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Speak, Influence, Win

by Business AdviceBusiness CommunicationBusiness SchoolBusiness StyleLatest PostsNews

In order to become a speaker you do not need license, trainings or special courses. Everyone who has enough willingness, skills and qualifications can be public speaker. Attracting the required audience is now possible with social networks. Knowing communication techniques are essential for business as for career skills development and for the successful implementation of future professional activities.

BUSINESS GEORGIA spoke with Nina Pertenava, a Communications Specialist and Image-Maker about the art of public speaking.

What is the brief history of public speech?

The word “Rhetoric” is a Greek word and means the art of public speaking. Old Athens was known for its orators, two names are outstanding – Perikles (494-429 BC) and Demosthenes (384-322 BC). Pericles had an amazing talent for public speaking, he considered the foundation of oratorical speaking and Demosthene was tongue-tied from childhood and as a great cost was able to earn the name of the best orator. The significance of this talent also indicates that Aristotle wrote the work “rhetoric”, and Socrates could guess people’ profession, what education they had and so on, after observation on speech manner and gestures. Neither the Roman Empire fell to ancient Greece. This a fact, that the right words pronounced for the army could win the battle. The power of speech is given special attention in the beginning of the twentieth century, in particular when was written the book “propaganda, followed by radio and later television invention, which was one of the turning points not only in public art, but in the history of mankind.

Over the centuries, techniques of public speech are changing, what changes will you focus on?

Unfortunately, our world goes to simplification and Petrarka and Shakespeare’s language understands fewer people. In the twentieth century was created simplified language Basic English, which contains a total of 850 English words underlies Roosevelt and Churchill’s discussion, of how to simplify the English language, that majority of the world use this language. Soon it happened, and English took its place in TV and internet space. We should mention, that there are lots of video and audio files, everyone has the ability to write their own speech, and the more information you get, the more difficult it is to follow classical norms. The quality is lost, the frames are collapsing, and it becomes very fast. So changes are inevitable. Each time dictates its norms.

On a global scale, which public speech has a big impression on you and why?

I would advise everyone to listen to Martin Luther King’s best known speech “I Have a Dream” pronounced before 300 thousand Americans. In Washington in 1963 year. By this speech was definitely inspired, no less charismatic orator Barak Obama. Should be noted Winston Churchill’s oratorical talent, which has really impressed me.

What is a successful public speech and what skills are needed to be a good speaker?

In classic understanding the speaker must have several essential features. First of all, it’s charismatic, good voice tune, combination of spoken and body languages. The speakers should know how to practice voice, where to use pauses and accents. Pauses in the right places allow the listeners to understand and realized the speaker’s words. According to the volume of the audience, voice tune is also important. It is necessary to speak loudly and clearly, so that the listener does not strain while listening to the conversation. Pleasant conversation manner, analytical thinking skill and self-confidence in emotions are essential.

However, there are facts when one of the most successful orators win people’s heart by emotional speeches. Here I want to name the main character of the good orator – the ability to empathize when he can feel the mood of the people, often has a eye contact with the audience and  on face expresses countless emotions. The movement of eyes, mouth and face muscles can establish an invisible connection with the audience. Eye focus is the most important element of this process. With eye contact you will be directly connected to the audience. This will make them feel special and you will be able to understand whether they are interested or not, and if it will be necessary, you can change your presentation.

What mistakes are Georgian speakers mostly having?

As we do not consider specific examples, we will focus on more cases. There is a very correct pronunciation: “When people do not have arguments, it goes into aggression.” I think the Georgian reality is very similar to that. Often in public speeches (I do not mean a scientific conferences), are often critique or shift the blame, which is already an aggression and definitely causes a wave reaction. Logical and consistent tactics are usually contrary to emotions.

Are Georgians taking into consideration techniques of public speech?

Perhaps everyone likes a good speaker, but not all of them work on themselves. As a good speaker, I would like to mention Giorgi Targamadze was a very good journalist and ideally possesses his sound and tune, breath, intonation, pauses, mimic and gesticulation. This is accompanied by logically and easy understanding sentences. This is a result of great self preparation.

Many people have the fear of public speaking, what is the reason for this and how can people overcome it?

