EXECUTIVE PRESENCE

PROGRAM: LATHAM & WATKINS
90-MIN WEBINAR_FIRST-YEAR ASSOCIATE PROGRAM

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PROPOSAL

RUN OF SHOW

The run of show below outlines the customized program GK Training can deliver for Latham &Watkins. It offers helpful tips and deep dives into the subject matter for each component of the session. Along with the same highly actionable curriculum GK is known for, this program will calibrate its tone for a more junior audience: not skimping on the subject matter expertise, but also addressing how these skills fit in to the first months and years of a career.

Executive Presence Run of Show

90 MINUTE WORKSHOP

WELCOME

WHY: Learners need a clear moment of embarkment, and a roadmap to know where they’re going and why.

ACTIVITY: The session begins with a moment of surprise and story-telling to engage. We set expectations and cover the agenda so participants feel comfortably in the hands of a trustworthy narrator and challenged by the session’s ambition. We emphasize how the day will equip the learners with new skills that are highly relevant at this beginning stage of their career, and explicitly give them permission to get feedback and support from those around them as they navigate their new legal home at Latham & Watkins.

BREAKOUT 1
SELF-LED (Baseline)

WHY: Participants need to know where they’re starting from.

HOW: Learners establish a baseline by presenting to their colleagues in breakout groups of six or less.

ACTIVITY: Each participant has opportunity to deliver the pre-work; each participant gets equal time. (Note: for the first breakout there is no peer feedback.)

CONTEXT:

LEARN MORE:

Read this GK Blog post “To Breakout or Not to Breakout”

THREE SURPRISES

WHY: Surprises engage listeners’ minds; spoken communication has three fundamental ones.

HOW: Participants learn GK’s 3 suprises about good communication: 1. it comes from using more of yourself, not less; 2. it comes from being focused on the other person; 3. you do not need to feel confident to project confidence.

ACTIVITY: Participants consider the bandwidth with which kids communicate; they complete a thought experiment about 4 one-to-one communication scenarios and embed the key realization with a mneumonic exercise; and they lay the groundwork for liberating themselves from the “confidence trap,” via volunteer or call-and-response (if live), or chat feed (if remote).

CONTEXT:

Learn more about the confidence trap and the twin hazards of thought suppression and distinction in our 10-year anniversary message.

LEARN MORE:

Curious about why surprises are so useful? Watch this excerpt from our online training program.

VOCAL VARIETY

WHY: Vocal variety — the musicality in the human voice — indicates both meaning (please pass the red pen) and intent (please pass the red pen!!!). It need not be learned de novo, but rather constraints must be unlearned, as humans have used the musicality of sound to communicate ideas since time immemorial.
HOW: Participants learn the importance and origin of vocal variety, and understand it using the GK Training 5 P rhubric to evaluate it along 5 alliterative dynamics (Pace, Pitch, Pause, Power, Placement).
ACTIVITY: Participants map each of the P’s to the effect on an audience, as outlined in research (conducted by GK Founder Michael Hoeppner and colleagues at Columbia Business School, UCLA, Univ of Chicago, et al) on the impact of the 5 Ps on political audiences.

CONTEXT:

What can you learn about Vocal Variety by reading to kids? 

LEARN MORE:

Click image to read an excerpt of a study from a white paper by Hoeppner, et al. 

KINESTHETIC LEARNING

WHY: To achieve actual behavioral change, participants need to learn not just with their brains but with their bodies. We use kinesthetic learning and embodied cognition to build new habits that stick.

HOW: Participants learn what Kinesthetic Learning and Embodied Cognition are and why they’re important for new skill development. Participants get introduced to multiple GK proprietary kinesthetic drills for changing bad habits.

ACTIVITY: Participants learn multiple drills that address derailers like: talking too fast, monotone communication, discomfort with silence, verbosity, and filler language.  Here is a sampling of drills that you can expect at your workshop.

CONTEXT:

Previous slide
Next slide

LEARN MORE:

Watch this Keynote from Michael Chad Hoeppner (Pay attention: A cork makes a cameo). 

BREAKOUT 2
SELF-LED

WHY: “What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” — Socrates

HOW: Learners practice the program’s lessons in breakout groups.

ACTIVITY: Each participant has a second opportunity to deliver the pre-work from the session and note improvements; colleagues offer feedback and observations. Each participant gets equal time.

CONTEXT:

LEARN MORE:

Read this GK Blog post on “How to Make Sure Breakouts Don’t Break Down.” 

HOMEWORK AND
NEXT STEPS

WHY: Now matter how good a learning experience is, practice and reinforcement are needed to turn lessons into habits.
HOW: Learners find out about GK’s follow-up and reinforcement process and tools, and gain access to them.

ACTIVITY: The session wraps up with a preview of the reinforcement emails each participant will receive, an introduction to GK’s interactive practice app Question Roulette (custom version), and guidance on HW. Learners are explicitly encouraged to seek out feedback from stakeholders at Latham & Watkins moving forward.

CONTEXT:

Here’s a demo of the GK Practice App “Question Roulette”

LEARN MORE:

Wanna play with the app yourself?