AAIPS Blog

Tweet Being a human we are liable to make a mistake. Even in public speaking, many people do commit mistakes such as using foghorns like “aahhh”, “uummmm” etc. These mistakes are such pitty ones that they may be ignored by the audience to some extent. But some people in public speaking commit blunder for which the audience is not able to forgive. And this would make your public speaking go into drains.  

There may be instances where a professional, a businessman may end up boring his audience for 20-25min whereas a layman might have the capability to bring rejoice in the audience.  This is all because he has understood the essentials of public speaking well.

The most common misdeeds done by people in public speaking and their solutions:

1. Beginning your speech with “Thank you for inviting me” will take away the interest of the audience right in the beginning. Start your speech with bang and wake up your audience who is there to enjoy your public speaking skills.
2. Public speaking, formally or informally, is an activity that requires huge efforts. Every speech needs a lot of practice before it is delivered.  “There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave.  The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.  ~Dale Carnegie
   A lazy person would surely fail to prepare and practice his speech. Not many people try to improve themselves in public speaking because of their laziness. But a person who wants to improve may find his way in a public speaking course, public speaking books, hiring a public speaking trainer, joining a public speaking club, reading public speaking blogs and so on.
3. Some people are of the belief that public speaking skills cannot be acquired. They envy others because they think that others have been born with public speaking skills. Such people try to copy stories or speeches or presentations and thus they lack confidence. The fact is that public speakers learn the public speaking skills in the same way they learn to use other business tools.
4. Someone said  “A speech is like a woman’s skirt: it needs to be long enough to cover the subject matter but short enough to hold the audience’s attention.”  More bullets, words, slides, examples and everything would only go waste. It would be better to focus on your core message, select only the best support material to support like examples, slides etc., and speak at a reasonable pace. Keep the supplementary material for handouts only.
5. When you exceed the time allotted to you for the speech, you violate the contract you have with your audience, and you get you name in their bad books. You must value the time of the audience. Also remember that nobody will complain if you finish a few minutes early. But if you go beyond time, the audience have negative emotions for you.
6. Reading a speech word for word in public speaking will put the audience to sleep. You may keep the keywords to prompt your thoughts and then make an eye-contact with the audience, and speak.
7. Public speaking is always about the audience and the message you want to convey. So do not keep talking about yourself as though public speaking is about you only. Do not place yourself ahead of the audience. Try to recognize what is the interest of the audience. Speak what they want to hear or convey your message in the way they want to listen. If you fail to do so, you may fail to impress the audience with your presentation.

To know more on public speaking, join the public speaking and personality development course offered by Anurag Aggarwal institute of Public Speaking or visit www.anuragaggarwal.com for more details.

TweetPublic speaking means to speak before a group of people in a structured manner with the purpose of entertaining or informing the audience.

In public speaking, as in any form of communication, there are five basic elements, often expressed as “who is saying what to whom using what medium with what effects?” The purpose of public speaking can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to simply telling a story. Good speakers should be able to change the emotions of their listeners and not just inform them.

In public speaking, it is very important to note that who says what to whom.

If used effectively, it can be a very important tool for the purpose of leadership, motivation, influence or simply entertainment.

 Public speaking is an art and it can be learned through practicing. Here are some tips for public speaking:

1. Be familiar with the place where you have to deliver a speech.
2. Know your audience well before whom you have to speak.
3. Prepare your speech or any material to be delivered.
4. Practice your speech well (before the mirror).
5. Be sure that you present your speech in such a way so that your speech sounds informative and entertaining so that the audience maintains interest.
6. Relax yourself before the speech begins.
7. Never point out your mistakes. You are the expert on this topic during the time        your speech is made.
8. Look for a creative angle on your topic and capture the audience’s attention this way.
9. Finish your speech before your audience does. Don’t overstay on the podium. An audience appreciates a short organized speech over a long rambling effort.
10. Maintain an eye contact with a number of people in the audience and glance at the whole audience every now and then.
11. Give some time to the audience and yourself to think and respond. Give pauses in your speech from time to time rather than racing through it.
12.  Do not read from the notes. You may just glance at your notes at times.

