Business professionals or even non business professionals use Microsoft PowerPoint to represent his thoughts, plans and innovative ideas. With the help of multimedia projector and wide screen computer monitor, presentation becomes easier. Through the slides the thoughts of the presenter expressed. Power point slides give the audience better experience since they can enjoy visual presentation. So the success of the entire presentation depends mostly on preparing good slides. So you may think what should be the best ways to prepare the slide. There is no hard and fast rule for doing this. Here I can give a brief discussion and tips about making the presentation more attractive.

First thing you should keep in mind that you need to understand about your presentation materials and your audience. The age, education level and mentality of the audience should be understood earlier. The time of the presentation is another factor you need to think before going to make a presentation slide.
The outlines of the presentation should be given at the beginning so that audience can be aware of the themes of the entire slide show.

1. The background color of the slide should not be to light or too dark. Don’t use too many color in a slide. This will make the slide uglier. Dark background gives eye pain to the audience since it would be difficult for them to see and understand the slide properly. Try to use white or other bright background color and it should be tested if you are going to use multimedia projector.

2. The size of the font should not be too small or too large. Try to limit within 2/3 font styles. Make sure that your slide can be seen from the last corner of the room. You should select such font that can be easily readable. Normally you can use at best 7 lines text in one slide and font size should between around 32.
Don’t fill up your slide with too many texts. Use points to make the slide more understandable and easily grasped by the audience.

3. Try to use capital letter in the title or heading. It is unwise to use capital letter for the entire slide. Use the word that is commonly used and easily understood.

4. You can use picture, videos and screen shots in the slide. It will give better viewing experience to the audience.

5. You can use animation to your slide. But using too much animation is also disturbing for the audience. I suggest you not to use much animation.

6. In professional presentation, it is not wise to use too many slides. If the number of slide is large, the viewers get bored and exhausted.

Success of any presentation depends on lots of factors. If you follow the above guidelines I belief you can make a good slide and reach the audience easily. And by practicing you can also develop better mechanism and ways to make your slide more attractive and unique.

One of many people’s greatest fears is that of public speaking. Some place it as high as an audit from the IRS or even death. Knowing a few tricks and techniques can help to make the process of making effective presentation that communicates one’s message clearly and effectively, while making the process of speaking in front of others much easier.

Before standing in front of an audience it is essential to know the subject. Research each nuance. Look up information and read reports concerning the subject matter. The more confident one is about the material being presented the easier it is to keep the audience’s attention and feel confident about the presentation.

It is just as important to know the audience. The presentation to a group of professionals in the field will differ greatly from a presentation to a sixth grade classroom on career day. Taking a little time for research can allow the presenter to know how to adapt his or her speech to make the most sense to the audience.

Presenters should also know their own limits as well. While it can help one to grow when pushing the limits, one must be cautious to avoid embarrassment or disaster. There are things that Billy Graham, George Carlin or Al Sharpton might say to an audience that the average presenter cannot get away with saying.

No matter how complex your presentation, it is important to have a single purpose or theme. Presenters should state the theme to themselves when developing the speech. Whether attempting to educate, entertain or sell a product, keep the purpose in mind.

Develop a script of what needs to be said. Some will develop their script using notes on 3×5 index cards. Others feel more confident with a manuscript of their speech. Regardless of the form of the script, it should include the opening, body, a summary statement and a closing.

Once the presenter has developed a script and researched his or her audience, it is time to choose effective visual aids. If one is making a short presentation to an audience of three or less, handout materials or a flip chart may be all that is needed. With larger audiences, the audio visuals may be more elaborate. Many individuals make effective use of whiteboard animation to get their point across in a memorable way. Others may choose to use overhead projectors or PowerPoint presentations of the information needed for the presentation.

Give a business person the task of making a presentation of any kind and they almost invariably turn to PowerPoint or a similar presentation software program. It has become reflex in the business world.

The question is, why?

Two reasons – one good and one bad. And the second reason cancels out the wisdom and effectiveness of the first reason.

Reason one: PowerPoint allows information to be presented in a manner that accords with the learning styles of a large percentage of your audience. This is a good thing, though it’s usually an unconscious factor in the presenter’s decision. But even unconscious and subliminal decision-making counts in a person’s favor.

Reason two: Most people are uncomfortable with public speaking (if not terrified by it) and they use PowerPoint as a means for defraying the intensity of an audience’s gaze. In fact, I’ve seen PowerPoint presenters who spent most of their time with their back to the audience staring at the screen. This is a bad reason for choosing PowerPoint because it means the advantages offered by the program are largely nullified by the instinct to hide behind the slides.

