PRESENTATION SKILLS

I reminisce of having a presentation on the topic "Leadership skills" during my college. And I prepared well before and guess what, on the day of presentation, I was the star. My presentation went on well and my Professor was very happy with me. And a friend of mine asked how the presentation went on so well. And ofcourse my answer was Practice! But it is not just about practice but there is something more to it. And the 'something more' are few simple yet very important things you need to master which are explained below. 

Presentation is a medium of communication for various situations, such as discussion with a group/team, for an executive meeting or even as a tool for explaining to colleagues or as a teaching aid. Presentation is basically needed to acquaint someone with your message or opinion. Getting your message across clearly and effectively is a skill. And this decade demands presentation skills. Whether you are an executive, director or student, if you want to be an entrepreneur or contest a college or political elections, you may be asked to make a presentation. Presentation skills are inter-related to public speaking. Ironically, public speaking is a skill needed to excel in any field. And the funny fact is, Public speaking is ranked among the top five phobias. Yes! Among the TOP FIVE!!

You may need to give a presentation for an interview or may be for a conference, or for a seminar or speech. The situation can arrive at any moment. And it can be a disconcerting task…

And the question is- Why to give a presentation that is anything less than magnetic?? No point, right?

There are few points you need to keep in mind when giving a presentation {only keep this in mind if you are looking forward to give a zestful presentation :p  }

     CONTENT

• You are not required to include every detail. Identify few key points and include them.
• Gather 100% content. Add 10% to your slides and use the remaining 90% for explanation and questionnaire session.
• Capture your audience attention as soon as you begin. And also end strongly. Assure yourself that your message has been delivered abruptly.
• Use examples wherever possible. People understand better when you relate your content to examples.
• Try and add a bit humour to engage your audience. The more you entertain them, the more attentive they are. You can add humour by adding abrupt funny slides. But try not to divert much from your original topic.

DELIVERY

• The attention span of an average adult is four-eight seconds and so don’t dwell on a specific subject for too long.
• Ask questions to keep your audience engaged. It can be as simple as asking if your audience have understood everything you have presented so far.
• Avoid speaking softly or in a very high tone. If your tone makes you look unconfident, try to work on it. It takes practice to change your voice modulation.
• Avoid usage, Umm, of fillers, Uh. Yes! Avoid it and again this can be done only through practice.
• Avoid using negative words like don’t. Do not tell your audience don’t worry, instead tell them why they need not worry. Try to be positive enough so that your vibes make you feel confident.
• Practice being confident.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

AUDIENCE   

• Keep your audience in mind and you will notice a drastic change. Determine their expectations from the presentation. 
• You cannot bombard 4 grade students with a heavy presentation.
• You need to bow down to the audience level and bring them above with you through the presentation.  

   

     BODY LANGUAGE 

• Stand at a comfortable distance and position. And that does not mean yyou can lean on the table. NO! You want to be perceived as a confident person and not  someone with a casual approach.
• Maintain eye contact with your audience. Rather than surfing through them, maintain eye contact with one person at a time.
•  Keep your shoulders back and smile genuinely. You can walk around the audience when needed and make use of gestures. Make your movement purposeful.

Presenting doesn’t have to be terrible or something you avoid. To present your ideas clearly, confidently, engagingly and purposefully, you need to practice. Practice well and be confident about your ability to present your ideas/opinions.

You need to go through your presentations well before hand. You might be the most confident speaker, yet you need to go through it 2-3 times.

P.S. – The above tips have been given, keeping in mind, that you already know to make a good presentation.

Remember: - "All the great speakers were bad speakers at first"                                                                                                                             - Ralph Waldo Emerson

ASSERTIVENESS

Speaking and listening are considered as art. Those who excel in this art are loved and valued by all. Assertiveness is an important factor needed to excel in the art of speaking.
Assertiveness is a regular term usually used in social skills. Being assertive while communicating is essential and one of the strength of a better communicator. Being assertive means expressing yours or other people's view/rights in a calm way, without being aggressive. Assertive people are able to express themselves without upsetting others or themselves. Being aggressive shows lack of self-confidence and hence being assertive will help you in many ways.

Assertiveness means speaking up for your rights, your thoughts, and beliefs in an honest, polite and respectful ways.

 Assertiveness shows your respect towards other people's opinion and also towards yourself. Whether at home or work, with colleagues or customers, being assertive helps you expressing yourself in a positive and calm way without restricting other people's opinion or rights.

