Strategies for developing effective presentation skills!!

Delivering a presentation can be difficult, exciting, energy-draining, fun, or all four together. The ability to give a persuasive presentation is a tremendous career booster for a person. Presentation can be defined as a formal event characterized by teamwork and use of audio-visual aids. The main purpose of presentation is to give information, to persuade the audience to act and to create goodwill. A good presentation should have a good subject matter, should match with the objective, should best fit the audience, and should be well organized. Some of the key essential points that a person must kept in mind before giving a presentation are:

1.     Preparation is the most important thing you can do before a presentation in order to do a good job during the presentation. The speaker must plan how to begin the presentation, what to speak in the middle of presentation and how to end the presentation without losing audience interests at any point of time.

2.     Rehearse and practice the presentation. This will help the speaker to be more confident and self-assured. The more the speaker rehearses the better the presentation turns to be. Communicate ideas and facts verbally in a clear and organized way. Adjusts style, tone, and level of verbal communication to fit the audience and situation.

3.     A detailed audience analysis must be made before the presentation, i.e., an analysis of the needs, age, educational background, language, and culture of the target audience. Their body language instantly gives the speaker the required feedback.

4.     A good presentation should be concise and focused on the topic and should have the potential to convey the required information. It should not move off-track.

5.     To communicate the desired information, the speaker should use more of visual aids such as transparencies, diagrams, pictures, charts, etc. Each transparency or slide should contain limited and essential information only and no slide should be kept on for a longer time. Organize all the visuals for making a logical and sound presentation.

6.     The speaker should encourage more questions from the audience. He should be honest enough to answer those questions. If any biased question is put forth by the audience, rearticulate it before answering. Summarize the presentation at the end and give final comments.  

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          Email Id:-admissions@asiapacific.edu

          Mob No:-7042893436,7042893445

          Website:- www.asiapacific.edu

Tips for In-person interviews for MBA

This is a biggie. I have conducted scores of interviews of Delhi NCR and from other state candidates who have applied for admission to the Asia Pacific Institute of Management, New Delhi, one of the leading b schoolsin Delhi NCR region – both in person and over Skype. You have worked so hard, spent so much time and money giving MAT, getting a good score, and then taking the effort to submit applications to the business schools you are targeting. You prepare day in and day out, do all kinds of research on the school, getting all sorts of insights from online forums, and preparing your speech, answers for possible questions – essentially, leaving no stone unturned to make the best impression you possibly can, put the best foot forward, so to speak. But yet sometimes the results are not favorable. You do all the hard work that is required but miss out on some basic aspects during an interview which drastically affects the outcome of the results. Following are some minor yet important points which need to be considered before you appear for an in-person interview or a Skype interview.
 

1. Don’t be late: inform in advance about the circumstances if beyond your control to the concerned authorities.

2. Dress in business formals: do we go out without a tie for a job interview? Or do we wear casuals for formal events? NO!! Then why not dress properly for B schools interview which is no different from a job interview or a formal event.

3. Have a good body language: Don’t slouch; don’t shake your head and legs randomly while sitting. It shows lack of confidence and a sign of nervousness. Get rid of It.
4. Eye contact during conversation is essential

5. Don’t talk about how smart you are or how intelligent you are in an interview     doesn’t bode well for the outcome.

6. Strike up a conversation and engage the interviewer but don’t force it for the sake of doing so.

7. Please, no crying in an interview

For More  Information :- Asia-Pacific Institute of Management

          Email Id:-admissions@asiapacific.edu

          Mob No:-7042893436,7042893445

          Website:- www.asiapacific.edu

                                                                                              

 

A Typical Day in the Life of a PGDM Student!!

I woke up at 7:15 today so I had to miss my morning exercise. I got to get ready really fast and had a quick bite for breakfast as I had to reach for my class starting at 9 am sharp. This ‘sales & distribution’ class had a very strict teacher who doesn’t allow anyone to be late even by 5 minutes. Class went-off well except in the last half-an-hour when we got the assignment to calculate the sales force for a particular business. I must admit mathematics is not my forte so I really had a challenging time there. A degree in Humanities has its limitations. My friends, Sumit & Sneha helped me to get a grip of it.

In the very next class I repaid them by helping them with the class assignment given by our ‘business communication’ teacher. My English major has its own advantages. Though the format of writing in business is slightly different than usual but a command on language certainly gives you an edge.