These are just a few tips but there is much more to be learned. If you are not confident, it is very important to become one by joining some groups or societies where you can get opportunities to speak before small and large groups. Where you can learn about public speaking and also you get opportunities to show your talent.

One such institute in Delhi which offers public speaking and personality development course is ANURAG AGGARWAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC SPEAKING. Here you can learn to become confident, prepare speeches, laptop presentations, impromptu speeches, debates and much more. This course helps you in presentation skills, marketing skills, personality development, public speaking, motivational talks and English improvement.

The courses are held inDelhi(north, south, west, east, central), Gurgaon, Gaziabad and Noida.

For more details, visit www.anuragaggarwal.com or call Shivangi Seth: 91-9999996242.

TweetCan you recall to have listened to a presentation in which you had no difficulty paying attention? How often your mind got distracted? Was it because of the topic of the presentation or because of the way the public speaker presented it?  

Audience plays a vital role in public speaking. In public speaking, we often have to give presentations before a large audience but many times we do not realize if the audience is even listening to us or not. The presentation may be about something interesting but due to certain mistakes made by the public speaker or the presenter, the audience may divert their mind. And certainly, the biggest mistake made by the speakers is that they do not realize how the audience listen.

It must be noted that the attention span of the audience behaviour is very short. The attendees of a presentation may be willing to listen to you, but they are the ones who also get easily distracted. If they start disliking your speech they will be deviated from the topic and will start talking to the other person or in some other way would not pay attention to your speech.  Give them the topic of their interest. Give them what they want to listen, what they would be interested in. Or even if you select a topic of your choice, present it in such a way that they would want to hear.

Almost everyone listens in the beginning of a presentation, but by the time it reaches half, the attention may drop to around 10-20% of what it was at the start. Again at the end, many people start to listen again, particularly if you announce your conclusions, because they want to take something from the presentation. They also may try to bring out some conclusion from your talk too early when they disagree to your point or something. At this time they would want to reject you. Do not say anything which may bring out some conclusion to the audience by themselves.

Since the audience is most attentive in the beginning of the presentation, you must make sure to give the most important point in the beginning. If you want to get your message to get through the audience, you should state it loud and clear in the beginning and also repeat it at the end.

Do not make too much movement or do not use too many colours in your presentation as they are also a cause of distraction of mind.

It is also noted that most people do not have their opinion; rather they do what others want them to do or what others are doing. For instance, a person may not understand a joke but he would laugh aloud just because others are laughing.

Do not keep beating your own trumpet; the audience would not be eager enough to listen to you in this case. On the contrary, if you tell some negatives about you, they would surely listen to you.

There are also some people in the audience who want to show off their intelligence. Tactics must be learned to handle such people for continuing public speaking.

All in all, the best approach could be to divide your presentation in several parts, each ending by an intermediate conclusion. This would help the audience who got distracted to catch up with you, particularly if you outline the structure of your talk in the beginning.

Understanding this behaviour of the audience would surely be of great use to people in public speaking. This would help them to improve their public speaking skills.

You can also consider joining Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Public Speaking that offers public speaking course. These public speaking training classes are held in Delhi and NCR. For more details, visit www.anuragaggarwal.com

TweetA positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. It is very difficult to have a positive attitude in today’s time where a person’s life is full of tensions and worries. And often the more you try to be positive, the more you see the negative energy around yourself. But you shall keep trying as it is utmost important for personality development to have a positive attitude and faith in yourself. So here are some ways to be positive and work towards a healthier lifestyle.

Do Not Wait for Happiness.
Try to find happiness in everything that is happening around you rather than waiting for good things to happen. You need to work towards happiness. You need to create a happy environment around you today to remain happy tomorrow.

