Be solemn if your topic is serious. Present the desired image to your audience. Appear relaxed, even if you feel nervous. Establish rapport with your audience. If a microphone is available, adjust and adapt your voice accordingly.

Master the use of presentation software such as PowerPoint well before your presentation. Persuade your audience effectively. Speak loudly and clearly. Sound confident. Maintain sincere eye contact with your audience. If what you have prepared is obviously not getting across to your audience, change your strategy mid-stream if you are well prepared to do so. Allow yourself and your audience a little time to reflect and think. Keep audience interested throughout your entire presentation. Remember that an interesting speech makes time fly, but a boring speech is always too long to endure even if the presentation time is the same.

Check out the location ahead of time to ensure seating arrangements for audience, whiteboard, blackboard, lighting, location of projection screen, sound system, etc. are suitable for your presentation.

Tell audience ahead of time that you will be giving out an outline of your presentation so that they will not waste time taking unnecessary notes during your presentation.

Here are just a few hints, public speaking tips and techniques to help you develop your skills and become far more effective as a public speaker.

• Mistakes

  Mistakes are all right.

  Recovering from mistakes makes you appear more human.

  Good recovery puts your audience at ease – they identify with you more.

• How to use the public speaking environment

  Try not to get stuck in one place.

  Use all the space that’s available to you.

  Move around.

  One way to do this is to leave your notes in one place and move to another.

  If your space is confined (say a meeting room or even presenting at a table) use stronger body language to convey your message.

• Tell stories

  Stories make you a real person not just a deliverer of information.

  Use personal experiences to bring your material to life.

  No matter how dry your material is, you can always find a way to humanise it.

• Technology

  Speak to your audience not your slides.

  Your slides are there to support you not the other way around.

  Ideally, slides should be graphics and not words (people read faster than they hear and will be impatient for you to get to the next point).

  If all the technology on offer fails, it’s still you they’ve come to hear.

• Humour

  Tell jokes if you’re good at telling jokes.

  If you aren’t good, best to leave the jokes behind.

  There’s nothing worse than a punch line that has no punch.

  Gentle humour is good in place of jokes.

  Self-deprecation is good, but try not to lay it on too thick.

You can learn to enjoy public speaking and become far more effective at standing in front of a group of people and delivering a potent message.

And remember to keep practicing!

Just as iron is naturally attracted to a magnet, the soul of every living being is naturally attracted to God, who is like a supreme magnet. Then why do so many engage in ungodly activities?

Just as a piece of iron covered by dust or rust is not attracted to a magnet , the soul covered by lust, greed, envy, pride, anger and illusion is not attracted to God.

So people are diseased, but we should love the one who is suffering from this disease. People are ruining their lives because their pure consciousness is obscured by illusion and ignorance.

When it is night, it is difficult to see what is what, who is hwo, where we are. Ignorance means you do not know. Ignorance is due to darkness, but as soon as the sun rises, everything is revealed as it is. Similarly, when the light within us is allowed to shine, all ignorance is dispelled.

The sun of knowledge, God, is within all of us. Then why are we in darkness? Simply because we cannot perceive His presence. When there are dark clouds, you cannot see the sun. So the cloud of ignorance, which is the root disease which creates all the symptoms in the form of unwanted activities and thoughts, is covering the pure light of the Divine within us.

Yoga is a means to dissipate this cloud and allow the sun of love, the sun of peace, the pure light of the divine presence of the Lord within our hearts to shine and give light to everyone. The supreme occupation of all humanity is to give light to the world, not to contribute to the darkness. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

It is the duty of each one of us, it is the highest expression of love, to purify our own hearts. If you do not have something, how can you give it to others? You can only give what you have.

What we need is not more technology, not more scientific research. this world doesn’t need more food. There’s plenty of food, but it’s being dumped in the ocean or buried under the ground. What we need is love. If we do not have love, what can we give? We will simply remain a part of the problem.

Therefore, purification of the heart is the divine responsibility of each one of us. When our hearts are pure like the sun, love will emanate in all directions for everyone. Does the sun discriminate that this is a dragonfly, this is a dog, this is a Native American, this is an Indian, this is a businessman, and this is the president of the United States? No

The pure heart shines love all around in the same way as the sun. When we purify our hearts, we transcend all boundaries of sectarianism, all boundaries of selfishness, and we can be the true servant, well wisher and friend of every living being.

Is that good enough? Or, does one need to apply more stringent, rigid standards? In a book called “The Difficulty of Being Good” – By Gurcharan Das. He has examined the Mahabharata through an analysis of the one predominant characteristics – good or bad – of each of the epic’s characters. What is heartening is that all good characters in the epic seem confused too, at some point or other.

