Improving presentations across cultures
Nordic Development Fund (NDF) is a joint development finance institution set up in 1988 by the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). It facilitates climate change investments in low-income countries in cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development institutions.
The situation
In the course of their work, most NDF employees are required to present their employer, potential projects, and the progress of ongoing activities to government bodies, committees, development finance organisations and other interested parties on a regular basis. The demands of their work require the ability to present in many different situations and across cultures.
The challenge
In September 2015, Maria Talari, the Administration and Communications Officer at NDF, approached me with a request for presentation skills training. She had heard of me through discussion with one of my other clients, and felt that her colleagues would benefit from my training programme. We ran a series of one-day training sessions in March and April 2016.
Outcome
“We asked James to train our whole staff in presentation skills. Because of time constraints, we ended up with only one day of training, even though two days would have been well worth it. The training sessions were relaxed and yet focused, and a lot of good tips were given. Even though video recording felt unnecessary at first, it was crucial for the learning exercise. We felt that James has a humble but professional way of teaching, and you could see that he is a very experienced trainer. After the training session, several staff members said that they have used the techniques they learned in their presentations and they felt much more confident when presenting. We can strongly recommend the presentation skills training that Koala offers. It’s worth every minute and every euro spent.”
You can visit NDF here.