9 Golden Rules to Delivering a Speech with Confidence

When you visit a seminar/ workshop, you will observe that each speaker has his or her own unique tactic for engaging the audience. Some of the speakers would have rehearsed presentations backed by visual aids (power point/ OHPs), while others would be just talking spontaneously. Use of humor is a common tactic to keep the audience interested (and awake!). Every speaker would seem quite effective in grabbing the audience’s attention.

However, few speakers (notably, first timers) would try to read from memory, but would repeatedly fail to remember the words. Again and again, they would apologize for loss of words, then start over again. When they finally broke down, they would pull their notes from pocket with shaking hands. With their voice stammering, they would struggle every second to just get through to the end of presentation. It would be painful to see the speaker suffer. The audience would just want to yell to him, “It’s going to be okay. You’re doing fine.” When the speaker is finished, a palpable sense of calm can be felt over the whole auditorium. Everyone would be relieved it is over - for him.

Anyone making his/her first presentation might have experienced, to certain extent, this type of nervousness.

It’s a Common Fear
The fear of public speaking is very common. According to a Poll, 40 percent of Americans admit to being afraid to speak in front of an audience. In fact, this fear ranks second only to fear of snakes. Renowned experts on this subject believe that fear of public speaking is really about being afraid of losing one’s identity. If we fail to successfully deliver a speech at a wedding or a presentation in a boardroom, we’re at risk of humiliating ourselves and losing our identity. This fear can be debilitating.Take It from the Experts
Experts came to the conclusion that public-speaking ability is not something we are born with, but rather something everyone can learn.

Experts suggest that practice in groups can help people become more competent and comfortable in front of an audience. Form a group of members, meet for a few hours and hone your communication skills by role-playing and giving either planned or impromptu speeches in front of other members.

Following technique  can do wonders to your public speaking skills:

1. Know your material. Pick a topic you’re interested in. Know more about it than you include in your speech. Use humor, personal stories, and conversational language—that way, you won’t easily forget what to say.

2. Practice, practice, practice! Rehearse out loud with all the equipment you plan on using. Revise as necessary. Work to control filler words; practice, pause, and breathe. Practice with a timer and allow time for the unexpected (loss of power, etc).

3. Know the audience. Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than it is to speak to strangers.

4. Know the room. Arrive early, walk around the speaking area, and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.

5. Relax. Begin by addressing the audience. It buys you time and calms your nerves. Pause, smile, and count to three before saying anything. (One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand. Pause. Begin.) Transform nervous energy into enthusiasm.

6. Visualize yourself giving your speech. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear, and confident. Visualize the audience clapping—it will boost your confidence.

7. Realize that people want you to succeed. Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative, and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.

8. Don’t apologize for any nervousness or problem—the audience probably never noticed it.

9. Concentrate on the message, not the medium. Focus your attention away from your own anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience.Useful Books and References

Dale Carnegie is one longtime, trusted resource in the public-speaking arena. A few of his more popular books on the art include The Art of Public Speaking and The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking.Unwind Your Mind
Even when you believe you’ve thoroughly prepared yourself for a public-speaking engagement, it never hurts to tap into your mind-body connection for extra courage. From a medical perspective, Livestrong.com suggests massage, yoga, and meditation to calm frayed nerves before heading into a stressful situation.

* Get a massage. Getting a massage (especially with lavender essential oil)can help improve your focus and reduce anxiety.

* Practice savasana (corpse pose). Lie flat on your back, extend your arms away from your body with your palms facing upward, and separate and extend your legs. Breathe. Stay in this position for at least five to ten minutes.

* Meditate. Sit in a quiet place and focus only on your breath. Practicing meditation will reduce anxiety and give you the ability to think more clearly and articulate your thoughts better.Speak Up
Just as it can be distressing to watch someone struggle through a presentation, it can also be positively inspiring to watch someone nail one. No discussion of effective public speaking would be complete without mentioning Barack Obama. Arguably one the most impactful speakers of our day, Obama not only possesses exceptional linguistic skills but also knows how to present himself and get people’s attention—and can leave an audience of thousands wondering what hit them. (Granted, he has an entire team of speech writers working for him, but still …)

So the next time you find yourself standing beleaguered and besieged in front of a merciless crowd, remember that the words you use can be effective and meaningful, but the real strength lies in their delivery.

Maintain Body Cholesterol

We all know that increase cholesterol levels in blood  is major cause of Heart attacks. There are two types of cholesterol—good & bad.LDL is bad cholesterol while HDL is considered to be good cholesterol. Certain factors like sedentary life style , smoking , drinking in excess, consumption of fatty & processed food lead to increase in cholesterol levels.

