Giving Presentations – Public Speaking Secrets in a Nutshell

A high level manager contacted me in a panic. He was upset that his supervisor had asked him to give an important presentation in three days. He needed help – fast.

Occasional speech-givers make many errors. Three that are very common are poor speech-writing, inadequate knowledge of the topic, and undeveloped presentation skills.

When writing a speech, think of it from the listener’s point of view. Try to get the listener to be involved immediately, whether by telling an appropriate joke or story, reciting a statistic, or asking a theoretical question.

Explain why the information is of value to the listener. Will it help them improve their bottom line, play a better game of golf, understand foreign policy so they can explain it to their neighbors, or make the community safer? Why should they listen to you?

Organize the material with just a few main points. Is it clearly organized and within the time frames permitted? Are there stories, charts, or other attention-grabbing methods used? Is it interesting?

End the speech with a brief review of the topic, and one of many closing techniques. One is a clear call to action, whether the desired action is sending an e-mail, going to a community event or something else.

Know your topic well, especially if you are presenting to others who also know your topic. Prepare with additional resources you can include if needed. Think about probable questions you may be asked, and know the answers. If absolutely necessary, tell the audience you do not know the answer, but will get back to the person if he leaves you contact information. (Very few people will provide this.) Sometimes you can refer him to a more knowledgeable source, as well.

Presentation skills are enhanced with considerable practice. To overcome “stage fright”, or at least reduce it, think of yourself as a teacher, not a “speaker”. You know something the audience does not, which is why you are up there giving this presentation.

Practice using a tape recorder or other device. Listen to yourself. Do you sound knowledgeable, enthusiastic and clear? Is your pronunciation easily understandable? Is your contact information on your hand-outs (if you have any)?

the audience will be watching you as well as listening. If you are using visual presentation materials, are they easy to read and understandable? Do you look enthusiastic or at least comfortable?

There is much more to giving presentations well. The tips above, however, will make your next presentation more polished and professional. You only have one chance to make a great first impression. Be ready!

Understand Present Value Versus Future Value

In this article, we will continue the financial investing series with the discussion of financial market structures known Present value and future value in macroeconomics.

The concept of present value versus future value is like the concept that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar. In fact, a dollar invested today earning interest will grow in value when the interest is paid and if the dollar plus interest is automatically reinvested for a further period of time, new interest will be earned on both the dollar of original investment and on the interest already earned. As this is repeated over a period of time, we call the result of compounding interest. It is possible to determine the future value of money by using

1. Financial tables.

a) Present value represents the original investment that we have in hand today.
b) Future value represents what that investment will grow to when interest is earned on a sequential renewal of investment, where the original investment plus all interest earned, keeps being reinvested for subsequent periods until maturity.

Here is the formula

FV = PV (1+I) where
FV is future value
PV is present value
I is annual interest rate
n is number of compounding periods

2. Present value of a single sum
In order to determine the present value, we must take the final sum and discount it by the interest factor working backwards from our known single sum. Here is a formula:
PV= FV/ (1+I)
The definitions for PV, FV, I, n are the same as 1. above.

3. Present value and the amount of the annuity payment of an annuity
There are two types of annuities
*Deferred Annuity:
Receipts on payments are made at the end of the period.
*Annuity Due:
Receipts or payments occur at the beginning of the period.
Future value of an annuity helps to calculate how much money needs to be invested today, in order to receive a certain payment in the future.

a) The present value of an annuity is calculated by the formula below
PV = (PMT/i) ยท [1 - (1 / (1 + i)n)]
Where
PV= Present value
PMT= The amount of the annuity payment
i =The annual rate of interest
n =The number of discounting periods

b) The amount of the annuity payment is calculated by this formula below
Where
PV= Present value
PMT= The amount of the annuity payment
i =The annual rate of interest
n =The number of discounting periods

I hope this information will help. If you want more information of the above subject, you can find this series of articles at my home page:

Black People Past And Present

Over the years there have been many great black leaders News Makers. This fact has caused me to wonder if there was one dominant trait that separated them from others. With that question in mind I decided to find the dominant trait that was present in some of Americas top Black News Makers past and present after which I put those traits into a test so people can see if they posses these same News Maker traits. The test is located at Blacknews4us.com but don’t go yet first read the article.