Being Assertive:

Assertive behavior includes:- 

• Being assertive involves considering other people's and your own wishes, needs, desires and perspective.
• Expressing views openly and encouraging others for the same.
• Listening to others views and reacting appropriately whether you are in agreement with their view or not.
• Being able to admit mistakes.
• Being able to apologize
• Regularly appreciating others for what they have done or are doing.
• Maintaining self-control and self-esteem.
• Being fair and kind to others.

Being Aggressive:

Aggressive behavior fails to consider other people's view point or feelings.

Aggressiveness towards other people lowers their self-esteem and tampers their rights. Your aggressive nature will lead to other people reacting to you in a non-assertive way. Aggressive person never appreciates others for their work. Aggressive response shows lack of self-control and your desire that everyone should agree to your view. It leaves a bad impression on people. Aggressive nature includes- rushing someone through their talk, ignoring other people's view, telling rather than asking and so on. It can be a bad or distressing experience to be spoken to aggressively.

Being Passive:

Many people respond in a passive way because they prioritize others rights and opinions. A passive response means to say “yes” to requests when actually you want to say “no”. Passive response is used to flatter the opposite person. Passive response does not let a person to show true feeling. Such people do not regard them as equals. This also means you allow others to take responsibilities and decisions for you. When you respond passively, you put yourself down in some way. If you constantly depreciate yourself in this way, you will feel inferior to others. 

The use of either passive or aggressive behaviour in personal relationships can have undesirable consequences for those you are communicating with and it may hinder positive moves forward

The biggest difference between being assertive and being aggressive is how your words affect the well-being of others.
Interaction is a two-way process and thus reactions may differ. It will be easy to be assertive to your friend than you boss. Anyways, being easy or not an Assertive response will help you boost self-confidence and help you be better and also maintain you relationships in a better way.

“You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart” – John Ford 

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Conflict arises from differing perspective. We cannot expect everyone to agree with the same opinion. It mostly emerges when you are in stressful situations. Poor conflict management can lead to health issues like high blood pressure or increased risk of heart attack. 

Conflict is an inevitable part of relationships. But learning to deal with them in a healthy, respectful and positive way is crucial. If handled well, it helps in strengthening your bond with people. Proper conflict resolution helps you maintain strong relationships at personal and professional level. Learning to deal with conflict with a positive and constructive attitude is important for your well-being and your relationships.

Conflicts are categorized as:

1.    Personal conflict- Usually about your identity or aspects of relationship like trust, loyalty or lack of respect.

2.      Instrumental Conflicts- Related to your goals, procedure or structure you follow.

3.      Conflict of interests- Difference of interests for example a couple disagreeing over the colour of a wall.

Unhealthy responses to conflict:

• Showing explosive, hurtful and resentful reactions.
• The fear of expressing resulting to avoidance of conflict 
• Withdrawal of love or closeness.

Healthy responses to conflict:

• Ready to forgive and forget
• Seeking compromise and avoiding punishment
• Understanding that everyone has the right to express and follow their own perspective
• Respecting other's decision

Tactics to deal with conflict:

1.      Compete: Here, it will be a win/lose situation. It will create a loser but the loser should let out his concerns. It is not perceived as an ideal solution.

2.      Collaboration: This will be a win/win situation and hence perceived as ideal outcome. This is a time consuming step where both the parties need to discuss and find a solution agreeable to all.

3.      Negotiation: This situation is better that win/lose but not apt as win/win. Both the parties agree on a mid-point solution. Both parties need to give up something. It is a compromise leading to lesser commitment outcome.

4.      Avoidance: If the conflict is unimportant then both parties act as if there is no problem. But this method should not be opted in crucial topics as it may lead to "I am not OK, You are not OK" kind situation.

5.      Smoothing over: It can be used where relationship is more important than dealing with conflict. But it may lead to one person being OK and the other feeling the need to resolve the conflict.

Few life skills will help you in Conflict resolution:

1.      Assertiveness: You need to be able to express yourself clearly and firmly but without aggression.

2.      Listening: Listen to other's view and interpret it carefully. Be an active listener.

3.      Understand: Understand what others are exactly trying to express.

4.      Empathy: Try and put yourself in other's shoes and analyze their situation.

5.      Encourage: Encourage the other person to speak up and try finding solution.

6.      Limitations: Know your limitations and act accordingly. Do not use harsh tone.

7.      Clarify: Clarify with others if you did not understand any statement, rather than assuming.

Remember:- "Winning the situation is not important, but winning Hearts is!"

