Presentation Skills

                                                 Presentation Skills

Presentation is a communication process of transmitting the message from the presenter to the audience. This message can vary in length and complexity. Different presentation aids can be used e.g. flip chart, PowerPoint presentation with the video beamer, whiteboard with erasable pens, laser pointers, etc. Presentation can be done in different circumstances in a more or less formal way.To present something before a mass is like projecting oneself to them. Each and every action from facial expression to body language have great impact on our presentation.
To become a successful presenter, we need focus and practice to talk effectively before mass. Presentation is no more different than public speaking. No one is a borned public speaker or presenter, it improves and develops with persistance and practice.
In fact, everybody is in the position to be a presenter at some point. At school, at the university, during the business presentation or even you can be a professional presenter. Now we come to common problem for most of the people. This problem is "Stage Fright" combined with lack of technical skills of presenting. And i have mentioned how to get rid of this error in previous posts (Dale Carnegie's special).
Before presenting anything before anyone, the two Ps which are inevitable are "Preparation" and "Practice". Apart from them, Self-confidence,Self-control is also necessary to reduce the nervousness. Every one does have their own principle and ways to prepare for presentation but i am going to point out some basic presentation skills tips--

--You need to have a minimum of expertise in the area of presentation. This means that you cannot just learn your lines that you will say during the every slide, but you also need to be prepared to answer to potential questions from the audience. Simply, you need to have at least the basic knowledge on the subject presented.


--Make concept for your presentation ( intro, main part, conclusion ). Your presentation needs to have meaningful flow. It should have a theme, the message and learning for your audience. Set up learning goals for your audience and check the results at the end. Longer presentation should have detailed agenda developed.

--Use aids ( power point or flip chart ), but remember that you are still one who is presenting, not the slides. Do not exaggerate with the presentation aids. They should assist you, instead you assist to them.

--Use not more 3-4 lines of text on presentation slides, with maybe 1 photo. If you put too many details, nobody will read it. Average audience is not reading the content of the slide, in case that there are too many details on it. Slides should be clear in content, visible for everybody in your audience, with graphic and color that will not distract audience, or make them difficult to read. If you are not skillful with graphic and colors, use predefined templates.

--Exercise your presentation, so that you get a feeling about it. Check all slides before presentation. Check the video beamer, cables, remote control, room lights and other technicalities before beginning of presentation. Check the colors and readability, since video beamer can present colors in different way than your computer screen. Distorted colors can make reading difficult or impossible.

-- Assess the time needed for you presentation and check the timing during your rehearsals. If your presentation is longer, divide it in sections ( e.g. 45 min ) with breaks ( e.g. 10 min ). Time management is critical during the presentation, since audience might start to feel bored if presentation is too long. You can even not finish your presentation, if it takes too long time.

--Try to move around during your presentation. Use your body language. If you just stand still in one place, you will become invisible soon to you audience and their eyes and mind might start to wander around. By moving your self and using your body language, in accordance the dynamic of the subject presented, you are keeping the audience alerted.

--Use examples for your statements. That can be your experience or something you read. If you are using somebody's examples, quote source of information. You can even say a short story or saying, if you find it suitable for supporting your presentation.

--Use humor in your presentation. This can be planned or spontaneous, but within limits that will not change normal flow of presentation.

--Ask questions to the audience. Ask for volunteers, or pick someone to answer. This will help you to keep the audience alert. They will pay more attention to your presentation, since they know that you might ask them later on. Asking questions will make your presentation more interactive, more interesting to the audience and easier for you, since you will animate people to participate.


--Do not say something like "Sorry about my presentation" or "I am nervous". I remember some of my friends that used to say something like that during the presentation. I found that to be wrong, since their presentations were actually good and I wouldn't ever guess that they are nervous or unprepared, if they didn't say something like that. If you state that you apologize because you are not a good presenter, you are ruining your credibility before you even started. Even if you are a bit nervous there is no reason to say that.


Actually, everybody, even the most experienced presenters, have some "stage fright". It is normal. But as soon as the presentation starts, you will be released, since you will involve your energy into the presentation.