Clarify and Prioritize
Learn to know what you want. If you know what you expect from yourself, your future becomes clear and your goals become attainable
• Clarify your purpose: A purpose is something you fulfill each moment when you are in balance with your life. (A purpose is a simple, positive statement of why you are here). A purpose isn’t a goal statement, which one can achieve.
• Discover your purpose: by identifying & prioritizing your most important roles in life (at home, at work, community etc) List the positive qualities that you aspire to possess: Honesty, Philanthropic, Accommodating, Tolerant etc.
• Visualize your future, with a clear picture in your mind of what you want to accomplish in your lifetime (you can become what you think you are and what you see). You should learn to control your mind for visualizing. One of the most powerful techniques for achieving life goals is visualization (creating a mental image of something happening in future). Believing in and visualizing your dreams can motivate you to become what you want to be.
• Set goals for yourself .To help your dreams for the future become a reality, you need to set short & long term goals.
To provide steady fuel for your energy, create a list of long term goals to be accomplished in life time & break them into several interim short term goals to help you chart your progress everyday. As you would see yourself progressing, you would be motivated towards your goals even more.

Be a Resilient
Resilient people are those who face setbacks but ultimately, with perseverance, recover from them. Try to be strong and face life’s difficulties as challenges and not as problems; respond accordingly with action, rather than with fear, self-pity, inferiority or blame. Replace the word ‘PROBLEM’ in your dictionary with the word ‘CHALLENGE’. Don’t be scared of failures. Failures are also a part of life and if you do not have any failure at any time in life, that may be because you missed out trying something. If you have seen failure, you would find success to be sweeter. While life can be very challenging, an important step in becoming more resilient is to develop the habit of talking positive about yourself and to remind yourself that you are strong and can grow stronger and wiser.

Self Pep Talk
One’s inner dialogue is one’s biggest strength and critic. Listen to your inner self and talk to it. Motivate yourself rather than getting motivated by others. Once you yourself are motivated, then you will be able motivate others also. It is the inner voice that makes us critical of ourselves. Rule your inner voice!

Laughter is the best medicine
Make laughter a part of your day. When feeling low, read funny stories or go through a joke book. Allow yourself to open up. See the funny side of things and you will realize, life is complex, yet funny game.

Seize the day
Always enjoy the moment. Do not worry about your past or future. Live for the day. What has happened is irreversible and what will happen is unknown, so try and enjoy what you have. Like someone has rightly said:
“The past is history, the future is mystery.
Today is a Gift, That is why we call it the Present”

Be an Optimist
This is the golden rule to maintaining a positive attitude. This is also the key to personality development. Always believe in yourself. Being an optimist does not only mean to see the brighter side of life. View the surroundings wherein you maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

It is difficult to change yourself in a day But at least give it a try.” Romewas not built in a day”. Whatever the mind expects, it finds. A positive attitude in life will help you go places.
Remember, I CAN and I WILL.

Having positive attitude in life gives you confidence. It reflects in your personality. So if you are willing to have personality development, then your positive attitude will help in the same.  Positive attitude rules must be remembered and recalled again and again. Some such rule are reminded in the public speaking and personality development course offered by Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Public Speaking.

For course details, visit http://www.anuragaggarwal.com

Tweet

Every gesture we make, it tells something or the other about our personality. A handshake is also one of these gestures that depict your personality and attitude. Thus, it is important for our personality development that we should choose the right kind of hand shake. There are many opinions on what a hand shake can tell you about someone.

Some people are of the opinion that handshakes are done only the way we learn it and thus they do not give the true picture of the personality of a person. But then, if this is so, then why do we learn about the body language?

The point here is that handshakes do help in knowing the characteristics of a person.

Handshake forms the most important part of greeting a new person. People can judge a lot from handshakes. A handshake conveys power, confidence and professionalism. This little gesture provides major clues that can help you to identify the person whom you are communicating with. If you are unable to perform a perfect handshake, it may create undesirable impressions on the other person. Thus, it is very necessary to put the best hand forward and follow the etiquette of handshaking to be in the good books of the other person. 

Here are some basic types of handshakes understanding which will help you to depict a good personality to others:

The Standard Hand Shake In this, hands are engaged and people maintain eye contact, exchange smiles and shake hands two to four times.

Palm Up This type of hand shake means “I am here to serve you”.

Palm Down This type of hand shake is an authoritative one. It shows an authoritative, superior or controlling personality of the person. It says that you are there to take the lead, to take care of things, to get the job done.

