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Posts Tagged ‘Basic’

Sharpen basic business skills
The Business Builders Program will offer its popular basic business workshop, Smart Start, beginning Monday, Nov 1, at 5:30 p.m. in Eastham.

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How can you engage your audience when giving a presentation to ensure you avoid the dreadful, death by powerpoint? We’ve all been there, stuck in our seats, having to sit through the longest, least interesting presentation in the world, you thought would never end. Bob Cole, Director of the Teaching and Learning Collaborative at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is a specialist on guiding students and Institute faculty on how to present differently. Bob is an educational technologist with extensive language program administration experience. He has a strong interest in organizational development, disruptive technologies, and viral approaches to professional development and innovation. Bob Cole is a graduate from the Monterey Institute, where he received his MA in TESOL. Bob holds a BA in History from UCLA. To learn more about the degree offerings and programs at the Monterey Institute, visit www.miis.edu.

It’s easy to understand why speaking in public can disrupt anyone’s nerves. Addressing a crowd takes a certain amount of confidence and efficient communication skills. Some people, however, are more than afraid of speaking in public – they have phobias. They have nightmares about getting utterly humiliated by speaking in public. They have buckets of cold sweat when put on the spot. Their hands shake and their whole body trembles as their turn to speak fast approaches. If you’re one of these people, then you know it’s time to get the help you need to overcome your fear – it’s time to give Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT for public speaking a try.

One of the many reasons why EFT is an effective weapon against public speaking phobia is that, unlike other therapy methods out there, EFT aims to get rid of the trigger. Teachers and speech communication coaches bother themselves with learning and teaching more skills to their students who have problems with speaking in public. This only leads to more confusion and puts more pressure, causing the students to become more afraid of speaking in public than ever. EFT for public speaking does not require the knowledge of public speaking skills, which makes it a convenient solution.

Practitioners of EFT for public speaking normally recommend undergoing three sessions, from the basic to the advanced, for a more effective treatment. You can find courses on the Internet, but personal attendance in real-life venues is suggested. The basic course is a great option for people who are interested in self-help or would like to work with family and friends and for people who would like to become therapists or are already in practice but would like to improve their skills. No experience in EFT is required since the course will serve as the foundation; it is simply a beginner’s course.

The EFT for public speaking basic course will allow you to learn what you need to know in order to work on a vast range of issues. Naturally, you will be taught the background and history of EFT to understand what it’s really all about. EFT puts emphasis on the body’s energies and how disruptions are the primary factors for a number of health problems suffered by the mind and body. More often than not, the reason why people fear speaking in public is a history of humiliation. You might have suffered from a traumatic moment related to public speaking long ago or just recently, and now your memory haunts you and cripples you from recovery. EFT helps correct this destructive effect so you can speak in public without worry or fear. Another reason why you are afraid of speaking in public is probably a variety of misconceptions, such as the how making a mistake is bad and can kill your reputation. Sometimes, fear of the fear itself is more dangerous because your mind tends to close out reason. The procedures of EFT are effective in finding and wiping out these misconceptions.

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.

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.

Stage fright can be really terrifying to some people. Many people have the fear of the audience, lights of the stage, they are afraid what will be if someone ask them difficult question. This is causing nervousness, sweating, accelerated heartbeat, dizziness or even panic attacks.

On the other hand, presenting skills are technical aspect. Presentation skills are a broad area. It takes some time to develop this skill, for some people more, for the other less time, depends of a talent. Since all of us can be in situation to be presenters, to be in the center of the audience, it is useful to learn basic skills of presenting.

Anybody can prepare at least a decent presentation. Presentation takes some time and effort for preparation. During preparation try to follow basic rules:

· 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.

I am not “born presenter”, since I am an introvert person, but I learned some basic presenting skills and I am using them during occasional business presentation.

Finally, you are born without knowledge of speaking any language, without knowledge of mathematics, without knowledge of driving the bike or a car. But you learned that and adopted these knowledge and skills as your portfolio. Why wouldn’t you make Presentation Skills to be part of your personal competences?