LISTENING SKILLS

Listening is the ability to ACCURATELY receive and interpret the messages in the communication process. Note that I have stressed on the word accurately. It is necessary to listen rather than hear. Listening and hearing are two different concepts. Listening is active while hearing is passive. When you listen to a person, you are attentive to the person’s speech and you will follow it accurately. Means you feed the instructions into your mind when you listen. In short, when you pay attention, you are listening. So listening is a conscious/voluntary task. Whereas hearing is involuntary, where you just hear the sound without trying to make sense of the words or sound heard. Thus it can be said that Hearing is physical ability and listening is a learned skill.

A good speaker also needs to be a good listener. People will only approach you when you are a good listener. It is said that 45% of your time while communicating should be spent in listening. Being a good listener is not an easy task. Only practice can make a person a good listener. The process of listening involves:

1. Receive:- Receiving the words/sound
2. Focus:- Focusing on the received content
3. Interpret:- Attaching meanings to the content
4. Understand:- Understanding the information according to own perspective
5. Evaluate:- Filter the merits of the information
6. Resolve:- Decide what to do with information

There can be many barriers to listening such as physical, physiological, psychological or factual. Overcoming these barriers and promoting better listening is the characteristic of a good listener. Here are few tips to become a better listener:-

1. Stop Talking and listen: - To become a good listener first you need to stop talking and listen to the other person. Do not interrupt or complete the sentences. Be calm and listen to the other person’s point of view. Focus your attention on the speaker. Once they have finished speaking, you can start speaking
2. Be prepared to listen: - Prepare yourself to listen. We humans get easily distracted because of our thought process. Be attentive and consciously focus on the speaker. 
3. Help the speaker: - Here, to help the speaker means to make him feel at ease and not be interrupting him or completing his sentences. Smile, be relaxed and assure the speaker that you are listening to him. Maintain eye contact and nod to show that you understand. Encourage the speaker to speak. Also maintain yours as well as the speaker’s personal space.
4. Remove Distractions: - Do not fidget, pick your fingernails, shuffle books or any similar things. Avoid interruptions. This may show the speaker that you are distracted or bored, thus disrupting the communication process.
5. Pay attention to the non-verbal language: - Focus on the speaker’s gesture, eye contact and other non verbal features. A person communicates through both verbal and on-verbal language. Pick up the additional information given through gestures.
6. Keep an open mind: - Empathise with the speaker. Try and understand the speaker’s view. If you disagree with the speaker, then make a counter question after the speaker has finished talking. Do not interrupt the speaker. If you interrupt it shows a disrespect and shows that you are not a good listener.
7. Be patient: - Give the speaker adequate time to convey his ideas. A pause or a long pause may not indicate that the speaker has completed his speech. Allow ample time to the speaker.
8. Grab the ideas: - A good listener will grab the whole idea and not just the bits of it. It may be difficult to link the together the parts, but with focus it becomes easier.

By following the above steps it will be easier for you to be a better listener. But before following the above tips, it is necessary for you to identify your present listening habits and to generate the motivation to be a better listener. Keep evaluating your progress and keep improving.

“Be a Positive, Active and Interactive Listener.”

COMMUNICATION SKILLS (Verbal And Non-verbal)

Communication is the most essential part of our life. Communication is needed in our daily life, may it be at home, your work place or your educational institution. Communication means exchange of information through a medium. We not only communicate through words, but also through our body language. And so, in soft skills we broadly classify communication as:

1.) Verbal communication- Related to speech or talking.

2.) Non verbal communication- related to body language like facial expressions, posture and so on.

When we relate soft skills to our work place we need more communication skills:

3.) Written communication- related to emails, blog, and text messages and so on.

4.) Visual communication- related to signs, symbols, and pictures.

Listening skills is also a major part of Communication. We will be discussing it further. Verbal and non-verbal communication is the part to be focused more on. They play a vital role in exhibiting our personality.

To leave an impression on an individual, we need to possess communication skills. To improve verbal skills means to feel confident while speaking. Here are few tips to improve Verbal Communication:

Start speaking: The most important part in communication is to speak up. Unless you do not speak, the communication remains incomplete. If you are afraid to speak in public, take a step and try to eradicate that fear. Participate in college speech competitions. Be the host of the next social gathering at your workplace. You may go wrong at the start, but be confident and try.

