Manhardeep Singh

Better Public Speaking

March 12, 2018
Think of the last really memorable talk or presentation that you attended. Now, was that easy to do, or did you really have to rack your brains to remember one? Sadly, too many presentations are easy to forget. And that’s a big problem because the only reason the presenter gave the talk was to communicate something to you.

However, there are four basic things that you can do to ensure that your verbal messages are understood – and remembered – time and time again.

Although somewhat obvious and deceptively simple, these are:
- Understand the purpose of the presentation
- Keep the message clear and concise
- Be prepared
- Be vivid when delivering the message
Understand what you want to achieve:

Before you start working on your talk or presentation, it’s essential that you really understand what you want to say, who you want to tell and why they might want to listen. To do this, ask yourself: Who? What? How? When? Where? Why?

Who are you speaking to? What are their interests, beliefs and values? What do they share in common with others; how are they unique?

What message do you wish to convey? One way of answering this question is to ask yourself about the ‘success criteria’. How do you know if and when you have successfully communicated what you have in mind?

How can you best put across your message? Language is most important here, as are non verbal cues such as body language and expressions. Choose your words and non verbal cues while keeping your audience in mind. Plan a beginning, middle and end. If time and place allow, consider and prepare audio-visual aids.

When? Timing is important here. Develop a sense of timing, so that your contributions are seen and heard as relevant to the issue or matter at hand. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent.

Where? What is the physical context of the communication in mind? You may have time to visit the venue, for example, and rearrange the furniture. Check for availability and visibility if you are using audio or visual aids.

Why? In order to convert hearers into listeners, you need to know why they should listen to you – and tell them if necessary.

The Importance of Simplicity:

When it comes to wording your message, less is more. You’re giving your audience headlines, too much information will overload and bore your listeners. They are not expecting to become experts on the subject as a result of hearing your presentation, therefore simplicity is best.

If you’re using slides, limit the content of each one to a few bullet points, a single statement or a very simple diagram.

Preparation:

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. In fact, it is the most important factor in determining your communication successes. When possible, set meeting times and speaking and presentation times well in advance, thus allowing yourself the time you need to prepare your communications. Each minute of a presentation deserves thirty minutes preparation.

Of course, not all communications can be scheduled. In this case, preparation may mean having a good, thorough understanding of the office goings-on, enabling you to communicate with the knowledge you need to be effective, both through verbal and written communications

Successful Delivery:

The manner in which you deliver your speech or presentation has a lasting impact on your audience. Again, preparation is paramount here, in order to hold the listeners attention. Some useful tips for keeping your presentation vivid include:
- Use examples to bring your points to life
- Keep your body language up-beat – don’t stay stuck behind a rostrum
- Don’t talk to fast. Less is more here too. Pauses are effective.
- Use a variety of tones of voice
- Use visual aids.
Presentations and public speaking, although daunting, can be a very enjoyable, rewarding experience, once adequate time is taken to prepare and rehearse them. An enthusiastic speaker who is confident with his material will make a lasting memorable impression on the audience.
Are you afraid to die?

March 11, 2018

In the free evening you sit comfortably in your armchair and read an exciting book. Suddenly the clock strikes ten and you listen carefully to every strike of it. It seems like these are the last seconds of your life passing by and a strange feeling appears deep down in your gutter, but you are not able to define what is it. The feeling appears when you think of death. So, what is the truth? What do you feel to that moment that is going to come eventually?

Many researches have been done in psychology to define the most common feeling towards death. According to the majority of the scholars, it is fear. Only in one term paper outline of a student there was another feeling mentioned. It was indifference. We can determine what the feeling depends on. Certainly, it depends on a personality and his/her outlook. Those who haven’t accomplished everything that was planned think that they should live until they do what they were destined to in this life. People are afraid of death when they imagine the way they die. Will it hurt? What will I feel? Fear to die makes them outsiders, for they are convinced that communication will bring a lot of severe maladies and close themselves in their little worlds. Love can also be a factor. You will not agree to shorten your life if you know that there is somebody who loves you more than anything and will not agree to leave this person. And finally, when it comes to those who are willing to die and desperately want it to happen very fast, a couple of factors can also be found. This can be also a nice term paper idea. Psychology is very interested in motivations of actions of people.

