Role of Presentations in Education

The impact of technology, especially presentation technology, in education is not bypassed. Presentations have a very special role in education and their positive impact in the process of teaching and learning is not questionable. Today it is common to use PowerPoint presentations in education. Students depend on quality education to survive in today’s competitive global community. You as a teacher are responsible for preparing your pupils for this competitive environment.

Regardless of the objective significance of a particular activity or topic, if your students do not find it sufficiently engaging and interesting, chances are bleak that they will be motivated to expend their efforts. However, if you make the coursework engaging for them by connecting it to their goals and interests, they will be more likely to invest time and effort. You, as a teacher with engaging educational presentations, can make a big difference by influencing your pupils. Educational presentations, by providing you with the scope of including engaging illustrations, go a long way in achieving this objective of student engagement.

Don’t Lecture Your Pupils-Engage!

Do not just lecture your pupils, it is old-fashioned. Include the personal aspect of your knowledge to engage your students. Educational PowerPoint presentations have the scope to accommodate interesting activities to make the coursework interesting. It is of paramount importance to make your students personally and intellectually involve with education. It is only possible if you succeed in bequeathing your own experiences to your students. Educational PowerPoint presentations can successfully give your students a virtual tour of the area they are studying. And, if you succeed in conveying emotional involvement via educational presentations, you will increase the chances of motivating your students to get seriously involved and study.

PowerPoint Presentations are the daily rituals of modern teaching and learning. As educational PPT presentations adopt the approach of two way communication, your students feel involved and important. They promote the significance of self-study and questions. Questioning helps break the ice and build positive student-teacher relations.

Educational PowerPoint presentations are a good way give education a personal touch by virtue of effective communication. PowerPoint presentations provide you with an opportunity to talk to your students and get them involved. They encourage your pupils to participate by making the coursework interesting.

The benefit PowerPoint presentations in academic settings is that they help you engage your students not just through words, but also through powerful visuals. Remember, some students learn better by hearing, but most of them learn better by seeing. Presentations possess the power of engaging students through the visual means. Use PowerPoint with effective PowerPoint backgrounds and relevant visuals and see the difference!

The Easy Presentation That Isn’t

Do you frequently or periodically make essentially the “same” presentation or speech? Perhaps, as Human Resources Director in a large organization, you regularly welcome new employees. Maybe you, as a department head in your marketing firm, initiate the weekly meeting of your group. You may, as City Engineer, routinely brief the City Council at its monthly meeting. As Engineering Dean, I frequently welcomed groups of high school students and their parents who were visiting our and other colleges of engineering to help them decide what university they may want to attend.

The good news about these apparently routine presentations is that they are easy, that is, relative to some of the critical one-of-a-kind speeches we also prepare for and present and sometimes dread. The bad news about the apparently routine presentations is also that they are easy. And, therefore, we may not give them proper attention, we get careless, we lose our edge, the audience knows it, and we fall short of the intent of oour communication.

More specifically, when we give the same presentation over and over, we may inadvertently fall into these traps:

1) Verbal graffiti: “Ah,” “you know,” “um,” and “he/she goes,” are examples. This happens because we are not thinking, not focusing-we are on autopilot. Think you don’t do this? Maybe you don’t, but why not verify? The next time you make that routine presentation, unobtrusively place an audio recorder on the lectern or table and, at your leisure, listen to yourself.

2) Negative body language or distracting behavior: Examples are holding our arms across our chest as we speak, which many interpret as your being autocratic and not open to input; failing to make eye contact with all portions of the audience; and excessive fiddling with our eye glasses.

3) No enthusiasm: You used the same words and sentences so many times that you just can’t get up for it. For example, I once worked in an organization where the chief executive, whenever he spoke and whoever he spoke to, always began with an expression like “I am pleased to be here”-got a little old.

For some of us who give that frequent speech to what is always a new audience, please consider the applicability of this advice: We get only one chance to make a first impression. Let’s leverage those “one chance” speaking opportunities.

Some thoughts for improving your “stump speech”:

1) Listen to a recording of your current presentation, as suggested above, or ask a colleague or friend to critique your speech. Identify strengths and weaknesses. Build on the former and fix the latter.

