Communication Skills

Posted by : Unknown Tuesday 13 August 2013

Communication Skills

(A) Presentation

Pamphlet is available at Drashti stationery.

(B) Public Speaking

Oxford English Dictionary.
"The action or practice of addressing public gatherings; the making of speeches." This definition has some flaws, in that a public speaker need not be speaking to a public gathering - he or she could be talking at a business conference. Nonetheless, this definition does capture the essential elements of public speaking, gatherings and speeches.
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary.
1: the act or process of making speeches in public;
2: the art of effective oral communication with an audience.
The second definition from Webster's touches on an important point - public speaking may be an art, and a true public speaker will be effective in his or her communication.
Wikipedia.
"Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners." Wikipedia's definition, while overly detailed, is perhaps the most useful for understanding public speaking. First off, one must be speaking to a group of people. Next, it must be deliberate (which often, though not always, involves structure). Just shouting out to a crowd doesn't count. Finally, one must have an intent. This is the most important part of the definition. Public speaking must have a purpose.
These are topics you would use in a debate or question-and-answer setting. They're somewhat controversial, and can be a lot of fun to argue. Just don't get offended!
Demonstrative or How to Speech Topics:

If you need to give a speech demonstrating something, here's where to look. Most of these require little preparation or equipment, but have elements that can still make them very effective speeches.

What is it about how to speech topics that makes them so popular?
Basically, there will never be a shortage of audiences out there looking for a reliable way to do things. No matter what the subject may be, there are people that want to know how things can be done.
Topics can range from home improvement, to hobbies, to even spiritual subjects. The common thread among all these speeches is that they will define an effective and reliable way of doing something.
Now, with so many "how to" books, DVDs, and websites in existence, why are people attracted to how to speech topics? Would they not be able to find steps to do whatever is needed in order to attain a desired outcome? They could but this has nothing to do whether or not there is a need for speeches. The speech needs to stand effectively on its own. When how to speech topics are approached and delivered in the proper manner, the impact on the audience can prove to be quite amazing.
Controversial Speech Topics:
The subject of controversial speech topics is one that needs to be treaded on lightly.
Controversy can mean different things to different people. For some, controversy can be a good thing because it stimulates thought. A controversial and provocative topic does not automatically have to be a topic that offends anyone. Nor would it be a speech that presents itself in a manner that makes the audience feel uncomfortable. Often, it is a controversial topic that can prove to be the basis for the most memorable and informative speech an audience has heard.
Then, there is the other side of the coin: controversy does not translate into a positive reaction. Rather, the controversy is the source of a great deal of upheaval in the audience. In other words, the audience reacts very negatively to controversial speech topics because they are offensive. Needless to say, this is not the desired reaction you would want to get out of any audience unless your interests were solely to shock. Such a banal approach is hardly recommended and those wishing to be known as a provocative speaker would be much better served staying away from such a negative approach to giving speeches. It may seem easy to select controversial speech topics for their shock value if you wish to get yourself noticed. While it may be an easy way to get attention, the attention you acquire will not likely be what you are looking for. In short, you do not want to explore a negative reaction from the audience
Persuasive speaking topics.
What is a persuasive speech topic?
As the name implies, this is a speech where the goal is to help sway beliefs and opinions towards those of the person using the speech to sway opinion.
Now, the opinions and beliefs put forth by the person giving the speech do not need to be completely accurate. The entire speech could entail logic that is thoroughly off base!
However, if the speech can persuade listeners then it delivers on all expectations.
If you are giving a persuasive speech, it is recommended that you do not try to present an oration that is off base or obtuse. Doing so will likely undermine your credibility and the truth of the matter is the more accurate and truthful your speech is, the greater the odds will be that your speech persuades. After all, it is much better to select a persuasive speech topic that is honest that one that is not.
So, how can you take effective steps to make sure you are working with a topic that is a legitimate one? There is no established science for being able to do this. However, if you follow more than a few common sense steps, you will learn that it is not all that tough to determine a persuasive speech topic.
Informative Speech topics:
Among all the many different types of presentations, informative speech topics are often the most interesting and welcome to listen to.
Why is this?
Most people do become intrigued when they listen to speeches that have an informative slant to it. Audiences do love to learn new and helpful material when it can boost their ability to improve performance in various areas of life. Again, people do find great value in discovering new information. Speeches that help deliver such info can prove to be huge hit with the right crowd.
Those hoping to ensure the audience is thrilled with the speech do need to select the most appropriate informative speech topics. With the right topic, you gain the much needed focus required to craft a speech that delivers its material in the most effective manner.
This is not to say that all you need to do is pick a certain topic and the speech will write itself. Rather, it means the topic acts as the best starting point for crafting a well-structured informative speech. In particular, it will help get across a speech detailing all its points in a logical, step by step manner.
One thing that has to be mentioned is the fact that you do not want an informative speech to be too clinical. If it is then it will become somewhat dull to the audience. If you lose the audience you cannot inform it. So, it is helpful to spice up the speech a little. How can this be done?
Problem Solution Speech topics:
Is there a "trickier" process in existence than coming up with problem solution speech topics? The answer to this can be considered more than a little controversial. Some might say there is and others will say there is very little more difficult than coming up with topics centering on solving problems.
Why is this so?
To a great extent, people will have a definitive and serious need to listening to a speech that deals with topics related to solving problems. That means the speech truly does need to deliver on all expectations.
Basically, any person dealing with a particular problem and is in dire need of a solution will want to find advice that works. If the speech falls flat or fails to deliver on expectations, you will have more than a few unhappy and disappointed people in the audience. This is why it is so important to select problem solution speech topics carefully and deliberately. You so not want to rush into writing a speech on a topic you have little understanding of.
What would be the very first step in the speech writing process? It all begins with selecting a topic that you do have a great deal of familiarity with. In order to deliver an effective solution to any problems that arise, you need to truly understand the topic. When you have limited understanding of a particular topic, it will prove to be very difficult to deliver on the expected outcome. That is, you may not actually provide a solution to the problem you would be giving the speech about.
Special Occasion Speech topics:

Of course, in order to head in the right direction right from the start, you will need to look over the special occasion you may be ask to speak about.

· Weddings and their Anniversaries

· Awards and Commendations

· Retirements

· Office and Work Events

· Birthday Parties

· Any Other Well Known Event

Basic Elements of Public Speaking

Every speech is made up of basic elements of public speaking. Understanding and including each of those elements can make a bad speech good, or a good speech great. Here's three of the most basic elements and the considerations that each one should address.

Introduction.

Most people don't pay enough attention to the introduction of a speech. The introduction is one of the most important parts of the speech, because if you lose your audience at the beginning, getting them back can be next to impossible. Here's some things that you should have in your introduction.

· Attention. Arguably the most important part of the introduction, you must get your audience's attention. A joke, a quote, a startling statistic, any number of things can serve the purpose well.

· Purpose. Why are you speaking to them? What will make listening worth their time? You might present your purpose implicitly rather than explicitly, but you must present it somehow.

· Credibility. Many speakers neglect this part of an introduction, but depending on your topic, it could be very important. Why are you qualified to talk on the things you are talking about? Don't be arrogant, but be certain that your audience trusts and believes in you and your knowledge.

· Orientation. Is there any essential background your audience needs to know before you get to the meat of your speech?

Body.

This is the main content portion of your speech. Exactly what you need to include will depend on the purpose of your speech, but here are a few essential elements.

· Organization. Your audience needs to be able to follow you. Be certain that you have some sort of pattern.

· Transitions. Don't just jump from point to point, but smoothly move from one issue to the next. Transitions are the 'bridges' of your speech. Without them, your audience will get disoriented and you might leave them behind.

· Development. Your points should build on each other, combining into one grand whole. Go from simple to more complex, ending with the most powerful.

· Climax. At some point, your speech should come to a head. Everything should come together, your audience's emotions should be peaked right alongside you, and you should largely fulfill your purpose in giving the speech. Developing a climax is, in my opinion, the hardest part of speech writing (and the most powerful of the basic elements of public speaking).

Conclusion.

Here, you should wrap up any loose ends. This is the final part of your speech, and also the part your audience is most likely to remember. Be certain to include:

· A final closing example. Drive your point home with one more powerful demonstration.

· Call to action. What should your audience do now? If you weren't trying to persuade them to do something, what is the most important point that they should take away from your speech?

· Why it mattered. Briefly recap what you said, reminding your audience why it mattered.

Master these basic elements of public speaking and you'll write great speeches worthy of the best orators!

Every business leader or manager has to learn the art of public speaking. In modern business set-up, one generally spends more of one’s communicative time speaking than writing.

Skill in public speaking is distinct from skill in private conversation. Indeed, sometimes one may be a good public speaker but not an expert conversationalist.

While public speaking is the conversational term for talking to a group of people formally, the modern usage has brought in the world conversation. This shows a shift in values. In public speaking you talk to group of people which is your public. In presentation, the focus is on the message which you are presenting. As such, in business, the term presentation is preferred. The term public speaking is also includes political speeches in election campaigns, mass education or mass awareness, talk for public causes. The word Presentation conveys the sense that something has been made presentable just as a product is dressed up for sale or a candidate for a job.

