The Presentation Science Workshop
The Foundations Workshop
10-12 hours over one week, including 4 hours of live sessions, 4 hours of hours of self-guided reflections and exercises and 2-4 hours of project work.
To learn more about this open-enrollment workshop:
The BOOT CAMP PRIVATE Experience
12-15 hours of self-study content,
6-10 hours of project work,
5 hours of optional online meetings.
Workshop cohorts designed for different audiences, for train-the-trainers, for business speakers, for teachers, for professors, for professional speakers.
Shorter workshops can be tailored to your team’s specific needs.
Contact Will Thalheimer to learn more about your options.
How IT is Taught
The Presentation Science Foundations workshop is taught within a one-week timeframe, although private groups can get tailored schedules. Within the week, there are three live sessions and an online self-study experience including reflections, discussions, and videos demonstrating how to accomplish the recommendations. There is also a short project giving participants a chance to practice what they’ve learned.
What is Fundamental
The Workshop is a world-leading presentation skills course. It does NOT teach how to use PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote, or Prezi specifically, but focuses on how to engage audiences for effectiveness.
Who Will Benefit
The Workshop is designed to help anyone who has to make a presentation, including trainers, teachers, professors, conference presenters, keynote speakers, managers, military leaders, team leaders, salespeople, marketers, senior leaders, et cetera.
Will Thalheimer’s Role
Will Thalheimer developed the workshop, leads the live sessions, hosts the videos, and monitors the progress participants are making—always with an eye toward providing maximum value to ensure everyone is developing their presentation skills.
Why We Fail
Something essential has been missing from most presentation-skills or presentation-tools courses. The human element is missing! We have failed to align our presentation techniques with the cognitive machinery and learning dispositions of our audience members.
Workshop Philosophy
Will’s insight is that no matter what kind of presentation you are giving, your audience members are learners. If you want to reach them, it makes sense to use the tools of learning design—based on science-of-learning research—to enable success.
TOPICS COVERED
Four overarching topics provide the organizing structure for the Presentation Science Approach. These four topics are more than topics—they represent the four goals every presenter should have for his/her audience; helping them to ENGAGE, COMPREHEND, REMEMBER, and ACT!
In the Foundations Workshop, most of the focus is on how to ENGAGE the audience.
WiLL’s GoalS
In developing the Workshop, Will wanted to create a practical, super-impactful set of learning interactions based on his long experience as a presenter and his background as an expert in using scientific research to enable maximum effectiveness in learning.
Presentation Types
The workshop will help with all presentation types. It will help you if you present in front of an audience, online (like in a webinar), through recorded video and slide narrations, and in small groups.
How Long to Complete
The Presentation Foundations Workshop is designed to fit into one week, and requires participants to spend about 10-12 hours in learning.
The Boot Camp Experience is longer, with scheduling determined by your needs. Typically, people spend 25-35 hours in the boot camp experience, depending on what components are included.
Excited Already?
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Or to Enroll or see the Schedule at:
Specific Learning Topics
Intro
The surprising way your audience visually processes your slides
Why bullet points are boring AND painful
Why PowerPoint is NOT totally to blame. You are!
How to calculate your slide geography
Avoiding attention killers like overload, templates, and decorations
ENGAGE
How and why to use whitespace
How to get rid of bullet points—or fix them
How to support your audience members’ eye paths
Using audio quality to support attention
Avoid looking like a nervous rookie
Using your humanity to connect
Using interactivity maps
Using variety to avoid habituation and boredom
The benefits and costs of discussions
Comprehend
The criticality of both content and time
The ethics of content
Avoiding crap data
Transfer learning versus insight learning
Sometimes we sorta want to “waste” time
Avoiding content overload
Learning and forgetting curves
Labeling your data properly
Aligning content with prior knowledge
Surfacing audience misconceptions
Whole versus part training
Using examples, comparisons, and worked examples to guide comprehension
Getting feedback from the audience
Scenario questions
Supporting your audiences’ creative insights
REMEMBER
Spacing content over time
Using context to support spontaneous remembering
Providing realistic practice
Act
Triggered action planning
Using job aids to guide after-presentation efforts
Inoculating your audience against the obstacles they may face
Using subscription learning
Engaging your audience in work preparation
Utilizing after-presentation reminders
Sharing challenges in relevancy reflections
Situation-action practice
Becoming Great
Practice and feedback is the key to everything
Using science-of-learning notions to plan your preparation
Timing your practice to maximize your performance
Knowing where and how to practice
Getting feedback to improve
Varying your presentation-like experiences