Expedia operates several global online travel brands. They wanted our help to develop the pitching skills of one of their senior project teams.
Expedia’s product specialist team manage internal and external relationships. As such, the company’s objective was to enhance team members’ general communication skills as well as their ability to deliver presentations with impact.
They wanted information to be conveyed in an engaging, practical and enjoyable manner. This made a storytelling and presentation skills workshop the ideal route to meet the company’s objective.
Storytelling for Product Specialists
Travel
24
Sadler's Wells Theatre, EC1R, LONDON
1 Day
For this testimonial, City Academy organised an intense day of learning, split into two three hour sessions: the first part gave hands-on experience of business storytelling and practical skills to apply this in the context of their roles.
Through a series of exercises, the group worked on developing their own authentic style of storytelling. They practised building confidence, being creative and telling coherent stories for business, with multiple opportunities to apply techniques. Using each other as sounding boards, they were able to more easily identify the impact of what they’d learned.
The second session focused on presenting with clarity and conviction. Each individual explored vocal techniques such as controlled breathing, pace and pitch, and explored how positive physical communication creates a strong personal presence. Exercises also explored techniques to manage nerves, increase adaptability and how to make a genuine connection with an audience.
It was great to understand the importance of tone and pace to deliver a good presentation. I also enjoyed the exercise to inject passion into a subject that you might not be overly passionate about. It was also fun and I liked that we were comfortable together as a team to experiment with speech etc, which is normally way out of the comfort zone for me.
Expedia team member
Product Specialist