For the past 20 years, Wavelength has been providing presentation skills training for an international medical device manufacturer. A new organization was formed within the company during Covid, in which team members across North America support physicians who use the company’s devices. Because these individuals need to present information virtually to groups of physician leaders and stakeholders, the director of the new team decided to contract with Wavelength for a virtual delivery of our Executive-Ready Presentations course.
The participants in the course came from all parts of North America. Because of Covid, the group had been formed remotely and the participants had never met in person. The director, who had hired all of the team members, had also never met any of them in person. Despite this limitation, she had done her best to develop comradery in the team using the virtual resources available to her.
Early in the virtual delivery of the course, the instructor realized that interaction among the participants was going to be crucial to success. Although the format of the course was already highly interactive, the instructor modified on the fly to allow for even more collaboration. In addition to improving their skills in developing and delivering presentations, the participants clearly needed to develop their relationships as a team. The instructor provided multiple opportunities for the participants to learn from each other, share strategies, and develop the trust needed to move ahead as a team.
The outcome was that all participants demonstrated great improvement in developing and delivering their presentations. In addition, they were able to increase their trust in each other and develop their comradery as a team. Several became very emotional—some actually cried! – during the final debrief as they reflected on the benefits of the course both on their individual growth and on the development of their team.
During a later conversation, the director expressed satisfaction and gratitude for the impact of the Executive-Ready Presentations course on her team. When her team doubled in size the following year, she immediately scheduled another course for her new team members.
