COMMUNICATION SKILLS

There are many ways of communication but Face to face is the most effective way to
communicate because of all the visual clues we get i.e. expressions and gestures. For the most
important thing when we communicate with another human being, is to 'read' that person
correctly and respond correctly.

What is communication? One dictionary describes communication as "the imparting or

exchange of information, ideas, or feelings".

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS

There are mainly three types of communication skills, expressive skills, listening skills and skills
for managing the overall process of communication. The basic fundamental of all these types of
communication is emotional skills.

EXPRESSIVE SKILLS

Expressive skills are required to convey message to others through words, facial expressions and
body language.

LISTENING SKILLS

Listening skills are skills that are used to obtain messages or information from others. These
help to clearly understand what a person feels and thinks about you or understand the other
person closely.

SKILLS FOR MANAGING OVERALL PROCESS

Skills for managing the overall process of communication help to recognize the required
information and develop a strong hold on the existing rules of communication and interaction.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Importance of communication skills can never be ignored or neglected. These skills are the key
to executing good management skills. With good management skills, you can have a team of
members who together create an ambience of open communication, concise messages, probe for
clarifications, recognize nonverbal signals, and mutual understanding. Good communication
involves a set of complex skills.
The modern world today, calls for high scale effective communication skills in order to win the
heavy competition in all spheres of life. For effective communication, a sender transmits his or
her message in a clear and organized form to maintain and promote the need and interest of the
receivers. Receivers or listeners show interest only if the person communicating is loaded with
confidence, gestures and softness. Apart from management professionals, good communication
skills are also required at all stages of life.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMMUNICATERS AND GOOD TALKERS

Some people envy those who have the 'gift of the gab' and always seem to be the centre of
attention. However, this does not mean that good talkers are good communicators; in fact they
are often just the opposite.
Good communication is much more than having the ability to talk eloquently. It's also much
more than being able to convince people to your point of view. These are certainly useful
qualities, particularly if you work in sales, and most of us have to sell in one way or another,
whether we realize it or not, even if it's only selling ourselves.
But there's a lot more to it to it than that. One essential part of communication is the ability to
make you understood. But if there is one single thing that that will make you a better
communicator, it's to make more of an effort to really listen and understand others first, rather
than to make yourself heard and understood.
Despite what many people may think, good communication is not all about concentrating on
getting across our own points of view and opinions. It has been said that we were given two
ears and one mouth for good reason and that we should spend at least twice as much time
listening as talking when communicating.
When engaged in conversation, it is very easy to pay little attention to what the other person is
actually saying. We can become easily distracted by countless other thoughts and things
happening around us, or thinking about what we are going to say next. Our brains are able to
process information much more quickly than the speed of even the fastest talker, so it's easy for
other things to fill the spaces and detract from what the other person is saying.

Quote of the Day:

"The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to
understand people is to listen to them." - Ralph Nichols

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS

IT'S ALL ABOUT CONFIDENCE
to improve communication skills, confidence building is the solution

ACTIVE LISTENER

Listening is often more important than speaking. To improve communication skills, pay attention
to what others are saying without getting distracted.

OVERCOME HESTITATION

Practice is the best way to improve communication skills. Practice makes it easier. Developing
advanced communication skills begins with simple interactions. Communication skills can be
practiced every day with friends and family.

READING

Reading is another important aspect of effective communication Reading books is a better option
but reading an English newspaper will also help in this regard.

SPEAK CLEARLY

Speak in normal voice tone and slowly. Speaking clearly is very important.

EYE CONTACT

Make eye contact with whom you are speaking. This increases chances of mutual agreement and
builds up confidence.

RIGHT PRONOUNCIATION

One of the biggest turn off is wrong pronunciation. Working on pronunciations will help a lot in
developing confidence and makes communication effective.

PRESENTATION SKILLS
Presentations and reports are ways of communicating ideas and information to a group of people.
But unlike a report, a presentation carries the speaker's personality better and allows immediate
interaction between all the participants.

A GOOD presentation is a kind of communication between the speaker and the audience!

A good presentation contains at least four elements:

• CONTENT: it contains information that people need. But unlike reports, which are read
at the reader's own pace, presentations must account for how much information the
audience can absorb in one sitting.
• STRUCTURE: it has a logical beginning, middle, and end. It must be sequenced and
paced so that the audience can understand it. The speaker must be careful not to lose the
audience when wandering from the main point of the presentation.
• PACKIGING: it must be well prepared. A report can be reread and portions skipped
over, but with a presentation, the audience is at the mercy of a presenter.
• HUMAN ELEMENT: a good presentation will be remembered much more than a good
report because it has a person attached to it.

THE VOICE

The voice is probably the most valuable tool of the presenter. It carries most of the content
that the audience takes away.

• Volume: How loud the sound is. The goal is to be heard without shouting.

• Tone: The characteristics of a sound. An airplane has a different sound than leaves being
rustled by the wind.

• Pitch: How high or low a note is

• Pace: This is how long a sound lasts.

BODY LANGUAGE

Your body communicates different impressions to the audience. People not only listen to you,
they also watch you. A good posture helps you to speak more clearly and effective.

• EYE CONTACT: Speakers who make eye contact open the flow of communication and
convey interest, concern, warmth, and credibility.
 • FACIAL EXPRESSIONS: Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits happiness,
friendliness, warmth, and liking audience will be more comfortable around you and will
want to listen to you more.

• GESTURES: If you fail to gesture while speaking, you may be perceived as boring and
stiff. A lively speaking style captures attention

• APPEARANCE: first impressions influence the audience's attitudes to you. Dress

appropriately for the occasion.

HOW TO PREPARE A PRESENTATION

To prepare the presentation, ask yourself the following:

• What is the purpose of the presentation?

• Who will be attending?
• What does the audience already know about the subject?
• What is the audience's attitude towards me (e.g. hostile, friendly)?

A 45 minutes talk should have no more than about seven main points. This may not seem like
very many, but if you are to leave the audience with a clear picture of what you have said, you
cannot expect them to remember much more than that. There are several options for structuring
the presentation:

• TIMELINE: Arranged in sequential order.

• CLIMAX: The main points are delivered in order of increasing importance.
• PROBLEM/SOLUTION: A problem is presented, a solution is suggested, and benefits
are then given.
• CLASSIFICATION: The important items are the major points.
• SIMPLE TO COMPLEX: Ideas are listed from the simplest to the most complex. Can
also be done in reverse order.

BASIC GUIDE LINES ABOUT PRESENTATION MATERIAL

You might be handing out supplemental materials, for example, articles, reports, etc. along with
making your presentation. You might also be handing out copies of your presentation, for
example, handing out copies of your slides that you will be referencing during your presentation.
You might be using transparency slides or showing slides from a personal computer onto a
project screen.
1. If you plan to project your slides from a computer onto a projection screen, then be sure to
check out the computer system before people come into the meeting room, if at all possible.

2. Use a consistent layout, or organization of colors and images, on your materials.

3. If you provide the supplemental information during your presentation, then your audience will
very likely read that information during your presentation, rather than listening to you.
Therefore, hand out this information after you have completed your presentation. Or, hand it out
at the beginning of your presentation and ask them not to read it until you have completed your
presentation.

BASIC GUIDELINES ABOUT YOUR DELIVERY

1. If you're speaking to a small group (for example, 2-15 people), then try to accomplish eye
contact with each person for a few seconds throughout your delivery.

2. Look up from your materials, or notes, every 5-10 seconds, to look into the audience.

3. Speak a little bit louder and a little bit slower than you normally would do with a friend.

4. Vary the volume and rate of your speech. A monotone voice is absolutely toxic to keeping the
attention of an audience.

5. Stand with your feet at shoulder-length apart.

6. Keep your hands relatively still.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PRESENTATION SKILLS

These are some tips to present well.

PRACTICE
Practice on a colleague or friend. Think about whom your audience is and what you want them to
get out of an effective presentation. Think about content and style. If you video yourself get
someone else to evaluate your performance; you will find it very difficult to be objective about
yourself.

AVOID ‘BLUE PETER SYNDROME’

Try not to over prepare. Don't rehearse the whole thing right through too often. Your time is
better spent going over your opening and closing paragraphs. Rehearse your beginning and your
finish. Pick a few choice bits to learn by heart.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Test the equipment before the presentation; get familiar with it before you start. PowerPoint and
OHPs often seem as though they're out to get you, so make sure you're in charge not them.

VISUAL AIDS
Use visuals to give a big picture quickly. Show them graphics, pictures, cartoons bar charts etc;
you can then use words to elaborate. Slides with words on are of limited value.

ANSWERING QUESTIONS COMPETENTLY

Finally it’s important that you have the confidence to interact with your audience and deal with
any questions that your audience might throw at you.