Yudhishthira is convinced he cannot declare war against his elders and brothers, but still does so; Arjuna is dead against killing his grandfather, his teacher and an unarmed Karna, and yet does it; Bhishma is goodness personified, but he doesn’t try to stop his grandchildren from attempting to disrobe the hapless Draupadi in court. He also leads the armies of one set of grandchildren against another!

Who can deny Lord Krishna’s goodness? and yet, at times we question the advice he gave Arjuna that let to the killing of his grandfather Bhishma, his teacher Drona and his brother Karna! Goodness, it seems, is confusing.

The goody-goody characters on television confound the confusion. They are so good, so pure, so butter wouldn’t melt in their mouth that they are not just unbelievable, but actually irritating! They suffer vicissitudes and insults with never a word against those who persecute them. Their ‘nobility’ makes you squirm in your seat.

Now, why should goodness irritate? But truth is that too big a shot of goodness does arouse discomfort! All of us know at least one friend, aunt, cousin, or even our parent or sibling who irriate with their saccharine goodness or obsession of self-sacrifice! They are so good that they seem Divine! Such people are an anachronism in today’s world! They set such high standards that they make us feel inadequate.

Mahabharata too has its moments of irritating goodness. Yudhisthira is calm and unmoved during the period of exile as Draupadi’s temper blazes. “Why be good?” she asks and “Why doesn’t your anger blaze?” His goodness at that point is irritating to his beloved wife and brothers, as enumerated by Gurcharan Das.

The Mahabharata reminds us once again about the difficulty of being good.

Is it important to have some bit of vice because the bad instinct is inborn, a part of us? And goodness is the struggle against that instinct; we all achieve varying degrees of success and so are good in different ways. That’s human. And so Krishna is good, so are Yudhishthira and Arjuna. Their struggle against evil, their moments of weakness and their repentance make them so.

So then, are we saying that actually, it is the evil within us that makes us good? Just as without darkness, who would appreciate light? How can you be good if you have no shade of bad within you?

1. Show up for the interview. Arrive on time or even a little early for your interview. If you are late, the message is that you are not interested.

2. Inform the relevant person that you have arrived. Don’t hide in some corner trying to blend with the wallpaper.

3. Introduce yourself with a bright smile. Don’t behave as though you are doing the employer a favour by attending the interview.[You may be nervous, but try and be cheerful]

4. Keep a copy of your resume ready. If you are confident, say that you intentionally did not print your resume on paper because you want to be carbon friendly. Provide them with a link to your online professional profile.

5. If you are a fresher, have some favourite (Academic) subjects which you are comfortable with. Since you are fresh out of college, you obviously don’t have any work experience. So the only thing that you can be questioned on is what was taught to you in school/college. Better that they question you in the areas of your strength than on other subjects. So state clearly the 2 or 3 subjects that were/are your favourite areas so that the interviewer asks questions around these topics.

6. Also if you are a fresher, know your subject in these areas. If, after several years of education, you cannot answer basic questions in your favourite areas, nobody will believe that you can be taught anything, ever.

7. If you know, answer. If you don’t know but think you can guess, say so and then try your answer. If you haven’t a clue, make that clear too.

8. Be aware of the latest happenings in your industry. If you are from the tech industry, for example, know about blogs, twitter, techcrunch, social networking, SAAS, AJAX, or whatever else is the latest craze.

9. Highlight your other active interests and hobbies. Show that you are having/pursuing an interesting life. Browsing and watching TV are not hobbies.

10. Keep your phone on silent during the interview. Don’t answer calls. People answer their phone in the middle of an interview and say (to their current boss, presumably) that they are having lunch with a friend. No one will recruit a liar.

11. Bonus: Stick to the truth, always. This is non-negotiable.

Here is a list of things that help you in self management and which will in turn lead you to the path of success:

-) Look at every new opportunity as an exciting and new-life experience.

-) Be a professional who exhibits self-confidence and self-assurance in your potential to complete any task.

-) Agree with yourself in advance that you will have a good attitude toward the upcoming task.

-) Frequently ask, “Is what I am doing right now moving me toward my goals?”

-) Do it right the first time and you will not have to take time later to fix it.

-) Accept responsibility for your job successes and failures. Do not look for a scapegoat.

-) Do not view things you do as a “job.” View all activities as a challenge.

-) Use your subconscious mind by telling it to do what you do want. Instead of telling yourself, “I can’t do that very well,” say, “I can do this very well.”-) Give yourself points for completing tasks on your “to-do” list in priority order. When you reach 10 points, reward yourself.

-) Practice your personal beliefs. It may be helpful each morning to take 15 minutes to gather your thoughts and say a prayer.

-) Make a commitment to show someone a specific accomplishment on a certain date. The added urgency will help you feel motivated to have it done.

-) Practice self-determination, wanting to do it for yourself.

-) Believe that you can be what you want to be.