Why are people ready to say good bye to life? We can find several reasons. If a person is tragically unhappy and there is nothing in his/her life that can satisfy, he/she will commit suicide. This is a trait of an extremely weak personality and if found they should be closely watched over by relatives and friends. A person can decide to commit suicide because of extreme circumstances. Once a person is in the corner and there is no way out, he/she can give up and leave this world for the situation is absolutely unbearable. When one has experienced a big loss, he/she is also ready to commit suicide. This is the easiest way to kill the pain inside and join whomever they have lost. People, who are mentally sick, are also able to commit suicide. They don’t think about what they leave behind because their brain functions are out of order. At times of clear conscience they decide to relief themselves out of misery their ill mind creates. Those who already know that they don’t have much time left can also be close to suicidal thoughts, though some of them can cherish every second left over anything a common human can imagine. Suicide is an awful sin and nobody has the right to commit it, for we were given a life and are not to waste it, even if some problems appear. Those, who are brave, openhearted, and successful, are not afraid of death and are always ready to look her into the eye. Those who don’t think of it are indifferent and those who are stressed out and think of it all the time will eventually be afraid. It is better to accept the future and not to try to fool yourself. You are going to die one day. Isn’t it better to die a happy person?
Action Vs. Inaction

March 10, 2018

Spring is a great antidote to long cold winters. It’s the same with action and inaction. Action is a powerful antidote to the stagnation of inactivity. Being creatively alive involves abandoning a position of inaction in circumstances which have traditionally immobilized you. The name of the game is action. Doing. Overcoming your inertia and acting will give you a whole new lease on being creatively alive.

Action is the single most effective antidote to depression, anxiety, stress, fear, worry, guilt, and of course, immobility. It is virtually impossible to be depressed and active at the same time. Even if you wanted to, it is difficult to keep on moping, complaining, lolling around and wallowing in self-pity if you get active and do something. Anything! Just doing is such an important part of being a fully functioning person.

In fact, that lack of action is not a result of depression; it is the cause. Don’t be paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake. Taking action, gives you momentum. Initiating the effort attracts opportunities and synergistic things happen.

Inactivity, on one hand, is most often a choice rather than an inescapable fact of life, while action is a definite way to avoid being victimized by yourself or others. If you decide to do something about your problem or challenge, rather than grumble about it, you’ll be on the road to changing things around for yourself. When you take action, you also take control. Thinking keeps you a prisoner of the past. Action puts you in control of the future.

If you find yourself asking, “Yes, but what can I do” the answer is very, very simple. Anything is a lot more effective than nothing.

This old proverb has a lot of truth in it: Even when you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
5 Ways to Liven Your Audience

March 9, 2018

Has a boring speaker ever put you to sleep? Your head begins to nod as you fight off the urge to slip mercifully into the Land of the Z’s. Or has your mind ever wandered during someone’s dull presentation? Although you appear to listen intently, what you are really thinking about are the million tasks waiting for you at home.

Sure, this has happened to all of us, more than we would like to admit. However, don’t let it happen to you when you are the speaker. The key to keeping your audience from taking a mental exit is to involve them in your talk. Yes! Studies show that the more you involve your audience, the more they retain. Why? Because they are listening!

You can involve your audience in several ways, and I have listed 5 of my favorites below. Select those that will work well with your presentation and that feel genuine to you. If it feels uncomfortable, it will look uncomfortable—so don’t use it.

