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The Christmas season is just around the corner and with it comes joy of giving and receiving gifts. If you have been experiencing some financial difficulties this year, it is best come up with a strategy that can help you save a little on Christmas presents.

You shouldn’t let your financial concerns cloud your holidays, but you also don’t afford not to think about it and pile up a huge amount of debt.

Plan Ahead and Allocate a Fix Budget

The most important aspect that you want to keep in mind when shopping for Christmas gifts is not to leave it on the last minute. It is true that many stores have lots of great offers during Christmas season, but last minute shopping never goes as planned. Think about what you want to buy for your family and friends and adapt those wishes to your financial status.

Best way to do that is to make a lift with all the gifts and allocate them a fixed budget. This will help you stay organized, save time for other activities and most of all save some money.

Homemade Gifts

Homemade gifts are perfect if you need to save money on Christmas shopping; you get the chance to get your loved ones a beautiful and considerate present and also not stress out your budget.

Exchange Gifts

Many families have incorporated this practice into the Christmas traditions; it’s fun and help you save a lot of money. If you choose to go with the “Secret Santa” style, you will only have to buy a gift for one person. Think how good that will be for your budget. Plus, Christmas presents, are not about spending all the money you have; they are about putting some thought into the presents.

Vouchers

You might think that vouchers are not appropriate presents for Christmas but if you are on a tight budget them can be real budget savers.

Online Shopping

One of the best money savings tip, no matter the season, is to do your shopping online. You have a lot more possibilities, and you can compare prices without having to spend the whole day in a crowded shopping mall.

Outlet Mall

Get designer products at low prices; that way you can give your loved ones a beautiful present and not worry about spending all your Christmas budget on just one item.

Get some gifts after Christmas

If you have some family members of friends that you don’t have to see on Christmas Day buy their presents after Christmas. If you go with this approach, consider the strategy early, when planning the gifts and deciding the budget.

Money is always tight during the winter season; expenses are higher than usual, and saving some money on gifts can go a long way in helping you start the New Year debt free. You can always choose to skip giving presents this year but before taking a radical approach, try to come up with a strategy based on the advices above and you will surely be satisfied.

Many of us have heard that 99% of presentations are bad and not effective. This article will outline the 10 most common reasons why so many presentations are so bad, and suggest how to avoid these common mistakes.

1. No clear message- When preparing your presentation, you must make sure you are clear on what your objective is. It may be to just inform, to advocate a point of view or you are seeking an approval. Whatever it is, make sure you are clear why you are giving the presentation. If you start with the end in mind the rest should be easy.

2. Your slides are boring- Unfortunately 99% of presentation slides are really bad and will not be able to grab the attention of the audience. Nobody likes to look at page after page of hardly visible text on the screen, which the presenter is reading like a story book. Generally, less text works better. Simple text with powerful images work best. Remember the slides are there just to help you as visual aids, do not rely on them. You are the ‘star’ who needs to ‘wow’ your audience.

3. Not enough material/content- Sometime your presentation fails due to insufficient content to make a convincing case for the audience. For example, you did not provide enough evidence to back up your argument or point of view. Another example would be a new business proposal which did not include risks and the mitigating contingencies you will put in place.

4. Too much material- Just as bad as not having enough material is having too much material covered in your presentation. Firstly, people have a very limited attention span that rarely exceed 20 minutes. Secondly, having too much material to cover will make it harder for you to highlight the key message or objective of your presentation.

5. Monotonous voice- Nobody enjoys listening to a robot. You need to modulate your voice so that there are times when you raise your voice to emphasise a point and there are times you pause and say nothing, to give your audience time to absorb what you just said. There are times you will speak quickly and times when you will speak slowly to highlight a point in your presentation.

6. Not rehearsing- The vast majority of people do not bother to practice giving their presentation thinking that they are already quite good at it. Unfortunately, they are not! And that probably includes you too. Even the late Steve Jobs spent a lot of time rehearsing his legendary presentations. Take the time to practice and make it a habit. It will make you comfortable with the material and make you far less nervous. This will create confidence that the audience will be able to spot and makes you case stronger. Alternatively, if you do not practice, you will appear less confident and you will not be as convincing.

