“I met Jeroen in an improv theatre course about Playing Secrets that he directed a few years ago. It impressed me how structured he was able to make a topic that I had always thought of as rather spontaneous, while keeping it light and fun. With this in mind, I was convinced he’d be the perfect person to contact for a workshop about presentation skills and storytelling for the cohort of my Master Programme, Health Food Innovation Management at Maastricht University Campus Venlo. The workshop was initiated as public speaking is an important element of the education programme that deserved to be further cultivated, especially after two years of online presentations, which require a very different skill set.
The workshop was organised within a tight timeframe, nonetheless Jeroen was very enthusiastic and forthcoming in the planning of this workshop. He was transparent about the plans he had and ensured that the programme and course coordinators requests were appropriately incorporated.
On the day of the workshop, Jeroen approached the students in a kind and welcoming manner. The first exercises focused on warming up to each other and communicating the learning intentions for the workshop, both from Jeroen and the students. The Connect technique allowed us to focus on one of the students main inquiries on how to engage their audience and keep their attention. Jeroen has a very kind and encouraging way of giving feedback, that feels easy to incorporate when practicing exercises again. This is especially true of the personal recommendations he gave the students, which focused on what he observed and how this may affect their audience. To make it easier to apply for the students, he worked through exercises aimed at improving how the audience perceived those specific aspects of their presentation. These were focused on the use of space, voice and story building, rather than what the subject matter may be, which was a new experience for many of the students.
Upon talking to the students, it became clear that they had been unsure on what to expect before the workshop, but that they had been positively surprised by the experience. Many of them felt that it had been very useful, due to the practical nature of the workshop, that allowed them to directly apply the concepts that Jeroen explained. A few weeks after the workshop, the cohort had an important presentation symposium, that was intended to dynamically introduce the food innovation products they had been working on for the past two months. It was very encouraging to see that many of them incorporated concepts that had been practiced in Jeroen’s workshop.
Personally, I have also been incorporating many of the exercises that Jeroen taught us. The Connect principle was a true lightbulb moment for me, as grabbing the audience’s attention had been one of my personal struggles when giving presentations. Especially Jeroen’s elaborations on this principle helped to give me the structure to apply it. Additionally, I’ve been using many of the tips he give to calm nerves or get energy, through simple exercises that can be applied before presentations, as well as other relevant opportunities.
It was truly a pleasure to work with Jeroen during this workshop and he also made it a very positive learning experience for the students that participated.”
-Jo Scholtyssek, President of Theatre Association Alles is Drama & Master student Health Food Innovation Management.