Guest Post: Nisha Balasubramanian

Nisha is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about real-world presentations.

Aah! Presentations. It rings a warning bell every time you come across it. The very fact that we have to speak to a professional audience is frightening enough, let alone the stark reality that we have to make an impression as well. So, what makes a good presentation?
The 3P’s to a good presentation are:
- Prepare
- Produce
- Present

The most important key to a good presentation is to know your audience. It is imperative to design your presentation according to the taste of your audience. Know what you are speaking about and buy into the idea that you would be presenting. How else would you be able to sell it to the audience, if you are not convinced yourself? Think from the audience’s perspective. Be very sure of what you want your audience to take away from the presentation. This helps you to be well prepared and have a sense of direction for the presentation.

Once you have the directions, couple that with a title that is catchy and creates immense interest in the audience and you have a perfect recipe for a good presentation. It always helps to start with an agenda so that the audience knows what they can expect. This surely helps to give flow to your presentation as well. Follow the 6 X 6 rule, i.e., have six words per line and six lines per slide. This not only gives good clarity to your points but also prevents the audience being distracted by the slide when you talk. Present accurate and relevant facts. You don’t want to be embarrassed by the audience questioning your facts. So now that you have the contents in place, have prepared interesting power point slides, and are all set with the presentation, what next?

Most of us do the ‘prepare’ and ‘produce’ parts perfectly but fail to pay enough attention to how we present. What good is any food which doesn’t look delicious? One way to spruce up your presentation is to use technology to your advantage. Use of laser pointers and overhead projectors does add value to the presentation. Positive and minimal body movements, a clear and modulated tone, fluent speech and a likeable demeanor go a long way toward making the presentation a roaring success.

Some of the key dos and don’ts of a successful presentation are:
1. Develop the presentation around two or three main messages.
2. Keep the presentation short and simple.
3. Use short phrases instead of long, winding sentences.
4. The presentation should be consistent and cohesive.
5. Always cite the source of your data, if you are quoting it.
6. Add pictures wherever necessary and relevant. Pictures can make the presentation very comprehensible and interesting.
7. Practice in front of the mirror; it is always better to be prepared.
8. Be alert to questions during the presentation and make sure to answer them comprehensively after the presentation.
9. Have a pleasant demeanor, and more importantly, be a story teller.

And most importantly learn to RELAX!! Take deep breaths to ease out the nervousness and try to be yourself, after all you are the presentation.

Once you follow these basic fundamentals of a good presentation, I am very sure you will end up wooing your audience. All the best with your presentation!

Guest Post: Lulu Chen

Lulu is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. This is her second guest post on the blog. Here she writes about real-world presentations.

Imagine on a beautiful Monday morning you are sitting down to listen to a presentation. What kind of presenter will help maintain your good mood from the weekend? A gentleman who talks in a very long-winded way? A scholar who tells you all the nitty-gritty details of his research works in the past three years? A junior analyst who is very nervous and has no spare attention for her audience? No! They will definitely color your Monday blue.

So, don’t be the one that ruin people’s Monday morning! A good presenter should be selective, sticky and able to receive feedback from her audience.

Being selective in the amount of information to be presented is crucial. Presentation is used to communicate a concept or idea which is generally new to the audience. Our brain takes time to process new information, and before it fully understands the current batch it does not have the capacity to entertain the next batch of information. After a few rounds, if our brain cannot catch up with the presenter, it will close off, leaving the presenter talking to a pool of quiet air. So, be selective in presenting points. It’s best not to give an overwhelming amount of new information. If it’s really a lot, group them into magic number ‘3’. Pace out the speed of talking and leave time for audience to digest. It is also important not to give all the back-stage details of the point you want to highlight. The audience’s attention span and patience are limited. They will ask questions if they are interested in the details. Plus, it’s never the last time you meet with the audience – take your time to slowly tell them your story.

Sticky is another tactic to knock your points into other people’s minds. As we can infer from the word ‘sticky,’ the presenter should focus on the topics and craft simple messages to deliver the topics. While simple, they need to be concrete as well. For example, if the CEO of UPS tells his express delivery guys, ‘We need to provide best services to our clients,’ the delivery guys may not know how to deliver the ‘best service.’ But if the CEO says, ‘We should not open any delivery package on our own; we need to ensure 100% on-time rate; we will not deliver package to wrong places,’ then it’s more sticky and concrete for the delivery guys to follow.

Last but not least, listening to and observing the audience is the critical part that makes your presentation a success. It’s always good to make the presentation a conversation, which requires the presenter to listen and interact with the audience. The audience will feel more respected if they are being heard. In addition, by observing the audience, the presenter will know what she should skip and what to expressively elaborate, so as to keep the attention of the audience.

In summary, as a likable presenter, we should always be selective, sticky and observant to our audience.

Guest Post: Sharat Sannabhadti

Sharat is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. This is his second guest post on the blog. Here he writes about virtual communication.

If you are an international student like me I am dead sure you will have ‘Skype’ on your laptop. If not Skype there will be some software similar to ‘Skype’ that lets you chat with your family back home free of cost! Isn’t that great? I can talk to my family whenever I want, and with video chat it is just like talking to them face-to-face. The technological developments in communication have so drastically changed our lives! Thanks to virtual communication, we are connected to each other 24/7.

Today we use some or the other form of virtual communication almost daily in our lives. There is email, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, chat applications, social networking sites, blogs and what not. Why is everyone communicating virtually today? (Sometimes I have even chatted with my teammate sitting right next to me instead of talking to him face-to-face!) Here are some major advantages of virtual communication that I can come up with:

1. Lets people situated at different corners of the world communicate
2. Saves travel cost
3. Saves time

In fact during the recent global economic downturn many organizations cut down on their travel costs by conducting virtual meetings. The movie ‘Up in the Air’ takes it one step further. In the movie, they use video conference calls to fire people. Videoconferencing primarily helps to save on travel costs and time. But one other major factor is that through video conference calls they can avoid the awkwardness of letting someone know that they are being fired to their face. It is strange because even in the case of videoconferencing it is just like talking face-to-face. The key point here is that it is almost ‘like’ face-to-face conversation. There are some key differences. The main advantage in this case is that the communication can end whenever the person giving the bad news wants it to end. Virtual communication does not score high when it comes to sharing human emotions as compared to face-to-face communication (although video communication has reduced the gap by a great amount). Many projects involving virtual teams fail just because of the lacking ‘human touch’ in such type of communication. It is difficult to develop a high level of understanding, co-operation and comfort with someone whom you have known only through e-mail conversations.

There are advantages and also disadvantages to virtual communication. But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Virtual communication is only going to develop further. Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have brought in a whole new dimension to our lives. There will definitely be newer inventions coming up in this space and it will be interesting to see how they change our lives!

Guest Post: Nidhu Nalin

Nidhu is one of Chris Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about real-world presentations.

In today’s fast paced and competitive business environment, do you think the ability to perform your task is enough for you to succeed? You would agree with me when I say that it is definitely not enough. In addition to having the right skills to do the job, it is equally important to have the right presentation skills. Before we dwell into factors driving successful presentation, there are two key things which you need to keep in mind. First of all, you as a presenter need to very well understand your audience. The crux of all types of communication is your audience. Next utmost thing is that ‘YOU’ are the presentation, not the material.

Take your time to prepare very well for the presentation. This starts with knowing the material to be presented thoroughly. It is also important that the data being presented is accurate. This is very critical factor when it comes to business presentations. You might just lose out on that $2.5 million deal, if your projected return on investment of 30.5% misses out the decimal point and looks like 3.05% on your slide package. Always carry all the required materials which will come in handy. One of the worst things you do not want to do is to read the slides. You can carry notes to remind you of the key points which you intend to cover. You can also consider providing handouts to the audiences, if required. Logically organize all the topics you plan to cover. There should be a smooth transition when you switch between the topics. What could define the limit of oddity when you suddenly start talking about the soft drink to be launched by the company in between of explaining the benefits of the new mascara?

One good way to organize your presentation is by using the diamond approach which is depicted in the adjacent picture. You can start with explaining the purpose and end with a definite action plan.


Practice your presentation. You can start with practicing in front of the mirror followed by engaging your friends to see you presenting. It definitely helps to understand your weak points and gives you a chance to improve. Also, keep a check on the timing when you are presenting. Allocate appropriate time to each of the sections of your presentations.

Adding humor to your presentation is a very tricky option. You need to be very careful about what and who is being made fun of. Someone might get offended or people might not react to your jokes at all. The safest bet is to crack jokes on yourself.

