Public Speaking Coaching
Public speaking can have several variations depending on the context. It is not the same exercise to present one's thesis as to present a project to clients or to do a job interview, even if the basis is common, there will be some specificities as much on the content as on the form.
I offer these types of accompaniments :
- Accompaniment and preparation for admission and job interviews
- Preparation for oral performances
- Preparation of CV and cover letter
We can work on much more focused issues as needed, I adapt to the problem and the particular situation of each student. This is what allows me to accompany you on other types of issues or problems that you encounter, always with the concern of helping you find YOUR own solutions, such as :Make a CV that looks like you and a relevant cover letter
- Receive occasional help during a research paper or a thesis to gain some distance or to get organized
- Unravel a relationship problem with a professor who is putting you in difficulty
- Understand and react to a loss of motivation or a drop in grades
- Regain your self-confidence
- Learn to organize yourself to be more efficient
- Find your own method of working and learning
- The anxiety of an approaching exam
That said, be aware that you may think that you only need help with your CV and cover letter when in fact the problem lies elsewhere, whether it is a problem of coherence in your career path or a difficulty in presenting it or talking about yourself personally. This should not necessarily be seen as an attempt by the coach to broaden the scope of the coaching in order to multiply the sessions. In this situation, for example, a good CV and a relevant letter are useless if you do not know how to be relevant and present yourself intelligently during the interview. The coach's duty is to take some distance, to anticipate future problems and to define with you all the work to be done so that you can reach the objective which is to be hired.
On the day of an exam, oral or oral defense, in order to be able to carry your work with confidence and mastery, it is essential to prepare for this exercise efficiently and at all levels. Having confidence in oneself, in one's abilities and means, is an essential prerequisite on which we also work. The form presents and serves as a wrapping for the substance, a good substantive work badly presented will not have the desired impact. The oral presentation is an exercise that is often poorly prepared and left to chance, even prepared at the last minute.
However, a good preparation and a good presentation will inevitably be an advantage to stand out during an oral day, when professors listen and question dozens of students.
When it comes to the world of work, many young people are at a loss when faced with companies that are looking for ultra-specialists at all levels and where personality and presentation play an increasingly important role, because for the vast majority of them they have not been prepared to look for a job, to present a resume correctly, to send their application, to be proactive in their job search strategies and to diversify them, to present themselves and behave ideally during the interview in order to show their worth.
On the day of the job interview, in order to have all the assets on one's side, by knowing how to present oneself with confidence, to put forward the aspects of one's personality that are necessary for the position and to evoke an assertive and coherent professional project, it is important to prepare oneself well and it will be these parameters that will differentiate the candidates.
Accompaniment and preparation for admission and job interviews
Because going there with your hands in your pockets and saying "we'll see" is not a good idea ;)
The stakes are high, the problem is not to be uncomfortable or stressed, even if it is unavoidable, because they will understand it very well, the problem lies in the relevance of the speech and the coherence of the project. Knowing how to demonstrate your motivation and skillfully reveal your personality is essential.
The problem is therefore to present yourself exhaustively and clearly, to explain your professional project in a concise and relevant way and to demonstrate your motivation in concrete terms, because a festival of boilerplate phrases without depth, which they hear 95% of the time, will not show you off, or even get through if your file is not impeccable.
Admission interview or job interview: it is the same exercise. In both cases, you have to present yourself, explain your background and plans, and demonstrate your motivation and interest in the school/course/company/position you have chosen.
This is why this coaching, which aims at your autonomy, will be useful during your entrance interview to the grandes écoles for example, but also for your future job interviews.
I can help you to overcome your difficulties, to enable you to manage this exercise well.
Please note that I do not promise that you will never have stage fright again, that you will never have stress or anxiety before an interview. I am not going to tell you stories, it is impossible!
Even the greatest artists who have been performing for decades in front of thousands of spectators have stage fright before going on stage. What I can promise you, however, is that I will give you all the tools you need to manage your stage fright, your stress, your anxiety, to stop letting your uneasiness show, but above all to present yourself in the best possible way, feeling more at ease, relaxed, because you will feel that you have mastered this exercise.
So, how exactly will we work? Well, it will depend on the level of mastery of each person.
Of course, beforehand, it is preferable to have a good and well-constructed CV and to know how to judiciously write a cover letter, since this will be the support of your presentation, so you might as well start working on that.
We will work by setting up simulations filmed with a camera, after the preparatory work has been finalized, the most effective method to move forward concretely and quickly by discovering your points to improve.
Each video sequence will be viewed and debriefed, and this will allow you to continue working on your own.
Concretely, and according to your request, I can help you to :
- Know how to prepare for an interview,
- Approach your interviews calmly,
- Work on your presentation to show your best profile,
- Work on the image you send to your interviewer,
- Demonstrate that you are motivated and interested in the position or school,
- Be at ease with the question of remuneration at the right time during a job interview,
Preparation for oral performances
You all have to go through it: project presentations, dissertations and final theses.
Taking an oral exam, whether it is a one-time presentation, or a thesis, inevitably requires a good preparation.
I will not repeat what I explained above, because you will easily understand that it would be redundant. It is a similar exercise except that in one case you have to present yourself and explain your project and in the other you have to present your work and defend it.
Once again, the work will depend on your personal objectives and especially on your level of mastery of this exercise, both in terms of the type of support you use during the oral, as well as all the other elements that are important to work on.
Without a specific problem to base the work on, we will define your level and the level you want and need to reach.
I tend to consider working on 4 levels (this also applies to interview preparation):
1. The medium
2. The content: mastery of the subject, fluidity, relevance, etc.
3. Form: image, tone, gestures, etc.
4. Concentration and your ability to maintain it
Together we will define exercises tailored to your needs so that you can work between sessions and continue to improve on your own.
We will plan regular simulations, if necessary during our sessions, and outside of them.
The use of video is, in my opinion, essential to progress in speaking, interviewing or public speaking, whatever it may be.
All of the coaching sessions I offer to prepare for oral presentations include filmed simulations, which are analyzed and commented on at various times.
Preparation of CV and cover letter
It is a question of putting in place a deep work of reflection and formatting of the CV by defining which elements are going to be highlighted, not to mention the aspects of presentation, setting up, choice of paper and colors...
Many sites propose areas of improvement or more or less exhaustive lists of what to do and what not to do, this is a good start, but you must not stop there!
There is a basic problem with these recommendations: they are general and do not take your personality into account.
Indeed, these websites cannot help you in any way to put forward your personality in your CV and your cover letter and yet it is precisely what you should do.
Other problems exist, often out of laziness students and many executives have a "standard" CV that they send in the same form for all the job offers they apply for and this is a mistake.
In each job offer for the same type of position, different experiences or qualities are sometimes required depending on the company and it will therefore be necessary to highlight different elements in your CV and cover letter depending on the offer you are responding to!
The purpose is to make you autonomous and to ask you the right questions to help you identify by yourself which elements should be highlighted for each offer.
You will find in my self-coaching manual Choose Your Career In 5 Days, a bonus section that should be enough for you in most cases to create an optimal CV and cover letter, and at a lower cost, if you need a more targeted or specific coaching, contact me.
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