Presentation Skills Seminar



Cerone sharing presentation tips with the class
By. Jeremy Murdock


One of the best aspects of the Iowa MHA program is the tremendous Iowa alumni support. This support comes in many different ways and is very much appreciated and acknowledged by current students. The extent to which many alumni give of their time, talents, and resources is inspiring and I believe it instills the need for current students to “pay it forward” and find ways to stay connected and support the program beyond graduation day.  

On the first Friday in April, the 1st year MHA students were enlisted in what you might call a one-day “Presentation Skills Bootcamp” organized and directed by two Iowa MHA alumni, Shane Cerone, '95, and Chris Klitgaard, '99. Mr. Cerone is President of Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak Michigan and Mr. Kiltgaard is the President of MediRevv, a revenue-cycle management company based in Coralville. Both healthcare professionals, by virtue of their years of experience in healthcare management roles, have had extensive presentation experience. Presenting to leadership teams and executives, community boards, and other groups within the community is an integral part of being a healthcare administrator.



Students watching presentations and giving feedback
Since we’re all friends here, let’s be honest: formally presenting in front of a group makes almost everyone nervous and or mildly terrified. Your heart rate speeds up, breathing becomes a chore and you might start fidgeting or doing things you wouldn’t normally do, like using your hands as six-shooters when making an important point (I’ll admit to it). So to begin the training session, Mr. Cerone and Mr. Klitgaard spoke to the class on several important topics involved in presenting: How to prepare and plan the presentation so you are an expert on the presentation topic and its delivery, how to make a strong first impression (visual cues/appearance and sound of voice are key here) in addition to the many “technical” details of presenting were also discussed and emphasized.



For the duration of the training, our class was split up into two groups. Mr. Cerone mentored one group and Mr. Klitgaard mentored another as we were asked to prepare and deliver several short presentations. I must mention that these live presentations were recorded, and not just to induce hypertension, but to allow for the mentors and our classmates to give us constructive feedback and for the presenter to view him/herself afterwards and make adjustments or identify areas of improvement. In my own experience, I recognized how much more comfortable I was presenting when I had a clear understanding of the material I was going to deliver than when I “winged it.” Having the chance to see yourself present on the screen was actually a good exercise in discovering certain mannerisms or distracting habits we all exhibit when presenting. The challenge is practicing the delivery and disciplining one-self to avoid repeating the same mistakes (i.e. “uhs” and “ums” between words) and improve. The overall experience was very valuable. The feedback and coaching we received from Mr. Cerone and Mr. Klitgaard were very helpful.

Shane Cerone, '95, and Chris Klitgaard, '99





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