7. Complicated language- Depending on your audience use language that is as simple as possible. The less the audience has to think about what you are trying to say the better. Avoid jargon and complex terminology unless you are speaking to a room full of experts. Use simple words and short sentences, your audience will appreciate it.

8. Not getting to the point quickly- People hate waiting. Try to get to the point of your presentation quickly. Often it is best to tell them up front what the objective of the presentation is at the start of the presentation. Also another tip is to tell them how long your presentation will take before you begin, this will put the audiences feeling of anxiety at ease. Unless you are told how long a presentation will take, your audience will be speculating and wondering when you will get to the point.

9. Poor structure- To be effective your presentation needs to be properly structured for the objective you are trying to achieve. Like any good story, it will need a start, middle and an ending. A good basic structure is to start with an introduction of the problem or issue you wish to address, and then go into the implications for the audience of the issue. Only then do you go into introducing the solution and also address any possible concerns relating to the proposed solution. Finally, you have a call to action, what you want the audience to do. This is just a basic example; the main point is that you need a logical flow in the structure of your presentation.

10. Giving out hand outs too early- A common mistake many people do is to give copies of their slides before the present. This is a guaranteed way of ensuring the audience will not listen to you because they will be busy reading your slides and they can read much faster than you can present. They will be on your fourth slide when you are still on the contents slide. Give your hand outs at the end of the presentation so that you will have their full attention.

Always remember these 10 sins of presentations and you will be on your way to becoming a better presenter who will always grab the attention of any audience.

It was that far away look in my students’ eyes that told me something was wrong. I was teaching grade 8-mathematics and trying to show the kids how to solve expressions with exponents. But what I didn’t realize was that they didn’t know how to solve algebraic equations yet, so I might as well have been speaking to them in a foreign language. As a newly minted teacher, early on in my career, I hadn’t yet learned that before you start holding forth you’d better find out what the students already know! Otherwise, you risk losing them, and your lesson flops.

In many ways, this same principle applies to business communication. If you want to be an effective communicator – whether it’s a presentation or a written document such as an email message, a letter, or a report – you really do have to know who your audience is and what their needs are.

We’ve probably all experienced opening an email from someone who is anxious for our business only to find the message is totally irrelevant. What’s the first thing you do when this happens? Right! You hit the delete button. No doubt you’re grumbling why this message was sent to you in the first place, since its content clearly doesn’t apply to you. And that’s not a good start for building a business relationship!

The fact is; it’s hard to persuade your audience to respond to your message if you haven’t done your homework. The Plain Language and Action Information Network (PLAIN) which is at the forefront of a movement promoting communication that’s clear and simple, makes the idea of focusing on audiences their first defining principle:

“Written material is in plain language if your audience can:

• Find what they need;
• Understand what they find; and
• Use what they find to meet their needs.”

Or if you think of it in retail terms: the customer truly does come first. As I like to put it, “It’s not about me, it’s really about you.”

So how do you figure out who your audience is? Do a little homework.

Here are My Top Tips for Getting to Know Your Audience:

1. Talk To Me: A good old-fashioned conversation is frequently the best way to find out what your audience knows, doesn’t know, and wants to know. Whether it’s a casual chat or a formal interview the goal is the same – find out who your audience is, and what their needs are.
2. Make Google Your Friend: Do a little research online before you write that proposal or send that email message. If you’re working with a new company, their website may reveal a great deal about their current status and future goals.
3. Survey The Crowd: Much like a pollster or a broadcast measurement organization, you may want to send out a survey to your audience. It may be the best option when you have a new client with a complex catalogue of needs, and limited interest in face-to-face or phone meetings.
4. Get Social: Sometimes social media (Facebook and Twitter) are a good way to conduct research. Facebook recently introduced Facebook Questions, which some feel can be a useful tool for polling your already existing community.

Getting to know your audience so that you can be an effective communicator isn’t terrifically complicated. It’s more a matter of taking the time to do your due diligence. Of course, sometimes it’s tempting to skip this step. After all, many people find the thought of “research” and “interviewing” a little dry and dusty. But what outcome would you prefer – reaping the rewards because you put in the time? Or watching as their eyes glaze over?