Presentation Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Presentation Skills - Essay Example Communication is the purpose of a presentation, especially the reception of the audience. The presenter must be able to transmit the required information in a manner that is understandable and interesting to the audience, whether it be one person or an entire nation. When preparing a presentation it is essential to know your audience. By having familiarity with the audience's concerns and probable opinions concerning what you are going to say, one can be more relaxed during the actual presentation and not be sidelined by unexpected questions or responses. A presentation looks easy enough to do; and it should, it indicates that the presenter is an expert communicator well versed in the subject or material at hand. This ease comes from rigorous preparation before the presentation. Next comes the planning stage; a list is made regarding information and audio/visual aids to be used. A rough draft of the presentation is made and examined; it is critical to write the draft in order to organise one's thoughts and be able to strike out any superfluous or unnecessary information (University Of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1999). At this stage, any irrelevancies will be extracted and the logical sequence of the information can be constructed. In cases of doubt concerning content, good planning will propel the presenter to either find the answers or leave the information in question unsaid. The next stage of planning is deciding which aids to use and how many. This is where equipment in good working order is critical; an overhead projector, a laptop computer with projector, slides, video and recording equipment can fail during a presentation and this can spell disaster to the untrained or unprepared presenter. It is a good idea to have a backup plan in case of an equipment failure, such as printed poster boards and an easel. Knowing that there is a 'Plan B' will put the presenter at ease and relaxation is imperative to a good presenter. Next comes rehearsal. Some might think that rehearsing in front of a mirror is silly, but it is important to take note objectively of your own presentation skills. Can you listen to yourself well Even better is to rehearse in front of a video camera and play back the presentation, taking note of hesitancies or tendencies to exhibit nervous behaviour such as adjusting the necktie or twisting the ring. These behaviours detract from the presentation significantly. In assessing yourself prior to the presentation it is essential to be objective in critiquing your own skills. There is always room for improvement, no matter how seasoned the presenter. If you rehearse in front of colleagues, listen to their feedback and make the necessary changes well before the presentation date in order for your changes to be more natural to you. One item of interest to keep in mind is the fact that most people will only remember three things from your presentation (presentationhelper.co.uk, online, 09 October 2005). It is important to know what three points you want your audience to remember in advance and plan the presentation around those. One example of this interesting phenomenon is Winston Churchill's famous 'blood,

Relate the theme the american dream to death of a salesman and arthur Research Paper

Relate the theme the american dream to death of a salesman and arthur miller's life - Research Paper Example The play â€Å"Death of a Salesman† by Arthur Miller encapsulates within its tight-lipped plot, fall of a myth pertaining to American Dream and its vision that â€Å"success is obtained by being well-liked†. The essay intends to perceive and examine the theme of American Dream and its failure closely woven within the plot of the play that sets challenges to the capitalistic concepts and desires of new America. Arthur Miller was born on October 17th in the year of 1915 and expired on 10th February 2005. He was an eminent playwright and essayist from America. He was a very poignant figure in the American theatre and composed many important socio-political plays like â€Å"All My Sons (1947)†, â€Å"Death of a Salesman (1949)†, â€Å"The Crucible (1953)†, â€Å"A View from the Bridge (1955)† among others. Miller’s â€Å"Death of a Salesman† is acclaimed as the first great American tragedy and while projecting it, Miller gained name for the American to understand the true essence of the nation and its tragedy. As a university graduate, he witnessed the hollow pursuit of the good life entwined with the American Dream in the society of America. The disillusioned socio-economic perspective and dystopia led Miller to compose the play, â€Å"Death of a Salesman† which was only possible for a person like Miller who came up from the mundane and meagre streets of Harlem in New York and was able to witness the unveiled mask of American Dream. The concept of American Dream operates at the national level in United States which includes a promise of freedom, possibility of prosperity and freedom and success. The definition of American Dream contended by James Torso Adams in the year 1931 was envisaged as â€Å"life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement† irrespective of social class or background. With this glittering vision in life, people of America started reconstructing their nation and society in the post-war period with immense faith on their destiny more than their hard-work or potentials. American Dream got concentrated on being rich overnight and the parameter for the pursuit of happiness got captivated to the scale of owing big house, glamorous cars and all the comfort which consumerism and materialism can bring to their citizens. This led to the death of spirituality and made every citizen hollow where the potentials of every American were being judged with their skilled salesmanship and not with their courage or hard-work. Soon, it became the society of the salesman whose only goal became selling commodities to earn profit and ceasing to be a man; every American is soon seen putting a mask of fraud and the ability to sell the commodities regardless of its intrinsic uselessness. â€Å"Death of a Salesman†: American Dream Realized or Shattered During the fall of the values associated with the A merican Dreams, many writers in their work captivated the concept with its shattering image. Arthur Miller is not an exception in this regard. He envisioned the dark side of the American Dream and in the year 1949, Miller yielded one of his finest plays which captivate the shattering of the American Dream in the post-war period. The tragedy is presented as the democratization of classical form of tragedy