Let’s dig a little more deeply into these two factors and find out a bit more about their pros and cons.

Some people are auditory learners while others are visual learners. In other words, some people learn best when being told something, while others have to be shown what a teacher or presenter is trying to convey. Still others are tactile/experiential learners, people who need to touch and do things to learn most effectively. PowerPoint, when properly used, conveys information in a format that is easily absorbed and retained by auditory and visual learners. It allows you to show as well as tell. (Add some interactive objects or other handouts to your presentation and you can engage the tactile/experiential learners as well.)

For these reasons, using PowerPoint for your presentations makes very good sense, despite its ubiquity.

Unfortunately, far too many people use PowerPoint for the latter reason, to defray the stage fright that often comes with public speaking. The natural inclination in this circumstance is to direct as much of the audience’s attention as possible to the slides. This throws the presentation out of balance by placing too much emphasis on the visual (whether written or visual images appear on the slides) and too little on the auditory, the presenter’s narrative. The presenter sometimes becomes a secondary player in this scenario.

PowerPoint becomes a crutch that dominates the presentation, rather than a tool that assists a presenter who is fully in command of the proceedings. Presenters should never play a subordinate role to their PowerPoint deck. Doing so diminishes the effectiveness of the presenter, as well as the effectiveness of the PowerPoint slides. It also ensures that you’ll never be regarded a commanding presence and dynamic presenter. That can hurt your career.

So step out front. Play a leading role. Let your slides do little more than cue the audience with strong visuals while you provide a compelling narrative. It will build a stronger connection with your audience and enhance your prestige and authority.

Sometimes you may market your business by producing some kind of presentation and if you have an online business then this might be in terms of a webinar or a video demonstrating something specific about your business. In this article I am going to talk about how to ensure that you create an effective presentation.

The start

The most important part of your presentation is of course the start. You need to have something that will really engage your viewers and make them sit up and want to pay attention.

Always start with something engaging before you then introduce yourself and what it is you’re going to talk about. Don’t talk about yourself first.

Interaction

Have you ever watched a presentation and there seems to have been a monologue conversation that doesn’t involve you the person who is watching? Whether you are producing a live presentation or a recorded one you need to engage your audience.

This means asking questions and trying to encourage feedback from those watching your presentation. It doesn’t matter if someone is watching a recording because when you ask questions the person watching will still have a sense of you interacting with them.

The main message

When you decide on your presentation make sure you are clear what your message is and what the purpose is of your presentation. If you have too many messages it will be confusing. It is far better to focus on one main point or key phrase that you can go back to again and again throughout your presentation.

If your presentation is about a product then make sure that you mention the products name throughout your presentation.

Tell a story

People love hearing stories and an easy way to engage your audience is to tell a story. This can be a true story for example, you could use a case study, or it can be a fictitious story. The important thing is that your story must be relevant to the message you are trying to convey. It must enhance that message.

The ending

Have you ever watched a presentation and you thought the end was about to come and then it carried on for another 20 minutes? I have and it can be quite frustrating because you get yourself geared up to the end of the presentation and then switch off.

It is really important that when you get to the end you sum up and conclude in a concise and memorable way so that the very last thing that you say is the message that you want your audience to have received.

Most sales presenters face this situation. They are asked to present as part of an evaluation process where sales presenters from competing organizations present as well.

Now, this is a slightly different situation as there are additional challenges in presenting.

· Rival features: Previous presenters may have impressed the audience with certain product/service features at which they excel. When you talk about your product features, it may be diametrically opposite of what they said.

· Boredom: Listening to presenters one after another is quite tiresome as it demands a lot of attention and patience. You have no way to judge how exciting or boring were the presenters before you. It is also possible that most presenters repeat the same features over and over again as most products in your industry have similar basic features.

· Confusion: When your audience listens to so many offerings, they may end up confusing product/service offerings in their mind. In their minds, your star feature may be related to your competitor.

· Opposition: Some people in your audience may have already made up their mind after listening to a good presentation from your competitor. They may not want to listen to you. Given their knowledge of the products, they can ask sharper questions.

Given all these issues, you need to really be strong as a presenter to succeed. Simply having better products may not be enough, if you cannot showcase them strongly against the competition.

First, ditch your pre-prepared presentation, then think of the following suggestions:

· Do your homework: Find out who will be pitching before you and do your work on what features they will be focusing on, so that you can handle questions and product comparisons.

