Is Artificial Intelligence useful in communications coaching?

We now provide participants of our media- and communications coaching workshops with an AI-driven assessment of their performance.

Powered by Yoodli, it highlights a variety of points often covered in communication coaching.

For example, it points out where the speaker uses filler words, repeats words unnecessarily, uses weak or excessive words, and even where they use non-inclusive words.

It can also analyse the delivery style, such as whether the guest speaks too slow or too fast, uses pauses, and even whether the participant made eye contact and smiled or not. This assessment is now a standard part of our communications workshops – for free.

While we can probably agree presenters should avoid an excessive use of filler words, to weed out all of them would make the speaker sound like a machine.

Also, can the AI pick up on context? For example, is the speaker pausing for effect, or because their clicker isn’t working, or because they don’t know what to say next. Is the speaker not smiling because they naturally have a business-like personality, or because it would be inappropriate to smile when presenting on a certain topic.

Or on the topic of speaking too fast or too slow. If the result is that a presentation coach tells the participant to speed up or slow down without taking the personality of the participant into account, they are forcing them to become someone they’re not.

Some people are simply more contemplative, they need more time to think and resist being told to speed up.

Conversely, naturally fast talkers have great difficulty slowing down.

The participant may oblige the trainer for the duration of the workshop, but then defaults back to their normal presentation style when they return to their office.

So, we use the Yoodli assessment as a tool to help our participants find their bearings, but ultimately it is still about helping them achieve these outcomes by applying their unique personalities in the best way possible.