-) Never criticize yourself as having a weakness. There is no such thing. You are only talking about a present undeveloped skill or part of yourself that if you so chose, you can change. You do not have any weakness, only untapped potential.

-) Be pleasant all the time-no matter what the situation.

-) Challenge yourself to do things differently than you have in the past. It provides new ideas and keeps you interested.

-) Talk to yourself. A self-talk using positive affirmation is something that is common among all great achievers. They convince themselves that they can accomplish their goals.

-) Create your own “motivation board” by putting up notes of things you need to do on a bulletin board or special wall space. It is an easily visible way to see what you need to work on. When an item is done, remove the note. Also keep your goals listed and pictured on your board.

-) Stay interested in what you are doing. Keep looking for what is interesting in your work. Change your perspective and look at it as someone outside your job would,

-) Establish personal incentives and rewards to help maintain your own high enthusiasm and performance level.

Learn to identify which types of situations make you uncomfortable and then modify your behavior to achieve positive results is a critical step in improving your communication skills.

You can learn to become aware of behaviors in other people that prompt you to respond in negative ways and modify your own behavior to turn the situation into a positive experience.

2. You must accept responsibility for your own behavior and do not fear apologizing for errors in judgment or insensitive actions.

Asking others for honest feedback about the way you interact with others can be very helpful. Accept the negative feedback along with the positive and make changes accordingly.

3. Your non-verbal communication is equally as important as the things that you say. Positive body language is extremely important in your interactions with other people.If your words and your actions do not match, you will have a difficult time succeeding in social situations.

4. In order to learn how to improve your communication skills, you must become a great listener. You must fight the urge to respond immediately and really listen to what the other person is trying to communicate.Offering suggestions or criticism before you are certain of the other person’s intent can only lead to frustration for both parties.

5. Improving your communication skills is a process and cannot be accomplished overnight. Trying to improve or change too many things at once will be counter-productive. You will become discouraged and overwhelmed if you attempt to change your entire personality all at once. Choose one or two traits at a time and work on those over a period of time. Learn to take advantage of your personal strengths and make a positive impact on others.

6. Maximize your positive personality traits and use them in your interactions with others. Good communication and great listening skills are the most important tools you can use in improving your communication skills.
You can learn how to improve your communication skills by developing excellent listening skills, learning to resolve problems and conflicts, understanding body language, and accepting responsibility for your own negative behavior.

Determination and self-awareness will make your desire to improve your communication skills a reality.

You can change your life and now is the time to start.

Quite good.

Good.

Very Good.

The best in our field.

Or the best in the world?

Talent helps, but it won’t take you as far as ambition. Everybody wants to be good, but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to be great.

To many people, being nice in order to be liked is more important. There’s equal merit in that, but you must not confuse being good with being liked.

Most people are looking for a solution, a way to become good. There is no instant solution, the only way to learn is through experience and mistakes.

You will become whoever you want to be.

It’s not how good she was that mattered, it’s how good she wanted to be. What is interesting in her quote is that she didn’t compare herself with George Michael or Mariah Carey, rather she saw the fame of Persil Automatic as her yardstick.

Laugh at it as you may, it’s this highly original imagination that got her where she is today.

- We always end up setting outcome goals instead of performance goals. For instance, you might set a goal of achieving 80% in your exam. This is an outcome goal. Instead you need to set a goal, which is performance oriented. For example, trying your best to achieve 80%. The outcome may often not be in your hands, but our performance most definitely is. Fail to achieve goals for reasons outside your control can be very dispiriting and may lead to loss of enthusiasm and feelings of failure.

- Goals can be unrealistically high. When a goal is perceived to be unreachable, no effort will be made to achieve it. Set realistic goals. For example, if an average student sets a goal of achieving 90%, it is very unlikely that he will be able to achieve this goal.

- Conversely, goal can be set so low that you feel no challenge in achieving it, making the goal a waste of time. Always set goals that are challenging. For instance, many students aim to get only passing marks, when in fact, they have the capacity of doing much better.

- At times, goals can be so vague that they are useless: It is difficult to know whether vague goals have been achieved. If achievement cannot be measured, then your self-confidence will not benefit from goal setting, nor can you observe progress towards a greater goal. Therefore, set precise quantitative goal. A common example is “doing better” in the exam. We must specify or define what the child means by “doing better”. Why do you think most schools have four exams in a year? One reason is to help the students know where they stand, so that they can set goals accordingly as well as measure their achievement.

- Goal setting can be unsystematic. Here goals will be forgotten, achievement of goals will not be measured and feedback will not occur into new goals. The major benefits of goal settings have been lost. Be organized and regular in the way that you use goal setting.

- Setting too many unprioritized goals can lead to feeling of overload. Remember, we all deserve time to relax and enjoy. Go one step at a time and set the next goal only after the first have been achieved.

By avoiding these problems and setting goals effectively, you can achieve and maintain strong forward momentum.