At Koddi, we believe that it is incredibly important to invest in the long-term development of our employees. While we pride ourselves in having the niche expertise required to manage and optimize travel ads for our clients, we are also committed to honing lifelong skills. So, today we’re introducing a new series on the blog, Koddi Workshops, to share knowledge from our team workshops and lunch and learns.

The Koddi team recently had the pleasure of hosting Millie Harrison from the University of Texas at Austin for a workshop on public speaking and communication. Over the course of a couple hours, Ms. Harrison discussed strategies and techniques to effectively present to an audience or communicate in a group setting. We also had the opportunity to interactively practice a number of the techniques that were outlined in the presentation. Perhaps our favorite exercise was what felt more like a rendition of Whose Line Is it Anyway?, where “expert panels” were asked on-the-spot questions about made-up products. Amidst the laughter were valuable learnings for fielding questions and thinking on your feet.

At the end of the workshop, despite varying levels of comfort with public speaking, everyone recognized there is always room for improvement when it comes to communication. Here are our team’s top five takeaways:

1. When participating in a question and answer session, be cognizant of contributing to your teammate’s answers as opposed to contradicting or undermining them. Start sentences with “Yes, and…” when elaborating on answers to help facilitate this interaction.
2. When speaking in front of people, use pauses instead of filler words like “um,” “uh,” or “you know.” Filler words make you look timid, while pauses make you look thoughtful and confident.
3. Use body language to your advantage. Knowingly prepare your body language before big moments to reduce stress hormones and portray comfort and confidence.
4. Establish someone on your team as “quarterback” to field questions during a question and answer session. This person can actively receive the question and then distribute it to whoever is most qualified to provide a knowledgeable answer.
5. The audience is most likely to remember the beginning and end of the presentation, so make those count. Don’t be afraid to reiterate the most important points of your presentation.

At the end of the seminar, we had acquired a helpful toolbox of public speaking skills, participated in valuable team-building exercises, and had a heck of a good time while doing it! A major thank you to Millie Harrison on behalf of the Koddi team for sharing her time and valuable insights with us in Fort Worth. 

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