The Formula for a 5-Star Intern Presentation

By now, you have probably started to think about what the end of your internship might look like. What will you have learned? What will you take with you when you go back to school? How have you added value to the company? All these things are critical components to include in your presentation at the end of your internship. If you haven’t been assigned to give a presentation, be sure to read “The Ultimate Intern To-Do List” for reasons why the intern presentation is so important.

But if you haven’t been given much direction on what your intern presentation is supposed to look like, how can you be sure that you are delivering a meaningful product to your audience? You have spent three or four months doing some incredible things and probably getting your hands in more places that you can imagine. So how do you capture a few months of work into 15 minutes?

The answer is simple: SHINE!

Below are the five things that you’ll need to do in order to make sure your intern presentation is the very best it can be:

Show Your Work

There may be people attending your presentation who didn’t get the chance to see your work throughout the summer. This will be the time for you to SHINE and show examples of some things that you were able to do over the course of the summer. When people listen to a presentation, they are much more likely to be engaged if they have something they can physically see or touch. They will be much more likely to remember what you did as opposed to if you just told them. There’s no need to show everything, but at least bring some samples.

Have Handouts

The participants in your presentation may want to write some things down during the course of your presentation. Maybe it’s a question or a comment that they’d like to explore further. Having handouts in your intern presentation will enhance the ability for your audience to follow along and engage with you on another level. A tip: DO NOT SIMPLY PRINT OUT YOUR SLIDES AND MAKE THEM INTO A HANDOUT. The reason for this is that often times, small slides on the page are hard to follow and don’t add much value to what you are saying. It’s much easier if you make a one-page summary or a fill-in-the-blank sheet for your audience to engage in while you are talking.

Infuse Creativity

Think outside the box when it comes to your presentation delivery. Instead of standing up and talking for fifteen minutes, have your participants engage in a fun activity to share what you learned. Maybe have a fun company trivia slide at the end and have a prize for the person who could answer the most questions correctly! Share your learnings in new and exciting ways. One fun idea could be a myth-buster portion, where you have myths about what you expected and how your internship “busted” those myths.   

Nix Presentation No-No’s

DO:

• Speak with enthusiasm
• Encourage participation
• Keep things moving
• Thank your participants for coming
• Practice ahead of time

DON’T:

• Read from your slides
• Overload your content: No more than 6 bullets on a slide with 6 words each
• Turn your back to the audience
• Hold notecards
• Leave with unanswered questions from participants

Explain the Value

People who run internships want to know what you thought of the program and the value that it brought to you as a student. This might be the most important part of the presentation for them. Make sure you broaden the scope and explain the big picture of why this internship was so meaningful to you. Explain what specifically was most meaningful to you and even what you might like to have experienced more if you had more time in the company. This feedback will always be appreciated and will be used to improve the program for the future.

Use this formula and you are sure to have a successful presentation!

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Are you Fit Enough, to be Successful?

An object at rest stays at rest, while an object in motion stays in motion …”

With the consequences of Newton’s first law of physics, comes the comparison to business success and physical fitness, at both individual and managerial levels.

Throughout several previous LinkedIn posts, a general theme/ analogy has been used to illustrate recommendations of planning, dedication, focus, etc; and so the question posed to me often, by professionals across many industries has been … so Shawn,what’s the correlation between personal fitness and professional success all about?

For the better part of 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of being compensated, to motivate and train exceptionally successful professionals, with short and long-term fitness goals:

• Business owners of franchises
• Law firm partners and bank executives
• Student athletes and coaches
  etc

Concurrently, I’ve been paid to consult dealer principals, general managers, fixed-operations staff and individual dealership sales consultants, regarding sales process, professional planning, management training and more.

As a result of observations during two decades of extensive 1-on-1 interactions, with very personal conversations, it’s clear that individuals who reach their goals, often have several factors in common, in both their professional objectives and dedication to personal fitness:

1. Identification of area(s) of improvement
2. Action plan with timelines and responsibilities
3. Support and/or direction from associates
4. Defined points of measurement and accountability

I’m not implying that every executive manager can deadlift 300 lbs, nor every 3 handicap golfer serves as a partner at a leading law firm; however, when it comes to predicting success of attaining goals, it’s the client who designs, adheres and improves upon a detailed plan, whom I’ve observed meet their desired fitness level and who tell me of receiving work accolades, commendations, promotions, etc.

