Unit 2 Presentation And Communication Styles PDF

Unit 2: Presentation and Communication Styles Effective Presentation skills are important because they help keep a presentation interesting, help the presenter communicate with confidence, and motivate the audience to listen. Some essential presentation skills are: Creating variety. Sp...

Unit 2: Presentation and Communication Styles Effective Presentation skills are important because they help keep a presentation interesting, help the presenter communicate with confidence, and motivate the audience to listen. Some essential presentation skills are: Creating variety. Speaking with optimal audibility. 1.Master Your Presentation Knowing the ins and outs of your presentation will helpbuild your confidence. You should know what each slideon your presentation says, and you should also know what you're going to say about each slide. You don't want to read off of your slides. Instead, do your best to learn your presentation's subject matter by heart. Your accompanying PowerPoint presentation is just a visual aid. Don't spend too much time fine-tuning your slide animations and transitions. Rather, focus on perfecting your message and making sure it's easy enough for your audience to understand. 1 2.Practice, Practice, Practice As the popular saying goes, practice makes perfect. While you don't have to aim for 'perfect,' delivering a presentation that actually meets your goals should be at the top of your list. There's no definite number on how many times you should practice your presentation. But practicing once or twice probably won't suffice. 3. Know Your Audience Knowing who you're speaking to will help you deliver a presentation that will resonate with your audience. Find something that's common with your audience and mention that in your presentation. You may not know your audience on an individual level (this will be impossible if you're presenting to hundreds or thousands of people), but finding common ground is certainly possible. 2 4. Arrive Early at the Venue Coming to your presentation prepared is one of the best ways to ensure your presentation's success. You'llbe able to survey the venue, double and triple check allequipment you're going to use and make sure everything's working perfectly. You can even try squeezing in one last practice, if possible. 5.Think Positively Thinking positively can go a long way in helping you overcome presentation fear. If you think your presentation's going to be a disaster, then it is going tobe a disaster. However, if you think it's going to be asmashing success, then you're going to do your absolute best to make sure that happens. When you're optimistic, you tend to project your optimism while you're presenting. 6.Make Eye Contact No one wants to sit through a presentation where the presenter is fixated on his or her shoes, his computer screen, or anywhere else but the audience. The truth is most of us would think the presenter is being disrespectful. If you don't want your audience to think of you that way, then you should start working on making eye contact with the crowd. 7. Have a Sense of Humor Having a sense of humor is great. Learning how to put that to good use in your presentations is even better. No one wants to sit through a dry and boring presentation. Even if you're presenting a serious subject matter, saying a well- timed joke can help break the ice. What's even better is that when you know who your audience is, you'll be able to think of jokes that they'll find funny. 8. Be Confident When you're a nervous wreck on stage, your audienceis not going to believe a word you say. In fact, they probably will tune you out shortly after you open your mouth. If you want your audience to give you the time of day, then you're going to have to work hard for it. 9. Engage with Your Audience Your audience is going to be spending their time listening to you. Make it worth their while. Respect them and address them as fellow human beings. Don't disrespect them by ignoring them and not engaging with them. When you engage with your audience, you not only gain their attention, but you also help ensure they understand your message perfectly. After all, if they get nothing from your presentation, then they might as well have been absent from your presentation. 3 10. Be Flexible Knowing your presentation's subject matter by heart is more important than writing a speech word-for-word. When you've got an entire speech laid out in front of you, you can easily fall into the trap of reading it out loud. 11.Don't Be Afraid To Pause Every Now And Then Don't you just love dramatic pauses? That moment of silence right before the presenter delivers a punchline?You can practically feel the anticipation building up inside you, and your thoughts turn towards guessing what the presenter is going to say. 12.Stop Making Excuses When you're already making excuses long before you've even given your presentation, then you're setting yourself up for failure. You're not giving yourself a chance to succeed. If you truly want to impress your audience, then you're going to give it all you've got. You're going to throw those excuses out the window. You're going to prepare for your presentation, you'll study the materials, you'll make an effort to know more about your audience, and you'll keep on practicing. 13.Study Other Presenters Try your best to attend as many live presentations as possible. However, if you can't, there are plenty of recorded presentations on YouTube. Write down what you like and what you don't like. Study the presenters' body language, their speech, and their presentation slides. What's the crowd's reaction? Are they enjoying it? How do you feel? Do you think you can do it better? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you improve your presentation skills greatly. 14 Final Words Improving your presentation skills is not going to happen overnight. It's going to take a lot of hard work and effort from you. Follow the tricks we've outlined in this article and you'll be well on your way to being a presenter your audiences will love. 2. Style of Communication. There are four ways that we usually communicate our thoughts, feelings, and needs to others. These communication styles differ depending on the situation and the person that we are communicating with. Read the definitions below to learn more about the different styles of communication. Which style best describes you? Passive Passive communication is when you do not share your feelings with others and you pretend as if everything is OK. For example, if a friend says something to offend you, rather than letting them know, you say nothing at all. You might 4 even laugh along and say that it’s not a big deal. What’s wrong with passive communication? If you’re a passive communicator, people might tend to “walk all over you” because they know that you won’t say anything or stand up for yourself. Your thoughts and feelings also never get heard since you are not expressing them when they occur. Passive communicators tend to keep their feelings bottled up which can lead to moments of emotional outbursts. AGGRESSIVE Aggressive communication is when you express your feelings by trying to hurt others with your words or actions. Aggressive communicators stand up for themselves, but they respond in a way that is rude, disrespectful, or harmful. What’s wrong with aggressive communication? Being an aggressive communicator