Presentation Summit 2021: Conversation with Wendy Gates Corbett

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Loading...

      Wendy Gates Corbett, CPTD is an international presenter, presentation consultant, and certified trainer who works with executives, leaders, and professional athletes to become clear, confident presenters. She is the ‘Dean’ of Slide School^®, a fun, affordable monthly 30-minute virtual program featuring tips for simple slide design. As President of Signature Presentations and a global corporate training executive, Wendy has spoken for more than 150,000 people around the world about belonging, confidence, and powerful presence. Her research on belonging explores the intersection of all three of these topics. She’s on a mission to make sure you know that you belong here (wherever ‘here’ is) and to help you uncover the confidence that comes when you know it.

In this conversation, Wendy talks about her participation at the upcoming Presentation Summit 2021, being held on location in Clearwater Beach, FL, and virtually this year from September 26 to 29, 2021.

Indezine.com is the official media partner for the Presentation Summit.

Geetesh: Wendy, you are delivering the Selling without Being Sales-y session this year at the Presentation Summit. What according to you, will be audience takeaways from this session?

Wendy: I’ve been speaking and training for 25 years. If you told me I had to deliver a speech or training program tomorrow, I would be giddy with excitement. But if you told me I had to deliver a sales pitch next week, I would be overcome with dread and wouldn’t sleep until it’s over.

The least favorite part of my job is sales, but without sales, I don’t get to do what I love most about it: working with people to deliver compelling, memorable presentations. My fellow presentation professionals feel similarly. We’re all involved in sales in some way. Some of us are selling inside the companies we work for – trying to convince our senior leaders to let us help them deliver better presentations. Others produce elaborate 4- and 5-figure proposals for potential clients.

Selling without Being Sales-y is a session that shares a flexible recipe for designing a presentation you can use for sales that doesn’t feel sales-y because it’s not. Instead, it is a balance of inspiration and practical content to whet their appetite for working with you. What I love about the result is that the presentation is one you feel good about delivering and it results in sales.

These strategies have been honed over the last eight years to secure opportunities at conferences, associations, and organizations for myself and my clients. The interactive session will include ideas for selecting content you feel good about sharing in a presentation, selling tips from people who dread sales (and those who LOVE it), and strategies for finding speaking opportunities. I’ll also be sharing strategies donated by my presentation friends.

Geetesh: After more than a year of missed on-location conferences, how does it feel returning to normal and traveling to a real in-person conference?

Wendy: The Presentation Summit is one of the conferences I really look forward to attending every year. I’ve missed the energy that ignites at this event when a few hundred presentation professionals come together for fun and learning. Rick Altman fosters a warm, welcoming environment at the Summit. It’s encouraging and invigorating to be a part of such a collaborative community that openly shares. My hope is that we will be able to safely convene in Florida in person. I can’t wait to see my presentation peeps in-person again and to meet new friends, both in-person and virtually!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.