With all these preparations done you are ready for the presentation. Arrive early at the venue and check to make sure that you have all the logistics in place like computer, power, AC, and lighting. Relax before you begin and be confident. Open the pitch with a warm welcome and start talking. Do not move around too much in the room as this might give them a feeling of watching a tennis match. Maintain positive eye-contact with your audience; this will help the audience to connect with you. Another way to engage audience is by asking questions. Ask relevant questions. It is always good to present your relevant personal experience in the form of a short story to the audience. Now don’t tell me that you do not have any interesting story to tell. Everyone has. If you do not have any, then that simply means that you haven’t really put your brain into thinking. Time your presentation well. Do not go beyond the stipulated time. However, being short is not a crime as no one is going to get annoyed with you for delivering short speech. An important point is that the audience should be able to take away the purpose of the presentation with them. Hence, it is important to summarize in the end and to nail the final points. Best presenters in the world were not the best during their first presentation. Nobody is born with the right presentation skills; however they are built over time with the right attitude and preparation.

Guest Post: Adhivitheey Gouri Shankar

Adhivitheey is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about real-world meetings.

Did you know that most professionals who attend meetings on a regular basis admit to daydreaming (91%), bringing other work to meetings (73%) and dozing during the meeting (39%)?[1] That’s significant time wasted. So what can we do to make meetings productive and promote invitees to participate constructively rather than avoid meetings?

I have had very productive meetings where everyone had a sense of accomplishment and a few where the meeting seemed to lack purpose. I believe that this happens when the coordinator is unclear of his/her objectives and calls for a meeting more as an errand than to satisfy a requirement. To conduct productive meetings, one must document objectives clearly and invite the right set of contributors. They must inform participants of their role and the contribution expected towards reaching actionable, time-bound decisions.

Some meetings fail in spite of well-defined objectives because of inefficient mediation. The mediator must not only send out invites and arrange resources but also demonstrate credibility of participants, model behavior and bring up the right questions. I have also noticed how by endorsing of dismissing an idea, mediators sometimes severely hamper healthy discussions. They must promote the sharing of ideas while channeling discussions towards reasoned conclusions.

Finally, a meeting’s success can be measured based on the relevant action items it generates. However, agreed action items and their reasoning are of no use unless documented accurately. I have attended meetings where topics discussed and the conclusions noted were very different in the meeting minutes. Clarifying doubts, accurate note-taking and timely summarizing are essential components of a productive meeting.

One way to make sure all the above parameters are considered is to use Prof. Chris Labash’s 5P method: Purpose, People, Preparation, Participation and Point. We start with deciding the meeting’s “purpose,” which helps us determine if it is a requirement or can be substituted with a better means of communication. We then consider the number and set of “participants” who can effectively contribute to the purpose. “Preparation” involves arranging resources and sending out a draft agenda to make sure participants are prepared to contribute with ideas. Once the meeting begins, the moderator should facilitate “participation,” by encouraging thought and leading the meeting to a logical conclusion. Finally, “point” deals with action and taking away something tangible and measurable from the meeting.

[1] A network MCI Conferencing White Paper. Meetings in America: A study of trends, costs and attitudes toward business travel, teleconferencing, and their impact on productivity (Greenwich, CT: INFOCOMM, 1998), 3.

Guest Post: Rituparna Dey

Rituparna is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about multicultural communication.

We go out for lunch at Houlihan’s. I order a lunch combo—it’s chicken soup in basil tomato sauce, a chicken wrap, and french fries. The waiter asks me, “Do you want soup-or-salad?” I am still unfamiliar with the American twang. I hear it as, “Do you want super salad?” I say, “NO! I want a lunch combo.” My teammate willingly interprets for me. All is good. ;)

My bill comes to $11 including tax. Our waiter indicates that we need to mention the total amount before signing the receipt. I fret for a minute, glance over my teammates’ shoulders to check how much they are leaving as tip. I finally walk out as confidently as ever, after having signed my name on the merchant's copy and leaving 0 bucks as the tip amount :).

I am not sure whether I should have left something. I have a nagging question; I somehow cannot leave anything less than a dollar for a tip, so should I actually leave 50 INR or more as tip? I think of a thousand and one things that can come from $1 in India. So when my cousins call, I pose the same question to them. They indignantly shout back, “Oh, how can you do such a thing? It is a crime in the US to not leave a tip. Most of these waiters have to pay taxes wherein it is assumed that they are earning a 10% tip on each table they serve. So, it is advisable to pay a 10% tip. We even pay 20-30% if we are highly pleased with the service.”

Rich philanthropists? I would say so, but my heart still cringes when I leave a $2 (read 100 INR, more than two meals at Shantisagar and so much more...) at each restaurant.
So far, I have been to PF Chang's, Bravo's, Stir Crazy, Bamboo (Thai), Benihana- so that’s a $10 tips.

By my magnanimity, I am probably being very instrumental in getting the American economy out of recession. ;)

Guest Post: Ying Liu

Ying is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about real-world meetings.

Are you going to hold a meeting? Wait until you have answered these questions. Do you know the purpose of this meeting? Do you have an agenda? Do you know your role? If you have all these answers and well prepared, go ahead. But if you do not, I strongly suggest that you should consider these questions thoroughly before a meeting. Why? Take a look at interesting the statistics below, and then you will find the answer.

Approximately 11 million meetings occur in the U.S. every day. 91 percent people admit to daydreaming on a regular basis meetings, 96 percent miss meetings or parts of meetings, 73 percent say they have brought other work to meetings, and 39 percent say they have dozed during meetings. These figures are surprising and terrible. It comes along with low efficiency and few results. The need to improve our meetings is evident. So how can we run a meeting effectively and efficiently? The following points are critical.

The first step is to know the purpose of the meeting. Get to the heart of the matter in a simple and logical way. And differentiate the short term and long term objectives. Tell people directly what the current situation is and what is expected to be fixed. Then set an agenda to prevent the meeting from drifting off-topic or interminably dragging on. Begin with what was accomplished since the last meeting. Don’t waste other people’s time.

The second important thing is to know your audience. In order to achieve the purpose, you need to understand your audience first. As Professor Labash mentioned, the people invited should add value and expertise and provide new perspectives to existing issues. Then you can take corresponding strategies to convince them or get help. In addition, make sure key people will be in attendance.

Third, make sure to result in action. The best result of a meeting is to develop ideas, to motivate people, and to move people and ideas to positive actions. A meeting without action or improvement is not a meeting, but a conversation. Thus, try to figure out a concrete solution, follow up, and get things fixed.

Real-world meetings need to be managed so as to avoid being ineffective. As we discuss above, study the objectives, set the agenda, and meet the needs of audience when preparing. And then start on time, end on time, and get things done in the real-world meetings.

Guest Post: Aravind Bharadwaj

Aravind is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about real-world meetings.

http://humor.erichermes.com/dilbert_meeting1.gif

Today’s workplace demands more collaboration than ever before. All decisions are consensus-driven and teamwork is extremely essential. As per a survey by Gartner, meetings take up over 20% of the average employee’s work day. Although so much man power is channeled to meetings, usually very little is derived from it.

Very few of the meetings I have had to attend had an agenda, and almost none of the meetings stuck to the proposed agenda. I can recollect a meeting from my early days at work. My manager had set up a 1-hour slot and invited several operations analysts and senior managers. There was no agenda or any specific context to the meeting. I was a silent observer once the meeting began. Very quickly I began to realize that different attendees were talking about completely different things. The meeting went on for an hour and ended abruptly. Quite a few things went wrong with the meeting. The lack of agenda paved the way for an open-ended discussion on almost any topic. No one was moderating the meeting and there were several parallel threads. There did not seem to be a common shared purpose or understanding. Most importantly, there was no tangible outcome after the meeting.

In retrospect, there are several things I could have done to fix the meeting (or several other similar meetings). Agenda should be the center of every meeting with the moderator ensuring that all items on the agenda are covered and that the meeting does not deviate from the agenda. It is also important that people discuss issues in a logical sequence allowing opinions and discussions in the mean time. Further, it is critical that all participants in the meeting understand the context of the meeting and the items being discussed. It is the moderator’s responsibility to bring others up to speed before the meeting by sending documents and other supplementary material.

Professor Labash mentions four key personality types as it relates to meetings - thrust, drag, lift and gravity. I realize that it is important to have people who thrust and lift in a meeting than people with drag and gravity attributes. Meetings should be headed towards action. Meetings which don’t result in actionable results are a waste of the accumulated manpower engaged in it.

Guest Post: Rituparna Dey

Rituparna is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about real-world meetings.