Next was the lunch time. Howsoever good is the food at canteen, it can never compete with Mom-made food. So you are bound to miss home during lunch time. But the paucity of time and pressure of completing the presentation before the next class doesn’t allow you to think much. In those 45 minutes of lunch I prepared for the presentation and squeezed a 10 minutes lunch in between.

In the subsequent class we had lots of discussion related to the assignment presented by my team. Working on team assignments is extremely difficult. Good B-schools have students from diverse backgrounds which makes it even more difficult. You have to convince your team mates about the course of action you want to take or sometimes change your own thinking as per their advice. You have to put team’s interest above your own. Fortunately, my team had good coordination; together we could make a nice presentation. They entrusted me to present our ideas. I was very nervous at the starting of the presentation but as it progressed I felt relaxed. This helped me in organizing my thoughts and answering the queries efficiently. Last class of the day had a shock for us. A surprise test was announced by our finance teacher. Though the questions were not tough but it really tested our attentiveness in the class. I think I will pass in this one.

After the formal classes finished, I had my entrepreneurship club’s meeting at the evening tea about the activity calendar. 

 We have to plan our activities and circulate the activity calendar so that the other clubs don’t plan their activities on the same day. Activity planning is a difficult thing due to the busy schedule of the students. As soon as our meeting got over I had to run for practice of the up-coming college fest. I have to anchor the show so I am deeply involved in the preparations these days.

After a hectic day, a football match in the hostel ground is the most refreshing thing. Then bath & dinner, before sitting for finishing tomorrow’s college assignments. When I finished those assignments I decided to pen down my day before I sleep. Its 2am but still I feel so energized with the thought that I am making most of my two years at my MBA program. In a good MBA college time management is the key to success. You learn to handle the pressure of corporate life if you have learnt to handle your assignments during your B-school stint.

For More  Information :- Asia-Pacific Institute of Management

          Email Id:-admissions@asiapacific.edu

          Mob No:-7042893436,7042893445

          Website:- www.asiapacific.edu

Written ability test: An important admission criteria for B-school !!

Written ability test is gaining importance in the admission criteria of B-schools. It is a pen and paper test where a candidate is asked to write a short essay on either a current affairs topic or on any other issue where people usually have diverse points of view. While writing an essay for admission to a top B-school, the focus should be on the time. Here, the key will be to write as fast as possible in order to finish the essay. Don’t waste much time on thinking and planning the structure of the essay. Also it is important to develop the ability to think and articulate quickly. 

For B-school panelists, essays are tools to see how you structure your thoughts and produce them in the least amount of time. It gives the panel a valuable insight of your mind. Management schools use essay writing as a pre-interview yardstick to assess you on clarity, logic, focus, structure and argument. Few tips to crack written ability test successfully are: 1. Expand knowledge base: The first and foremost step in preparing for any entrance exam or an interview is to expand your knowledge base. Know your subject well and keep yourself updated with the current affairs. This will give you substantial information to write on the topic given. 2. Write frequently: In order to communicate the knowledge you have, you should improve your writing abilities. Writing frequently on some of the current affairs topic will not only boost your confidence, but will also help in improving your vocabulary and language. 3. Structure your essay: Whether or not you have sufficient knowledge of the given topic, always remember to structure your essay to give it a logical flow. You are not expected to know everything, but by structuring your essay you will show the examiner that you are meticulous in your approach. Structuring the essay will reflect on the clarity of your thoughts, which is one of the important factors you will be assessed on. 4. Make your writing interesting: By this we do not mean you should use exhaustive vocabulary or language that is difficult to understand. To make your essay interesting, give it a fresh perspective. Be specific and avoid predictable, generic and clichéd writing. Develop your main idea with a few facts, events, interesting observations and reasons. 5. Manage your time: Remember, you are given very limited time to put down your thoughts. Spend the first few minutes on understanding the given topic and then structure your essay. Make sure you leave a couple of minutes at least at the end to review what you have written. Check for grammatical errors, punctuations, syntax, flow of thoughts and expressions used. Having said that, do not change too many things in the last minute. Make sure you present your essay in a legible and a good way.

          For More  Information :- Asia-Pacific Institute of Management

          Email Id:-admissions@asiapacific.edu

          Mob No:-7042893436,7042893445

          Website:- www.asiapacific.edu