Career Tips and So Much More

Many people –even skilled speakers—often fail to get their points across when intensive issues come up during meetings or on-the-site encounters. The main reason behind this is that they have never been taught to get their message across under difficult situations.

Suppose you’ve just been severely criticized, here are ways to help you handle critics and criticisms in a meeting:
1. Compliment
Compliment the critic if he has made an important observation. Often just a little praise and recognition disarms critics and changes their attitude toward you.
2. Pause
If the criticism is unjustified, one good way to handle this is to pause, remain silent and say absolutely nothing. Someone in the audience realizing that the question is unfair will often answer for you. Don’t dwell on the point; get on with your presentation.
3. The survey
If an accusation is made in which you feel there is absolutely no way you could answer and win, here’s the best way to handle it. In a calm voice, ask the critic to repeat the statement so you can write it correctly on a chalkboard or whiteboard in front of the room. Then you may hand out small pieces of paper and ask each person in the group to write either “agree” or “disagree.”
Have someone other than your self or your critic collect and tabulate the votes and announce the results. If your points were valid, you’ll find the group will normally agree with you. If the group doesn’t agree, be sure to acknowledge their position and quickly get on your next point.

How to neutralize objections
Never forget—it’s always a critical moment when objections come up. The way you handle them is directly related to your chances of getting your message across. Here are four suggestions:
1. Keep calm.
Always keep calm. Show empathy. Never be resentful. Never raise your voice or attempt to gloss over the objection. None of these things work!
2. Request more information.
Ask your challenger to expand on the objection. If it’s a valid objection, it’s your responsibility to respond. More frequently your challenger, not being as familiar with your point as you are, quickly exhausts his or her position and is unable to push you further.
3. Restate the objection as a question.
Most objections are presented as statements. Regardless of how they are presented, the secret is (1) to restate the objection as a question and (2) to verify whether this is or is not your opponent’s objection. An example follows:
“Your question, Mr. Jones is: ‘How will the newly proposed database system affect the business productivity?’”
The next step is to verify whether this is or not the objection. Simply say “Mr. Jones, is that the question?” If Jones says “yes,” you know exactly what his question is and you can answer it precisely.
Just suppose Jones said “no.” Then say, “Mr. Jones, if that’s not the question…then what is the question?”
4. Comparison
Another way to neutralize objections is to draw a large “T” on the board in front of the room. On one side list the advantages of your idea or proposal and on the others side, with the group’s assistance, list the disadvantages. If the points you were presenting had merit, this will be self-evident from the material on the board and you can continue with your presentation immediately.


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 Visual images in presentations, whether for business or for other social events, are idea enhancers. Keep in mind that audience members are still listening to what is being said while the graphics are shown. Why is this an effective approach to present products or ideas? The “double message” reinforces the memory process.

Here are some basic guidelines for making creating effective visuals:
• Use visuals to reinforce key points
• Use only one idea for each visual
• Use only one illustration for each visual
• Make letters big and readable. Presenters shouldn’t have to read the visual to the audience; it should be readable from any point in the room. One good rule calls for titles and main headings to be three inches high when projected in an average meeting room.
• Use no more than three sizes of letters on each visual; uniformity aids in easier reading.
• Use no more than four colors on type-only or graph visuals.

The impact of colors
Colors draw attention and brighten a presentation. Colors can also be used to emphasize key points. For example, when four lines of blue are followed by one in bright red, the red type screams “this is important.”
A study on color versus black and white advertisements in magazines showed that readership of color ads was 80 percent greater than that of black-and-white ads; that sales of the products advertised increased 50 to 85 percent when color was used; and that the retention of ad content was increased 55 to 78 percent when ads are printed in color. In colorful visual presentations, similar benefits should be expected.

Psychologists have shown that when people are accustomed to color, presentations that are not in color receive less attention. In today’s world or colored media, everyone has become color oriented.
Color visuals can be created easily with a number of means from the least expensive multimedia feed from the computer to the most elaborate set-up imaginable by man. Technology is readily available and study results are in. The fact is, using visuals in a meeting or training session improves attention and retention levels, increases the perceived value of the material and the speaker, and creates a more interesting and professional atmosphere.

So, in your next presentation, if you’re not using at least eight color visuals, you could be coming up as many as 8,000 words short.


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A company resident reviews a feasibility study for an environment protection project in a small community where the company’s headquarters building is located. A personnel manager discusses with union leaders the forthcoming collective bargaining agreement. A marketing manager reviews videos of proposed media campaigns. A group of employees discuss the latest changes in the top management over coffee at the cafeteria.

If corporate communication is not generally well understood, it may be because corporate communication is still evolving. The concept is an offshoot of the growing recognition by top management of communication as a strategic resource in achieving corporate goals and objectives.
As the term implies, corporate communication encompasses all the communication activities undertaken within the corporate context, whether formal or informal, regardless of direction or flow of information (i.e. top-down, bottom-up, horizontal).
What corporate communication aims to achieve is to integrate the various communication activities within the corporate organization and recognize them as key management functions. It seeks to upgrade public relations. It seeks to upgrade public relations, organizational communication, and advertising into the level of scientific discipline quite removed from the level of gut feel. As the International Management Magazine (June 1985) noted, corporate communication-related activities a common direction or framework.
The growth of corporate communication can be attributed to the trend among progressive companies to appoint a communication man to top managerial positions (and even in the executive board). Corporate Executive Officers (CEOs) are beginning to realize that the success or failure of corporate strategies depends on how communication resources are harnessed.
Communication: The Nervous System of Organizations
A review of definitions of the term organization indicates how critical communication is the very existence of an organization. Koontz and O’Donnel define organization as a communication decision-making network. Peter Drucker states, “The organization is above all, an information decision-making system.” Communication is not a secondary or derived aspect of an organization, but rather the essence of organized activity and is the basic process out of which all functions derive.
It is quite clear then that communication links the various parts of an organization; it is the principal tool of managers. Through communication, the manager receives the information needed in making the right decision, and once the decision is made, manager must communicate it to others.
Perhaps you often hear managers saying, “Our problem is communication.” Indeed, many managers use communication as an excuse if they are not able to achieve their goal or objective. While it is true that communication is a vital skill of managers, it would be wrong to conclude that an effective communicator alone makes a good manager. An effective communication for a wrong decision will not do any good to the company. Conversely, for a manager to be an effective planner and decision-maker is not enough. A good decision (or action plan) must be translated into action.

Copyright © 2011 Athena Goodlight





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It’s common knowledge that a picture is worth a thousand words. If that’s true, imagine how much more material you can incorporate into a 30-minute training presentation if visuals are added.

Equally important, the studies show that a trainer who is just an average presenter can become a much better presenter by using strong visual support. In fact, speakers who use visuals are perceived as better prepared, more persuasive, more credible, and more interesting.

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