The British Library’s Presentation Skills and Personal Impact Programme

Impact Factory Creates the British Library Training Programme for Presentation Skills and Personal Impact

The British Libraryis the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. The collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial holdings of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 2000 BC. There are over 150 million items from many countries, in many languages and in many formats, both print and digital; as well as journals, newspapers, magazines, audio recordings, videos, scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints and drawings.

The British Library Training Challenge

The British Library wanted training that would help staff and managers to improve their presentation techniques,awareness and confidence levels.

It was decided to focus on providing a refreshing, innovative, activity-based and engaging programme, which would give participants the skill and confidence to prepare and deliverpresentations to different audiences, to consider a variety of delivery techniques and improving impact through words, tone and body language.

The workshop would engage busy managers and staff, and equip them with tools to encourage ownership, consider interdependencies, and enable them to work to expected standards.

The British Library training workshops were held at the British Library, St Pancras, London, with a maximum of eight delegates per workshop. We were to film each participant delivering a short presentation they prepared and give a short critique of the outcome.

The British Library Training Objectives

The course objectives were to deliver a practical and innovative course, and give the participants:

• An experience of what works for them already as part of their unique presenting style
• An understanding of what happens when they are in front of others and presenting
• A range of hints and tips and exercises for effective andimpactful presentations
• An in-depth look at how face-to-face communication works
• A practical experience of looking at the structuring of presentations and how the preparation and use of materials which can support their effectiveness
• How to create real engagement with their audience
• An experience ofdealing with questions effectively
• The ability to present information on material they are familiar with and material they are less familiar with
• Gain insight into methods for varying their presentations, ensuring their audience understands the content, is engaged, and has the desired impact

The Result

Since the programme started, the feedback has been extremely positive with high take-up rates amongst the Library staff. Delegates found the interactive format and dynamics of the training easy to follow and the content excellent.