Coaching

The task in coaching presenters is to find new challenges for students. It’s simple to get someone up at the front to give a talk. What’s challenging for the student is to take on different ideas. My constant challenge is to find an idea to suggest for a student to ‘play’ with.

For example, if a speaker is already performing well in an area, say in being serious and informative, I’ll suggest the opposite; play with being ‘carefree’ to see how that feels. Often the resulting performance is fascinating to watch - the audience often really enjoys these sometimes comedic and usually awkward performances. And the student has a lot of fun too. These performances have a big outcome for both student and audience-members! The student gets to see a different side of them. And the audience members discover that it’s ok to try something a little different. These ‘experiments’ are excellent positive growing experience for the student.

Feedback

It’s always important to recognise the positive things a speaker does before suggesting other ideas. So feedback is set up at the beginning of any session as necessary and beneficial. Feedback is always positive and supportive.