2) Commit to minimizing verbal graffiti. You don’t have to give a presentation to do this. Work at eliminating meaningless word and sounds in you every day conversations.

3) Find or develop a new opening each time, such as a story, metaphor, quote, or example. Yes, this requires extra effort. One benefit of that effort: thinking deeper about your audience and what you want them to learn and/or do. Using a new opening also adds freshness to your comments.

As stated by writer and author, Patricia T. O’Connor, “An audience is a terrible thing to lose.” That is exactly what happens when your audience senses that you are simply going through the motions. Instead, make them feel special. While you have presented the message many times, for them it should be as though it is the first time.

Job Negotiation Tips – Strategies to Get a Raise

You’ve been in your company for over three years now. You know that you have put in your worth in terms of salary, and more besides. You’re loyal, you’re polite and even warm to the bosses, you are nice to everyone in the office, and you know that you are the epitome of being a model employee.

But somehow, you are dissatisfied with how they compensate you. You surely want more. No one wants a salary fit only to buy milk. And this is when you should work on your raise-asking skills. And I’m pretty sure. You are desperate for job negotiation tips to show you the way.
If you notice, no one ever got to the top by waffling or being indecisive. Let’s look at the facts. Though Bill Gates played it nice, at the end of the day, he made an empire for himself by seizing things at the right moment, through shrewd strategy, stealth, and force that is unmatched.

Though negotiation should never be overtly forceful, it needs the gumption backed by shrewdness and strategy that we see in dynamic CEOs.

Job Negotiation Tip #1: Think Like a Would-Be Bill Gates.

When executives think, they don’t waffle about. They brainstorm, research, strategize, and go into battle fully armed. Attack your raise-asking similarly. Mull over how you are going to get it. Research on how others got that raise. Research on the salaries of people on your level. Strategize on how you are going to do the timing of your salary-raise pitch. And arm yourself with courage, and a leak-proof plan on how to make your pitch to your boss.

Job Negotiation Tip #2: Applying the CEO Traits The Right Way

Of course, it’s a big no-no to ask for a raise with an ego like the stereotypical CEO. When you go negotiate for that raise, leave the CEO ego behind, but keep the following traits:

● Keep a sharp mind at all times. When your boss interrogates you why you deserve that raise, be sure to back it up with the evidence why. Build a tight case. Make sure he can’t say no.

● Be persuasive. Study the right words people use to get that raise surely. Pattern your pitch after the best raise-getting talks, and do it with that CEO confidence.

● Strike a balance between dynamism and humility. Be confident, but not egotistical, be aware of your strengths, but not be full of yourself, and never show that you feel like you’re better than anyone else. Truly great people are humble.

Job Negotiation Tip #3: Learn More to Earn More

To get that CEO attitude down pat (to use for job negotiation), learn from the best of them. Learn from the best CEOs in the industry. Learn from Bill Gates. He toppled over Steve Jobs’ head start in the personal computing industry through these key things:

● Being observant, picking up cues, and using these to your advantage.

–Bill Gates picked up on Steve Jobs’ passionate request to not release a mouse-based Operating System before Jobs did, and released one months before Jobs released his. The result was a blow dealt to Apple Computer that edged it out of the market.

–Observe the conditions in your workplace. Observe what makes it likely for your boss to grant a raise. Then use that knowledge when you move in for the kill.

● Researching to deepen your understanding of what you are about to tackle.
–Bill Gates had one of his employees look into how the Apple graphical, mouse-based operating system was created. This stealthy research gave him edge he needed to topple down Steve Jobs.
–Arm yourself with knowledge about your boss’ personality. What approaches persuade him to grant raises? Ask around, casually. Inject your probing in casual conversations with those successful in asking for a raise. Know what you are up against. Knowledge truly is power.

● Not being afraid to step up and take what you want by force.

–Bill Gates used the previous two skills to stack the cards against Steve Jobs. Eventually, he made the bold move and rendered Apple Computer crippled for ten entire years (1989-1998).

–No successful person ever succeeded by waiting for success to fall on his lap. Take heart, take courage, and go get that raise!

Job negotiation requires skill and strategy. These job negotiation tips are culled from the habits of those who made it to the top. Read, study, strategize, learn, mull over, and have courage. You can get that raise. Arm yourself with knowledge, and nail that raise!