As a rule, almost every person has fear of public speaking. Even famous artists say in private conversations that they are worrying before going on stage. I will share some tips with you. First and main advice: Do not fight fear, it will deepen the stressful situation, there are just some special breathing exercises (on YouTube) that calms the sound and body vibration (shaky). The second advice: Before you go to the big and important audience, you have to rehearse before a familiar and friendly group. It is helpful. Third advice: As often as possible have interesting discussions. You can also read public lectures. Believe me, this advice helps me to overcome fear of public speeches and today I can boldly address any audience.

 

Best Public Speaking tips from Its purposes and results

by Business AdviceLatest PostsNews

 

The term public speaking covers many activities. It is an essential part of the jobs of teachers, lecturers, politicians, sales representatives and religious figures. The ultimate goal of all these people is to help others to see the world from the different side and to inspire changes. They often tell their own life experience to an audience to motivate them to make professional and personal changes in their lives and within themselves. Public speakers share their opinions about how to change the ways to work. New methods are more effective for the people who always do the thing with one way. That is the aim of public speaking.

There are three main purposes of public speaking:

  • To inform
  • To persuade
  • To inspire

An informative speech gives the audience an information about the topic. This must be an interesting and useful information. Speakers have to avoid expressing their opinions. They have to let the audience make up their own minds. This is the most important purpose for informative speech.

A persuasive speech – helps the audience willingly accept speaker’s proposal through logic, evidence and emotion. A persuasive speech offers a solution to a controversial problem, presenting sufficient logic. Here speakers have to present their most convincing arguments.

An inspirational speech – helps speakers to inspire others by talking about how they have personally triumphed over hardships. Here, the emphasis is on the use of the most inspirational quotes, stories, or anecdotes. Speakers share their stories to let others know that no matter what tragedies may happen in life it is possible to get beyond them successfully.

Nowadays, professionals often provide seminars for the people, who are working in companies. They are hired by different companies to speak about marketing, management, sports or sales, but there are cases when speakers specialize in a certain topic and make their own seminars. In addition, there are many cases, when they write and sell motivational books or videos and appear on television.

You do not need any license, training or special courses to become a speaker. Everyone who has a will, skills and qualification can perform in front of an audience. Nowadays, you have an opportunity to attract your audience with the help of social media.

People think that we are experts of our job, that makes us more confident, but no matter how professional or confident we are after 15 minutes an audience loses interest towards our speech – speakers say. That is why it is so important to keep an attention of your audience and body language and the tone of your voice help you in it.

Here are 8 ways, which will help you improve your public speaking skills:

  • Be confident and know your audience – It will help you define every person’s needs and wants in your audience, access their subconscious and make your speech memorable and persuasive.

Body language

Body language is communication without words and it is very important part of public speaking. It includes:

  • Facial expressions
  • Posture
  • Gestures
  • The face is able to express countless emotions without saying a word. The movements of your eyes, mouth, and facial muscles can build an invisible connection with your audience. Eye focus is the most important element in this process. With the help of eye contact you will be directly connected to your audience. When you make eye contact, you areconnecting to your audience. That makes them feel special. Like that, you can see if they are interested or not. Then you can change and modify your presentation, if it is needed.
  • Postureis an important part ofany presentation. It helps you to look more confident. You have to try not to hide behind a lectern. In addition, it is better to move while speaking. You are the leader, so you have to make an audience feel comfortable. For example: If you have a presentation screen, do not forget to stand on the left side, it is the right side of the audience. Consider, that people read from left to right.
  • Gesture – hand and arm movements– are important parts of our visual picture when you speak in public. They are reinforcements of the words and ideas you are trying to convey and a non-verbal representation of how you feel. If you use gestures correctly, it will help you appear confident and relaxed.
  • Be energetic and enthusiastic – Turned out, that an audience responds best to presenters who are alive and energetic. Strong, positive body language is one of the most important tool to be more confident, to express emotions and not to lose connection with your audience.

Voice

Tone of voice is a combination of spoken language and body language. Speakers know how to exercise their voice, where to use pauses and emphasis. Pauses made in proper time help an audience to hear and understand the speaker. The tone of your voice is also very important depending on the scope of an audience. You have to speak loudly and your words must be pronounced very clearly, so that listeners will not strain to hear you.

