are something else to consider. You can use motion to emphasize a statement, but be careful not to overdo it.