Another useful distinction between a presentation and a public speech is that a light talk on an anniversary or an inauguration would rather be called a public speech than a presentation. A speech is to encourage, applaud, facilitate or entertain. The audience for a speech is generally large.

A presentation is a studied talk and relatively heavy. It is made before a relatively small and well-informed group of people. It is made at a conference, seminar, workshop, symposia, business meeting, student general meeting, departmental meeting or a company profile meeting.

Distinction between a speech and a presentation

Speech	Presentation
· Audience is generally large · The occasion is light · Made at anniversary, inauguration etc. · The purpose is to congratulate, facilitate, entertain etc. · No interaction	· Audience is compact · The occasion is serious and purposeful · Made at a conference, seminar or a business meet · The purpose is to inform, explain, persuade, present one’s side · Includes interaction

Specimen - 1

Draft a specimen speech to be delivered as a Marketing Manager before the post graduate students of a management institution about challenges in marketing field.

Honorable chairman of today’s function, other invited guests, the director of the institute, faculty members and my dear students. I am greatly obliged to have been invited on this occasion and also for the chance given to me to address the future managers sitting before me. I would like to talk briefly about different challenges that exist in the marketing field and also about some of the qualities that you will have to develop in you for survival and growth in this world of utter competitiveness.

As we all know, the field of marketing is facing dire challenges both external and internal. In an age of mass production. Quality being at the centre of all customer-purchases, it is becoming increasingly difficult to market the product. You will see frequent ups and downs coming in the customers’ choice and you will have a new experiment at every juncture of your life as a marketing manager. Virtues like patience, powerful insight in the customer’s heart, dedication and professional commitment etc will be highly essential in this profession. The product has to be made sound in terms of both quality and appearance and only then you will rule over the hearts of your customers.

To conclude I advise you all to study different practical aspects of this marketing field. In addition to the knowledge theory it is very much essential to peep out of the four walls of the class rooms.

Thank you very much.

Specimen - 2

Draft a speech that you will deliver before undergraduate students of information technology engineering branch about importance of dedication in an executive’s life.

Honorable Chief Guest of today’s function, other dignitaries on the dias, other invited guests, director of the institute, faculty members and my dear students.

First of all I congratulate the organizers of this seminar and also to those who have participated and presented their views. I have been enabled by the invitation and a chance to express my views on this occasion. Friends, as we all are aware of the field that has become most dynamic in present time is the world of technology. The newer and newer technologies are emerging making the existing one outdated. The chances of survival especially for technical personnel are becoming challenging. A person of technology with sound theoretical knowledge but with poor techniques of application can have no place here. At the same time the practice of ethical values in day to day professional life is also equally essential and important. Amidst this the most important virtue rather quality needed is dedication towards the profession. Dedication means punctuality, sincerity, and timely completion of the task assigned. Now a day a business executive is assigned multiple and varied tasks related to technical and non-technical issues. If an executive is without dedication, fulfillment of professional objectives is entirely impossible. It is my humble urge that in addition to the theoretical knowledge you are here do try to develop virtues like discipline, dedication for steady growth and successful accomplishment of your career objectives.

To conclude I am to say that a man without dedication will have no future in time to come. I once again congratulate and thank management for organizing this seminar and offering me an invitation. Thank you.

(C) Job Interview

The topic is mostly taught in classroom. Pamphlet is available at Drashti stationery.

(D) Group Discussion

Definition:

A GD is a methodology used by an organization to gauge whether the candidate has certain personality traits and/or skills that it desires in its members. In this methodology, the group of candidates is given a topic or a situation, given a few minutes to think about the same, and then asked to discuss it among themselves for 15-20 minutes. Freshersworld.com brings you an elaborate section for GD as you had ever seen anywhere else.

Some of the personality traits the GD is trying to gauge may include:-

· Ability to work in a team

· Communication skills

· Reasoning ability

· Leadership skills

· Initiative

· Assertiveness

· Flexibility

· Creativity

· Ability to think on ones feet

GDs can be topic-based or case-based.

Topic based GDs can be classified into three types:-

Factual Topics
Controversial Topics
Abstract Topics

(1) Factual Topics:-

Factual topics are about Tutorial things, which an ordinary person is aware of in his day-to-day life. Typically these are about socio-economic topics. These can be current, i.e. they may have been in the news lately, or could be unbound by time. A factual topic for discussion gives a candidate a chance to prove that he is aware of and sensitive to his environment.

E.g. The education policy of India,

Tourism in India,

Status of the aged people in the nation.