  • Use humor – Ingenious and funny comments will help you make personal relationship with each member of the audience.
  • Improvisation – Try to use improvisation with the help of slides and other additional things. Tell the public more convincing details and stories. Do not read your text, that will make your speech boring and unconvincing and you will lose connection with the audience.

Use of above-mentioned aspects will help you not only for public speaking, but also for personal communications. Their consideration and use in practice will help you become a successful, interesting and consumable speaker. It will give you a chance to help people see the world and their situation from a new perspective. You can inspire them to change their working ways and be more confident, motivated and successful.

esno

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

by Business Advice

 

When it comes to business practices, we believe that the strong company may not grow without successful social and sustainable policies. That is why Business Georgia magazine has taken an initiative to spotlight these matters by ranking the Corporate Social Responsibility of businesses. We believe it will help local and foreign companies operating in Georgia to progress with the benefit for community and environment.

People socialize. And it is, by all means, a permanent process of receiving and distributing norms, customs and ideologies. They provide an individual with the habits and skills which are vital for contributing within its own society. Hence, any healthy society also considers ethics as essential mechanism of communication between individuals. No doubt, it is an inevitable aspect of everyday life, and same comes with business activities and their methods. That is why the idea of Social Responsibility continues to be so actual for today’s society as a whole. “Thinking good thoughts is not enough, doing good deeds is not enough, seeing others follow your good examples is enough.”

Douglas Horton

 

To start with, the term Social Responsibility itself is the suggestion that each of us has an obligation to benefit not only for ourselves, but also for society at large – to co-operate for maintaining the balance between ecosystem and economy. Respectively, this includes everyday life activities that should, besides their initial purpose, sensitively contribute to the main principles of community well-being: in social, economic, cultural and environmental frameworks. Should be said that the interest towards of what happening in community and participation in local problem solving are the key factors which drive people for becoming socially responsible. “The participation in local problem solving is one of key factors which drive people to become socially responsible” Social responsibility can be “negative”- in case when individuals resist from acting according the main principles of SR. Or it can be “positive” – meaning that person is the “proactivestance” and not only performs such good deeds as volunteering, recycling and others but also makes them a lifestyle.

Lord Holme and Richard Watts were first to define what Corporate Social Responsibility is. In the “World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s” publication“Making Good Business Sense” they stated that it is “…the continuing commitment by business to behave ethicallyand contribute to economic development while improvingthe quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large.” If individuals are becoming more socially responsible, in response to this Corporations and Companies need to become more socially responsible to meet consumer demand. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) states: “In the wake of increasing globalization, we have become ever more conscious not only of what we buy, butalso how the goods and services we buy have been produced. Environmentally harmful production, child labor, dangerous working environments and other inhumane conditions are examples of issues being brought into the open. All compa nies and organizations aiming at long-term profitability and credibility are starting to realize that they must act in accordance with norms of right and wrong.” So what is really important in regard to CSR is to measure and evaluate it in reference to business. It is a good idea, as said before, to do this to stimulate those for performing socially responsible activities, as for any strong company may not grow and raise its reputation without their performing

In order to define the main aspects of business Social Responsibility we’ve divided CSR into five rough categories: Charity and Philanthropy, Sustainable Environment Creation & Care, Community Development, Raise of Social Awareness (Social Education) and Creating Shared Value.

Companies involved in philanthropy make financial contributions to charitable, educational and health-related organizations. This process can help them in assistance of poverty reducing, promoting and delivering education, and even eliminate diseases. It may also involve attention and care for the people with physical and/or developmental disabilities by, besides the monetary aid, raising awareness in the community.

Businesses can contribute to the environment and sustain it by several measures, such as reducing and eliminating the hazardous pollution from production, as it can cause harm to the nature and public. It doesn’t matter whether or not the existing Law policies regulate it – social responsibility is voluntary and demonstrates if enterprises care of their impact for the world around. It also includes charity for nature – for example, tree planting, parks and recreation spaces creation funding, implementing educational programs of the subject and raising awareness on mitigation measures.