Effective Meetings Generate Good Results

One business meeting in a day translates to two hundred and sixty four meetings in a year, which rolls up to seven thousand nine hundred and twenty meetings over an individual’s working career of thirty years. Isn’t that an awful amount of time doing meetings? Time is the most precious commodity in today’s world. Contemporary research reveals that most real world meetings are a waste of productive time. I read somewhere “Most meetings are social street lamps attracting the unproductive moths in an organization.” So, how do we make meetings effective? Chris Labash, in his Professional Speaking class, discusses pointed guidelines to conduct effective meetings.

Is my most appropriate vehicle a meeting?

The first question to be asked is - Do I need a meeting to accomplish my meeting results? Is it the best opportunity I have to solve my problem? Taiichi Ohno, who reinvented the Toyota Quality system, mentions that asking ‘Why’ five times would allow one to determine the root cause of a problem. For example: “Why did my project fail? Why did the scope change? Why was scope creep allowed? Why was the process not reviewed? Why was I not consulted? These answers would lead to another question – “Who were the people involved?” You have now realized that you need a meeting with those people to address your problem!

“Begin With The End In Mind” – Stephen Covey

What do I want to accomplish from the meeting? What is the purpose of this meeting; what is its focus? Whom should I call to my meeting; who are the people? What should the agenda be? Answers to these questions will help in identifying a framework to develop an effective meeting plan.

“Are my critical meeting members available?”

Ensure adequate representation in the meeting. Are decision makers present at the meeting? Meeting organizers should also check whether the most critical people would be available to attend the meeting. People can be dull or energetic. The organizer must ensure that a good mix of personalities is present in the meeting.

In my first job, our project manager once scheduled an impromptu meeting to address project delay. My lead did not attend because he had to rush to another meeting. The rest of the team, most of whom were juniors, could not contribute much to the meeting. As a result, the meeting was inadequate and another had to be scheduled in the presence of the project lead. The consequences were bizarre – as it was our deliverables were lagging behind; on top of that we lost an hour in an unfruitful meeting.

“Is my preparation adequate?”

What is the best time to hold my meeting? Mondays-Thursdays 10am-11:30am has been approved by consensus to be the most effective for a meeting discussion. Post-lunch is not a good time since people are sleepy. On the same note, Fridays might not be a good choice since people are anxious to start their weekend early. Organizers should choose a meeting place that is equally accessible to all participants. Do I have a meeting agenda that I can adhere to? Rank the tasks hierarchically on their relevance. It is best to circulate the agenda to all participants well in advance so that they can review and suggest changes. In addition, it ensures that everyone comes prepared to the meeting. Good pre-meeting preparation ensures that brainstorming in the meeting is effective and the next steps are fruitful.

“How can the leader be a ‘servant’ of the meeting?”

How should the meeting leader facilitate the meeting to build enthusiasm, to generate commitment and motivation and to enlist participation from the attendees? How should he encourage participation? The meeting leader must arrive early to set the stage for the meeting. He should do quick introductions, review the objective and agenda and subsequently throw the ball to the group. He should demonstrate energy. He should never endorse or reject an idea during a brainstorming session. He should be a better listener and involve everyone in the discussion. It is up to the leader to ensure that the meeting does not go off-track. A survey by GM consultants reveals that 74% of people do not want to waste time in meetings and 88% of people like active participation. The leader should ensure that desired results are accomplished from the meeting.

“What are the next steps?”

The leader should summarize the meeting points at regular intervals. The success of a meeting lies in identifying follow-up actions that can be derived from the meeting. Effective meetings outline the action item, identify the person who is responsible for its execution and finalize the due date and success metrics of the action item.

“What happened in the meeting?”

It is always good practice to publish meeting minutes and the action plan within twenty-four hours of the meeting. A leader should appoint a note-taker for the meeting. He should send out minutes to all the stakeholders so that people can start working on their action items right away.

Effective meetings are the ones that start and end on time. Bad meetings are frequently characterized by poor timing sense, absence of objectives, absence of agenda and ownership, unanswered questions and lack of follow-up actions. Someone once remarked, “A meeting without an agenda is like a journey without a map.” You frequently get lost and the destination is gray and distant. The leader to a meeting is like the captain to a ship. As leader, it is up to you to dominate, elicit decisions and facilitate discussions without indulging in self-indulgence. As leader, you can transform real world meetings.

Guest Post: Anuj Gupta

Anuj is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. This is his second guest post on the blog. Here he writes about real-world meetings.

“Meeting. Not again.” This used to be the general reaction of my team mates when we used to get an invite of a meeting from our manager. It was because most of our meetings were without any purpose, direction or agenda. People who didn’t have any role or participation in the meeting were also invited. There was no respect for the schedule as almost every meeting overshot the stipulated time. In fact, we had a joke going around that the person who could survive our manager’s meeting could survive any meeting in the world. The idea here is not to get rid of the meeting but to keep it effective and efficient.

Meetings are an indispensable part of the corporate set up. According to a survey done in the UK, more than 5 years of our careers are spent in meetings. It can prove to be a really effective tool in getting things moving forward. However, most professionals don’t know the art of conducting effective meetings. The answers to the below mentioned questions will definitely help you in conducting effective meetings.

1. Do we need a meeting? The answer to this question will eliminate the meetings which were never required. If a meeting can be avoided with the help of emails or other modes of communication, it should never be conducted.

2. What is the purpose of the meeting? Every participant of the meeting should have a clear understanding of the objective of the meeting. The convener should clearly mention the purpose at the beginning of the meeting.

3. What is the agenda of the meeting? The list of the items that need to be discussed in the meeting should be sent in advance. It will give you the opportunity to take the feedback from participants and add any missing points. The points in the agenda should be prioritized based on the importance. Agenda gives direction to the meeting and acts as roadmap to stay on point. Therefore any digression should be dealt with appropriately to make the meeting a success.

4. Who should be invited to the meeting? People who can effectively contribute to the proceedings of the meeting should be invited. People who you think will have a say in the final decision or who will add value to the meeting should definitely be called.

5. What preparation is required for the meeting? If you are a convener you should make sure that the place where meeting is scheduled has all the required logistics. If you are a participant you should come well prepared with all the details which will make your contribution to the meeting useful and effective.

6. What actions came out of the meeting? As Professor Labash aptly mentioned, “A meeting without action is not a meeting, but a conversation.” Every meeting should end with some action points. People should be identified to complete these next steps.

Guest Post: Sharat Sannabhadti

Sharat is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about real-world meetings.

‘Meetings are a waste of time’. This is a common sentiment observed by all people across different organizations all over the world! In fact, it is so popular that there was a Dilbert comic strip on this topic.

PHB (Dilbert’s Boss): Let’s figure out a timeline for deployment.
Dilbert: Ted is the only one who knows about that and he is on vacation.
PHB: let’s see how far we can get without Ted.
Alice: You mean without knowledge or insight?
PHB: We can make reasonable assumptions.
Dilbert: Or we could wait for Ted to come back tomorrow and ask him.
PHB (shouts): I CALLED THIS MEETING AND IT’S NOT A MEETING UNTIL SOMEONE’S TIME GETS WASTED!!
Dilbert: I apologize for my efficiency.
PHB: Apology accepted.
(Source: Dilbert Comic Strip, Nov 23, 2008)

What causes meetings to be time-wasting sessions? During my 4 years in the corporate world, I have been to a number of meetings. I have observed a few major reasons that cause meetings to become synonymous with time-wasting sessions. Most of the meetings fail because the agenda for the meeting is not established in detail and is not communicated to every participant of the meeting. In other cases, the person conducting the meeting lacks a sense of time and lets the conversations or behavior deviate from the main topic of the meeting. Other times, the people participating in the meeting are not prepared to provide valuable input. So, are meetings always a waste of time? Are we all going to waste 10% of our entire lives attending meetings? Well, hopefully not. There are some steps that good meeting conductors take to ensure that meetings are useful to every participant. They are as follows:

1. Purpose: There should be a clear purpose for conducting a meeting. One has to be clear that the situation needs a meeting to be conducted and no other means of communication such as email can be used as an alternative.

2. Agenda: The agenda for the meeting should be very specific and should be shared with everyone attending the meeting. It should be detailed, providing details about the duration of the meeting, the person responsible for noting down minutes of the meeting, who is going to lead the meeting, etc.

3. Number of people: There should not be more than 10 users ideally. Having many users in the meeting will lead to a lot of effort being spent managing the people, defeating the main purpose of the meeting.

4. Time: The meeting should be at a convenient time in the week so that all the concerned people can participate in the meeting.

5. Duration: The meeting should be planned for a specific duration so that the time is used efficiently during the meeting. Ideally a meeting should not be conducted for more than 2 hours. A person, preferably the meeting conductor, should be responsible for keeping track of time during the meeting.