High cholesterol in the blood initiates the plaque formation which deposits in blood vessels leading to heart diseases. Reducing bad cholesterols & increasing good cholesterol lowers the risk of heart attacks. High HDL levels protect the heart & blood vessels by reducing high LDL levels. HDL level should be maintained at 40mg/dl or above. LDL levels should be below 130mg/dl.

Low levels of HDL can be familial. Those having family history of heart attacks have such genes that prevent liver from producing sufficient HDL. Making  simple lifestyle & dietary changes can increase HDL levels & reduce LDL levels. However some might require medication.

Ways to increase HDL (Good Cholesterol) levels:

·         Add soluble fiber to your diet like oats , vegetables , fruits , legumes. A minimum of 2 servings per day.

·         Choose the better fats like monounsaturated fats. Avoid saturated fats & trans fats. Foods rich in good fats are olive & canola oil, nuts like almonds & peanuts , seeds like sesame & flax seeds.

·         Eat food which is rich in phytosterols. Phytosterols are plant cholesterols which can reduce LDL levels. Soya products are rich in this.

·         Reduce intake of carbohydrates also like roti & rice. No need to stop altogether.

·         Exercise regularly. Its duration & regularity is important.

There are no symptoms of high cholesterol & high sugar levels. One should check Lipid profile & blood sugar levels once in a year after the age of 40. If you have positive family history, you better start at age of 35 onwards.

Beat the STRESS. Be Happy.

What is stress?

Stress is the body’s reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment.

What causes Stress? 

·         Your environment -  weather, noise, traffic, pollution

·         Social – meeting people, financial problem, relationship demands, changing house / school, loss of loved ones

·         Job related – meeting deadlines, presentations, job interviews, constant fear of losing job, overtime, travelling to office

·         Physiological – adolescence, menopause in women, illness, aging, over weight, lack of exercise

Physical Impact of Stress (Common features):

·  Constant nagging headaches, dizziness, backache, blurred vision

·  Irregular bowel movement, acidity

·  Infertility in women, impotency in men

·  Insomnia (lack of sound sleep)

·  Premature aging

·  Diseases like hypertension, hyperacidity leading to peptic ulcer

Mental Impact of Stress:

·         Constant irritability with people (short temperedness)

·         Difficulty in making decisions (lack of confidence)

·         Dread of failure (lack of confidence)

·         Loss of interest in life & people

·         Feeling lonely or neglected

·         Difficulty in concentrating
·         Feeling of self hatred / guilt

·         Feeling of having failed as a partner / parent

How To Relive Stress

·         Talk to your loved ones about your feelings, thoughts, don’t hide your stress

·         Don’t hesitate to go for medical help. Counseling can do wonders for you

·         Learn to say no to demands on your valuable time

·         Revive your forgotten hobbies

·         Go for early morning/ evening walks with your partner or friends

·         Listen to your kind of music while travelling or on holidays

·         Cut down on your social commitments

·         Take a mini vacation with your loved ones

·         First do the saving & then go for shopping

 Know your strengths.

Analyze your weaknesses.

Set realistic goals.

Celebrate every small victory.

Accept failures as part of life.

Be Happy.

Make Others Happy.

How to Start Your Morning and Set up the Day for Success

Some days are just golden right from the start. You get up bright and early, you have a good breakfast, your coffee is perfect, and you get through your most important work first. By lunchtime, you’re feeling great: you’ve covered significant ground and you want to push yourself to get even more done during the afternoon.

Other days don’t go quite like that. In fact, for many people, these days are the more typical ones: You fail to get up on time in-spite of setting three alarms. You rush breakfast (or worse, skip it altogether), and you spend the first hour of your workday trying to find that really important file, or answering emails. By lunchtime, you feel as though you’ve not accomplished anything – and you can’t see the afternoon getting any better.

If your morning goes well, the rest of the day is probably going to be a success too: once you begin to build momentum, it’s easy to keep going. So here’s how to start your morning as you mean to go on:

Get Up On Time
I won’t say “get up early” – because we’re not all morning people. Getting up on time means setting your alarm early enough that you don’t feel rushed right at the start of your day. Often, just getting out of bed ten or fifteen minutes earlier transforms a stressed, harried morning into a much more relaxed one.

The best way I’ve found to get up on time is to go to bed on time. Yes, it’s obvious – but it’s surprising how often we seem to forget it! Many people need more sleep: are you one of them?

