Mark Dimm, Vice President of Development and Training at Columbia Funds Distributor (Bank of America), on why Exceptional Presentations became a preferred-supplier program.
Dear Walter, thank you for the outstanding Exceptional Presentations workshops your organization provided Bank of America. The employees who have attended your workshops and the feedback we receive is among the best of any of our courses. As you know, we intend on continuing to offer this workshop as one of our regular offerings.
Since you asked me for some specific feedback on why the class is such a success for Bank of America, let me offer a few specific points. Your proprietary A.S.I.A. presentations structure format provides our employees a methodology they can use to organize and communicate their ideas regardless of audience size or type. The take-away booklets you created for our employees to use to quickly structure their presentations have been very valuable as "in-the-field" implementation tools.
The 10 digitally video recorded presentations that each of our employees deliver during your sessions ensure that the skills you teach are learned. The 10 one-on-one feedback sessions that follow the 10 digitally video recorded sessions ensure that students receive personalized feedback based on their individual performance in a private, non-threatening setting. Yours is the only presentations workshop I have found that provides this level of individualized attention.
The small class size and your use of two instructors — one to lead the class and one to provide one-on-one feedback in a break-out room — provides the highest level of individualized attention that I've seen. Not only does your workshop focus on how to structure a presentation, but just as much emphasis is placed on how to stand, walk, talk, gesture, answer questions, and deal with indifference and side conversations.
Based on the feedback we have received so far and your focus on delivering value to Bank of America, we have registered Baker Communications in our Preferred Supplier database. Thanks again for the terrific work!
Mark Dimm
Vice President, Development and Training
Columbia Funds Distributor — Bank of America