6. Place: The venue for the meeting should be convenient (preferably a central place) so that it becomes easier for the people to reach the place.

7. Participation: All the concerned people (stakeholders) must be invited to the meeting. The meeting conductor should make sure that every participant gets a chance to contribute. The meeting conductor should act as a facilitator. His role is to guide the discussion by asking questions and taking input from everyone. In the end he is supposed to summarize the points discussed.

8. Action/Result: Every meeting should end with clearly defined action points, the people responsible for each of the points, and the timeline associated with these points. Without a definite result or a clearly defined future action plan, the meeting is a waste of time for everyone involved.

So let us all take an oath today that we will follow the above rules and educate others in becoming good meeting conductors. Let us make our world a better place by turning meetings into ‘time-saving’ sessions!!

Guest Post: Rituparna Dey

Rituparna is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students at Carnegie Mellon University. Here she writes about getting the job you want.

“We never get a second chance to make a first impression” -Anonymous

Organizations want to hire employees who reflect the organization’s values and are presentable to their stakeholders. In the last company I worked for, I often conducted first-round technical interviews. On a particularly busy day, I had to wait for 30 minutes before my interviewee showed up. In addition, when he did arrive, I noticed that he was in sweat pants. My first thoughts were- “Would I be willing to project him to my top clientele?” He clearly did not value my time. He had not dressed appropriately for the interview. His attitude reflected lack of seriousness and utter carelessness. Although he was technically sound, the position required a true professional, and unfortunately I had to let him go. First impressions do matter! Turn up early for an interview. Allow enough room for contingencies like a traffic jam or a road accident. Dress up according to the norms of the organization, although a business suit is the most preferred attire. Talk amicably – everything counts towards your favorable disposition. When an organization hires you, it acquires you in entirety. Your demeanor, attitude and skills portray the values of the organization. Make the interview memorable for you and for your interviewer.

“Completed 12 years of high school”

I happened to come across this accomplishment in one resume! Be practical. Under normal circumstances, any company receives hundreds of resumes for one position. How do you think you will stand out? How will you increase your chances of getting past the first stage? Why should I summon you for an interview over the 30 resumes that I rejected? Your resume needs to be concise and relevant to the position. When you arrive for an interview, carry copies of your latest resume and hand one over to the interviewer. You never know whether he has had the opportunity to look through your particulars.

“Why do you think you would be a fit for this company?”

I was interviewing with a well-known IT firm for a software developer position. After four grueling rounds of technical interviews, I was scheduled to meet the HR. Thinking that it would be a breeze; I stomped in only to be spellbound by her first question. Although, I had an idea of what the company did, I did not know why I would be a value-add to the organization. Very strange, but my interviewer instantly realized that I was not sufficiently cognizant of my prospective employer. I had not highlighted my enthusiasm to learn about its history. Nor had I bothered to ponder about whether I would fit in its culture. They trashed my resume. After hearing Chris Labash talk about how important it is to be a good fit in an organization, I would have done the same!

“Tell me something about yourself” or some variant is a sure-shot icebreaker in an interview.

Should you have a rehearsed answer or is it impromptu? I suggest, think in advance, about what you want to say. Rehearsed answers often sound memorized- you definitely do not want to appear as a school kid reciting a verse. However, each company wants to hear something specific. Hence, your answer, tailored to the organization you are interviewing for, should be checkered with your asset points.

“There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water.” – Kate Chopin

Was your interview successful? Was it interesting for the interviewer? Will he remember you 3 days after your meeting with him? The answer to all three questions is YES if you have managed to turn your interview into a conversation. Look for natural pauses to enter into a discussion. Throw insightful comments. The last time you interviewed with a company- did you wish for your interview to end or did you regret that it ended too soon? If you are in the latter group, you were conversing with the interviewer.

“Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are” - Syrus

Do not be afraid to ask questions. Ask the interviewer about the projects you would work on or the culture of the company. It exhibits your readiness to join. Should you have questions about compensation, be upfront at the end of the interview. Quote industry benchmarks to display your awareness of the situation. You might even ask him what follows the interview stage.

“All’s well that ends well; but we are not quite there” (modified well-known proverb)

The end is as important as the beginning. After the interview, thank the interviewer seriously and shake hands. Remember – you still have a chance to correct your goof ups. You could send him a thank you note or email. This is your last chance before he makes up his mind. According to CareerBuilder, "Nearly 15% of hiring managers say they would not hire someone who failed to send a thank-you letter after the interview. Thirty-two percent say they would still consider the candidate, but would think less of him or her." You could actually hurt your chances by not sending that tiny note.

“Who says there is no a reason to cry over spilt milk?” (modified well-known proverb)

You are out. The show is over. Relax! Ruminate! Think about what went right. What should you work on before your next interview? Should you improvise your answers? How did the interview close? What is your gut feeling about the interview? In fact, research shows that good post mortems create better thank you notes. The learning prepares you for your subsequent interviews.

Now is when your job interview is formally over.

Guest Post: Aruna Bhat

Aruna is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about getting the job you want.

What is my field of interest? Am I right for the job? How do I get the job I like?

How important is it to answer these questions? Seems very, as they decide where we finally land in our career. After all, we all work to live and hence it only makes sense to do what we enjoy doing. This article talks about the points one needs to keep in mind when searching for a job.

First and foremost, one has to figure out what interests them the most. Do not fret if you cannot decide immediately on this! Most influential personalities in the world were not clear about their goals till very late in their lives. Try to clear your mind of all diversions and think about the one thing you would love to do for the rest of your life. If you like talking to people and are a good orator, then you are probably good for a consulting or a management profile. On the other hand, if you enjoy working behind the scenes and are good in technical aspects, you are suitable for a technical job. Once decided, the next step is to think about how to go about it. Make use of the one thing that practically gives you all the information you need; the internet. Research on the kind of job you are interested in, network with friends and acquaintances and discuss the prospects.

Once you are satisfied with the outcome, browse through the companies which have openings for similar positions and assess whether you fit the role. Learn about the background and any interesting facts of the company on a higher level. On a granular level, learn about the business of the company, their strategy and their upcoming projects. Also, read about its competitors and where it stands as compared to the competitors. Try to get in touch with the current employees and ask them about the culture of the company and any information that will help you decide if that is indeed the company you are looking for. It is important to research these factors as at the time of interview, it shows the interviewer that you have done your homework and are interested in working for the company.

Now that you have figured out the kind of job you want and researched on the company, your next task is to prepare an impressive resume. Due to the volume of resumes the recruiters receive, it is believed that they spare just about a few seconds on each resume. Hence, they look for keywords to help them filter good resumes from the bad ones. The rule here is to keep your resume short and concise with keywords relevant to the job description. Print your name clearly along with your e-mail ID and contact number. Then, briefly write in one sentence about your experience and how it fits with the company. This should be followed by qualification and work experience. Instead of writing paragraphs on your past roles and responsibilities, mention two or three significant responsibilities which yielded results. A good resume goes a long way in getting an interview call.

Up until this point, you have done everything that it takes to get an interview call and you do not want to ruin your efforts by feeling drowsy at the time of the interview! Ensure you get a good night’s sleep to keep your brain active and alert the next day. Dress professionally; reach early at the venue and be polite to everyone around because it talks volumes about your personality. During the interview, keep your cool and be confident. Talk about your asset points and tell the interviewer how you fit the company’s culture and how you can contribute for its growth. All the research you did on the company initially will guide you through this. Talk about STAR (Situation, Task, Approach/Action, Result) as applicable. Try to turn an interview into a conversation by asking questions. After completing the interview, take a few minutes to retrospect on the events that happened at the time of the interview. As a last step, send them a thank you note for giving you an opportunity to interview with them and if possible give them one more reason as to why you think you are right for the job.

To conclude, these points, if religiously followed, coupled with good communication can definitely fetch you the job you aspire for.

Guest Post: Punit Parikh

Punit is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about getting the job you want.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. You read it correctly. Life would be fun if every day of the week would be a Sunday. Alas! Only if this could be true. Let’s face it we all have suffered from Monday morning blues at some point of time in our professional lives. OK, we have tried getting to bed early, have our clothes washed and ironed on Sunday night but it clearly does not seem to work every time. When we introspect, we ask ourselves am I really enjoying my work? Do I really belong to this organization? Am I a good fit in this organization? If you answered “NO” to above questions, then continue reading and I promise to untie the knots.