Arrogant Shake It is made intentionally to demoralize your sense of security. In this the person offers a flat hand with the palm facing down to indicate that he is the boss. The best way to answer such a hand shake is by giving a hand with palm facing upwards.

Hand in Hand The greeter will offer a hand with the palm facing up and before you both start shaking your hands, he would sandwich your hand with his other hand. This is sometimes done to show care or concern or familiarity or to empathize for the loss of a closed one. If this type of hand shake is done even when the two of you are not good friends, then this is a form of false sincerity.

Palm Vertical The person extends his hand forward with his palm exactly vertical to the ground. It sends a message of equality and greetings.

Finger Vice When somebody grabs just your fingers and not the entire hand it means he wants to maintain a distance. These people are often insecure.

Bone-Crushing Shake A person making a hard, stiff handshake pretends to break your fingers and tries to prove that he is stronger than you and wants to control you. The message of squeezing your hand clearly indicates that the person is trying to intimidate you. People who make such a handshake are confident, but they also have a tinge of aggressiveness in them. So just remember that while facing such people, smile broadly and offer a firm-handed shake.

Condolence Handshake The person will pretend to be too familiar to you by clasping your right hand or arm with an attempt to hug you. This behavior may be accepted during a funeral, but it comes out as a inappropriate act otherwise.

Using Good Form

1. Raise your hand and extend until webs of both hands meet. Grasp across the palm wrapping fingers around the opposite side from the thumb.
2. Hold firmly.
3. Shake a few times or for about three or four seconds.
4. If your hands are full then give a polite nod rather than dropping everything. If the other person’s hands are full, be understanding and don’t offer a hand shake. Your gesture would be appreciated.
5. If wearing gloves, remove them.
6. Maintain eye contact while engaging in yourself in a handshake. This will surely communicate self confidence and sincerity.
7. The pressure applied in a handshake is relative to the culture you are in. For example, in North America, a firm hand shake is appropriate. Making it stronger or weaker than a basic firm grasp will only leave a negative impression.

 Choose the most appropriate handshake and remember these tips to prove your good personality. help yourself in personality development. Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Public Speaking offers you a public speaking and personality development course which would enhance your personality. For details on the public speaking and personality development course, visit http://www.anuragaggarwal.com

Tweet

Accepting an award is in some way a part of public speaking because you accept an award for something you have done publically. This public speaking project may be a speech, an act, a presentation etc. So if your public speaking has been so wonderful that you are receiving an award for it, your award acceptance speech must be even better.

A few tips to be remembered while giving an acceptance speech to make it make it more effective and natural coming straight from the heart:

1.  Do not say that you’re so surprised by winning that you had nothing prepared. Since you were a nomination so you had all the chances to win.

2. Let the genuine emotions come out. If you want to cry then just go ahead. Do not hide your emotions at this time

3. Don’t say you have no idea how you won against such a strong pool of competitors.

4.  When giving an acceptance speech, use notes only to enhance your presentation and not as a crutch. Use them only for remembering the opening sentence, important names to thanks, or whatever facts you need to mention. Don’t have the entire speech on notes. And avoid any notes as far as possible.

5.  Look up at the audience after every two or three sentences to maintain rapport with the audience while using notes. Not only in this but maintaining an eye contact is essential in all public speaking situations.

6.  Keep the time constraint in mind. Many times when you are given an award during a meeting, conference, etc., you are also under time restrictions. In most cases, you will have longer than thirty seconds. Take the time to ask the person in charge of the meeting how much time you have for your speech.

7.  As you are speaking keep a sense of the audience, similar to the way you adopt in public speaking, are they captivated or are they losing interest? If they appear to be falling asleep, then try to wrap up quickly.

8.  It is important to be humble, but do not be too humble. If you appear too humble, people will perceive this as fake and may think you have a big ego and may not really deserve the award.

9.  Most importantly, keep your speech short and sincere.

Award acceptance speeches can be hard, but you’ve already won the award – the speech is the easy part.

At Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Public speaking, you get many opportunities to grab an award in their public speaking course in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida. For course details, visit www.anuragaggarwal.com

TweetAnger is a natural emotion which is always followed by a feeling of emptiness. This is so because when you are angry, you lose out on your mind and so you are left vacuous.

"Anybody can become angry - that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody"s power and is not easy." - Aristotle

 Communication skills are the most important assets to have goodwill in the society and anger is something that prevents us from doing so. Anger is an obstacle in our personality development and deteriorates our personality. An angry person tends to lose his peace of mind and thus people want to avoid the person because of his uncomfortable presence. Anger is accompanied by many psychological changes as well. It leads to increased heart beat, rise in blood pressure which harms the body and thus personality development hampers.

Anger arises when you think that something is going off track, something is not in right place, something is not happening as per your wishes.

Anger is not the basic problem, but managing anger is the main issue we people face. Most of us do not know what steps should be taken while you are angry. If the problem of poor anger management perceives for a long time it may lead to domestic abuse, workplace violence, addiction to smoking, drugs etc. It may also lead to physical problems in the long run. An angry man also has a poor memory. Your anger lets you lose your mental balance.

To combat anger it is very important to understand the reason behind it. Then only you would be able to treat it in the right direction. We generally try to look out for things that give us pleasure and we get obsessive to grab it. We want to possess something we desire and this desire to possess is the root of anger (in most cases). Till the desire is fulfilled, anger supports our struggle. Anger may also arise on a small situation like hitting your foot against bed. At this point, you think why did I get that, where was I wrong, do I actually deserve being hurt? All the questions may start troubling your mind with a small thing of being hurt by the bed. In such situation, when you have the feeling of anger within you, you would either express it or suppress it.

Suppressing anger can surely help to a certain extent but when to try doing it again and again, whatever the situation may be, you may find yourself in a state of depression or you may have constant headache and other mental problems. By suppressing your anger you may think that your anger is under control but one day you would find that you would just burst in anger because you have been suppressing your anger for so long.

Anger must be expressed but it should be done in such a way that it gives a healthy result and resolves the problem.

TIPS FOR ANGER MANAGEMENT

1.  Before reacting to any situation in anger, take a few deep breaths and count backwards from 100 to 1. This would make you feel relieved of anger. You will feel relaxed mentally and physically. Also, you will get time to analyze the problem and find a solution to it.

2.  Shouting at family or friends, slamming the door would only ignite the anger even more. Move away from people or place that made you angry. Buy a punching bag, a stress bursting ball and make the best out of them.

3.  Avoid speaking with anyone when you are angry. Once you have calmed down, you can now express your feelings and concerns in an assertive way. At this point of time, you will not be hurting anyone. It’s better to remain quite in some situations and in others you must think before speaking. Involve yourself in the situation, collect your thoughts you want to express and say it in the right way so that you do not have to regret in future.

4.  Involve yourself in some physical activity. Go for a brisk walk, run or do some sport. Your energy would be utilized in this way and you would end up feeling happier and relaxed.

5.  Anger management is not a child’s play so do not hesitate to seek help from others on this matter. Look out for anger management classes, counselling, and workshops by professionals. It is better to ask for help from others rather than hurting people around you.

 Anger adversely affects your public speaking skills, communication skills, presentation skills, personality development and not to forget, your health. Consequently, you must follow the above tips to manage your anger with affecting your public speaking, communication skills and personality development.

In the public speaking and personality development course offered by Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Public Speaking, you also get assistance on anger management. For course details, visit www.anuragaggarwal.com

Tweet“To raise a toast” Refers to the action of raising one’s glass high when wishing or congratulating or honouring someone. Toasts were predominately made to wish “good health” and later became hopes for “happiness” and “good fortune” also. It is always done with a drink that may be champagne (preferably) or a wine or beer or anything. The person who raises the toast holds his or her glass high and speaks a few words about the honouree (the person for whom the toast is for) and others listen attentively. It should be simple and interesting. After the person is done with his speaking part everyone take a sip from their glass to pay honour.

Cheers!!!