1. Ask questions
Questions will cause your audience members to try to think of an answer. They can’t help it – it is simply how our brains are wired. If the energy in the room starts to drop, ask a question and select a member of your audience to respond. Then, thank him or her for participating and move on to the next person. Don’t worry about loosing control of your audience. Sales guru Brian Tracy emphasizes, “He (she) who asks questions is in control.” I personally prefer questions like “How many of you . …,” and then I ask for a show of hands. These closed-ended questions get your audience involved both mentally and physically.

2. Finish your sentence
For example, if you said to your audience, “Lions and tigers and bears . . .” and did not finish the sentence, what do you think they would say? As long as they are familiar with the movie The Wizard of Oz, they would respond with “Oh my!” This is a fun way to get your audience to participate. If they know the answer, they will blurt it out. If they don’t, you answer it. Choose something that should be so obvious they will absolutely get it.

3. High-five
This is one of my personal favorites. If you ever feel like the energy in the room is heavy, you can change it by using this technique. Simply ask a question (remember the power of asking questions). Ask, “Is this good stuff?” When your audience responds with “Yes,” say “Then, turn to the people on either side of you and give them a high-five and say ‘This is good stuff!’” Most people get a kick out of it. However, if you have an individual in your audience who does not want to participate, don’t worry about it. Some people simply just don’t want to have fun.

4. Do exercises
I learned this trick from the famous millionaire T. Harv Ecker. He says, “Get your audience to do the work.” To accomplish this, ask them to break into groups of two or three (with people that they don’t know) and give them an exercise that is congruent with your presentation. Afterward, ask them to share openly with the rest of the group and thank them for doing so.

5. Give them candy
Reward your audience for participating, and they will participate even more. Simply ask a question and when someone answers it, gently throw a small piece of candy to that person. I find that chocolate works best. You will find that it becomes a game and people will compete for the chocolate. I don’t use this throughout my entire speech, only for a few minutes in the middle of my talk.

There are many other ways and techniques to get your audience involved. What is important as a speaker is for you to come up with as many different ways as you can think of that are appropriate for your audience and for you as a speaker. Believe me, your audience will thank you.
10 Effective Ways To Reduce Your Business Costs

March 8, 2018

10 Effective Ways To Reduce Your Business Costs

1. Barter

If you have a business you should be bartering goods and services with other businesses. You should try to trade for something before you buy it. Barter deals usually require little or no money.

2. Network

Try networking your business with other businesses. You could trade leads or mailing lists. This will cut down on your marketing and advertising costs. You may also try bartering goods and services with them.

3. Wholesale/Bulk

You’ll save money buying your business supplies in bulk quantities. You could get a membership at a wholesale warehouse or buy them through a mail order wholesaler. Buy the supplies you are always running out of.

4. Free Stuff

You should try visiting the thousands of freebie sites on the internet before buying your business supplies. You can find free software, graphics, backgrounds, online business services etc.

5. Borrow/Rent

Have you ever purchased business equipment you only needed for a small period of time? You could have just borrowed the equipment from someone else or rented the equipment from a “rent-all” store.

6. Online/Offline Auctions

You can find lower prices on business supplies and equipment at online and offline auctions. I’m not saying all the time, but before you go pay retail for these items try bidding on them first.

7. Plan Ahead

Make a list of business supplies or equipment you’ll need in the future. Keep an eye out for stores that have big sales. Purchase the supplies when they go on sale before you need them.

8. Used Stuff

If your business equipment and supplies don’t need to be new, buy them used. You can find used items at yard and garage sales, used stores, used stuff for sale message boards and newsgroups etc.

9. Negotiate

You should always try negotiate a lower price for any business equipment or supplies. It doesn’t hurt to try. Pretend you are talking to a salesman at a car lot.

10. Search

You can always be searching for new suppliers for your business supplies and equipment. Look for suppliers with lower prices and better quality. Don’t just be satisfied with a few
5 Action Ideas to Deal with Difficult People

March 7, 2018

When was the last time you had to deal with a difficult customer? It was probably an external customer or perhaps it was an internal customer, such as a member of your team, a colleague or even – your boss!