Thanks for continuing to read. Remember acting upon a thought is half the battle won! Now that you have identified it is time to switch not only jobs or organizations but also get a career for yourself that you value and cherish, it is action time. Let us get started by identifying the organizations and job profiles that match your skill-sets. For example, if you have never done any kind of computer programming then you have very slim chances of getting a job at Microsoft or Google Inc in an engineer work profile. Once you listed down organizations and work profiles it is time to get on your internet and do online research about the organizations you wish to work. In this internet era, there is plethora of resources available and there is no excuse for lack of it. You can use Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. to connect with people who work in those organizations in the same profile. Try to learn from their experiences. Try to gauge the culture of the organization from your online research and interactions with people who work there. This will give you a preliminary idea about the organization and work profile so that you can make an inform decision.

Next, let us build our own database that includes our strengths. Building a database, does that sound intimidating? Punit, what are you saying it isn’t difficult? No, it is not. All I am asking you to do is talk about yourself. Don’t you enjoy talking about yourselves? OK, it is not talking about how good looking you are and all good stuff. It is about your professional strengths. Therefore, get your pen and paper, and start listing them down. Do not hesitate to ask your old co-workers, mentors and teammates about your strengths. Voila! Part of your database is complete. The other half will complete when you tie an engaging story to each of your assets to justify it. For example, rather than simply saying I have good analytical skills you should say my analytical skills helped our organization save or increase revenue by X %. Support this claim by a story. Story? Yes let me tell you what I mean by a story.

A good engaging story should follow the STAR technique. Describe a Situation to set the context of your story, describe your Task, describe your Action and finally describe the Results produced by that action. Once the database is ready, we can refer to this and select those assets that are highly valued by different organizations. For example, if you are interviewing with Apple Inc, you definitely want to highlight your creativity strength in addition to strong technical and analytical skills. This database will be a very handy tool in your job search.

I hope you found this information useful. In my next blog, we will tackle another important aspect of job search. I know by now you must have already guessed. It is none other than editing your resume!

Guest Post: Pratik Chawla

Pratik is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students at Carnegie Mellon University. Here he writes about getting the job you want.

Why do you work? An obvious answer would be to earn money to meet your needs. So, what if you win a lottery? Would you immediately call up your manager to say that he can’t suck any more life out of you? And then you spend the rest of your life of leisure at your new beach house in Miami! I bet many of you would jump to grab this opportunity!

Well, for the rest of us (which accounts to 99.99% of the people), the good news is that a job can be FUN! How? Let’s find out. First of all, you really need to know what you are good at. And knowing your strength to, what kind of job you would want to apply your strengths. Imagine if Zidane had used his feet for tap dancing rather than playing football! Sounds scary! Isn’t it? So, in any case, make sure you do not land up this way! List the companies with expertise in your field of interest. Reach out to people working at the company, through personal contacts or through social networking sites, and check how well you fit into the job and the culture of a company.

Now that you have aimed your target, it’s time to shoot. But hold on, do you have the right bullets? That is when a strong resume plays its role. A resume should be strong enough to pierce through the multiple filters that HR guys apply to select candidates for interview round. How to get that? Well, make sure your resume reflects the perfect fit for the desired role. Highlight all your skills and accomplishments, and most importantly get it reviewed by an expert. All set? Now find the best way to get your resume across. If you know someone in the company, tell him to refer you. If not, then try to find a person through networking. If you can’t get to know anyone in the company, only then post the resume directly on the website of the company.

Did you get the email saying “you have been shortlisted for the interview”? Leave your computer, get out of bed and get your best suit to dry cleaners. You cannot afford to wear a wrinkled shirt on your D-day. On the interview day, dress neatly, do not put a lot of cologne; make sure you carry many copies of your resume and that you reach at least 15 minutes before the interview. Use this time to fix your dress and redo your hair.

At the time of interview, be confident and relax. I remember one of my friends was so terrified at his interview, that he actually asked the interviewer if he could go for a piss! So, empty your tanks well before. Try to turn the interview into more of a conversation. How? Ask questions!

Lastly, thank the interviewer for giving you the opportunity and if possible, acknowledge the interviewer over an email, when you reach home. Well, you have done it all. Congratulate yourself for a good interview, and learn from the bad ones.

Hope you do not have to wait long to hear the golden word, “Congratulations!” from the company. All the best!

Guest Post: Nithin Betegeri

Nithin is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about getting the job you want.

Riding the Job Search Boat

“You can describe Michelangelo in detail but do you know what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel? You can describe a Shakespeare’s sonnet about love but do you know what it is to look in a woman’s eye and be totally vulnerable?” When Robin Williams asked these questions to Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, I wondered how will it be to work at #1, Infinite Loop, Cupertino; the place where Apple Inc. is located. We all know that the story of one person, one computer, changing the world is an inspiring read. But does it quench the thirst to create the next best innovation after bread came sliced?

It does not matter what books or others say until we experience this beautiful world ourselves. The same philosophy is true with a job search as well. A job review site may highly rank a company for its work culture but can you really be sure until you work there? Of course, you can’t be. I believe that one’s search for a job should begin from oneself. We question our interests and passion. The answers to those questions should indicate the company that we should look for.

I am an artist who likes experimenting with colors on a palette. I love technology for the wonders we can create out of it. Combine both of them, and you will know what I am passionate about. I do not like Apple because of the ratings in the latest Wired magazine but because it works on products that I am passionate about, products that I would love to develop as an engineer. From my experience, introspection is always the first step of one’s job search.

Once we have a list of companies, we should research on their work culture, products and history. We should understand what it takes to work 9 to 5, five days a week for them. We should understand their value system, and know what makes someone a best employee at that company. These analyses will not only help us in our interview, but stoke our passions further. It will help us refine our choices as well. Last but not the least; we should research the recent trends in those industries and companies that are available ubiquitously over the internet.

Once our background work is done, we should apply to these companies in every possible medium. Apply over their websites, call them, mail them, and finally, contact friends and alumni working in those companies. No medium is bad enough for us to give opportunities to express our interests and passion. We should express our interests and talk about benefits to the company from hiring us. We can match our skill sets to those required with that of the job posted. That’s what it takes to follow our passion. We should repeat this entire process until we land interviews. It does not matter if it’s a recession or a honeymoon period for the market, persistence and hard work will surely bring results. After all, as Adidas puts it, “Impossible is nothing.” Isn’t it?

Guest Post: Nisha Balasubramanian

Nisha is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students at Carnegie Mellon University. Here she writes about getting the job you want.

How many times have we had a feeling of “Oh my Gosh!!!” after an interview? Well almost every time!!! What is it that went wrong? I thought I was the best fit for the job, but I feel lost now. What was I thinking? All these are very common feelings one has after an interview. How do we overcome this? How do we find ‘the right job’? What does it take to crack an interview? These are some questions that I will try to answer here and I am sure it will help you be better prepared for your next interview.

The first and the foremost task at hand is to find out what interests you. Before you begin your job search, you need to know what kind of job drives you the most, which job makes you hit the office with full enthusiasm day after day. Most of the time people fail to understand the need to identify their area of interest. As a result they just follow the crowd and finally end up in a job that leaves them not only unsatisfied but also frustrated to the core. Finding the right job is like finding your true love. In order to do that go back to your childhood days and remember what did you always wanted to become, identify the subjects that used to interest you the most during your undergraduate studies, talk to your best friends/mentors/colleagues who may help you identify the things you like to do the most. If you have had prior work experience, think about what you liked the most and what you disliked about the job. This would give you a sense of direction for your career path. Yes, that is the word- CAREER. The secret of having an excellent job is that it should fall in line with your career path.

Once you have identified your area of interest, the next step is to look out for opportunities that match your interests. List the companies with profiles that interest you. Do thorough research on the companies you may want to work with- their core competencies, their product and services, their target market, the work environment, your role in the company, the compensation, etc. Talk to current and former employees about their experiences with the company. Once you have all these details, check if it matches your career interests and if you would you really like to work for the company. Often people just look out for things that they are missing in their current job. They forget to see what they like in the current profile which they might miss in the new job. Most importantly, one has to see where the new job will take them in their career, in the long run. Alas, finding the right company is as important as choosing a life partner!