(2) Controversial Topics:-

Controversial topics are the ones that are argumentative in nature. They are meant to generate controversy. In GDs where these topics are given for discussion, the noise level is usually high, there may be tempers flying. The idea behind giving a topic like this is to see how much maturity the candidate is displaying by keeping his temper in check, by rationally and logically arguing his point of view without getting personal and emotional.

E.g. Reservations should be removed, Women make better managers

(3) Abstract Topics:-

Abstract topics are about intangible things. These topics are not given often for discussion, but their possibility cannot be ruled out. These topics test your lateral thinking and creativity.

E.g. A is an alphabet, Twinkle twinkle little star, The number 10

Case-based GD:-

Another variation is the use of a case instead of a topic.

The case study tries to simulate a real-life situation. Information about the situation will be given to you and you would be asked as a group to resolve the situation. In the case study there are no incorrect answers or perfect solutions. The objective in the case study is to get you to think about the situation from various angles. IIM A, IIM Indore and IIT SOM Mumbai have a case-based discussion rather than topic-based discussion in their selection procedures.

A group discussion consists of:

Communication Skills
Knowledge and ideas regarding a given subject
Capability to co-ordinate and lead
Exchange of thoughts
Addressing the group as a whole
Thorough preparations

Initiation Techniques

Initiating a GD is a high profit-high loss strategy.

When you initiate a GD, you not only grab the opportunity to speak, you also grab the attention of the examiner and your fellow candidates.

If you can make a favourable first impression with your content and communication skills after you initiate a GD, it will help you sail through the discussion.

But if you initiate a GD and stammer/ stutter/ quote wrong facts and figures, the damage might be irreparable.
If you initiate a GD impeccably but don't speak much after that, it gives the impression that you started the GD for the sake of starting it or getting those initial kitty of points earmarked for an initiator!
When you start a GD, you are responsible for putting it into the right perspective or framework. So initiate one only if you have in-depth knowledge about the topic at hand.

Different techniques to initiate a GD and make a good first impression:

i. Quotes

ii. Definition

iii. Question

iv. Shock statement

v. Facts, figures and statistics

vi. Short story

vii. General statement

Summarization/ Conclusion

· Most GD do not really have conclusions. A conclusion is where the whole group decides in favor or against the topic.

· But every GD is summarized. You can summaries what the group has discussed in the GD in a nutshell.

Keep the following points in mind while summarizing a discussion:

1. Avoid raising new points.

2. Avoid stating only your viewpoint.

3. Avoid dwelling only on one aspect of the GD.

4. Keep it brief and concise.

5. It must incorporate all the important points that came out during the GD.

6. If the examiner asks you to summaries a GD, it means the GD has come to an end.

7. Do not add anything once the GD has been summarized.

Do's & Don’t

1. Be as natural as possible. Do not try and be someone you are not. Be yourself.

2. A group discussion is your chance to be more vocal. The evaluator wants to hear you speak.

3. Take time to organize your thoughts. Think of what you are going to say.

4. Seek clarification if you have any doubts regarding the subject.

5. Don't start speaking until you have clearly understood and analyzed the subject.

6. Work out various strategies to help you make an entry: initiate the discussion or agree with someone else's point and then move onto express your views.

7. Opening the discussion is not the only way of gaining attention and recognition. If you do not give valuable insights during the discussion, all your efforts of initiating the discussion will be in vain.

8. Your body language says a lot about you - your gestures and mannerisms are more likely to reflect your attitude than what you say.

9. Language skills are important only to the effect as to how you get your points across clearly and fluently.

10. Be assertive not dominating; try to maintain a balanced tone in your discussion and analysis.

11. Don't lose your cool if anyone says anything you object to. The key is to stay objective: Don't take the discussion personally.

12. Always be polite: Try to avoid using extreme phrases like: `I strongly object' or `I disagree'. Instead try phrases like: `I would like to share my views on' or `One difference between your point and mine' or "I beg to differ with you"

13. Brush up on your leadership skills; motivate the other members of the team to speak (this surely does not mean that the only thing that you do in the GD is to say "let us hear what the young lady with the blue scarf has to say," or "Raghu, let us hear your views" - Essentially be subtle), and listen to their views. Be receptive to others' opinions and do not be abrasive or aggressive.

14. If you have a group of like-minded friends, you can have a mock group discussion where you can learn from each other through giving and receiving feedback.

15. Apart from the above points, the panel will also judge team members for their alertness and presence of mind, problem-solving abilities, ability to work as a team without alienating certain members, and creativity.

Here's a list of most common mistakes made at group discussions: