Artificial intelligence (AI). Green technology. Augmented reality (AR). All are popular topics that can benefit from people who understand their complexities and can explain them well. Companies’ technical teams can be those people, but they often struggle with communicating complex topics to non-technical audiences.

One way for companies to tackle this issue is to establish speaker training programs for their technical staff. Topics for a speaker training program can include:

• Balancing a presentation’s technical depth and clarity of message.
• Developing ways to better engage an audience.
• Figuring out the optimal way to structure presentations to elicit the greatest audience comprehension.

However, like many businesses, there are a number of initiatives competing for attention. So, why should a speaker training program be added to the mix? This article shares key insights on how a speaker training program for technical workers can impact the business.

Developing More Useful Employees

Technical employees don’t have to be the geeks sitting in front of computers. They can be formidable representatives of the company. A few months ago, I attended a conference hosted by an engineering society. There were several presentations. One of the presentations was given by a company’s business development director. After his presentation, all the questions he received were technical in nature. He couldn’t answer any of them. Luckily, two engineers from his employer were in the audience. They took turns answering the questions from their seats. Thankfully, the presentation room was small enough that everyone could hear their answers without them having a microphone.

The entire experience made me wonder why one of the engineers didn’t give the presentation. The majority of the people in the audience were engineers; all presenters should have anticipated technical questions. A speaker program offered by the company likely would have made both engineers more comfortable giving the presentation. Now, these engineers can be emissaries for the company, presenting at other technical conferences. Companies could cover more ground by having more people skilled in giving presentations.

Communicating Information More Accurately

It makes sense for the people who know the data inside and out to be the ones who communicate it, as there’s less chance of miscommunication. A non-technical person asked to communicate complex technical information is at a disadvantage. They have to learn the material, fully digest and understand it, then communicate it. That takes time to do. The technical staff already have digested and understood the material; they just have to improve at communicating it. Once they learn that skill (via a speaker training program), they’ll always have it.

In the aforementioned example of the business development director and the engineers, the business development director was at a clear disadvantage speaking to an audience of mostly engineers. No matter how much research he did, he wasn’t going to be at their level of expertise. Give the engineers speaker training, and they’re off to the races!

Encouraging Technical Staff to be More Vocal

So often, technical staff aren’t more vocal because, in many cases, they know that their communication skills aren’t the best. If they receive the training they need to be better communicators, though, they’re more likely to actually communicate. They’ll speak up at meetings. They’ll lead meetings. They’ll present at conferences. They’ll show themselves to be future leaders — no need to hire externally.

It should be no surprise that those who move up within organizations are those who are the most visible. A great way to gain visibility is to be skilled at communicating. Decision makers within companies won’t have to try so hard to find future leaders; they’ll be right in front of them — speaking. That certainly was the case for me. Improving at communicating led to me being selected to present at a conference in Venice, Italy. There’s no way I would have been picked if I had stayed a mediocre speaker. It led to a couple of promotions, too.

Losing Less Employees

I worked as an engineer and had to give monthly project status updates to senior management. My presentations were shoddy at best. Reading slides, not looking at the audience, using a slew of technical jargon. I did all of it. It wasn’t until the project was canceled that I realized that becoming a better communicator was something I needed to do. I went outside the company to seek resources, but it certainly would have been more convenient for the company to offer a speaker program.

Companies developing such programs would show them as companies that value their employees’ development. Employees tend to be more loyal to such companies. There’s a cost to replacing those who leave companies. Retaining employees while making them more useful to the company. What’s not to like?

Having technical staff that can serve as trusted advisors within companies and act as solid representatives outside of them only makes for better companies. They understand complex material well, but can often use some help making the material understandable to others. A speaker training program can go a long way to making that happen.