Eat a Healthy Breakfast
We all know that it’s important to eat breakfast, though many of us don’t – or if we do, we eat all the wrong things. If you’re trying to lose weight (and a staggering two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese), then eating breakfast will help you do so.

Even if your weight isn’t a concern, you still need to give your brain some fuel first thing in the morning. So eat a healthy breakfast that’ll give you the energy you need for your work. Good options are wholegrain cereals with skim milk, wholewheat toast with eggs, or oatmeal.

Plan Your Day
When you arrive in the office (or, if you work from home, when you sit down at your desk) – resist the temptation to check your emails. Unless you work in tech support, it’s very unlikely that anyone needs a reply at 8.30am.

Instead, spend just five minutes planning out your day. What major projects do you want to make progress on? This is what you should work on for at least the first hour of the day. What small but urgent tasks need to be done today? Batch these together and knock them out in a bunch – or get them done during those “gaps” in the day, like when you’re waiting for someone to phone you back.

Minimize Interruptions
When you’re working on something that’s mission-critical – like that mail-out to new customers – do you really want to keep stopping to deal with trivia? Let your calls go to voice-mail, leave your email program closed, and shut your office door.

It takes several minutes to refocus on what you’re doing after an interruption, so you’re wasting a lot of time if you’re constantly stopping to deal with people’s queries.

Stay On Track
Productivity can become a positive spiral if you stay focused: the more work you get through, the more energized you’ll feel. You’ll be encouraged to keep achieving and to keep doing meaningful work (rather than busy work or low-value tasks).

To stay on track, learn to recognize and control your impulses. Don’t give in to distractions like Twitter, Facebook and other socializing websites – save these for your lunch break or for after work. If you find yourself losing focus on a task, take a five minute break from your computer – then get straight back to it. In many cases, mono-tasking is more effective than multi-tasking.

How to Study Effectively (Not Just for Students!)

We spend quarter of our life on completing education. However, most of us don't stop learning after school's out. We may study for a professional qualification, in the hopes of a promotion, to make our working lives easier, or simply for the joy of learning. If you didn't learn how to study effectively when you were young, though, you're probably wasting a lot of time. Here are a few tips on how to make the most of the efforts you spend on study, so that you remember and understand what you're trying to learn – rather than just staring at the book in front of you.

Don't Just Read 
The biggest mistake people make when studying is to read the textbook, or their notes, over and over again. Sure, some of it will eventually stick – but this really isn't an effective way to learn.

If you've ever "read" a whole page only to realize you didn't take in a word of it, you'll know how easy it is for your eyes to keep moving when your brain's switched off. And if you've ever nodded along, feeling like you've "got it" – only to fail a test – then you know that simply reading isn't enough to lodge information in your head.
Engage With the Material
When you're studying, you need to engage with whatever it is that you're learning. Ideally, you want to do that in some practical way. So:

         Instead of reading a manual about PHP code, try using what you've learned as part of a website.

         Instead of studying the science of cooking, bake something – and experiment with different additions.

         Instead of reciting capital cities, get a blank map and plot them onto it.

         Instead of listening to or reading French, try writing or speaking.

The way in which you engage will depend on what you're learning and on your own learning styles. You might prefer to write about what you've learned, draw a diagram, or do something practical.

Memorize Thoroughly
When you're trying to memorize something – perhaps a scientific formula, or a quotation from literature – it's often helpful to write it out. The more times you do this, the more likely it is to stick! To ensure that you're not just getting it into your short term memory, try writing it out at different times during the day, without looking it up beforehand.
There are plenty of tricks you can use to help you remember things. You might try mnemonics (here in the UK, schoolchildren are taught "Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain" for the colors of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). You could make up a poem or even set words to music – it's often easier to remember something which rhymes (like "Thirty days hath September...").
Take a Quiz
Until you test yourself, you won't know whether you've done enough studying. If you're working towards a particular qualification which has exams, get a hold of copies of previous test papers and try them out.
If you aren't going to be sitting an exam, look for a quiz on your subject, or ask a friend or family member to test you using your notes.
If you're studying for your own purposes – perhaps to learn a language – then you could test yourself out by attempting to write something in that language without referring to your books or notes.
When you're studying, it's easy to unconsciously skip over tricky bits – a quiz helps highlight these! Plus, you'll often find that material which you could only just remember gets more firmly lodged in your mind.
Do you have any great studying tips to add? Share them with us in the comments