Get your Grammar right: When you speak, it is necessary to speak right. Grammatical mistakes show that you are not well versed with language and leave a bad impression on the listener. Be fluent with the language you are using. Use simple sentences. Avoid complexity in your speech.

Be confident: Be confident about yourself. Be sure that you can do it. Communicating with your boss will be easier if you feel confident. To feel confident you should be confident from within and for that you need practice.

Rehearse the important part: If you are giving an important speech or presentation, then practice it. Stand in front of the mirror and rehearse the speech. Stand in front of your family or friends and rehearse. Ask them to give you feedback and improve on those points.

Take charge: Only you can improve yourself. Unless you do not feel like improving your skills, you cannot improve. Try till you feel confident. Be determinant and face the audience. Be yourself and speak up.

Speak on the topic: Speak about the topic only. Do not add irrelevant points. The listener may lose interest. Keep your points concise, valid and clear. Do not leave your points incomplete. If you are not sure about the topic, apologize politely and be silent. Do not speak invalid points and make a fool of yourself.

Listen: The most important part is to listen. Be attentive to what others have to say. Respect the opposite person and listen to what he has to say. And give your opinions in a polite tone. Do not use an arrogant tone. Stay calm and be polite while speaking.

Non verbal communication is equally important as verbal communication. In fact, it is said that we express more through our gestures than our words. Gestures speak about your confidence, personality and your attitude. If used appropriately, your body language can be a catalyst for your success. Below are some tips to be better at non verbal communication to emerge as a self-assured and credible individual:

Have a pleasant face:  A smiling face shows your comfort and conveys to the environment that you are an approachable person. When you smile, you get back a smile and it shows your positive and open minded attitude. Wear a genuine smile and speak politely to be known as a person with charm.

Speak in low tone: Your voice is a factor that sends a positive signal about yourself. Keep your voice low to be seen as a powerful and confident person. Do not shout or disrespect the other person. Speak politely and convey your message.

Correct posture: You need to maintain correct posture. Stand straight and always hold your head high. While sitting, keep your spine straight and keep your feet flat on the ground. Maintain your space and do not enter other person’s personal space. Your correct posture shows that you are confident and respect others space too.

The art of handshake: A warm handshake is the right gesture to show your presence and warmth. But you should be well versed with the different diversities of handshake. Do not use an untidy or sweaty hand for a handshake. Be sure you have a clean hand else it will leave a bad impression on the opposite person.

Use open gestures: When you keep your movements relaxed, you send a message of being transparent. This will increase your trustworthiness and truthfulness factors, through which you are perceived to be sincere.

Following the tips , you can be better at communicating with people. Speaking and listening are two sides of the same coin. Speak out your opinion but at the same time listen to other’s opinion too.

Remember “Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.”

SOFT SKILLS MADE EASY

                A person is always judged by the skills he exhibit. Skills set shows not only your knowledge but also personality. The skills which shows your knowledge is known as "Hard Skills" For example, Your skills to operate a machine, knowledge about coding language and other related skills of your professional field. And the "Soft Skills" shows your personality. For example, how you handle a difficult situation, confidence level, communication skills and so on. The job market looks for both the skills in their employees before hiring one. Hard skills can be achieved through degree and certification. But achieving Soft skills is a personal task. Even if you are taught about soft skills, unless you do not practice it, you cannot attain it.

                  I have seen students who are excellent in their technical field. They have knowledge about their field and are ready to be dedicated to their field. But they lag in soft skills which ultimately leads them to unemployment. Soft skills has become a major part of job industry. We cannot afford to lag in soft skills if we are planning to build a career and excel. 

                  Soft Skills consists of:

                       1. Communication Skills

                       2. Non-verbal Skills

                       3. Listening Skills

                       4. Conflict Management Skills

                 These can be said as the major parts of Soft Skills. But they include various sub parts which will be discussed further. Make Soft skills a part of your daily routine for just one week and you yourself will see the beautiful change in your personality.

                  It is said "Beauty captures the eye but Personality captures the heart". Develop your personality in such a way, that no person can afford to reject you. Exhibiting your knowledge in the right way is essential, may it be in IT field or Marketing field. To excel in your field, you need knowledge, confidence, time management and verbal/ non-verbal skills. Using soft skills in the right way will lead you to success.