Toasts are offered for a variety of occasions like weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, retirement parties, dinner parties, reunions, before a keynote speaker, for the celebration of an accomplishment and many more. A Toast can be a: poem, public prayer, proverb, bit of wit, secret sentiment to be shared.  Avoid long windy political addresses. It is an opportunity for creative expression.

Since raising a toast is a part of public speaking only, so the tips that should be considered while preparing for a toast are also more or less. Here are the main points:

• refer to the occasion,
• reflect the theme,
• refer to the achievement of the recipient,
• express good will,
• be formal.

You must be as prepared to give a speech while raising a toast as you prepare for the other ones. Dale Carnegie said, ‘There are always three speeches for every one you actually give. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.’
Obviously you would not want your speech to have too many foghorns like “uhh”, “ummm” and so on.

You may face may such instances where, out of the blues, you are asked to make presentations or to boost up the confidence of the team for their work or may be to introduce a speaker or to congratulate the couple at their wedding.

Here are a few tips to be kept in mind while raising a toast:

1. If seated, stand when offering a toast.
2. Toast with water or an empty glass rather that not participating at all.
3. Make sure that everyone has filled the glass before you begin.
4. Prepare in advance if you have the knowledge of the event or the person for whom you have to raise the toast. You can have something written for yourself so that you remember what to say but do not sit down to write the whole speech. You may write the keywords on a paper or make flash cards for the key words. This would help you to recall the order of speech.
5. Practice your speech well in advance and also just before you deliver it.
6. Have a strong opening so that it grabs attention of everyone indulged in other conversations.
7. Keep your speech short and simple yet expressing your feelings to the best. Try to cover it up in 60sec.
8. Face the person you are toasting. Look at the person as you make the toast and raise your glass to him/her. After you are done with the toast, then clink the glass with the recipient if he/she is nearby.
9. Do not raise your glass when you are the recipient of the toast. A word of Thanks would suffice. No need to stand unless you have to say something.
10. Start by stating the name of the honoree and your relationship to him or her.
11. It in not necessary to clink the glasses when the group is too large. Just raise the glass and take a sip. In a small group, while you clink the glass with other person, look into his/her eyes.

Some more on raising a toast is still to come. Till then, follow these tips and make your toast the best one.

www.anuragaggarwal.com

Tweet

Practice makes a man perfect.

As the saying goes “Practice makes a man perfect”, this is most apt in public speaking when you have to deliver a speech. Practice is beneficial not only to the amateurs but also the professional public speakers. The best of the presentations do not turn out to be the best automatically; instead they are practiced and worked upon.

Practicing and rehearsing the speech is the key to a successful presentation. If Even if you are a public speaking trainer, or even if you have been giving the same speech for years but still, do not go without practicing it. Every time you practice, you may find something new or may be you would just go well than your previous speech or presentation. Your speech may be the same, but the audience may be different each time. Prepare in a new way for the new audience.

Here are some steps on how to prepare your speech.

1. Select the topic

Selecting the topic may sound an easy job but this one is rather the tedious thing because of the availability of endless topics in public speaking. You must choose a topic keeping in mind your purpose of speech and the level of the audience.

Your topic leads to your message to the audience — the entire presentation aims to deliver this core message to your audience.

2. Create a speech outline

Just like any other thing your speech also needs an outline or a structure. Without structure, your audience will either wonder what message you want to convey or they will lose interest in your speech entirely. This step is often skipped to “save time.” But I would say that if you have an outline of your speech your time to write the speech would reduce and thus you would save time.

3. Draft the speech

Once you start thinking about the contents of your speech, you may not find appropriate words to express yourself. You may find yourself troubled after thinking a few lines because you might be confused what to say. Most people prefer writing their speech and then practice but you may also try it this way- keep speaking about your topic, whatever comes in your mind. Repeat it again and again. You would see that every time you start speaking your speech in order to make one, you explore a new point. Every time you speak, you would get something new added to your speech. When you have practices enough, at one stage you may not get any more points for the speech. Then you can write you speech if you wish to. Write it as you have been saying it while practicing. Or you can just jot down the key words so as to memorize the order of your speech.

4. Read out your speech aloud and record.

Read out your speech aloud as you would speak it in front of the audience.Record yourself to get some idea of what your presentation sounds. Note the length of your presentation and also if the points you want to emphasize are actually the ones being emphasized. Practice your speech by saying it with passion and enthusiasm.

5. Add more gestures and voice modulation (if required)

Since you have made your speech by speaking it again and again, some gestures and vacol varieties come up naturally. Still if you think there is something lacking then you should stand in front of the mirror, give your speech again and try to analyse where to add gestures and where to change the tone of your voice. Just remember not to overdo any of the two things as it may sound too dramatic then rather than looking natural.

6. Practice more and Take a feedback

Keep practicing your speech until it looks so natural as if you are saying it for the first time. Rehearsing your speech would give you immense confidence. Take a feedback on your speech from others and try to improvise on the suggestions given. You may want to know if you are too fast or too slow in your speech, if your message is clear to the audience etc. A feedback would help you in all these concerns.

All these key point would help you to prepare a good piece of speech. Try making a speech with these points right now. Also they will develop your public speaking skills.

For an amateur, joining a public speaking course will be helpful. Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Public Speaking gives training to develop your public speaking skills and personality.  
For details, visit www.anuragaggarwal.com

TweetIn the previous article we discussed on how an interviewee or any candidate should prepare for an interview. Not only the interviewee should be prepared, the interviewer should also prepare himself for taking the interview. The interviewer would be able to judge the interviewee’s communication skills, presentation skills, public speaking skills and his personality only if the interviewer possesses the same.  

Tips for the Interviewer

1. The interviewer should be an active listener. Like listening is important in public speaking, the same way it is important in an interview. Listen to what the person is really telling you. Don’t try to formulate your next question while halfheartedly listening. Do not interrupt unnecessarily. An interviewer should listen 70% of the time and talk for only 30% of the time.
2. The interviewer should be considerate enough. Even if the interviewer does not agree with the interviewee, he must respect his feelings.
3. The interviewer should be friendly and understanding. He should begin the interview in a friendly manner. This will make the interviewee feel relaxed and comfortable.
4. Be sure you know what skills, traits, attitudes, etc. you want in the people you hire. This would help you in judging the personality and communication skills of the interviewee. Knowledge of job description is most important for this.
5. The interviewer should try to be precised. This would help him wind up the interview within the time allotted.
6. Learn how to ask questions. You may adopt a technique called “behavioral interviewing”. It involves asking the candidate how they reacted in a real situation instead of a theoretical one. You might ask “describe for me a recent situation when you were under a lot of stress and tell me how you reacted to it.”
7. Take notes during or immediately after the interview.
8. If more than one person will interview the candidate, give each of them a copy of the plan sheet and ensure that they know why they are interviewing the candidate. Meet with them and review their notes as soon after the interview as you can.
9. Avoid asking questions on topics like arrest record, marital status, religion, disabilities and more similar questions.
10. Ask questions that require more of an answer than “yes” or “no.” This will also help in testing the communication skills. Start with “why,” “how,” “where,” “what kind of …” Instead of “Was Henry Miller a good boss?” ask “What did the cowhands think of Henry Miller as a boss?”
11. Ask brief questions and only one question at a time. This will give the interviewee to respond to each question with calm and thought.
12.  Don’t let periods of silence fluster you. Give your interviewee a chance to think of what he/she wants to add before you hustle her along with the next question.
13. Don’t interrupt a good story just because you have thought of a question, or because your interviewee is straying from the planned outline. If the information is pertinent, let her go on, but jot down your questions on your notepad so you will remember to ask it later.
14. It is wise to check references if the interviewer is considering someone for employment. It is one way to get good, solid information about the applicant.
15.  Do not use the interview to show off your knowledge, vocabulary, charm, or other abilities.
16. End the interview in a reasonable time to avoid fatigue on both the sides (interviewer and the interviewee).
17. The interviewer must be thoroughly prepared for the questions that are likely to be asked.
18. The interviewer should use positive gestures when conducting the interview. This would bring forward your charming personality to the interviewee.
19. Encourage/invite questions from the interviewee. Ensure that the interviewee clarifies the question he has. When selected a candidate should not feel he was not told about a certain aspect of the job.
20. Avoid distraction in the interview area. Ensure that there is no or minimal distraction where the interview is being conducted. A phone ringing in the background may also be a cause of distraction.

