You know what it’s like – bullet pointed tips, page-upon-page of text, explanations of how to do this and why you shouldn’t do that, how to stand, what to say and things you must include. Before you know it, you feel even more anxious then before you researched: “How to prepare for a presentation.” Your eyes start to glaze-over, concentration slipping away…How to prepare for a presentation

Common phobia

Skylark specialise in making training video for businesses from the smallest of firms to national government bodies. The company knows that giving a presentation to work colleagues is a common phobia in the work place and wanted to help.

“Many people worry about this topic in the run-up and look to the internet for advice. So we thought, a video that was short, snappy and a little bit tongue-in-cheek would be a breath of fresh air compared to what is available on the web at the moment,” explained Skylark director, Jo Haywood.

The video has been created as an online resource and also a tool for trainers to use when advising on corporate presentations. “A training manager is welcome to play our video as a visual aid. A short film is an extremely effective tool for keeping your delegates alert.”  Jo explained. “The video is also a good excuse for employees and managers alike to take a break and have a bit of fun!”

By producing this light-hearted piece, Skylark hopes to provide some much needed relief and guidance in an area where confusion and stress seem to reign.

Skylark has continued to illustrate how effective a video can be for business training, whether it’s recruiting new staff or re-training current employees. The video was also a way of showing how complicated tasks can be broken down into digestible bites, and how effective learning through video can be.

Using a video to illustrate a particular business aspect can be an effective tool for different types of learners as video simplifies complex subjects and the retention of information from video is 6x greater than when information is delivery orally only.

Concept of the video

“We decided on a dream-like landscape and to have the main character living in the dream, but the voices that you hear are coming from the conference room, back in the real world. He has fallen asleep in the conference room.”

Skipping through fields, playing in a park and eating ice-cream, things most of us would rather be doing than presenting to a room full of people, and these are the things we see the main character dreaming about, all the while we hear advice and pointers on how he should have prepared for his presentation. These tips are echoing to the character from the conference room.

“A lot of people will be able to relate to the film, and hopefully it will help them to see that they are not alone in being nervous about presenting,” continued Jo.

This will be the first in a series of how-to videos aimed at giving advice and direction for business training. Follow Skylark on Twitter and You Tube for more in the series.