February Professional Development Luncheon: The Orderly Conversation

The Orderly Conversation®

Presentation Skills to Move the Business Forward

Presenter: Susan Plank, Founder of Dynamic Consulting Solutions

Whether you lead small business meetings or train large groups, you want your audience to see you as a competent and organized professional that gets business done. If you are stuck in your head and not connecting with your participants, they will stop listening and you won’t accomplish your intended goal. What if you approached a presentation as an orderly conversation rather than a speech? The focus would be on the audience, where it should be, understanding and following you rather than on how you gesture and stand.

Attend the February 2018 ATD meeting to hear about a fresh approach to presentation skills that encourages presenters to be themselves and unlearn those strict rules that increase nervousness. You will have the opportunity to practice skills that decrease stress and allow you to get outside of your head and connect with the audience. You will learn how your default approach to preparing and delivering presentations limits your ability to be flexible and think on your feet or causes you to procrastinate and go long or ramble. You will also learn ways to manage Q & A by encouraging or controlling the discussion.

At the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• describe the engagement skills used to connect with the audience and lower nervousness
• adjust how they prepare and deliver presentations based on their default approach
• manage Q&A by encouraging or controlling the conversation
• describe the guiding principles of The Orderly Conversation®

Presenter Bio:

Susan Plank, founder of Dynamic Consulting Solutions, is an employee development specialist based in St. Louis. She helps organizations solve people problems by providing a genuine and honest perspective on employee satisfaction and performance focusing on continuous improvement. 

Susan earned a Bachelors in Psychology from Truman State University and a Masters in Communication from Saint Louis University. 

She has been supporting employees in their professional development for over 20 years at various organizations including Anheuser-Busch InBev, McCarthy Building Companies, LLamasoft, and more.