can affect your relationships with others. People might not want to be around you because of your response when you become upset or offended. They might feel like they have to “walk on eggshells” when they are around you. Responding aggressively can also get you into trouble at home, school, or in the community. Passive-aggressive Passive-aggressive communication is when you do not share your feelings directly with someone, but instead, you do or say certain things to get back at them or show them how you feel without telling them. For example, if someone says something to offend you, you might make a social media post about something related to the issue without ever saying their name. What’s wrong with passive-aggressive communication? If you are a passive-aggressive communicator, people might have a hard time knowing how you are feeling. You are leaving it up to people to guess instead of just telling them directly. Because of this, it becomes hard to resolve conflict because your passive-aggressive behavior will more than likely anger the other person. Assertive Assertive communication is the best way to express your thoughts and feelings to others. When you are communicating assertively, you are standing up for yourself and sharing your feelings in a kind, firm, and respectful manner. When we communicate assertively, the other person is more willing to hear what you have to say because you are responding in a way that is not offensive to them. You are also clearly explaining how you are feeling and asking what you need of them. Communicating assertively does not always guarantee that the other person will do what you ask or even listen, but it’s the style that gives you the best chance for a positive response. 5 3. Speaking in Group, Group dynamics and Group behavior. The social process by which people interact and behave in a group environment is called group dynamics. Group dynamics involves the influence of personality, power, and behaviour on the group process. There are two types of groups: 1) formal groups who are structured to pursue a specific task, and 2) informal groups who emerge naturally in response to organizational or member interests. These interests may include anything from a research group charged with the responsibility to develop a new product to a group of workers who spontaneously come together to improve social or member activities. While we can learn a lot from informal groups in terms of leadership and motivation, we will concentrate mostly on formal groups, characterized by member appointment and delegated authority and responsibility. In 1944, Kurt Lewin, set up the Research Centre for Group Dynamics to meet the need of a scientific approach to the understanding of the dynamics of group. Group Dynamics Group dynamics can be defined as a field of enquiry dedicated to the advancing knowledge about the nature of groups, the laws of their development and their interrelations with individuals, other groups and larger institutions. Actually, it implies that the interactive psychological relationship in which members of a group develop a common perception based on feelings and emotions. It is not easy to define the important area of group dynamics. We can say that it represents a field of enquiry, a series of inter-related problems, a set of techniques and interaction process. Group dynamics consists of two words – (i) group and (ii) dynamics. A group is a unit of two or more individuals who share a set of beliefs and values. The members of the group share a common purpose, task or goals. The relations among the members are interdependent. Not only this, there is a feeling of belongingness or we feeling among the members of the group. The members of the group generally prescribe a set of norms of behavior for themselves. The members want to attain the goal effectively. The structure is hierarchical where the functions and powers are distributed. On the other hand, the word dynamics means force. Group dynamics refers to forces operating within the groups. Group dynamics is related to field theory of Lewin, which assumes man’s behaviour to be a function of the field existing at the time of the occurrence of behaviour. We can also say that the group dynamics is the study of group processes, their objective analysis and measurement and the effect of group membership on individual members. When a group of people is formed with a common goal, a kind of social force is created. Our behaviour is not static. Thus, group dynamics means the change of behaviour through interaction in 6 the group. Concept of group dynamics The social psychologists seek to explain group behaviour on the basis of social interaction and cultural transmission through social interaction. The interactive psychological relationship is termed as “group dynamics”. The important two variables we can say in this context are “group cohesiveness” and “group locomotion”. Cohesiveness plays a vital role in determining the influence of the group on the members. On the other hand, locomotion indicates the movement towards the desired goal. Personality of the individual and character of the social situation both takes an important role for group dynamics. All the psychological effects take place within the individual members who compose the group. According to Cartwright and Zander (1968), the basic assumptions are: i) the groups are inevitable (even the hermits / Sanyasis and the Hippies), ii) that groups mobilise powerful forces that produce effects of utmost importance to individuals, iii) that groups can produce constructive as well as destructive consequences and iv) that it is the correct understanding of group dynamics based on empirical studies that helps in enhancing the constructive aspects of group life and group achievements. Importance of group dynamics The importances of group dynamics are given below: i) It is essential for effective practice with any type of task. ii) It promotes out the unproductive meetings. iii) Individual members or group as a whole benefit in a number of ways. iv) Underlying group dynamic is the multicultural diversification of the society. v) The future functioning of the group is influence by group dynamic. vi) Facilitates the participation of the members. vii) Helps to achieve the goals of the group in connection with the participation and satisfaction of the group. viii) It increases the interpersonal attraction. ix) It increases the communication processes and interaction patterns. x) It increases the power and control of the group. xi) It creates impact on racial, ethnic and cultural background Maintenance Behaviour Each group needs social-emotional support to be effective. Some members of the group will take the lead in providing this support which consists of the following: a) Encouraging: by showing regard for other members and providing positive 7 response to their contributions; b) Improving group by expressing group feelings, sensing moods and relationships, atmosphere: and sharing feelings; c) Harmonizing: by reconciling differences and reducing group tension; d) Compromising: by admitting errors and looking for alternatives; e) Gate-keeping: by attempting to keep communications flowing, facilitating the participation of others, and suggesting procedures for sharing discussion; f) Standard setting: by reminding members of group norms, rules, and roles. ************************************************************** 8