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Communication Skills – Truly Essential

Professional communication skills are essential in today's work environment. Not only do

Soft Skills increase market appeal, they also provide you a competitive advantage against those who lack the soft skills.

To improve upon your speaking / presentation skills one of the best medium could be the Toastmasters meetings. Toastmasters International is an educational nonprofit with clubs worldwide where men and women develop communication and leadership skills in a supportive environment. You can even attend these meetings during the lunch hour or immediately after work hours if they are held within your office premises or somewhere nearby. If you and others in your organization are interested, you can initiate the club meetings for your company. See the Toastmasters website for details.

Verbal Advantage is another such program which could be supported by your manager and company as part of your on-going learning / classes program. It provides self-learning kits which you can go through at your own pace.

This short article has been previously published on my blog.

How Good Public Speaking Skills helps you towards being Popular at School

Do you want to be popular at school? Well, most of us do and one of the best ways to achieve good/amiable popularity is through speaking well and speaking confident.

It could be the forthcoming student council election or the speech debate competitions - public speaking gives you the platform to market yourself, to market your skills and present them in the best light. Just think about this scenario - there are two candidates in a debate during an election and you know none of them, you would form an opinion on who is better when you hear them speaking - hear themselves presenting and showcasing their abilities through this debate or speech. The same applies to you when you are speaking in front of a crowd or a family get-together. These are some of the opinions that people form when listening to a presentation or speech. The judgments are both on your speaking abilities and your appearance:

On your Speaking Skills:

Appears confident, persuasive, assertive yet not dominant, has knowledge on the subject.

On your Non-Verbal Skills:

Appears honest since he is making good eye contact, using strong gestures and appears open-minded to the discussion as a whole.

On your Appearance:

Takes care of grooming, is clean and smartly dressed. Has taken time to dress well and choose the right attire for today's presentation.

These are small subtle details but honestly if you are up there at the podium tying to make an impression - keep in mind that good and effective public speaking abilities can be one sure effective way to rise and shine above the rest!