My writing, public speaking, and professional development workshops offer a quick but thorough primer on best practice for the topic at hand. Participants then apply these concepts to their own work, with feedback from myself and peers. Learning is further embedded through PDF copies of my PowerPoint slides, as well as handouts with additional tips.
People who take my workshops come away with concrete skills then can begin implementing immediately. As one attendee put it, “We think we know how to write. And then we take one of Delia’s workshops.”
People also emerge from my workshops with greater zeal and a renewed sense of purpose. One participant wrote:
“I was thrilled by Delia Lloyd’s energy and enthusiasm…She’s been a source of inspiration and a role model I’ll try to emulate.”
While I offer a robust and diverse suite of content (see below), I am always open to developing new material. I can also mix and match different components from existing workshops to yield a more bespoke experience.
Virtual Workshops
With the advent of the 2020 pandemic, I now offer all of my workshops both face-to-face and virtually. My home office is fully kitted out with the latest equipment, and I can be highly flexible with delivery times so as to meet needs across time zones.
Logistics
I have delivered workshops for anywhere from 4 to 80 people. These typically last between 90 minutes to an entire day, at times extending across several days.
I am available for weekend hire, although weekdays are preferable. Prices vary with the number of sessions and the type of client, so please contact me to discuss fees in more detail.
Teaching
I regularly teach workshops at Universities and Colleges in the UK, covering topics such as public speaking, project management, and persuasive writing. You can read about the experiences of one of my former students at the London School of Economics (LSE) here: www.chevening.org/news/bealeaderblog/
Sample workshops include:
- Advanced Presentation Skills for sales representatives at an energy company
- Using Stories to Engage and Inspire Others for Executive MBAs at a business school
- Academic Writing for post-graduate students pursuing their PhDs
- Life Skills for Offices for Master’s students seeking employment
- How to Edit Your Own Writing for researchers and policy analysts at a think tank
- Academic Writing: This workshop combines best practice thinking with tips and exercises to provide a quick primer on academic writing. We explore the broad principles underlying academic writing: what makes academic writing distinctive, how to situate your argument within a broader literature, how to structure a coherent argument, and how to create compelling introductions and effective conclusions. Note: This can be offered as a stand-alone workshop or as a series of discrete workshops covering Writing as Conversation; Introductions and Literature Reviews; Coherence; Conclusions; and How to Write for a Broader Audience. I can also mix and match different components to yield a more bespoke academic writing workshop, depending on your needs.
- Persuasive Writing: Persuasive writing is a necessary skill for anyone working in the business, policy or not-for-profit sectors. In this workshop, we explore the broad principles underlying persuasive writing: knowing your audience, assembling a convincing body of evidence, structuring a coherent argument, and anticipating counter arguments. We then apply these principles to exercises and case studies. Participants will come away from the course with more confidence in their ability to write everything from a two-page memo to an opinion piece for a newspaper to a lengthy report.
- Blogging: Blogging has taken off as a form of communication unique to the 21st century. Whether you are a practitioner, policy analyst, researcher, or entrepreneur, blogging can help you create a community around a specific body of expertise. This workshop will show you how to generate timely and relevant content for blogs, how to write a blog so that it actually gets read, and how to create that signature conversational tone we associate with blogging. It is useful for beginners who would like to build a successful blog from the ground up, as well for those who wish to fine-tune and improve an existing blog.
- Opinion Editorials: This workshop provides a short introduction to the art of opinion editorial writing. We begin by reviewing how opinion editorials differ from blogs. We then explore how to choose a claim and how to pitch a media outlet to sell your piece. We then look at how to create a strong start and a strong finish for your op-ed, and how to write in a way that enables you to hit your word count.
- How to Edit Your Own Writing: How many times have you produced an original insight, only to be told that your writing interfered with conveying your ideas? All good writing requires conceptual clarity. But it also demands clarity at the level of the sentence and the paragraph. This workshop will run students through the basics of good writing with a focus on concision and coherence. Topics for Part One include short sentences, decluttering your writing, and active voice. In Part Two we look at topic sentences, paragraphs, and assorted tools for repeating your ideas with a difference. Participants will come away with more confidence in how to edit their own writing, as well as a better understanding of which grammatical rules matter, and which can be safely ignored.
- Academic Reading: Despite the advent of the internet, journal articles and scholarly books remain the most common way of acquiring new information in academia. And yet, no one ever teaches you how to read efficiently when confronted with a barrage of academic texts. This workshop introduces three techniques to help graduate students read "smart": scanning, skimming, and close reading. By working through published texts, students learn how to read selectively, saving them time and enhancing their retention.
