Soothe Nerves and Woo Audience

A survey of Americans found that 41 per cent of them considered public speaking to be an unnerving experience. People from a less restrained culture must find the ordeal terrifying !

Here are six steps to tackle the problem:

1 Introduce something visually memorable into your sequence of words.

2 The inspiration of the audience matters for they want to be turned on.

3 Avoid swearing and lewd references for they have the effect of turning off.

4 A structured speech reassures the audience that it will end.

5 Brevity is important and a fast, even unexpected, conclusion appeals.

6 Clarity is all-important; perfection of delivery is not.

Job's Worth

The application for a job starts with a weighing-up process that involves a mental balancing act. How do we perceive the match between our skills and the apparent demands of the work ? The latter always needs investigation in order to reveal what is authentic from what is imagined. The former means that we need to assess our performances in seven specific skills. They are:

1) Analysis: in our knowledge-based systems it is necessary to be able to work things out with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

2) Organisation: the pressures of getting up, getting out and getting there are sufficiently arduous ... and that's before you get started !

3) Team-work: getting on with others means that networks are created and the workload shared, at least in spirit.

4) Communication: in dealing with 'the rest of the world' there are the basic requirements of being able to speak up and write down.

5) Time-management: the ever-constant factor is the need to create time for tasks and to work out priorities.

6) Conflict-resolution: level-headed ways and diplomatic skills usually centre on on being able to look out and listen out ... for trouble and solutions.

7) Leadership: consider your achievements, however minor, and jot down how you moved from strategy to success.