These tips and many more may be learned in public speaking and personality development course offered by Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Public Speaking. For details about the public speaking course, visit www.anuragaggarwal.com

Tweet

TweetIn today’s world when the competition is too high, when the even the topmost companies are coming in for campus recruitment, how can we forget to work upon preparing for an interview and grooming ourselves for the same. Interview is not something that is to be faced by youngsters or freshers only. Infact, people in their 40’s or 50’s also may think of changing their job for which they have to give an interview. People at higher posts and looking for growth in their company also have to go through the situation of facing an interview.

One should be mentally fit and alert to be able to do well in an interview. With fitness, the next most important thing is your confidence. Almost anything and everything can be done with this tool (confidence). Your public speaking skills, communication skills, presentation skills and your personality, all are considered in an interview.

Let us see how you shall prepare for an interview. This preparation may be categorized in three following steps:

1. Before the interview.
2. During the interview.
3. At the end of the interview. 

BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

 1.    Research about the company. Having knowledge about the company will give you a competitive edge. This would convey the interviewer that you are career oriented and that you understand the requirements of the company well. Also it would give a message that you would work wholeheartedly for the company.

Try reading as much as possible about the company and also if possible try speaking with people working in the company itself to find out some minute details of the company.

2.    Keep all the material ready. Day before the interview, collect all your documents that would be required and keep them in a file or a folder. You should be carrying reference letter, certificates other supporting documents, passport size photos, a writing pad, pen and a calculator. Don’t forget to carry your resume and some extra copies of it. With the original document you must carry one set of Photostat copies of these documents.

3.    Practice your introduction. Prepare your introduction and some other basic things that you may be asked and practice it in front of the mirror the way you do it for any public speaking project.

4.    Looks matter. ‘First impression is the last impression’ and you are generally analyzed by your looks in the first instance. Pay attention on your personality development. For this you must dress up in formal attire as most employers prefer such candidates. Select your dress a day before the interview so that you don’t have to waste your time in this on the interview day. Your clothes should be neat, clean and ironed. Do not wear strong perfumes, flashy clothes or too much of jewellery. Visit a salon a day before to get that fresh look.

5.    Sleep well. You would be able to give your best when you have had enough sleep, you are relaxed and calm.

6.    Reach 15min early to the place. This would help you to adjust according to the environment.

DURING THE INTERVIEW

1.      Don’t take your worries with you while entering the interview room as it shows in your personality.

2.      Switch off your cell phone before entering the room.

3.      Introduce yourself. This will help them to test your communication skills.

4.      Maintain an eye contact during the interview as you do in public speaking with the audience. It conveys confidence.

5.      Keep a good body language as it speaks a lot about your character and personality.

6.      Keep smiling but don’t overdo it.

7.      Think and then answer the questions as you would be evaluated on the basis of your answers and not on the basis of how much time you took.

8.      Never blame or lie or be rude in an interview. Try to be soft and polite.

9.      Don’t exaggerate your answers. Keep them t the point.

10.  Talk slowly to avoid stammering.

11.  Use voice modulation where required so that the conversation does not become monotone.

12.   Be frank and admit if you don’t have an answer.

13.  Listen attentively to each question being asked. Listening skill is an important component of public speaking skills so give your best in listening also.

14.  Be positive and enthusiastic.

AT THE END OF THE INTERVIEW

Generally, an interview ends with interviewer asking the interviewee if he/she has any questions. This is not just a formality but they actually appreciate the interviewee asking them questions. So don’t miss this opportunity to clear your queries about the job responsibilities and company culture. This would also be an occasion for the interview to check for further communication skills and it would indicate your interest in the company.

For knowing more on how to prepare for an interview you can join public speaking and personality development course at ANURAG AGGARWAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC SPEAKING. For details, visit www.anuragaggarwal.com