To develop a positive public profiles, companies often resort to creating better environment to live and work. It comprises aligning with other appropriate institutionsto cooperate with. “…my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.”– these wise words of George Bernard Shaw make a clear point of what involvement in Community Development means. In particular, one of the good deeds dedicated to the community would be to form the foundation that would assist to deliver education and learning, as well as distribution of some sort of profit percentage for charity of any kind.

In this case on of the goals of socially responsible businesses is to popularize (even through exerting some pressure) the basic standards of Social Responsibility to other companies to adopt the socially responsible behavior themselves. This may be done through different ways, for example, by cooperation with media to and expose potentially harmful activities of organizations and monitoring organizations’ obedience with ethical business standards. This will raise awareness in public and create an educational dialogue, reaching the goals of Social Responsibility.

Creating Shared Value (CSV) is a business concept suggesting to draw deep links between the business strategies and corporate social responsibility. Meaning that the competitiveness of a business and the well-being of the communities around it are mutually dependent. Since companies need a productively functioning workforce it is in their interests to thrive for society’s development. For example, companies may sponsor the projects which aim to deliver health services, food quality research, or water resources distribution.

 

 

leader

WHAT KIND OF LEADER ARE YOU?

by Business AdviceLatest PostsNews

In this chapter we are going to provide assistance to your businesses in the management direction. There is a significant deficiency in terms of productive management teams in Georgia. We are going to gather useful information, to conduct researches and acquaint you with the best management decisions and theories. With the help of us you can increase professional effectiveness of your management team. In this issue we are covering the leadership and its techniques, and its trends existing in Georgia.

“Every businessperson knows a story about a highly intelligent, highly skilled executive who was promoted into a leadership position only to fail at the job. And they also know the story about someone with solid-but not extraordinary – intellectual abilities and technical skills who was promotes into a similar position and then soared.”

Daniel Goleman

Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to “win” as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring. A good leader is always with his/her subordinates, because leader’s support is very important for every team member. It is more of an art than a science. People aren’t identical: all of us has own manner of behavior. Accordingly, our leadership manners also differ; however, there is always something in common. Thus, we’re indicating five different leadership styles: laissez-faire, autocratic, participative, transactional and transformational.

LAISSEZ-FAIRE

Delegates all the rights and power for decision-making to the workers Delivers the working process to the team Gives the followers freedom to make decisions concerning completion of their assignments.

AUTOCRATIC

Makes decisions independently Provides strict directions for completion of different goals No one resists the decisions of anautocratic leader.

TRANSACTIONAL

Is based on the system of rewardsand punishmentsStudies the needs of the workersand helps to satisfythose needs if he/she can

PARTICIPATIVE

Opinions of the workers matter Shares ideas on the different ways of accomplishing assignments Helps employees to cope with the changes Is especially effective when companies need to make a quick decision Participative style is one of the most effective leadership pattern, which leads to the higher productivity, better contributions from group members and increases group morale

TRANSFORMATIONAL

Often communicates with his/her followers. Inspires the workers by communicating with them Discusses the goals of the company with his/her followers All the workers are involved in successful completion of their assignments This type of leadership leads to a productive and positive working environment.

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Popular Social Media Sites in 2016

by Business AdviceIntellectual PropertyNews

Facebook

This is the biggest social media network on the Internet, both in terms of total number of users and name recognition. Founded on February 4, 2004, Facebook has within 12 years managed to accumulate more than 1.59 billion monthly active users and this automatically makes it one of the best mediums for connecting people from all over the world with your business. It is estimated that more than 1 million small and medium-sized businesses use the platform to advertise their business.

Twitter

You might be thinking that limiting your posts to 140 characters is no way to advertise your business, but you will be shocked to know that this social media platform has more than 320 million active monthly users who make use of the 140 character limit to pass on information. Businesses can use Twitter to interact with prospective clients, answer questions, release latest news and at the same time use the targeted ads with specific audiences. Twitter was founded on March 21, 2006, and has its headquarters in San Francisco, California.

LinkedIn

Founded on December 14, 2002, and launched 0n May 5, 2003, LinkedIn is hands-down the most popular social media site for professional networking. The website is available in 24 languages and has over 400 million registered users. LinkedIn is great for people looking to connect with people in similar industries, networking with local professionals and displaying business related information and statistics.