· Build and compare openly: If you know that your competitors have already covered certain features, check with your audience and skip those parts. This is a great opportunity to build on their presentations and show in what way your product is superior by comparisons.

· Engage: Engage your audience by asking questions about what they expect. This would make them more open to telling you what has been already covered, what is not important etc.

· Repeat: This is the best way to ensure your audience recalls your product above the clutter of your competitors. Showcase the key features of your products and product name in as many ways as possible.

· Follow up: It is absolutely essential to follow up by an email listing the important points of your product pitch. Follow up at frequent intervals till a decision is taken. This is a really important thing to do as many sales presenters stop following after one or two weeks. Since the decision was important enough for so much evaluation, it will take time. Follow up by call or email every few days, so that they recall your presentation every time.

All the best!

You can’t force your boss to stump up more money, but you can attempt to negotiate a better salary. Here are some simple strategies that are easy to use and that will boost your case if used carefully.

1. Choose the best and most receptive time for your boss. Ask for a meeting midweek, when the initial issues of the week have been dealt with and the end of the week is in sight. Most people are in a slightly more amenable frame of mind at the midweek point;

2. Make sure you have all your performance statistics at hand to show how you have added value. Your boss is only interested in paying for results, so what can you show?

3. Don’t go in aggressively or in an adversarial frame of mind however much you need the extra money. Start pushing and you may as well forget it;

4. Use friendly language and gestures – the issue needs to be a “what can we do?” discussion, rather that a “what will you do?” confrontation;

5. Be prepared to chat about general business subjects before getting down to business;

6. Try to arrange your seat at an angle or around the corner of the table rather than directly face-to-face.

Negotiations can break down over the smallest misunderstanding; so if there is any doubt over a statement or quoted fact make sure you query and get it clarified immediately.

When it comes to salary negotiation, having a clear outcome, goal, or target figure, or compensation package in mind has been shown to be one of the primary determinants in how things eventually turn out.

Stay calm and ask yourself the following questions:

• What specifically do I want?
• What specifically do I think they want?
• What are some plausible options that will get us both what we want?

If you’re using this to prepare for your salary negotiations, put yourself in your boss’s shoes and answer the questions AS IF you were the BOSS. You may find that you are surprised at the insights you gain from going through this process.

Now, before you enter the negotiation, check your strategy here first, as it just may make all the difference to the outcome you want! To find more information, lots of negotiation tips for many different situations and advice take a good look at my Strategic Consulting Group website where you will find links to the top Negotiation information; you are sure to find some negotiation tips that fit your discussion.

The Kiplinger Letter, an authority that forecasts for management decision making, recently discussed media projections for 2008, predicting that Internet advertising sales would grow 15% to $12 billion. As Kiplinger noted, this growth comes at the expense of broadcast and print media.

In a competitive environment, media salespeople struggle to meet sales quotas. This means that opportunities exist for small business owners who negotiate their own advertising. Not everyone knows that media is negotiable and far more flexibility exists in advertising than might be expected. With that in mind, these tips could make negotiating your next advertising purchase potentially more profitable for you:

- If possible, prior to meeting with a media salesperson, make a list of questions you want answered. As you think about your business and its goals, you’ll be more alert to possibilities that make sense. An old proverb says, “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”

- Listen without interruption to the sales presentation. The less information you give to the salesperson, the less effective he/she can be. Fact: Good negotiators ask good questions and quickly assess needs to find solutions; subsequently, business owners can find themselves purchasing advertising that they had no intention of accepting.

- Give no indication of your judgment of the proposal. (See previous item.)

- Even if you’re enamored of the idea, pause and delay giving an answer. Think about the proposal overnight so that you do not over-commit in the heat of emotion.

- Do not accept a proposal as presented. Fact: Your agenda differs from that of the salesperson or his/her company. Make sure that the option you consider actually satisfies the § solution your firm requires.

- Ask, “Is there room for negotiation?” Some salespeople immediately drop the price. A television salesperson, anxious to close a sale for a new program, lowered her price 25% when one of my clients asked this question. Fact: More is given away in most negotiations than need be.

- Ask, “Is there anything else I should know about this offer?” Amazing things come out of the mouth of insecure salespeople.

- When you negotiate, focus on the person with whom you’re dealing. The best negotiators find a way to let the opposition “save face.”

Optional tactics:

- Practice the art of looking stricken when the salesperson announces the price.

- Follow up by repeating the price with a question in your voice.

- What would you like for me to do? (Be ready for the salesperson to make a buy recommend. Ask why.)

Summary The bottom line is that negotiating can be fun. Negotiating with media is no different. As John Kennedy said, “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.”