Harriet Tubman was a runaway slave from Maryland who became known as the “Moses of her people.” Over the course of 10 years, and at great personal risk, she led thousands of slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, which was a secret network of safe houses where runaway slaves could stay on their journey north to freedom. Her Dominating Leadership trait would have to be Organization. Close your eyes and Imagine for one minute living your whole life and never laying foot off your owner’s plantation. Do you really think you would have been able to get from Virginia to Canada if Harriet Tubman did not create spend much of her time planning and organizing the routes.

Next up we have William Loyd Garison and I know most of you are saying that man is not black but neither is Bill Clinton who like Garrison did so much for Black people that many have called him the first Black President. Garrison was really good friends with Harriet Tubman naw I know what you are thinking it wasn’t like that they were both just friends in the struggle. For more than three decades, from the first issue of his weekly paper The Liberator in 1831, until after the end of the Civil War in 1865 when the last issue was published, Garrison spoke out eloquently and passionately against slavery and for the rights of America’s black inhabitants. In 1832 he helped organize the New England Anti-Slavery Society, and the following year, the American Anti-Slavery Society. These were the first organizations dedicated to promoting immediate emancipation of slaves. Garrisons Dominating Leadership trait was courage.

OK Now Lets go to Frederick Douglas who probably had only one page or maybe just a paragraph devoted to him in your 8th grade history class. Well Frederick Douglas who was mentored by the before mentioned William Loyd Garrison was born into slavery in 1817. Frederick was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, American Indian, or recent immigrant. Sounds kind of like Dr. king hunh? He was also great at raising British money to start his Anti Slavery News Paper The North Star. Douglas wanted full citizenship, including social, civil and political rights for Black people. Douglass conferred with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 on the treatment of black soldiers, and with President Andrew Johnson on the subject of black suffrage. Despite apprehensions that the information might endanger his freedom as well as his life. Douglass published his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Written By Himself after, which Douglass published the first issue of the North Star, a four-page weekly, out of Rochester, New York. Fred’s dominating Leadership trait is Honesty imean writing the life of Frederick Douglas an American slave could have got him lynched because he talks about his escape but even with that fact in the back of his mind he decided to tell the honest truth.

Lets go to Booker T Washington He was born into slavery in 1856 on the Burroughs tobacco farm. OK now there was a little drama between Booker T and Frederick Douglas kind of like the one between Malcolm & Martin or Al Sharton and Barack or Pac and Biggie naw just joking about pack and biggie but the drama was that although both wanted the same thing Booker T Washington believed that blacks should not push to attain equal civil and political rights with whites and That it was best to concentrate on improving their economic skills and the quality of their character. The burden of improvement resting squarely on the shoulders of the black man and women. By doing this he believed that blacks would eventually earn the respect and love of the white man, and civil and political rights would be accrued as a matter of course. W.EB Dubois and Frederick Douglas believed that the government should give Blacks their equal rights now not later. The views of Booker T were later popularized by black Muslims, The black Panthers who I cant talk about because if I do they wont play the video. Booker T Washington’s dominating trait Tact which means that you can deal with people in a manner that will maintain good relations and avoid problems. He demonstrated this tact by telling blacks that you do not have to depend on the whites for you success. What this did is inspire blacks to succeed and let whites off the hook by telling them noting is owed to blacks because they are willing and able to do it them selves.