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Public Speaking (Dale Carnegie's special)

                             Ways to Develop Self Confidence in Public Speaking

" A person who can talk effectively before mass or public can obviously talk confidently before a group or a individual "-Dale Carnegie. This saying really worth a lot for the one who wants to be successful to talk confidently. Talking or expressing self to others is that tool gifted to humankind by which he can achieve infinite success in his life. For example, a person is talented, he has many talents but just lack to express himself before others, this means all his talents are of no work or just lie dormant. Therefore, to develop personality, public speaking is the topic or tool which can't be left aside. I have read many books of Dale carnegie which are really motivational and inspires me to write and post here in my blog. I say these books are practical rather theoretical. And, this post is also based on in one of his book, i am just a medium to express his gift and contribution to the society and my experiences too.
Well, there are lots of phobias and fears which become blocks in human success and personality development, and in public speaking also, fear is one major factor which creates hazards. "Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world"--Emerson, so if we are able to transform this emotion into something positive, then only success follow us in whatever we do or willing to do. In public speaking, fear of audience is the main reason for self-consciousness.


 Dale Carnegie's quick methods to help overcome stage fright and develop self confidence in few weeks of practice.


1) Get the facts about fear of speaking in public:
 Reasearch and surveys done in colleges indicate that eighty to ninety percent of all students enrolled in speech classes suffer from stage fright at the beginning of the course--- You are not unique in your fear of speaking in public. A certain amount of stage fright is useful. Many people when need to speak for the first time in stage get nervous. It is nature's way for preparing us to meet unusual challenges in our environment. So, when you notice your pulse beating faster and your breathing, don't become alarmed, at this moment, a special kind of hormone ( adrenalin) releases by adrenal gland which activates our para-sympathetic nervous system. This action actually preparing or boosting us to face obstacles or emergencies. Your body, ever alert to external stimuli, is getting ready to go into action. If this physiological preparations are held within limits, your mind will be capable to think and decide faster, talking more fluently and generally speaking with greater intensity than under normal conditions.
Many professional speakers also mentioned that they never completely lose stage fright. Its always present just before they start speaking, and may persist for some sentences of their talk. This actually works as booster. "Be like race horse not a draft horse", race horse also needs to be hit before it starts to run.


2) Preparing yourself properly:
i. Never Memorize a talk word for word--Preparing perfectly doesn't mean to memorize in a parrot fashion. Speaking in public is a creative job. You need keypoints, or keywords of what you are going to present and elaborate these on the basis of your knowledge,experiences,environment which is always hidden in your subliminal memory. The man who writes his talks and memorize it is just wasting his time and energy, and counting disaster. Stress due to fear leads to nervousness generally make you lost your memory ( this is why our mind becomes vacant initially when we are giving exams and looking the question paper at a glance, and when we keep on solving, we gained some relaxation which leads to returning of memory and we solve the queries ). So, in public speaking also one needs to relax himself before speaking, remembering the keywords and describing it. All our lives we have been speaking spontaneously. We haven't been thinking of words. We have been thinking of ideas. If your ideas or knowledge is clear in the particular matter we are gonna speak, the words come as naturally and unconsciously as the air we breathe. If we memorize our talk word by word, we'll probably forget it when we face our listeners, even if we don't our presentation will be robotic or mechanical, we can be seen as our body language express us that we are memorizing something before our listeners. Because, whatever we say at that time wont come from our heart, just come from our memories.


ii) Assemble and arrange your ideas beforehand--- Now, before making any talks either easy or complicated, all you need to do is to search your background for significant experiences you have gained about life and esp. relating to the subject matter you are about to talk, then assemble your thoughts, ideas, your convictions, that have welled up from these experiences. Dr Charles Reynold Brown said " Brood over your topic until it becomes mellow and expansive,then put all these ideas down in writing, just a few words, enough to fix the idea..put them down on scraps of paper-- you'll find it easier to arrange and organize these loose bits when you come to set your material in order." So,recall your ideas with feelings and intensify your vigor and confidence.


iii) Predetermine your mind for success--- Relax and visualize your talking with eyes closed for some time beforehand. Visualize the crowd, the heads and affirm your mind that all them are your followers. Take some deep breaths, the hear the chattering or voices in crowd, see yourself standing in front of them and speaking effectively without hesitation. Step up and hear their applause and finally again visualize your successful speaking. This really works, this technique is just to make your mind ready to accept the condition about to come, and relaxation is very important not only in public speaking in everything we do.