Google+

While it’s no Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, Google+ has its place among the popular social media sites. Its SEO value alone makes it a must-use tool for any small business. Launched on December 15, 2011, Google+ has joined the big leagues registering 418 active million users as of December 2015.

YouTube

YouTube — the largest and most popular video-based social media website — was founded on February 14, 2005, by three former PayPal employees. It was later bought by Google in November 2006 for $1.65 billion. YouTube has over 1 billion website visitors per month and is the second most popular search engine behind Google.

Pinterest

Launched in March 2010, Pinterest is a relatively newcomer in the social media arena. This platform consists of digital bulletin boards where businesses can pin their content.  Pinterest announced September 2015 that it had acquired 100 million users. Small businesses whose target audience is mostly made up of women should definitely invest in Pinterest as more than half of its visitors are women.

Instagram

Like Pinterest, Instagram is a visual social media platform. The site, launched on October 6, 2010, has more than 400 million active users and is owned by Facebook. Many of its users use it to post information about travel, fashion, food, art and similar subjects. The platform is also distinguished by its unique filters together with video and photo editing features. Almost 95 percent of Instagram users also use Facebook.

Tumblr

Tumblr is one of the most difficult to use social networking platforms, but it’s also one of the most interesting sites. The platform allows several different post formats, including quote posts, chat posts, video and photo posts as well as audio posts, so you are never limited in the type of content that you can share. Like Twitter, reblogging, which is more like retweeting, is quick and easy. The social networking website was founded by David Karp in February 2007 and currently hosts more than 200 million blogs.

Flickr

Flickr, pronounced “Flicker,” is an online image and video hosting platform that was created by the then Vancouver-based Ludicorp on February 10, 2004, and later acquired by Yahoo in 2005. The platform is popular with users who share and embed photographs.  As of October last year, Flickr had more than 112 million users and had its footprint in more than 63 countries. An average of a million photos are shared daily on Flickr.

Snapchat

Snapchat is an image messaging application software product that was created by Reggie Brown, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy when they were students at Stanford University. The app was officially released in September 2011, and within a short span of time they have grown immensely registering an average of 100 million daily active users as of May 2015. More than 18 percent of all social media users use Snapchat.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform instant messaging client for smartphones, PCs and tablets. The app relies on the Internet to send images, texts, documents, audio and video messages to other users that have the app installed on their devices. Launched in January 2010, WhatsApp Inc. was acquired by Facebook on February 19, 2004, for about $19.3 billion. Today, more than 1 billion people use the service to communicate with their friends, loved ones and even customers.

Viber

Viber is a Voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging app for mobile devices that was developed and released by Viber Media on December 2, 2010. The app also allows for the exchange of audio, video and images between users. As of April 2014, Viber had accrued close to 600 million registered users and 230 monthly active users.

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4 key factors for successful franchise!

by Business Advicebusiness climateBusiness EnvironmentInternational EnvironmentInvestment OpportunitiesLatest Posts

With options like coffee shops, family entertainment venues, fitness centers, hair salons, cleaning services and donut shops, the ways for you to go into business as a franchisee seem endless.

Here are key tips individuals seeking to own their own franchises should consider. If owning your own franchise is your goal, then preparing yourself for it will encourage greater success.

➥ Find your passion

It’s important to find the best fit for you. Start by looking at what you’re most passionate about. How can you turn that passion into your dream job —Your passion can lead to finding a specific business opportunity that fits your vision for the ideal future.

Research various franchise opportunities to determine your calling. This is the time to consider how well your interests, expertise and passions fit within each business opportunity.

➥ Level of growth

Research the growth of the industry sector. As the economy builds and improves, does the industry grow? When the economy struggles, does the industry level out?

Each industry has its own successful and unsuccessful franchises. Be sure to look into what factors may have caused these successes and failures.

 ➥ Follow the system

Part of the reason you choose a particular franchise is because it has a successful system. In order to be successful, you have to learn that system

➥ Never stop marketing

As a franchisee, your job, first and foremost, is the sales and marketing of your product or service. Don’t wait for your franchisor to remind you—get your marketing out there all the time, analyze the effectiveness of each method and share effective techniques with your fellow franchisees.

see similar article: TOP FRANCHISES WORLDWIDE