Tips to a good speech/presentation

Many studies have shown that public speaking is the number one fear. Indeed, it is no easy feat. I have never been an eloquent speaker, but I have been able to be comfortable while speaking. Here are some tips to be comfortable while presenting in front of a class:

• Practice
• Have confidence
• Begin with a bang

As the authors in Excellence in Business Communication state, “Many things can go wrong in a major presentation”. If you don’t prepare and practice your speech or presentation, you won’t be able to work out the kinks. By practicing, you are aware of what you are going to say, without thinking about it too much. Visualize yourself standing in front of your audience delivering your speech. Practicing will help you build your confidence that your speech is good, thereby eliminating fears.
If you are giving a presentation, have the confidence that what you have prepared is what the audience wants to hear. If you know that the audience will enjoy your speech, it will help to eliminate any anxiety you might have while standing in front of a crowd.

Finally, when the time comes to give your speech, start it with a bang. Many sources say that the first 30 seconds of a speech determine whether or not you have the audience’s attention. You can do this by telling a joke, stating an interesting fact, and many other ways. If you can grab the audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds, it can build your confidence that the practice you have put into this presentation was well worth it. You are on your way to a great speech.

A Breath of Relief

I have been a student for many years. All together I have switched majors four times and still have a ways to go. In all the time that I have gone to school, I swore to myself that I did NOT want to do anything with business. I looked at every other major possible and finally decided to talk to a career counselor. The counselor educated me a little bit more on business and the Business school and I learned that this is really where I belong.

Before coming to the Huntsman School of Business, I decided to try my hand at Civil Engineering. For the last three semesters, I have been pounding my way through difficult math and science just to get into the Civil Engineering school. I would spend four to five hours a night trying to complete all my assignments and survive semester by semester.

After talking with the career counselor, I decided to throw in the towel for engineering and try my luck with business. I didn't know exactly what major I wanted to do yet but I had some thoughts. Throughout this semester however, I have learned that I really fit into the Huntsman School of Business.

Coming to the business school has been a breath of relief. All of my professors really make an effort to know who I am as a person and not just a number, even in bigger classes. Every teacher that I have this semester has made a real effort in my part to get me to succeed. Although I may have homework and projects, I'm not spending the countless hours trying to understand what I am doing; I already know. In future classes, I expect to be challenged and have difficult tasks ahead of me, but with the great staff we have here, I know I will succeed.

The Use of Current Collaboration Technology in Group Work

Collaboration Technology is defined by Wikipedia as technology "designed to help people involved in a common task achieve goals". The use of such technology is being used throughout the world from students working on class projects, to major businesses networking internally.

There are many types of collaborative software around the internet, many of which are free to use. There is social networking, like Facebook or Twitter; there are blogs and wikis; there is the use of cloud networks, and much more. All of these are useful when working in a group. Tony Byrne, President of The Real Story Group, wrote in an article of the top 5 tools in collaboration technology. The 5 tools he suggests are:

1. File sharing
2. Blogs
3. Wiki's
4. Micro-blogging
5. Forums

Each of these tools is a great asset to a company or group. The most useful, in my opinion, is that of file sharing. There are programs like Google docs that allow multiple people to be working on the same thing at different places in the world. I am currently involved in a group project and we are putting all of our research and assignments together using Google docs.

The use of Collaborative Technology is a great resource for all types of groups. They allow information to be passed on to members at a fast rate and allow instant feedback.

Works cited:

Wikipedia dictionary, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_software

Tony Byrne "How to Use Internal Collaboration and Social Networking Technology", http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/03/internal-collaboration-and-social-media-technology.html

What a Professional Blog Can Do

We live in a time where communication is the fastest it has ever been and businesses and organizations have been customizing themselves to the luxuries that the internet brings. With the internet, a business or organization can communicate to others and have instant feedback. One way to communicate is through the use of a blog. About.com suggests that a blog can be used as "a corporate tool for communicating with customers or employees to share knowledge and expertise"(par 6).

A blog can be very helpful in marketing a product, sending out information, selling items, and many other things. One blogger uses a blog for a nonprofit fitness challenge. The blog tells participants weekly challenges, allows users to submit points, updates team standings, and provides links to healthy websites. Doing this helps the participants to stay motivated in building better habits in life.

Another blogger uses his blog to display his photography he does. He is a professor at BYU-I and displays his scenery photography to students and others so they can see different types of shots.

Blogs are a great resource to businesses as well. Businessweek.com says that by reading other blogs, a business can find out who is "talking about your business, engaging your employees, or leaking those merger discussions you thought were hush-hush" (par 4). Blogs can do many things for a business and are a great marketing tool. They can provide links to products or websites, critique other businesses and help them to stay honest, take polls, and much more.


Works Cited:


http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/ecommerce/a/bblogs.htm

www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm

darrenclarkphoto.net/blog/

buildinggoodhabits.blogspot.com