So, you have defined your interests, short listed the companies you want to join and have applied for the job. The next big thing and I would say the most important is to crack the interview. One fact you need to register in your mind while preparing for the interview is – “Be well prepared and be yourself.” So what does an interviewer look for in a potential employee? Are they just looking for a bunch of people, who can do any task assigned to them within minutes but are afraid to communicate with the person sitting next to them at work? Sometimes you really need to think from an interviewer’s perspective. Below are some of the aspects which MUST be considered while preparing for the interview:

1. Do extensive research on the company. Try to find minute details of the company as well as your job profile. Prepare several intelligent questions to ask your interviewer. This shows that you have really done your research well and that you are genuinely interested in working for the company.
2. Prepare specific examples from your past work, which may help showcase your skills and experience and how they will be of great help to the company you intend to join. Having your PAR (Problem-Action-Result) stories in place, about your experience, your education, and specific skills goes a great deal in portraying you as a serious candidate for the job.
3. Take out sufficient time to review your resume. It is the first thing which the interviewers look at and that one page resume says a lot about your personality and goals.
4. Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. Try to find out what you are good at: consult your co-workers or trusted friends to get feedback on your work. List down all the skills which you think might help you fit it to the kind of job you are looking for. You don’t need to just focus from a work perspective, but what kind of a person you are, what is that one thing that differentiates you from the others, how the company will be benefitted from hiring you. Highlight them during the interview. At the same time, it is very important that you get genuine feedback on your weaknesses, so that you may be aware of tough situations that you may encounter in your new job and think of ways to overcome them. Find a way to frame the weaknesses positively, so that the prospective employer knows that you are aware and working on your weaknesses.
5. Find out your market value as per the industry standards. The company hiring you would like to know whether they can really afford you. Let them give you an offer first, but if you know what you are worth, do let them know. The employer will surely appreciate your honesty and confidence.
6. On the D-day, it is most important for you to look confident. I know it is very difficult to stay calm on the D day and it is perfectly fine to be a little nervous. But the important thing is how confidently you portray yourself to the interviewer. Put on your best suit and make sure that you are well groomed. They generally look for people who will take control of a crisis situation confidently.
7. Print out a few extra copies of your resume and cover letter. This will help you tackle a multiple interviewer situation.
8. Arrive on time for the interview. Arriving early gives an impression that you want this job at any cost. At the same time, arriving late gives an impression of being careless. Smile and shake hands when you meet the interviewer for the first time. Do the same, when you leave after the interview.
9. Last but not least, send a ‘Thank You’ message to the person who interviewed you. A handwritten note will go a long way in creating a favorable impression.
   

Phew!!! I know that was an extensive list of “Things to remember” but the most important thing is to RELAX and SMILE. After all, the company needs people who are pleasant to work with. All the best for your interview!!

Guest Post: Nikolaos Kagkalos

Nikolaos is one of Chris' 2010 Professional Speaking MISM students at Carnegie Mellon University. Here he writes about the art of interviewing.

I still remember a teacher of mine during the undergraduate school years repeating and almost yelling at my class: "You, guys, when you have free time in the future, just go to interviews. Not one or two. Not even three or four. GO TO MANY! Tens, twenties...go to as many as you can! If you can do a hundred, it's awesome!" What a wise advice for future graduates...

The crucial question for everyone who seeks a job is: "What does a company wants to know about someone who wants to hire?" The pyramid of the information the company wants to gather has many levels; company wants to know about the knowledge of the candidate, his/her personality, confidence and trust, sincerity and probably thousands of others. A little bit above all these is the value of the person, that is, how much the company can get from him/her. But above all is the question "Is he/she a pleasant person?" or "Does he/she fit?"

From the candidate's view, what company should we choose to work for? Everyone has a bunch of companies they would like to work for. We see people saying: "I want to work for Google so bad! I have seen pictures from their offices and they are so cool!" Yeah! But this is not a good reason to apply there. And just the name of the company does not mean too much sometimes. Before applying, do RESEARCH; what is the history of the company? What is the culture fostered in there? How do they treat employees and how much do they pay? What are the prospects of promotions? All these enquiries lead us to clarify whether the company is the right pick for us. And how do we get the answers? Ask! Google it! There are many ways to find out. As long as you really want it, you can find the way to get it. Remember: the more information you get, the less are the chances to be hired by a company that does not fit you.

From the time you pick your target and before you arrange an interview, you should be able to answer convincingly questions like:

Why you are here?
What kind of person are you?
What can you offer to our company?
What differentiates you from the rest?
Desired salary?

In addition, be prepared for "hypothetical, real situation questions". For example, "what would you do if..." or "let's say the company...how would you act?" Depending on the position you seek, build working scenarios and answer them. As an inference, organize your thought, write down your answers, practice on them like it was a performance. Make mock interviews with experts from your school or teachers or even with yourself in front of the mirror! It is very important to know everything by heart.

After all this preparation, hit the target. Go for the company and seek an interview. You cannot do much here. If they want to hire people, you will be called - and this will be based on your solid resume (or in other words, your personal...flyer). Put much effort into this and remember: make it short and accurate, demonstrate results, and use keywords. Once you are called, also figure out the following tips to get the most out of it- which is getting the job:

• Try to know the company - again, it is very important
• Prepare your answers and pick interesting life stories that describe yourself
• At the time of the conversation: perform like an actor, be relaxed, be natural, make the interview look like a CONVERSATION by asking questions!
• Express in a diplomatic way how passionate you are for the job
• Be polite. Support your opinions in a good manner BUT never go beyond the limits

Interview is mostly actions; get your act together, practice, perform. Many words sometimes do not count - actions do. So go out, walk and get what you want!

This content is based on my personal experience and the lectures of Professor Labash.

Guest Post: Nidhu Nalin

Nidhu is one of Chris' 2010 Professional Speaking students at Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University. Here she writes about getting your dream job.

When you wait impatiently for your turn to face your job interview, what is the only thing that is going on in your head? Most of you would agree with me when I say that the question is whether I will be able to crack this interview or not? Likewise, the things concerning Mr. John are will you be able to fit in the organization? Will you be adding value to the organization? Will you be able to do the job? And yes, you are right! Mr. John is indeed the interviewer.

When you stand outside that door to meet Mr. John, you should remember that the even though you have the right skills, education and experience for the job, so do those 90 people who have applied for the same job. So, what will make you that unanimous choice? Of course, the interview which you are about to give. Let’s explore further into developing the right interview skills.

As noted by Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, “When you meet someone for the first time . . . your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions.” Hence it is very important to create a positive first impression. Greet your interviewer with a firm handshake and a pleasant smile. Dress appropriately. Personal grooming and hygiene are important. Do not wear anything which is too distracting. For example, your interviewer might get distracted with that green eye-shadow of yours instead of focusing on what you are talking. Having said all of that, it is equally important that you are comfortable in whatever you are wearing.

Throughout the interview, maintain positive eye-contact. Speak in a polite manner. While responding, do not be too slow or too fast. This is your chance to present yourself as a best fit for the role, hence talk about things which describe you as a person capable of doing the job. Repetition of information already present in your resume should be avoided. Once in an interview, my interviewer asked me not to repeat the things which are not there in my resume.

Do research about the company and the position for which you have applied. In today’s information rich world, it would not go down too well with the interviewer, if you appear to be ignorant towards some big recent event associated with the company. Having the right information about the company shows your true interest in the company and more importantly will support your answer to the question “why do you want to join our company?”

While talking about yourself, do not be abstract. Always corroborate your statements with a relevant story from your experience. For example, if I simply say that I am a good problem solver, I am being too abstract. However when I say that once in an award function which I was anchoring, the certificates got delayed by 30 minutes, and to make up for the time delay, I started asking random fun questions to the audience. The audience enjoyed the fun-question event and we could smoothly continue with the function once the certificates arrived. This depicts strongly that you are a good problem solver in addition to being quick and creative.

Engage in conversation instead of a question answer session. What could be the best possible way to engage in a conversation? Ask questions. Look for natural pauses or just excuse and ask for any relevant question. By saying relevant, I am indicating that you would obviously not interrupt Mr. John to ask whether dogs are better than cats as pets. However, if Mr. John says that he also used to play football in his college and loves the game just like you, then it is not inappropriate to ask which team he supports for FIFA world cup 2010.

The way you end an interview is very important. It could be as simple as saying “Thank you for your time” or extend to something more elaborate. According to Shawn Graham, the author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job, the job interview close is the equivalent of the “call me” moment at the end of a good date.

Research done by CareerPlaybook indicates that about 65% of the time, the hired employee meets fewer than 50% of the job qualifications. Hence, in addition to having a powerful resume you need to have the right interview skills in place to get that dream job.

Guest Post: Lulu Chen

Lulu is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about real-world oral communication.

‘We have satellite offices all around the world, and each office only comprises a few people. While we want to support staffs’ basic IT needs, we can’t justify spending too much money on a few people in each site. How can you help us? ‘

‘Well, our product is the most comprehensive one in the industry now, it assemblies all the features of similar products and it is ranked number 1 in the Gartner Magic Quadrant!’

