This is Angela Butler’s Success Story after Presentation Skills Training with Michelle Bowden, presentation skills trainer. Enjoy reading about Angela’s success!
Angela Butler, Claims Specialist at Swiss Re – NZ Lead.
Passionate about proactive claims management and the customer experience, Angela joined BTFG as the Quality Assurance and Training Manager in March 2011. Prior to this she was a Senior Claims Consultant at RGA (Reinsurance Group of America) for four and a half years and before that, spent three years in the position of Life Risk Claims Manager at Zurich Financial Services. Building her career in various roles from Claims Administration to Senior Claims Assessing positions, Angela is an ANZIIF Senior Associate and is considered a subject matter expert having over 15 years experience in the Claims field working with Retail, Group and Consumer Credit products.
What kind of presenting do you do at work?
I present to financial advisers as well as internal and external stakeholders, peers and colleagues at industry functions and seminars.
What prompted you to attend Michelle’s Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass?
My employer required me to present professionally with a level of confidence and influence that only Michelle’s Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass catered for.
How did Michelle’s program change your attitude to presenting in business?
I realised that quality presenting is indeed an art form, and is not at all about multiple PowerPoint slides. A skilled and animated presenter is worth their weight in gold. The ability to hold an audience’s attention for the duration of a presentation and still get the required message across is no easy feat.
In general, what positive outcomes have you achieved from improving your presentation skills?
Since undertaking Michelle’s Masterclass, I’ve changed employment and moved into a role which requires me to present to Financial Planners, Executive Management teams and other stakeholders as part of my day to day role. This role also involves training and development. The skills learnt through Michelle’s program have increased my confidence and enabled me to construct presentations and deliver material in a way in which the audience will be most receptive.
In September 2011, I spoke at MiniLuca. MiniLuca is held Bi-Annually and attracts a plethora of Life Insurance professionals ranging from Actuaries, to Underwriters and Claims specialists. After my 45 minute presentation was complete, I received an array of positive feedback from colleagues and peers. Most complimentary was one industry peer (unknown to me at that time) who asked me if I had undertaken Michelle’s Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass. He commended me on how engaging a speaker I had been and how entertaining the presentation had been, and seemed quite certain I’d been trained by Michelle!
I have learnt that having great content alone is not enough to convince and engage an audience of the merits in your message. Michelle’s program teaches ways to maintain audience engagement, encourage positive audience interaction and participation and have fun doing it!
Overall, following the format and structure is probably the strongest improvement I’ve seen along with my overall confidence in speaking.
What were your top three take-aways from Michelle’s program?
- Reducing unnecessary clutter in slide presentations is paramount – don’t baffle your audience with detailed PowerPoint slides – communicate with them on the content, give them a visual that reflects the message conveyed.
- How to manage detractors in an audience by dealing with their objections.
- Strategies to handle tricky questions.
Would you like to participate in our presentation skills training course?
We have a 25-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.
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 because it’s not necessary for awesome improvement!
©2024 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 25 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. Michelle is 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 How to Persuade: the skills you need to get what you want (Wiley).
