Alison is the CEO at Central Coast Group Training (CCGT) on the beautiful NSW Central Coast of NSW, Australia. CCGT acts as an intermediary, handling the recruitment, training, and management of apprentices and trainees, while also providing support to participating host employers.
She leads an incredible team helping young people and businesses thrive through apprenticeships and traineeships. With over nineteen years of experience in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, she’s passionate about the work she does, including CCGT’s latest project manufactHER. Alison is big on lifelong learning, building great teams, and sharing a good laugh along the way!
What kind of presenting do you do at work?
A bit of everything! Live presentations in team meetings, board meetings and networking events. I also speak at community events, client presentations and the occasional conference. Sometimes I jump online for stakeholder meetings too. No two days are ever the same!
Before working with Michelle, how did you feel about presenting?
I’d presented quite a bit, but to be honest I still felt a little unsure at times. I’d overthink things or worry about whether I was connecting with the audience. And like many people, those sneaky nerves would sometimes creep in.
What made you decide to learn with Michelle? What was the turning point?
I heard so many great things about Michelle’s Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass and knew it was time to level up. I really wanted to feel more confident, more authentic, and have some new tricks up my sleeve when presenting. When the opportunity came up, I grabbed it! And now my team members have also had this excellent opportunity, we can all support each other in using and refining what we have learnt.
How do you feel now, after working with Michelle?
I feel so much more confident and relaxed. Michelle explains presenting in such a down-to-earth and practical way. I now feel like I have a solid game plan every time I get up to speak, from the analysis to the design to the delivery of a winning presentation. Plus, I actually enjoy it now!
Note from the editor: yes Alison and I’m told from industry colleagues and your team members (on the quiet) that you are receiving excellent feedback about your presenting style and approach these days!
What positive outcomes have you achieved?
I feel much more comfortable presenting externally, which is helping me build new connections and raise the profile of CCGT. With improved presentation skills we have elevated our ability to connect businesses, job seekers, and school leavers to foster successful employment pathways. This is really empowering and life-changing for our stakeholders!
I’ve also had some fantastic feedback from our Board and my team, which is always lovely to hear.
What are 3 specific ways that your presentation skills changed or improved?
1. Planning. I plan and structure my presentations much more effectively. I think about the shift I need to achieve with my various audiences and then make sure that my presentation is designed to achieve that shift.
2. Audience focus. I’m more focused on what the audience needs from me. Michelle teaches a number of models that help you get into your audience members’s shoes, to understand what they are thinking, feeling and doing before you present – this is so you can ensure your message moves them from where they are to where you need them to be.
I’m also more focused on ensuring language I use is always audience focused, less “I” and “me” and more “you” and “your”!
3. Engagement. I’ve got some great communication skills tools now to manage any nerves and bring more energy and clarity to my delivery: from eye contact, to the way I approach the presenting challenge, to engagement techniques.
What were your top 3 takeaways from Michelle’s masterclass?
1. The magic of structuring your message clearly and with purpose.
2. Tips and tricks for managing nerves and presenting with impact.
3. Thinking from both the presenter’s and audience’s perspective is a total game changer!
Would you like to participate in our presentation skills training courses?
We have a 26-year proven track record in developing people’s business presentation, public speaking and pitching skills. We will help YOU stand out for all the right reasons!
Master the art of public speaking and persuasive presenting in business with our life-changing public speaking training in Sydney LIVE and ONLINE via Zoom or MS Teams.
One presentation skills training course once is all you need.
Become a more confident, engaging and persuasive business presenter & stay true to your natural style!
We promise no hand holding and we will not video your presentation for feedback purposes because it’s not necessary for awesome improvement!
©2025 MICHELLE BOWDEN is an authority on persuasive presenting in business. She’s run her Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass over 1000 times for more than 13,000 people over the past 26 years and her name is a synonym for ‘presentation skills’ in Australia. Michelle is a multi-million-dollar pitch coach to her client list that reads like a who’s who of international business: banking and finance, IT, pharmaceutical, retail, telecommunications plus many more. And she’s also the creator of the Persuasion Smart Profile®, a world-first psychological assessment tool that reports on your persuasive strengths and weaknesses at work, the best-selling internationally published author of How to Present: the ultimate guide to presenting live and online (Wiley) and her new best-selling book is called How to Persuade: the skills you need to get what you want (Wiley).