I’ve been hearing a lot of sales talks in my work, and the above conversation happens regularly. It is funny. More than 70% of business proposals for IT don’t meet the requirements in full. While there’s so much pressure on the sales people to close deals with us, they usually don’t listen to our specific requirements and our concerns. Instead, they go on and on with their prepared sales pitch. Normally these people don’t get the deal with us at the end.

Sales is an art that needs persuasion, negotiation and intimacy in relationship. But most importantly, it takes good listening skills and good knowledge for the sales person to be flexible and relax enough to swing the conversation.

For those good sales people I meet, they start the presentation by asking our requirements and concerns. They listen for the ideas and interpret between the lines. After they get the idea, they respond directly to our requirements or concerns – accurately, no zigzag, no avoidance. The prepared slides would just serve as an aid whenever the speaker needed. This is how typically good sales people capture our hearts. We trust that this is the guy we can speak with – responsive, sharp and knowledgeable. Good knowledge plays a part in the sales process, and more important is a good listening attitude.

The good listening attitude is powerful in any oral communication, be it a negotiation, a persuasion, or just a simple chit chat. Listening not only makes the other party (who is speaking) feel better, it also make ourselves look significantly smarter if we respond exactly with what the other one want to know; and surprisingly, they do tell us what they want to know if we listen carefully.

Guest Post: Anuj Gupta

Anuj is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about real-world oral communication.

Can you imagine a world without any sort of communication in it? Not really. It has become an integral part of our lives and is as critical as breathing. Although there are many forms of communication, one of the most influential ways is ‘oral communication.’ This is because we can convey our message blend with real emotions. We can express grief, anger or happiness, which is really hard in other forms of communication like written.

Most of the communication we do is done verbally. This makes oral communication all the more important. It is used for various purposes like presentation, persuasion, conversation, etc. But differences in culture, accent and language make the whole process of communicating verbally difficult. Moreover with the ever increasing knowledge base it is getting tougher and tougher to keep the communication concise. In such a scenario, it is important to understand your audience and keep them in mind while communicating. This can make a big difference in the effectiveness of your communication.

It is also important to understand the fact that speaking and listening both are integral part of communication. Generally people tend to forget the listening part and concentrate only on speaking which adds to clutter. Unlike speaking and writing, we are never trained on listening which makes it all the more essential to enhance our listening skills. This can be done by creating a desire to listen, getting rid of both mental and physical distractions, reinforcing the speaker and giving him feedback in the form of questions. This actually makes the overall experience better for both speaker and listener and leads to an effective conversation.

In my previous work experience, I used to converse with people from the UK on a regular basis. The first few days were really difficult for me as instead of listening to them during meetings, I used to concentrate more on what I would be saying next. But as I started to know more about my audience and started focusing more on the listening part, life became so much simpler. The conversations became meaningful and we were able to get some action points out of every meeting which is an essential feature of effective communication.

Guest Post: Adhvitheey Gouri Shankar

Adhvitheey is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about oral communication.

Did you know that the term “infant” derives from the Latin word “in-fans,” meaning “unable to speak”? Research suggests that 55% of the information we trust is visual and only 45% is vocal and verbal [1]. However, it is interesting to note that our first form of communication is still vocal. This interaction, albeit unintelligible, suggests the importance of oral communication as a means of expression for humans.

Communicating orally firstly involves gathering thoughts. This can prove to be quite a challenge with the constantly increasing clutter and distractions in this digital age we live in. We then organize these thoughts into a form that the receiver understands. With globalization and ever-increasing cultural interaction, understanding the receiver’s perspective entails significant interaction. Finally, we use intonation, pronunciation, inflection, pitch, volume and tone to express the thought. Although we are programmed to perform these tasks genetically and improve on our skills with increased interaction and time, there are specific cases where our ability to orally communicate is pushed to its limits.

Persuasion, preaching, teaching and negotiation involve significant oral communication prowess. It requires a deep understanding of the audience and the communication medium. This depth could well be the difference between harmony and discord or a deal and a standoff. I have noticed how a major part of being a good leader involves convincing people to accept orders rather than forcing them to serve a cause. I believe that using oral communication to convince and cause action is a skill of paramount importance for any leader.

We can classify effective speakers into those who use reasoning to appeal and those who speak from the heart. A speaker who uses reasoning uses the first part of communication, “gathering thoughts,” effectively, explains ideas, and presents facts & figures. With adequate understanding of the audience, he/she speaks in a way such that listeners automatically draw the correct conclusions. In comparison, a speaker who speaks from the heart focuses on the second part, “understanding the audience”. He/she relates to the audience and their feelings and convinces them to act a certain way. In summary, I believe that the best oral communicators use a combination of both. They understand their audience, use reasoning & facts as tools to strengthen their credibility, and present information in a form that empowers listeners to act.

Guest Post: Aravind Bharadwaj

Aravind is one of Chris Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students, and writes here about oral communication.

Have you ever played this party game? About 5-6 people sit in a circle and a message is passed around by whispering to the person sitting next to you. The original message turns to gibberish by the time it goes around once. Oral communication arguably has the largest proportion of information loss among all means of communication. Several statistics have shown that less than 7% of what is said orally is remembered. However, in a world inundated by bits strewn all over the place, oral communication still holds its ground as a very personal mode of communication. Oral and face-to-face communication is predominant in instances which tickle the human emotion.

I remember the day when I got my first job. It was the 4th round of interviews and I was speaking with a senior MD of the firm. Since the previous rounds were not nearly smooth sailing, I had to convince the interviewer that I was the best fit for the position. I believe it was the harmony of oral communication and body language that helped me express my candidature and land the job. The power of oral communication as a tool for persuasion is immense. From a parent having ‘the talk’ with her teenager to great leaders sparking revolutions, oral communication can influence people like no other form of communication.

The personal touch of oral communication is clearly evident when it comes to difficult conversations. In the movie ‘Up in the Air,’ George Clooney’s character (Bingham) works for a firm that fires people. Bingham and several other consultants are successful solely on their abilities to communicate and convince laid off employees about the ‘bright future’ ahead of them. A new technology that promises to lay off people from a remote location fails miserably resulting in the return of the good old technique. The personal touch of oral communication is key in holding difficult conversations such as laying off an employee or breaking up with your lover.

Oral communication provides us with subtle hints to determine the personality type of the speaker. As Professor Labash mentioned, the tone, choice of words and sentence structure can help us determine if the speaker is a sensor, an intuitor, a thinker or a feeler. Recognizing the personality of the speaker will let us alter our communication style quickly and align it with theirs. While other modes of communication will let us gauge the personalities over time, oral communication gives us a heads up from the very first sentence.

While oral communication has its disadvantages, I believe it is irreplaceable by another form when it comes to connecting at a personal level. There may be instances of couples breaking up over a text message. But the day when it becomes a norm is still far away.

Guest Post: Kumar Kunal

Kumar is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students at Heinz. Here he writes about real-world oral communication.

Communication is exchange of information. It is the key in binding different worlds around us. Various fields like Arts and Science, Technology, Music and Literature have evolved by the exchange of ideas. It enables awareness and a level of understanding. Since time unknown, man has adopted and evolved the technique of communication. Communication varies from simple greetings, ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello,’ to complex information exchange in various languages. However, communication is not only about languages and greetings.

What was different in the orators from freedom struggle? What is different in the CEOs, the business magnets and the inventors? It has to be something more than just mere talk.

Power of convincing, techniques of putting forth your ideas, conviction in the ideas which are being promoted, and ability to virtually demonstrate futuristic proposals are all key abilities which are crucial for communication. To achieve effective communication, it is also important to know your audience and the subject. There is a lot more to learn from motivators and innovators like Steve Jobs than what meets inexperienced eye. The zeal, the enthusiasm and the passion in the belief and the strength of their ideas is reflected in their talks and promotions.

Oral communication is a very powerful tool. This can help make or break views and perceptions. On a positive note, it helps to build the future. On the other hand, one should also be aware of its negative impact and not get veiled with the wrong ideas. All the terror pockets are also a result of this tool.

Good communication always widens the scope of learning. The architecture of social beings depends on information exchange. It is rightly said, “The art of communication is the language of leadership.”-James Humes. The only caution should be the choice of leaders. It goes without saying, “Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.”- Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Guest Post: Rocky Kurien

Rocky is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about virtual communication.

“The world is a smaller place.” This is a phrase all of us use in our daily lives. But have we ever wondered what it is that has made this world a smaller place? Apart from the improvements in transportation the innovations in communication have played the biggest role in bringing all of us closer. Virtual communication is now widely regarded as the next big wave.

So what is virtual communication? Virtual communication refers to all means of communication which happen in virtual reality (computer media). This involves a plethora of technologies from a series of communication technologies which enable users to communicate real-time and range from synchronous methods to recent trends in Web 2.0-blogs, wikis, etc. which are classified as asynchronous.