3) Lose yourself in your subject:
After the subject has been selected, arranged it according to plan, and rehearsed it by " talking it out" with your friends, your preparation is not ended here. You must keep practicing and one way to do that is before mirror. Before mirror, you will perceive your body language clearly and vividly, look into your eyes and talk whatever comes in your mind regarding the subject matter. Think in mind that, you are contributing something positive to the society, after your talk or speech, the society will get something optimistic message.


4) Keep you attention off negative stimuli which can upset you:
For example, thinking of yourself making errors of grammar or suddenly coming to an end of your talk is certainly a negative projection which can hamper your self-confidence. Thats why positive visualization and affirmation is important as i described above also. Its especially important to keep your attention off yourself just before your turn to speak. Concentrate on what other speakers are saying, point out important fact from them, note it and if possible merge it differently in your turn.


5) Act Confident:
 Profound psychologist, Professor William James, wrote "Action seems to follow feelings, but really action and feeling go together;and by regulating the action, which is under the control of will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is involuntary indeed." This the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to ac and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. Therefore, to feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear. 


These are just some tips on how one can talk and speak effectively, but only by going through this techniques without applying it on day to day activities is like writing in water, which will fades no matter how genius you are. Apply the above mentioned proved methods whenever you get chance. Keep practicing and keep developing yourself!!!

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Developing confidence in Public Speaking

There are not actual rules regarding the confidence built up on how to speak before public. The innate or real potential is within the particular human being but some rules can really be helpful and i tried to collect and summarized below...

FIRST- GET THE FACTS ABOUT FEAR OF SPEAKING IN PUBLIC

Fact No. One: You are not unique in your dear of speaking in public. Surveys in colleges indicate that 80-90% of all students enrolled in speech classes suffer from stage fright at the beginning of the course.

Fact No. Two: A certain amount of stage fright is useful!!. Its nature's way of preparing us to meet unusual and unexpected challenges in our life. So, when you notice pulse beating faster and your respiration speeding up, don't become alarmed. Your body, ever alert to external stimuli, is getting ready to go into action.. If these physiological preparations are held within limits, you will be capable of thinking faster,talking more fluently and generally speaking with greater intensity than under normal circumstances.

Fact No.Three: Many professional speakers have assured that they never completely lose all stage fright!!.. It is almost always present just before they speak, and it may persist through the first few sentences of their talk or speech. This is price these men and women pay for being like race horses and not like draft horses. Speakers who say they are "cool as a cucumber" at all times are usually as thick-skinned as a cucumber and about as inspiring as a cucumber.

Fact No.Four: The main cause of your fear of public speaking is simply that you are unaccustomed to speak in public!!!. "Fear is misbegotten of ignorance and uncertainty," says Professor Robinson in THE MIND IN THE MAKING . For most people, public speaking is an unknown quantity, and consequently one fright with known quantity, and consequently one fraught with anxiety and fear factors. For the beginner, it is a complex series of strange situations, more involved than, say, learning to play tennis on drive a car. To make this fearful situation simple and easy: practice, practice, practice. You will find, as thousands upon thousands have, that public speaking can be made a joy instead of an agony merely by getting a record of successful speaking experiences behind you.
The story of how Albert Edward Wiggam, the prominent lecturer and popular psychologist, overcame his fear, can be an inspiration to all. He tells how terror-struck he was at the thought of standing up in high school and delivering a five-minute declamation.
"As the day approached, he writes, "I became positively ill. Whenever the dreadful thought occurred to me, my whole had would flush with blood and my cheeks would burn so painfully that i would go behind the school building and press them against the cold brick wall to try to reduce their surging blushes".
" On one occasion, I carefully memorized a declamation beginning,'Adam and Jefferson are no more.' When I faced the audience, my head was swimming so I scarcely knew where i was. I managed to gasp out the opening sentence, stating that ' Adams and Jefferson have passed away.' I couldn't say another word, so i bowed....and walked solemnly back to my seat amid great applause. The president got up and said,'Well Edward, we are shocked to hear the sad news, but we will do our best to bear up under the circumstances. During the uproarious laughter that followed, death would, surely have been a welcome relief. I was ill for days afterward.
"Certainly the last thing on earth i ever expected to become was a public speaker." A year after he left college, Albert Wiggam was in Denver. One day he read a pamphlet explaining the proposals of the Free Silverites; he became so incensed over what he considered the errors and hollow promises of Bryan and his followers, that he pawned his watch for enough money to get back to his native Indiana. Once there, he offered his services to speak on the subject of sound money. Many services to speak on the subject of sound money. Many of his old school friends were in the audience and i managed somehow to live through the introduction; and encouraged by even this tiny success, i went to talking for what i thought was about fifteen minutes. To my amazement, i discovered i had been talking an hour and a half!.
"As a result, within the next few years, i was the most surprised person in the world to find myself making my living as a professional public speaker.
" I knew at first hand what William James meant by the habit of success."
Yes, Albert Edward learned that one of the surest ways of overcoming the devastating fear of speaking before groups is to get a record of successful experiences behind you.
You should expect a certain amount of fear as a natural adjunct of your desire to speak in public, and you should learn to depend on a limited amount of stage fright to help make you give a better talk..