Although I have a very keen eye for spotting a fair amount of negotiation tactics, I find negotiation, in most circumstances, to simply be a hindrance to the normal flow of business.

For a moment, tally up the opportunity cost that you have seen wasted by others who want to negotiate arbitrary, meaningless things like the cost of pens at Staples. You would probably have a good chunk of change if you summed up all that wasted time and energy.

Among many professionals, salary negotiation is a topic of inflated importance and is often written about in a very reckless, inaccurate manner by people who are off base to an extent that piques a tremendous amount of curiosity for me, both personally and as a sales recruiter.

It took me years to come up with these salary negotiation “rules” I recommend most job seekers follow. They are broad, but since I started KAS, I find them to be the most reliable, in the widest variety of job offer situations.

- Unless you need the money, don’t negotiate for a few thousand dollars.

With a grin, I once saw a VP go back and forth with a 20 year old over $3,000. How this VP is still gainfully employed, I don’t know. When two people who don’t know how to negotiate get together, they get a perception that each does. Both sides of the table appear to pretend that the boardroom table is a stand at some country bazaar.

Therefore, before you go on the job search, make rules for yourself. Don’t get caught up in situations like the aforementioned. At best, you will waste time or leave a bad taste in the hiring manager’s mouth. At worst, you will lose what should have been a sure thing or a job you really wanted.

Tell yourself what you’re going to graciously walk away from, what you’re going to sit on and what you’re going to sign the next day. Keep in mind that this number should shift in conjunction with how much you like the job, and its perceived strengths in terms of furthering your career progression.

If you love the job, remember that you only live once and weigh what luxuries you must give up and do your best to make a decision.

- You don’t know the employment market well enough to negotiate

There are too many complicated variables that go into compensation.

When trying to gauge their worth on the market, job seekers tend to reference friends and old colleagues. What they don’t understand is that their friend could have been at the right place at the right time.

For example, maybe the owner of the firm that hired your friend needed to hire someone and was very desperate to get a body in the organization. In this circumstance, about 20%+ compensation leverage went to the friend.

This is just one of 20 different variables that throw people off when asking for any given compensation package.

In any salary discussion, whether for a new job or a raise, citing an acquaintance’s or colleague’s compensation package is a weak argument. It’s the equivalent of saying, “Bobby got chocolate milk, so I shouldn’t have plain.”

When it comes to numbers, the employer doesn’t know Bobby; all they know is their budget and their company goals.

- Don’t fall into the benefits trap

I always say to my corporate friends that if they get hit by a tank, they are sure as heck lucky not to have to pay the ambulance bill. If you’re younger, odds are you don’t require extensive health insurance coverage, beyond annual check-ups and some prescription coverage. For the majority of job seekers – especially those who don’t yet have families to insure – keep benefits out of the salary negotiation equation, all other things being equal.

If you want to cut negotiations off and get a higher salary…

Be candid about the fact that you don’t negotiate salaries. Now, the employer can trap you and ask for a specific number, but be vague and give a range. Let them come with the offer. If they come in way too low, walk away: undervaluing you is unprofessional on the employer’s part.

Remember the emotions that go into negotiation

Before you go into heated salary negotiations for weeks on end over $12,000, remember that you’re going to have to work with these individuals. The last thing you want to do is go into a new office with strange faces and feel uncomfortable.

People make snap judgements on others, mostly in the timeframe of four to seven seconds. Strangers know when you are upset or disgruntled more than your own family does, often because they haven’t become inured to your behavioral tics. This is not to mention that 80% of all communication is nonverbal. First impressions don’t last a lifetime, but they do last and are hard to change.

The last first impression you want at your new job is a reputation as the new person who strained the budget unnecessarily.

Educating yourself about the ins and outs of debt negotiation is a good first step. Please note that the term ‘debt negotiation’ is also known as debt arbitration or debt settlement.

For starters, a lender has little motivation to arbitrate anything less than the full amount unless the person is two to three months behind in payment.

To answer your question is debt negotiation bad? You need view it as a last-resort measure. The truth of the matter is it’s one step away from declaring bankruptcy.

Remember, your lender gave you the money or property in good faith. He or she has every right to expect that the loan be repaid in full. Morally, you should do everything that is within your power to pay your debt(s).

However, this is not always possible and despite how much you would like to repay the loan in full you just can’t – not now and not in the foreseeable future. This is where debt negotiation comes into play. It may be your only logical course of action.