Synchronous virtual communications range from VoIP calls, internet chat and video conferencing to some technologies which we only imagined in the realms of science fiction. Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP phones have tremendously impacted the communications industry. It involves routing of audio calls via the internet instead of traditional phone lines. This service has drastically brought down the costs of audio calls. Initially starting off as a means of personal communication through providers like Skype, this technology has scaled up and is now leveraged by major corporate organizations for their business communication. Despite its benefits, audio communication has its limitations, the most important being the miscommunication which occurs due to lack of face-to-face conversation. Video conferencing is a revolutionary virtual communication technology which overcomes this limitation. It enables users to see each other via computer screens while conversing. Cisco Telepresence is the most well known video conferencing technology, has widely been adopted by industry, and enables teams from far flung corners of the world to work efficiently and collaboratively without any of the traditional travel costs and inconveniences. Another rising virtual communication technology is holographic communication. Something we have so far seen only in the Star Wars movies, it is fast becoming reality. It involves projecting a real-life hologram of the person you are communicating to giving the feeling that she/he is right there in the room with you.

Asynchronous virtual communication involves technologies like wikis, blogs, online journals, social networking sites, etc., which have drastically impacted our daily lives. Initially starting off as social media, it has enabled people to express their views, share ideas and communicate with others on a much global scale. The Facebook revolution and rise of Wikipedia and online blogs are examples. Businesses have also started adopting these technologies in the form of corporate blogs, wikis, etc., to enable collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

Virtual communication technologies have truly transformed our daily lives. It is an exciting field and we can hope for many more innovations which will further shape our lives in the future.

Guest Post: Ranjani Kumar

Ranjani is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about virtual communication.

Virtual communication- An introduction

Virtual communication denotes a broad spectrum of concepts, technologies and practices in using communication with the aid of cutting-edge technologies. The proliferation of information and communication tools, like e-mail, instant messaging and internet telephony has revolutionized the way we work and live. Virtual communications facilitates the ability to know and understand how to access and share information electronically and is a portal through which a world of limitless learning opportunities exist.

Our lives have never been the same
Virtual communication is implicit communication, where clicks translate into electronic signals to communicate intentions, values, and beliefs. Therefore, they may come to be of great importance in affecting people’s attitudes toward each other and toward society creating friendships across globalized world. The most prominent feature of the "information society" is increasingly intense and mobile communication, based on a multitude of media and forms of expression - speech, text, pictures, and multimedia. Sometimes the communication is direct: human-to-human; sometimes it is faceless but warm messages on the PC screen.

Organizations scale-up productivity

Organizations today have been transformed not only by effective use of virtual communication technologies, which are flowing thick and fast. Virtual communication has enabled group projects, from working alone to working with many others, both inside and outside the office, and from routine processes to creative, knowledge-based processes. Employees in organizations work non-traditional hours, work from home, travel to other locations, and perform many tasks at one time. Virtual communication is one of the greatest productivity discoveries of this century.

What the future beckons?

The future would be wireless for all forms of virtual communication. Wired communication would be passé. 4G wireless technology would bring drastic data transfer speed, enhanced security in virtual communication, use of IP addresses, reduced blips across networks and seamless video conferences. Efficient algorithms and digital technology would enhance quality of service

The road to virtual communication is endless with technology leading the way all the way.

REFERENCES:

1) Bjorn Bengtsson - Virtual communication paper

2) An introduction to virtual communication

Guest Post: Sunny Huang

Sunny is a student in Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking class. Here she writes about virtual communication.

A couple of months ago, before I came to the U.S. to start my master’s program, I paid a visit to the 2010 World Expo which is being held in Shanghai, China. Admittedly, the grand Expo gathering of more than 190 countries along with many organizations, enterprises brings great opportunities for communication in economy, commerce and culture. But in spite of the excitements of “around the world in one day”, I still reserve doubts as to whether such an Expo still holds the same importance in communications as its early emergence in the 19th century. In an era dominated by instant information exchanges via all kinds of high technologies, people rely more and more on virtual communication than the real-world counterparts. Undoubtedly, there are necessities and amazing advantages to virtual communication. On the other hand, there are also potential barriers in virtual communication that are worth our close inspection.

The burgeoning telecommunications technologies in the past decades have made virtual communication possible, and step-by-step made it indispensable to our daily lives. As we’ve been so used to the high efficiency in transferring information between thousands of miles within seconds, it’s impossible to turn back to the snail ways of sending mails or telegraphs. Embracing virtual communication is not only because of the tremendous convenience brought by high technologies, but more importantly because of the critical role of high efficiency in today’s dynamic environment. It’s the real-time virtual communication via modern technologies that has “flattened” the whole world, so that more regions and enterprises can step onto the broader stage for stronger influences and larger profits. For example, by utilizing the advantages of virtual communication in cutting down cost in money and time, industries like IT gain even greater success, e.g. in products development collaborated by geographically distributed teams, or call centers that provide customer support 24/7.

Nevertheless, people keep coping with the new problems which have emerged from virtual communication along with its advantages. While e-mail and teleconferences have replaced face-to-face interactions, obstacles for better understanding still exist. Here I’d like to take my personal experiences as an example. I once worked in several software development projects that involved globally distributed design centers. Naturally, most of the communication consisted of e-mails, phone calls and teleconferences. Although the core concept in collaborative development is to optimize the resource allocations and utilizations, sometimes the negative experiences like endless e-mail discussions, and inefficient teleconferences made people suspect whether the way of working was improved or deteriorated by virtual communication. I believe for virtual communication in the international companies, although the spatial distances have been shortened, there are still mental distances because of culture differences, conflicts and/or concerns from different standpoints of different organizations. The communication styles differ between west and east originally, and while communicating in the virtual ways, the culture differences seem to be exaggerated. For example in writing e-mails, the western, professional way is to state the point clearly in the beginning, while the Chinese is to start with more greetings or background introduction, intending to avoid any feelings of aggressiveness. Besides such cultural differences, the collaborative teams came from organizations with different standpoints after all. There were conflicts and problems similar to those existing in the real-world communication. In such a sense, we should still stick to the fundamental rules in efficient communication, and at the same time adapt to specific situations in the virtual world, so that the advantages of virtual communication can be utilized to their greatest extent.

Guest Post: Taylor Geisse

Taylor is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about real-world presentations.

You certainly don’t want your presentations to end up like this one here right? The presenter is talking about something audience has no interest in whatsoever and the presenter himself also doesn’t seem to care! All in all, a big mess!

In today’s world, there are presentations given every single day for various reasons. A businessman giving a presentation to his colleagues / clients or an individual giving a presentation at a conference are just two of the many presentations that go on every single day. Yet, no matter what the context, the flow is always the same: to logically present a topic, inform your audience of said topic, and leave your audience with something to do or think about. When done appropriately, most presentations should follow this very flow with only the final end goal varying to match the purpose of the presentation.

In any given company, there is a presentation going on at almost every hour of the workday. Although the topics may vary from financial & budget overview to a status update to a sales pitch from a consulting firm, the end goal is always the same: push business forward. Not all work presentations achieve this goal, but the general idea of presentations in a business sense is to identify where productivity or profits are falling short and to take action to improve the business. As work is work, these next steps are often assigned tasks as opposed to thought-provoking ones.

Many of the most interesting and thought provoking presentations occur at conferences such as TED. At conferences like these, individuals present topics that they are passionate about to an audience that is there for the expressed interest of hearing what their peers have to say. Identical to other types of presentations, even business presentations, the presenters must first introduce their topic and some background on it. Where it gets very interesting, however, is when they start provoking thoughts on topics that may have never crossed your mind. This is the precise goal of presenters at conferences, which is to get you thinking about something you may have never considered before, thus expanding your mind.

However, many presentations suffer from poor preparation, poor attention to detail, and/or poor presenting skills. This is quite apparent in the corporate world where presentations are often thrown together at the eleventh hour. Thoughts are disjointed, slides and other details are disconnected, and the presenter is often noticeably unprepared. Businessmen, however, are not the only ones who succumb to these faults of presenting. Conference presenters, such as the clip of individuals at TED shown to us the other day, can find themselves succumbing to these pitfalls that can simply ruin a presentation on even the most interesting topic in the world.

Presentations happen every day, whether we are a part of them or not. It is well understood that a presentation should leave an individual with an action or a thought. However, if a presentation were to succumb to a noticeable pitfall, it becomes hard to comprehend the action one is suppose to undertake and it may even be difficult to discern what the intention of the presentation is.