- Report Writing: This workshop explores the essentials for writing a good report whether for policy or business audiences. We focus mainly on the structure of the report—the introduction, the body and the executive summary—and how to align those with the report's central conclusion and recommendations. We also look at how to write in a way that is "reader-focused," touching on things like active voice, bullets, and the effective use of data visualisation. Participants will come away with greater knowledge of what a report needs to look like and accomplish
- How to Give a Good Talk: Successful presentations need to do three things:
- communicate your arguments and evidence
- persuade your audience that these are compelling
- engage and entertain
This workshop will show you how to draw your audience in from the start. It will also help you to organize your presentation in a way that brings your audience with you, step by step. Finally, you will learn a host of tips that will enable you to communicate your ideas persuasively including how to speak from notes, how to design and deliver slides, and how to prepare for Q and A. Note: I have usually delivered this workshop as a mini-course in five sessions, covering the following topics: Engagement; Content and Structure; Delivery; Preparation; Storytelling. I can also mix and match different components to yield a shorter, more bespoke public speaking workshop, depending on your needs.
- Storytelling: Storytelling has become a popular way to deliver messages in a wide range of professional settings. In this workshop, we look at why stories are an effective communication technique, the narrative components of a good story, and how we apply those elements to our project to bring it alive. This workshop should be useful to researchers from any discipline and to leaders at any point in their careers.
- Communication Styles: This workshop introduces a framework for assessing four behavioral styles and how those translate into different communication styles. Participants use this framework to map out their own, natural communication styles. They then learn how to adapt that style to communicate effectively with the other styles. The workshop also draws on improvisation techniques to help participants learn how to collaborate and become better, more empathic listeners. This workshop is useful for team leaders managing a range of different personality types, as well as those trying to manage up effectively with different kinds of managers.
- Executive Presence: Building executive presence hinges on using a range of communication tools, including body language, voice, mindset, and words. These tools can help enhance your personal impact. Participants will come away with greater confidence in their ability to manage connections, perceptions, and relationships, both inside and outside of work.
- Virtual Presence: This workshop focuses on getting you comfortable with virtual meetings so that you can maximize your virtual presence. We explore some of the technical aspects of virtual delivery, including lighting, backgrounds, and how to make the camera your friend. We also look at how to use other tools at your disposal—such as your voice and your words—to help ensure that you come across as confident and engaging.
- Speeches: This workshop helps build your skills and confidence so that you can draft and deliver a great speech. We begin by looking at the difference between a speech and a presentation. We then walk through some of the key elements of good speech writing: having a keen sense of purpose, audience, and feeling, as well as using language and structure in a way that makes your speech memorable. In the second half of the workshop, we touch on some of the key aspects of delivery, including presence, voice, and notes. Participants have an opportunity to draft and deliver a short speech.
- Creative Thinking: This course introduces participants to a variety of different tools for innovative thinking. It is based on the premise that there is never any one, “right” answer to a problem, just a series of options. But by approaching problems as a group and from a variety of different angles, we can make our ideas better. We use exercises to examine divergent thinking and convergent thinking with applications to the group’s real-world professional problems.
- Social media for practitioners: This workshop gives participants practical tips for using an array of social media tools for advancing their careers. We look first at social media as a tool for learning; a user-friendly technique for staying across relevant developments within our chosen areas of focus. We then go on to examine how social media—and, in particular, Twitter—can be used to cultivate professional connections. In the final part of the workshop, we look at social media as a research tool.
- Life Skills for Offices: This course is designed for people at the beginning of their careers who need to know what awaits them when they start working in an office. Think of it as “Everything you ever wanted to know about offices...but were afraid to ask.” The focus will be practical, covering topics such as how to give a good presentation, how to manage up, and how to do a job interview. The course is based on the premise that succeeding at work hinges as much mastering project management tools, as it does on enhancing one’s emotional intelligence. Note: This can be offered as a stand-alone workshop on a range of topics or as a series of discrete workshops on How to get the most out of your place; Project management; Office life: teams, meetings and managers; Interview skills, and Cross-cultural communication. I can also mix and match different components to yield a more bespoke workshop, depending on your needs.
- Storytelling for Leaders: It’s well understood that stories have been told over the ages to pass on history and culture. Stories are also now regarded as an essential element of organizational and commercial success; particularly as employees and clients demand a link to purpose and meaning. In this workshop you will gain a solid understanding of why we tell stories in organisations, explore the building blocks, tools and techniques of compelling stories, and learn how to embed a storytelling culture within your organisation to win hearts and minds and foster brand allegiance.
- High Performance Mindset: We all perform better on some occasions than others for any number of reasons. By sharing the psychology of peak performance, I show you how you can perform at the very top of your game more consistently. In this workshop, we will explore how self-image affects performance, demonstrate that it is possible to change one's self-image, and master a new technique for promoting positive self-talk.