While there’s a significant difference between correlation and causation, why wouldn’t you want to better your odds of achieving objectives?

To that point, consider taking the extra step, literally and figuratively … rather than merely use the stairs at work, hike them two at a time and with purpose.  As a sales professional, instead of only reviewing appointments in a CRM and hoping for a “show”, pick up the phone and make the confirmation call (with a rehearsed script, prepared for both live conversation and/or leaving a voicemail).  And as a senior level manager, rather than focusing exclusively on P&L statements, spend a Saturday on the showroom floor, engaging with sales prospects, existing service customers and actively providing encouraging words to staff.

And when you get tired, rest for a moment, but push hard, to get at least one more task completed.

With that last statement, was I referring to completing another set of an exercise, sprinting the last 100 yards, instead of jogging, or making one more cold-call?

And now for some of the science … if you exercise with vigor, with purpose, in each session, you’ll increase muscle mass, burn more calories, create additional neural pathways, challenge balance, mobility and stability … and as it relates to business, have more energy; therefore, with more energy, you’re able to meet client deadlines by being able to focus for longer periods of time, exceed managerial expectations, by being physically capable of handling more stress, and continue progress the next day, by having the energy to get back up.  Referring back to the comment above, about vigor – it’s not about going through the motions.  Functional training and high intensity interval training are both time efficient and results-driven.

This isn’t a post about whether you should do CrossFit versus Zumba versus Pilates … this post is about doing versus not doing, standing versus sitting, being product versus being busy.  And that no matter what your choice, that it’s active versus passive, with purpose versus indifference.

To be so productive day in and day out, is admittedly difficult and also too generic of advice, so a strong, specific suggestion is to secure the services of a consultant, a coach, a trainer.

You’re financially invested, externally motivated and honestly graded.

And with time as possibly your single most valuable commodity, a professional consultant/ trainer should assist in maximizing productivity, while decreasing the frequency of the ‘accordion effect’ – periods of efficiencies, followed by equally lengthy periods of accomplishing little.  Seek out the services of someone who knows when and how to create motivation that lasts.  There’s little difference between a professional mentor and a coach, who knows when to holler versus cajole players and staff.  At different points of a fitness session or sales cycle, a trainer/manager who can modify their approach, to help you repeat dynamic results, is worth the investment of time and money.

For 20 years I’ve worked, sold, marketed, trained and coached others and myself, in the automotive industry and yet; it wasn’t until this post, that I realized … maybe there’s more than one reason, they’re called muscle cars.

Best of luck training and working, to reach all your goals.

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WRITE A RESUME THAT GETS READ

Remember to put yourself into the head and eyes of an HR assistant who has the job of glancing at resumes and selecting a few for their boss to look at. Get right to the point. Make it as sharp as a knife. Do not list every job you had. In fact, you could summarize them all into one brief paragraph. Focus not on describing in detail each job, but on the keywords that relate to your skills and the talents required by the job for which you are applying. 

Resumes are first read by an assistant or by a computer. They look for the same keywords that they used in the job posting and description. If you have them, then your resume gets read by a decision maker. So you need to customize your resume to use the same keywords as the job postings you apply for. -- Do not focus on making a long list of jobs that you had. Focus on what talents and experience you have that relates to the hire that they need. Do not try to impress with a lot of words. 

Include a paragraph that talks about you, not just what you know. Who are you? What do you bring to the company besides experience and training? What people skills do you possess? Companies are looking for team players. 

What are your future plans? How do they fit in with the company's future plans? Be honest. 

You should even mention what recreational activities you enjoy. Are you a runner? A biker? A bowler?  Are you a family man? Are you looking for a company to grow with? Do you participate in any charitable activities, clubs, etc.? What interests do you have outside of work?  

Companies are not just looking for a person with the right training and experience: There are thousands of those people. They are looking for someone who will be the right fit for them and their current employees. Show that you are a multi-faceted, fun, likeable person with lots of interests.  

Rewrite your resume. Post it on HirePatriots.com's Career job board. Send it to me. I will edit it and send it out to companies and recruiters for you. 

At your service, 

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