A bit of background...
The Medical Research Foundation raises funds and coordinates projects to support vital research in underfunded areas, giving hope to people with overlooked health conditions.
The Foundation is growing quickly, both in terms of size and impact. The HR team identified the need for a presentation skills training solution to support the professional development of its people.
The challenge
The Medical Research Foundation engaged Rich to design and deliver an in-house presentation skills training solution that would address the needs of staff with a range of experience, confidence and objectives when presenting within their roles.
Maximising the return on investment from the training budget is important to all organisations. It is especially important in the charity sector. The Foundation needed an efficient solution that ensured that:
- All staff had a strong foundation level of presentation skills
- Senior staff could employ advanced presentation skills to deliver compelling communications to a range of audiences
- All staff could see a clear presentation skills learning pathway within the organisation, and the opportunity to develop their abilities over the coming years.
The Tailored Solution
We worked with the HR team at the Foundation to develop multiple presentation skills courses that addressed the needs of team members at different levels of the organisation.
Officer-level team members
A unique Foundation Presentation Skills course was developed for officer-level staff The course content was tailored to work on live examples and scenarios that the Officer-level team members would regularly encounter, increasing the effectiveness of the training.
The day-long session was designed to be high-energy, warm and supportive. It encouraged the team to share ideas and grow and bond with their peers as part of the experience.
Manager-level team members
This level of the organisation took part in a Higher Level Skills course. This session featured more advanced techniques and ideas designed to help achieve external and internal influencing goals.
To support the experience and ability of the managers, the facilitation style was altered. Instruction, discussion and activities were designed to allow participants more room to innovate and experiment with the new techniques, applying them to their roles and challenges.
The Added Value
To make sure that the learning was effective and ‘sticky’, all participants had access to a 30 minute coaching session with Rich in the weeks and months after the training. This helped to ensure that they could refine their new skills after using them in the workplace.
The Medical Research Foundation offered any spare places in each session to partner organisations - building relationships and sharing the impact and effectiveness of the learning with other charities too.
“Rich was incredibly helpful in creating and delivering a presentation skills development programme for our team. He listened carefully to our specific requirements and tailored the sessions very effectively to the differing needs of our Officer and Manager groups. His commitment to understanding our requirements led to a high-quality course that not only met but exceeded our expectations.”
Explore our Case Studies
Every single presentation skills training solution that we deliver is unique. It is tailored to match the exact needs of each client. Below are a selection of case studies outlining our innovative approaches to a range of public speaking challenges.