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Tips For Having Interesting, Dynamic, Impressive And Meaningful Conversations !!

Communication makes society progress, grow, and change. From the time man was created to this day, he has been struggling to perfect this skill. Gone are the days of drawing on rocks, flickering fingers, and grunting sounds.

These days, we can communicate in many different ways. We are no longer confined to just the spoken word. Because of the conception of mail, the manner in which human beings communicate has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, the most common form of communication is done via the Internet. Email, blogging, chatting are only some of the many popular forms of communication. How then in this new technological world can a person still have interesting, meaningful, face-to-face conversations? Below are 4 easy tips to help any person have great and substantial conversations.
1. Be interesting
For your conversation to be interesting, you have to be interesting yourself. What does this mean? Being interesting is such a subjective thing. Well, actually, this is a simple thing to achieve. Being up-to-date is one way to be interesting. Everyone loves someone who has something substantial to say because he or she is aware of what is happening around the world. Watch TV, read the newspapers, keep abreast of current events. There are so many things going on around the world that are worth paying attention to. Another way to keep things interesting is to be involved. Join chat groups, or even face-to-face organizations. Stand up for something, even if it is just one or two things that you really feel passionate about. There is bound to be even a couple of items that you love. Or, if you know you are going to socialize, then be prepared. Make a mental list of the meaty things that can be discussed. Bottom line is, no one likes a hot air balloon. If you are going to talk to people, make sure you know what you are talking about.
2. Be confident
So look, you have done all this research. Perhaps you have even gone out of your way to know other things out of the ordinary. Take shelter or refuge in that. Since you know your stuff, chances are you will not go wrong. Opinions are neither wrong nor right anyway. You just have to confident that what you are discussing with the person or people is something that makes sense and is not just a spur of the moment insight without much research support. 3. Keep smile on your face and sweetness on your voice No one wants to converse at any length, much less have a meaningful conversation with someone who looks grumpy, irritated, or arrogant. Always keep positivism in mind. Remember that even if you aren’t thinking bad thoughts your resting face might not be very approachable or pleasant. One component of interesting and meaningful communication is enjoyment after all. And no one will enjoy the conversation if the person being conversed with is just not great to be around. If this is something difficult for you, then try practicing at home. Talk to yourself in the mirror with a smile on your face. You will be surprised how well this method works in making you a generally more pleasant person to approach and talk to.
4. Be interested in others too
It comes full circle now. Just as you want to be interesting for people, they would like you to be interested as well. The surest way to make the conversation chemistry die is to look, act, and be uninterested in what the other person is saying. This may, at times, be difficult considering not everything a person wants to talk about is necessarily something you would enjoy listening to. But think of it this way, it goes both ways, but the other person was good enough to be attentive to you. A tip for how to make this an easier task is to focus on those things you know well in the conversation and relate to things you know. It is highly improbable that you will find absolutely nothing to comment on during the whole exchange. So, just by looking at these four tips it is easy to see how anyone can have meaningful conversations. And the best part is, you don’t have to spend anything or exert too much effort to have great talks.

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