And, in the case of an old debt that you’ve long since forgotten about, debt negotiation would be the best way of dealing with it. There’s no point in keeping a small blemish on report when a little negotiation can easily turn things around.

But if you find yourself overwhelmed with your current debt load, credit counselling should instead be your first action step. A credit counsellor will give you some tools and suggestions for reducing your payments.

Debt consolidation may be more appropriate. A credit counsellor will walk you through the debt consolidation process. In a nutshell, it means creating a whole new loan for a longer period of time. This would hopefully lower your payments enough so you can get back on track.

Please know however, that debt consolidation can be nothing more than a way of putting off the evitable. It really does little to correct the problem. That’s why many people come back to debt negotiation as a way of getting out of their financial problems and starting fresh start.

If you’re determined to pay of your debt(s) and turn over a new ‘financial’ leaf you may wish to contact your creditors yourself. By doing so, you may be able to negotiate a lower interest rate or a more realistic repayment plan. This is known as self arbitration.

So, is debt negotiation bad if you really need it? The bottom line answer is no. When your debt is very delinquent, negotiation is often in your best interest. If this is the case, now is the time to either consider self arbitration or seek out the help of a debt negotiation company.

Although a debt negotiation program will lower your credit score for as long a you’re in the program, you’ll also find that most debt negotiation companies require the creditor to make sure that the final credit report reflects the account is now paid in full. Therefore, once your account is settled you will no longer have a negative report.

A number of debt negotiation companies also include a credit repair service as part of their debt negotiation program. This repair service removes any negative items caused by the program. Although it is part of the program there are additional fees associated with this service.

Is debt negotiation bad? Ultimately, you’re the best person to judge whether debt negotiation is right for you or if it’s in your best interest to consider another alternative such as debt consolidation.

This is where negotiation and your question, “Is debt negotiation bad?” comes in. Debt negotiation is bad in that it means the complete destruction of your credit history.

During negotiations, subliminal messages have a huge impact on the flow and outcome of the negotiation. Thus, the use of subliminal messages determine the degree you’ll win or lose the negotiation.

The following are ways that you can enhance the outcomes of your negotiation by using subliminal messages to appear submissive, encouraging, and/or challenging.

Submissive:

There are times in a negotiation when your strategy will call for you to be submissive. During such times to enforce that perception use softer words to enhance that image. From a subliminal perspective, if you disagree with the other negotiator’s point offer or perspective, instead of saying, ‘I disagree with your position, you might say, “what other opinions might you offer?”. By couching your response in this manner, you don’t appear to be challenging nor threatening. All you’re doing is seeking more insight and asking the opposing negotiator to provide that insight. You’re still allowing him to maintain his leader position, which is the appearance you wish to project because you’re casting a submissive position.

Encouraging:

In some negotiations, it will behoove you to give the subliminal impression that you’re either projecting or the recipient of the halo effect. If you’re the one upon which the halo effect is to be cast, position yourself as someone that has facts and figures that sustain your perspective (offer/counteroffers). This will subliminally state, others have another perspective, versus you’re wrong.

If your negotiation strategy calls for encouragement of the other negotiator, pose your subliminal messaging as that of an oracle (i.e. someone that’s wise and all-knowing) that sees him in the same light. Once the other negotiator accepts your positioning, gently lead him upon the path you’ve set for the negotiation. He’ll oblige you because, subliminally, he’ll feel compelled to follow, due to the subliminal similarities he senses you share.

Challenging:

When challenging your negotiation opponent be cautious as to how you do so. There are degrees to which you challenge someone that will cause them to have different reactions. In one case, you can invoke the appearance of a higher authority, which could give the subliminal impression that power resides with another source. That could be a soft challenging position.

In another case, you might cite accepted studies or positions that are contrary to the opposing negotiator. Subliminally, the message is, “you’re not aligned with the general consensus on this point”. That might be a medium position (Note the similarity this positioning has to the one mentioned in ‘Encouraging’ (i.e. same subliminal messaging applied across different domains)).

In a case where you want to appear obtrusive and extremely confrontational, you might make a pronouncement of, “you’re an idiot!” With such a pronouncement you’re setting the negotiation environment on its ear. The subliminal message in that case is, you don’t care about being amenable, you’re irritated, and the negotiation may be headed for an impasse if the opposing negotiator doesn’t modify his actions (offers/counteroffers).

In a negotiation, words have meanings and the subliminal meanings can give a deeper definition to the words. Consider how you’ll enhance your win rate during your negotiations by using subliminal messages. Crafted properly, subliminal messages will light a path to more winning negotiations for you… and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!