Coming to the stage we have Marcus Garvey who after reading Booker T Washington’s Up from Slavery decided to start the Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) movement, which urged Blacks to be proud of their race and return to Africa their ancestral homeland. He attracted thousands of supporters to facilitate the return to Africa that he advocated. In 1919 Garvey founded the Black Star Line to provide transportation to Africa however after a few voyages the ship sank due to shady business practices. Garvey unsuccessfully tried to persuade the government of Liberia in West Africa to grant land on which black people from America could settle. So the next time somebody tells you to go back to Africa just say we tried but the Government of Liberia would not let us in. This Black News Makers life ended very tragically after suffering a stroke in January 1940, the Black Nationalist read his own obituary in the Chicago Defender, which described him as “broke, alone and unpopular”. Apparently as a result, Garvey suffered a second stroke and died. The premature obituary thus turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Garvey’s Dominating leadership trait was vision. Garvey had a vision for a new nation for American blacks in Africa and even though only a few took the trip the ability to bring this vision to life was a huge achievement.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the first black leaders that really understood that the power was not in the mouth or the sward but it was in the dollar thus the first march he organized which was the bus strike and the last which was the sanitation workers union caused change by taking money out of the oppressors hands. Many of today’s modern day unions have taken this same approach. King organized The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech advocating racial harmony at the Lincoln Memorial during the march. Approximately 250,000 people took part in the march; it is estimated that 200,000 were African American and 50,000 were white. Dr. Kings prevailing leadership trait was Justice which is defined as the practice of being fair and consistent.

The civil rights movement did not only benefit blacks bus it also benefited women and other minorities. Many whites lost jobs and their lively hoods not unlike the abolitionist of the 1800s. So my message to all the black youth that are watching or reading this is to never put all white people in a box many have suffered and died for the rights you enjoy today so just take the time to know all people don’t just rely on what mom and or the media have to say. And my message to white youth is never put blacks in a box I know if you watch cops, listen to jayz and go to Lakers game you think all we know how to do is shoot jumpers slap hoes and kill other blacks but what you may not know is that the elevator you take at the mall, it was invented by a black man Alexander mills. The first Open heart surgery was performed by a black Dr. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams and Dr. Charles Drew Invented Blood Banks And Established them all Around The World. I know all of you drove or will be driving somewhere in the next couple of days well in 1940 Garret A. Morgan invented the Automatic Traffic Signal. Look outside yea go ahead you see that grass out there that needs to be cut well that would not be possible with out John Burr who invented the Lawn Mower. So the next time you listen to 50cent or watch cops think lawnmower open heart surgery traffic lights.

Malcolm X who after going on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia shared his thoughts and beliefs with different cultures, and found the response to be overwhelmingly positive. When he returned, Malcolm said he had met “blonde-haired, blued-eyed men I could call my brothers.” He returned to the United States with a new outlook on integration and a new hope for the future. This time when Malcolm spoke, instead of just preaching to African-Americans, he had a message for all races after which he was assassinated. Malcolm Xs prevailing leader ship trait is that of team work which was evident in his wanting to unite with all races for social change.

Thurgood Marshall born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, her is a list of his legal accomplishments
1954 – Wins Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, landmark case that demolishes legal basis for segregation in America.

1956 – Wins Browder v. Gayle, ending the practice of segregation on buses and ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1961 – Defends civil rights demonstrators, winning Supreme Court victory in Garner v. Louisiana; nominated to Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President J.F. Kennedy.
1967 – Becomes first African American elevated to U.S. Supreme Court (1967-1991).
This Man did not talk about it he went out and did it. Thurgood Marshall’s Prevailing leadership trait is Knowledge; in order to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court you must have a vast knowledge of the law.

Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. (born October 8, 1941) is a civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. In 1983, Jackson traveled to Syria to secure the release of a captured American pilot, Navy Lt. Robert Goodman who was being held by the Syrian government. Goodman had been shot down over Lebanon while on a mission to bomb Syrian positions in that country. After a dramatic personal appeal that Jackson made to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Goodman was released. Initially, the Reagan administration was skeptical about Jackson’s trip to Syria. However, after Jackson secured Goodman’s release, United States President Ronald Reagan welcomed both Jackson and Goodman at the White House on January 4, 1984[6]. This helped to boost Jackson’s popularity as an American patriot and served as a springboard for his 1984 presidential run. In June 1984, Jackson negotiated the release of twenty-two Americans being held in Cuba after an invitation by Cuban president Fidel Castro. Jessie Jackson’s Dominate leadership trait is Empathy, which is being able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. I really think he cares about the poor people he tries to help.