I’m sure that you always want to provide exceptional service to both your internal and external customers. However, in the real world, things go wrong and mistakes are made. These “customers” will often judge your level of service based on how you respond to a mistake. Do it well and they’ll probably forgive you and possibly even say positive things about your business or your abilities to other people.

The important thing to realize when dealing with an upset customer, be they internal or external, is that you must deal with their feelings, then deal with their problem. Upset customers are liable to have strong feelings when you, your product or service lets them down and they’ll probably want to “dump” these feelings on you.

You don’t deal with their feelings by concentrating on solving the problem, it takes more. Here are 5 action ideas that deal with the customers’ human needs:

1 – Don’t let them get to you – Stay out of it emotionally and concentrate on listening non-defensively and actively. Customers may make disparaging and emotional remarks – don’t rise to the bait.

2 – Listen – listen – listen – Look and sound like you’re listening. The customer wants to know that you care and that you’re interested in their problem.

3 – Stop saying sorry – Sorry is an overused word, everyone says it when something goes wrong and it’s lost its value. How often have you heard – “Sorry ’bout that, give me the details and I’ll sort this out for you”. Far better to say “I apologize for ……” And if you really need to use the sorry word, make sure to include it as part of a full sentence. “I’m sorry you haven’t received that information as promised, Mr Smith”. (It’s also good practice to use the customers name in a difficult situation).

4 – Empathize – Using empathy is an effective way to deal with the customers feelings. Empathy isn’t about agreement, only acceptance of what the customer is saying and feeling. Basically the message is – “I understand how you feel”. Obviously this has to be a genuine response, the customer will realize if you’re insincere and they’ll feel patronized. Examples of empathy responses would be – “I can understand that you’re angry”, or “I see what you mean”. Again, these responses need to be genuine.

5 – Build rapport – Sometimes it’s useful to add another phrase to the empathy response, including yourself in the picture – “I can understand how you feel, I don’t like it either when I’m kept waiting”. This has the effect of getting on the customer’s side and builds rapport. Some customer service people get concerned with this response as they believe it’ll lead to – “Why don’t you do something about it then”. The majority of people won’t respond this way if they realize that you’re a reasonable and caring person. If they do, then continue empathizing and tell the customer what you’ll do about the situation. “I’ll report this to my manager” or “I’ll do my best to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future”.

Make no mistake about it; customers, be they internal or external, are primarily driven by their emotions. It’s therefore important to use human responses in any interaction particularly when a customer is upset or angry. If customers like you and feel that you care, then they’re more likely to accept what you say and forgive your mistakes.
4 Tips To Ensure A Rewarding Experience When Hiring Others

March 6, 2018

Hiring an employee can be a big step for many small business owners. It means the end of doing EVERYTHING yourself and passing off some of the work!

In order to make the experience rewarding for both you and your employees there are a few things that every boss and leader should do…

1) Reward people for a job well done. Its frustrating working for someone who enjoys all the financial rewards of the efforts put forth by the entire team, especially if they don’t recognize what everyone has accomplished and contributed.

It doesn’t take much to acknowledge the effort of your staff. It makes a HUGE difference in the working atmosphere when you take a few moments to acknowledge your team. People like to know that they’ve done a good job.

2) Always provide a balance between positive and negative comments. Your job as a leader is to recognize the talents of those around you and feed them with the motivation and positive energy to take YOUR ideas to entirely new levels. Help them serve you better by building up their confidence… not tearing it down.

3) Step up and accept responsibility for your projects. At the end of the day if things don’t go according to plan, in my opinion, the responsibility falls onto the leader’s shoulders. Stand up and accept the responsibility should anything ever go wrong.

If your staff always bear the burden of projects gone bad, it will drag people down and destroy your working environment. Start contributing to the emotional bank account of those around you.

If you acknowledge the behavior you want to see more of, you’ll start seeing more of it. Be positive and accept some responsibility when things don’t go according to plan.

4) When you have good people it’s your responsibility as a leader to hold on to them. People with talent will take your company to entirely new levels but if they keep leaving, the growth of your company will be stinted.

People with skills know that they have options. Hanging the carrot of a potential big pay day will only work for a certain period of time. After a while it wears off and they start looking elsewhere. The last thing you want is for them to end up with your competition.

So the moral of the story is find good people, train them, treat them well, and your business will take off.
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3 Worst Mistakes People Make in a Presentation

March 5, 2018

Truly memorable disasters don’t just happen. They require a special blend of misunderstanding and misguided effort. Here are three ways to guarantee a disaster in your next presentation, and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1: Believe in Magic

Show up hoping that a coherent, eloquent, useful presentation will magically appear once you start speaking. Avoid any type of preparation. Just wing it.

What Happens
Everyone is amazed by the presentation because they expected more. They are also bored and disappointed. They may even become upset because an unprepared presentation insults the audience by wasting their time. Unprepared presentations sound like, well, unprepared presentations.

Instead
Prepare. Identify the goal for your talk. Design a presentation that achieves that goal. Talk with key members of the audience about their expectations. Rehearse.

Mistake #2: Memorize your speech

Spend untold hours committing every precious word to memory so that you can recite it even if awakened in the middle of the night.

What Happens
You sound like a machine. And if you stumble on a word, you can become stuck–speechless. I’ve seen this happen, and it’s painful.

Instead
Learn your presentation. Yes, write a script. Memorize the first and last sentences and then practice giving the presentation without looking at the script. Practice many times. Eventually, you will learn how to convey the key ideas in a natural, normal way.

Mistake #3: Talk About Yourself

Focus entirely on yourself. Tell about your background, your credentials, and your history. Tell your story. Just talk about yourself. Make the presentation all about you, yourself, and your life.

What Happens
They listen politely. If you manage to be entertaining enough, they may actually pay attention. Otherwise, the audience reacts by thinking, “So what?”

Instead
Talk about the audience. That is, talk about what they need and how they can achieve it.
3 Ways To Protect Your Customers

March 4, 2018

Customer security is one of the prime considerations of any retail outlet today. Whilst implementing key marketing strategies in order to promote products and increase sales, retail managers also need to be thinking about how safe their customers feel in-store and ways they can improve the attractiveness of their space for shoppers.

Lighting

Good lighting is a key aspect of the customer experience. Stores require lighting that allows customers to see what they are doing and to ensure that no area of the shop is dimly lit or dark, as this is where thefts or attacks could occur. This is particularly important in fitting room areas and in toilet and baby-change facilities where customers are out of the general flow of the shop and there is a reduced staff presence.

CCTV systems

Customers are comforted by the presence of CCTV systems in retail stores. They know that these systems are designed to prevent crime and automatically feel safer in an environment where cameras provide a deterrent to would-be criminals. A CCTV system also often means at least one member of staff dedicated to security and this also makes customers feel more at ease.

Space

The retail environment is one that’s constantly under threat from petty crime – from shoplifting items to pick-pocketing customers. This type of crime is easier to commit in small, crowded shops, where people are more tightly packed into a space and it is difficult for staff, security cameras or general shoppers to see what is going on. It’s easy for people to put goods in their bags without paying for them or to steal a handbag and be out of the shop before anyone’s realised. A key way to defeat this type of crime is by arranging your goods so that there’s more space in the store. This makes it immediately more obvious if someone is acting suspiciously, and customers are more likely to be aware if someone is too close to them or demonstrating threatening behaviour.

There are various other ways that you can make your customers feel safe, but lighting, space and visible CCTV security go a long way to reassuring customers that they are shopping in a safe environment. The safer and more confident your customers feel, the more likely they are to spend money in your store.