Personal development and business skills webinar series

Your personal brand is a promise. It helps people know what to expect from you when you interact with them. What’s your brand? Are you happy with it? If not, what have you done about it? Similar to a commercial brand, personal brand needs to be managed. The first step in the process is to consciously design your brand. Then you need to sell it actively and manage it. Doing this will make a positive difference to your reputation and professional success.

Adversity is a fact of life and people differ in their responses to it. Some simply give up and may even become anxious or stressed. Others regard adversity as a setback to be overcome. They may be described as pessimists and optimists respectively. Which are you? Research has demonstrated how optimism can help improve work performance and reduce depression. It has also shown that you can, using some quite simple techniques and regular practice, forge a path to greater happiness via learned optimism.

Difficult situations are a fact of life. How we handle them determines whether a misunderstanding is resolved or left and most likely escalates into full blown conflict. Reading the situation and reacting in a thoughtful and planned manner, and using the right tools and approach, can help to neutralise challenging behaviour and lead to more harmonious working relationships.

There is good and bad stress. One pushes you forward to achieve things; to overcome challenges. The other can creep up on you, causing anxiety, decreasing your productivity and creativity and, at worst, resulting in a state of helplessness. Becoming aware of the lens through which you perceive, and frame situations is key to managing challenges in your life. In this session, we will explore the nature of stress, its triggers and provide you with strategies to help you ground your perceptions in reality and reframe negative thought patterns so you are then free to move forward positively, solve problems and work through challenging situations.

Effective networkers plan, prepare and make full use of every networking opportunity and always follow up after the event. Few people would regard themselves as natural networkers, but everyone can learn techniques to network successfully. We help you understand how a more positive mindset towards networking can help you feel more confident and get the most out of any networking event, whether in person or virtual.

Presentations have the power to inform, inspire, motivate, sell and entertain but only if done well. Few people are natural presenters. As a result, when asked to give a presentation, many avoid or decline doing so. Others just take a big breath and focus on preparing a stack of slides to take the audience through. With a few exceptions, audiences are not overly impressed by this. Fortunately, it does not have to be like that. With a proper planning and structuring template, guidance on body language, use of voice, techniques for controlling nerves and, of course, practice, you can become an effective presenter.

How you present yourself in a virtual setting requires a different approach to in person. This session will assess your current impact in a virtual setting, and offer practical tips to prepare for and present your best self in virtual meetings. Learn how to recognise and overcome the common challenges of a virtual call, and to build engagement and trust with the people you meet.