Top Seven Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills

Anyone aspiring to work in an executive capacity must to have refined presentation skills, unless of course you are the President of the United States – sorry George. However, few people are naturally eloquent speakers. Public speaking is difficult for most, but with a little help, you can polish your skills and impress even the most critical audiences. Use the following ideas to diminish your anxiety and improve your presentations.

1. Take a class. This may seem like a obvious solution, but you would be surprised how many people never think of enrolling in a public speaking class. Ask your employer if they will offer one through their training department or bring in an outside program. If they aren’t receptive to the idea, check out your local college as most offer refresher classes.

2. Join an organization dedicated to improving your public speaking skills. Not only do you have a safe environment to practice, but you get objective feedback on your presentations so you know where you need to improve.

3. Practice, practice, and then practice a little more. If you have a speech to deliver, you should know it start to finish. Practice until you are comfortable with the material and it just rolls off your tongue.

4. Video tape your practice sessions. Most people hate to see themselves on TV, so that makes this especially difficult – but extremely effective. If you are serious about mastering public speaking, you need to see yourself as others see you. Watching yourself deliver a speech will help you determine your strengths and show you where you still need improvement. You’ll also get an opportunity to see that you’re probably not as bad as you think!

5. Select topics that you are knowledgeable or passionate about. It’s much easier to be engaging and comfortable when speaking about something you are experience in or have a lot of energy around. Stick to your strengths and you’ll quickly build your confidence.

6. Speak at every opportunity. Speaking is like exercising a muscle, the more you use it, the better developed it becomes. So raise your hand the next time an opportunity arises – in all likelihood, you’ll be the only one.

7. Relax and remember that people came to see YOU. Chances are good that you are way more critical of yourself than anyone else. So take a deep breath and remember that you have something the audience wants – information – because that is where they are going to focus most of their attention.

Creative Birthday Presents

Creative birthday presents can be great for your loved ones and friends. These kinds of presents would really tickle the recipients as they appreciate it. However, what ideas are best to produce these kinds of present? Read more of this article and learn.

Birthdays are considered to be the most special occasion in our lives since it marks the milestones of our age. During this time, we always mesmerized the past year that gone through in our life. And as we mesmerized all the events and memories that have happened, it’s quite sweet and overwhelming to receive creative birthday presents. Nowadays, there are so many options that we choose in giving birthday presents to someone. Despite the many options available both from online and local stores, we always want the best, unique and creative birthday presents that we can give. Because in this way, we make the person feel special on his or her special day

Giving personalized and creative birthday presents is a great idea if you want to make the recipient feel extra special. Aside from the personal touch, this idea is very practical as well. Some of the personalized birthday presents that you can give can be luxurious engraved and perfumed soaps, candy bars, wine or beer bottle with the name of the recipient printed on the label, a set of personalized wine mugs or glasses, jewelry, tote bags, ornaments, pottery and many more

Food hampers are also great as creative birthday presents. It can be filled with the favorite food flavors of the recipient. The fillers can be something chocolaty, spicy, savory and piquant. The hampers can also be designed in accordance to the age of the recipient. Aside from food flavors, the hampers can be filled with other kinds of goodies, tiny satin bows, tinsels and other related stuffs that will make it look merrier. If the recipient is your best friend or buddy, you can fill the hamper with some music CDs, scrap books, photographs, videos, favorite books and many more that will bring back your shared moments and memories together as friends. There’s no greater gift in this world like cherished and treasured friendship. On the hamper, you can label it as “love forever hamper”.

Handmade gifts are also great as creative birthday presents since it has that personal touch and labor on it. If you are someone who is very skillful when it comes to craft making then this is the best time to make someone happy with your beautiful and unique craft works. Handmade jewelries would best with the use of various beads and metal or plastic wires, you can create bracelets, brooch, earrings, and necklace from it.

Any versions of miniature of art works are also great for creative birthday presents. Samples of these works may include replicas of statues, monuments, and famous paintings.

Communicate Effectively For Negotiation Success

Negotiation is a basic process consisting of communicating back and forth to get what you want from others. Communicating is extremely important in negotiating. It requires you to express ideas clearly and listen intently. We will briefly look at both of these components to effective communication.

Communicate Clearly

The ability to communicate clearly, to express ideas so that the other party can understand, is an essential negotiating skill. Weak communication may sink the negotiating process, so improve your skills, so your negotiations do not falter.

Revealing your position at the earliest opportunity is not what I mean by being clear. It just means you should speak, write, or otherwise communicate so your intended audience understands the message you wish to convey. This sounds simple, but there are a lot of misunderstandings at the negotiating table. The key to clear communication is to think of what you want your listener to do, think, or feel as a result of the communication. Do not think of yourself and what you want to tell the listener. Think of the result you want your communication to achieve and how best to successfully obtain the desired result.

First be clear with yourself regarding what you want. Then present your ideas so the listener can understand. If your listener becomes lost, it is your responsibility to help them get back on track. Do not assume anything. Be sure your points are understood.

Listen

The second part of effective communicating is listening. This is one of the most underrated skills in negotiating. Successful negotiators spend more time listening than talking. Donald Trump pointed out in “How to Get Rich,” “If you walk into a negotiation and know nothing about the other party, let them talk, listen to their tone, observe their body language, and determine whether they really want to make a deal or just show you how smart they are.” Listening helps you prepare, and we all know how important preparation is.

Listening is fundamental to negotiations, and not only that, good listening skills will improve your business life as well as your personal life. How many marriage problems have you heard of that started with, “He never listens to me,”? Not listening results in the other party feeling unimportant, and in business this can lead to losing the deal.

Active listening involves all the senses, and is the key to effective listening. You must take in everything the other party is communicating. This means both verbally and non-verbally. If the other person is not communicating clearly, you must assist them in opening up and communicating their ideas so you understand. Restate and paraphrase what you have heard to ensure the message you received is what the other party intended to communicate.

You cannot listen and talk at the same time, or at least not effectively, so know when to be quite and listen. Many deals are lost when someone keeps talking after discussion was necessary or desirable. To be successful, you must be a good listener. Work on this skill and you will open a door to more successful relationships and broader dimensions while negotiating.