Presentation Skills: Tips for Giving a Tele-Seminar, Part One

By Mike Aoki

Another facet of presentation skills is giving presentations to a group of people over the phone. This can be done via conference call, or more frequently now, as a tele-seminar over a bridge line.

In Part One, here are some tips to help you get ready to give a tele-seminar. Many of these techniques can also be applied to webinars.

10 Tips BEFORE Your Next Tele-Seminar:

1) Remember Tele-Seminars work best for information-based training. If you require a high degree of audience interaction or interpersonal skills development, you should consider giving an in-person training workshop instead.

2) When you send out your pre-course package to attendees, include the seminar date, time, phone number and the login code (if needed.)

3) Number the pages in your handout.  It makes it easier for listeners to find the right page.  Remember, they can’t see the page you’re holding in your hand.

4) Reserve a room where you won’t be disturbed. Offices can be very noisy places. Pick a quiet room so listeners won’t hear background noise from your phone.

5) Be ready at least 15 minute ahead of time in case people call in early for the Tele-Seminar.

6) Have the following items by the phone: pens, paper, your handout, cheat sheet of phone teleconference codes, list of participants, bottle of water, etc.

7) Use a regular phone. If you use a cordless or mobile phone, your listeners may hear static on the line.  If you use a speakerphone, it can produce a distracting echoing sound on a conference call.

8) If possible, wear a headset so your hands are free to write notes.

9) Turn off call waiting. You don’t want call waiting beeps interrupting your Tele-Seminar. You can usually find out how to disable call waiting by contacting your phone service provider.

10) Have a clock in the room so you can keep track of the time.

© 2009 Reflective Keynotes Inc., Mississauga, Canada

Related tips:
This article shows how to stand tall, even if you are short (like me.) This related story provides a great tip to energize your audience. Here is a list of some popular presentation skills workshops.