Chances are you have done or have been in a presentation. From your own experience, either as the speaker or audience, you have come to the realization that presentations can make or break a transaction or a meeting. It can either invigorate a rather dull meeting or lull everyone to sleep even more.
As an audience, you probably have seen the whole spectrum of speakers ? those who are no non-sense, those whose talk is peppered with humor, those who speak to the screen, those who are too engaging, etc. But nothing beats an unprepared speaker. It can be gleaned by how incoherent and illogical his presentation to how he sorts his files from his presentation folders.
The following are the three most common mistakes when making presentations. Read on so that you can avoid committing these mistakes in the future.
1. Never Memorize.
I still could remember the advice of my grade school teacher: 'Never memorize. Know your topic by heart.' This is actually a very sound advice that I have practiced until now. There is nothing more traumatic than to suddenly realize that you have forgotten what to say next. As you stand in front frozen and perspiring, wishing that everything would just go away, your audience stares at you in disbelief and wishing the same thing.
To avoid this situation, you have to know your material by heart. You can actually use cue cards to guide you along the way. But be sure that you do not read your cue cards. Your cards are there to guide. So to avoid the temptation of reading through your cue card, do not write long sentences. Use bullet points instead. To make a better impression, you can use sheets of paper neatly tucked in your presentation folders as your guide.
2. Never Read Your Slide
This is the most common mistake by most speakers. Most speakers use their slide as their guide and worst, they tend to read every single sentence in their slide. They have their backs turned to the audience as they read every slide. If this is the case then there is actually no need for the speaker. The audience can just sit there and read through everything. Always remember that the presentation is about you, it is about your experience and your knowledge of the subject matter. The slides are just tools to visually support whatever it is that you are going to discuss. You are more important than the slides and the slides are there to make your talk more interesting and engaging. As a tip, you can print copies of your presentation and slip them into several pieces of presentation folders so your audience can follow you and make notes on your printed copies.
3. Never Overload.
There are speakers who cannot stay within the time limit. They tend to say so many things and they just do not know when to stop. As a result, you have 40-50 slides in one hour. Always remember that adults too have limited attention span. Most people will listen and retain information for a little less than 10 minutes. More than that and you lose half of your audience. So as a rule of thumb, stick to the main points. If you want to say more and the allotted time is not enough, prepare notes in advance and put them in your presentation folder printing.
So the next time you're in for a presentation, remember these guidelines. And always bring a presentation folder printing with you to help you organize your documents and your thoughts.
Alsoi, it is important to remember that the visions will not always be crystal clear - you may have to learn how to interpret what you see in your divinations. Any additional materials you need can be acquired from any wicca supplies shop on the Internet (or in your local area).
Now then, here are a few different types of divination that you can begin to practice now - and a description of each.
Square of Mercury - This is a cabalistic form of divination. It is usually used as a base for other forms of divination. It draws the power of Mercury, the Great Diviner into strengthen and better unfold future events.
Scrying/Crystal Balls/Magick Mirrors - These are general focus tools used to see into the future. Sometimes full images and scenes will play themselves out in the depths of the reflections. Sometimes you will only see symbols. Other times it may be a fog or clouds that move one way or another in answer to your questions.
Necromancy - This is a form of divination used to communicate with spirits of the dead, and must not be entered into lightly. The spirits of the dead are said to have answers to past and future, because the have pierced the veil of living in linear time and have the ability to see all things at all times.
Bibliomancy - This is a form of divination where you take a Bible (but any other book or tome of wisdom may suffice), ask your question, open the book at random and start reading where your eyes fall on the pages to receive your answer. Another method is to take a needle and open the book, pinpointing the place where you should begin reading for your answer.
Auguries - Simply put, the signs of nature and other happenings around you. This was the method employed by many of the ancient shamans. A question is asked and then they waited to see what symbols appeared in nature, which way the clouds moved, or the birds flew. These were all ways that they determined the answer to their questions, and gauged what was to unfold for the future.
Ouija Board - I wanted to add this in here, because so many people have played with Ouija boards as a game to ask questions of the spirits. It is a method of finding out answers for the past, present, and future. As with necromancy, must not be undertaken lightly. One thing that people fail to recognize in their "game playing" with the Ouija board, is that you are, essentially, opening a gateway between the worlds to communicate with spirits. I recommend staying away from them. If you feel this is a tool you would like to use, then set your basic circles of protections in place and treat the use of the board with the care and respect that you would with any ritual. The art of Divination is one of careful practice. You will find an entire section in the Home Academy - complete with step-by-step divination using pendulums, scrying, Magick mirrors, and more. You'll be able to see exactly how to use divination to see into the future successfully with the included DVD demonstrations.
Both Chelsea Nicole & Rose Ariadne are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Rose Ariadne has sinced written about articles on various topics from Religion, Jewelry and Public Speaking. Rose has been practicing different forms of Witchcraft for over 27 years. For more information on wicca supplies visit her site. Rose Ariadne's top article generates over 12100 views. Bookmark Rose Ariadne to your Favourites.