In the world of gift-giving, presenting the gift is an important consideration for both the giver and the receiver. For the giver, the time, the effort, the thought, and the resources in presenting the gift are what’s involved, and for the receiver, the beauty and the excitement and the ‘guessing game’ as to what’s inside is important.

In giving wedding favors, how it is packed and how it is presented to the guests is important as this is generally a sign of the appreciation of the couple for the time and warm wishes of the guests. There are different ways of presenting wedding favors to guests, while they have the same goal of thanking the guests and give a small remembrance for the event, here are different ‘styles’ you can choose from.

-During the photo-op session, one of your bridesmaids can hand it to the guests as they leave the photo-op area. After their photo, and before going back to their table, have a bridesmaid hand it to them as they exit.

-You can also dedicate a separate table where the favors are laid out nicely. Make sure you have enough space in your reception venue so the table will not be bumped accidentally, something you may want to avoid especially if you have crystal favors.

-Wedding favors can make for a great place setting. If you have already identified the guests who will be receiving them, you can use them as place setting or table cards. For this to work, also ensure that the color of your wedding favor will match with that of the table setting.

-There is nothing lovelier than a cute flower girl handing the wedding favors. It will be an adorable treat as the guests receive their favors from the basket of the flower girl. Give her a decorated basket with the favors, with the weight just enough for her to carry around. To make this work, make sure that the flower girl’s mom or a bridesmaid is assisting her.

-If you can hand the favors personally to the guest as they leave, then that’s a very personalized option as well. As the guests will definitely seek you out as they leave, some brides prefer handing it directly to them. Have someone assist you in retrieving the favors from a central location or table as you hand it to them.

Choose a way of presenting your gifts as you consider all the logistical concerns in your wedding reception. If you choose the ones which will require extra table settings or extra decorations on your table, make sure your venue and table requirements will allow for it. If you will have people or you yourself give them, make sure that it will be a part of the program where you or your flower will be assisted.

Giving away the wedding favors would fall on the last part of the reception, so make sure that this ending will cap off the wedding on a good note.

If you are in absolute panic just before your presentation, you are not alone. Yes, there is a way to deal with the panic. You can cope!

One of the most successful English pop singers of all times, Robbie Williams, has told how the sight of a terrified celebrity footballer David Beckham helped him to come to terms with nerves before his Live 8 performance in the summer of 2005. The 31-year-old pop star was nervous about his first live performance in the UK for two years. But he lost his nerves when he saw Beckham fretting about introducing him on stage at London’s Hyde Park. “David looked more scared and I got a perverse joy out of it.” he said on BBC One’s Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. (Source: BBC news October 2005)

Everyone, even seasoned performers, sometimes gets nervous in front of audiences. So it is not strange that you also will feel nervous. What you do about your nervousness is crucial. Most probably you have one or two of the following symptoms of nervousness. Don’t worry; you are perfectly normal. It just shows that you are human.

Symptoms of Stage fright

• Dry mouth.
• Tight throat.
• Sweaty hands.
• Cold hands.
• Shaky hands.
• Nausea.
• Fast pulse.
• Shaky knees.

What is the big idea behind physical exercises just minutes before going on stage? Concentrating for a minute or two on them would not only get rid off the discomfort, but also make you energised and thus in a better frame of mind to go and give your best.

Method for easing tension

There are a few simple exercises that can help to eliminate the tension that you are likely to feel just before your presentation. Most likely you feel tension in your neck and shoulders – and this may cause you to appear hunched. It may also cause a tightening in your larynx – producing the breathless quivering or shaky voice associated with nervousness. Tension is also tiring and consequently it may have a detrimental effect on your overall performance. First of all you need to find a quiet place, where you can bee alone for a minute or two. You can also do the exercises in a back room or backstage, where the audience can’t see you.

Exercise for Reducing Tension in neck and shoulders

To ease stress in the neck place your cupped hands at the base of your skull and press your head firmly back into them, holding the push for about 10 seconds before releasing and repeating. During this exercise keep your elbows back and try closing your eyes.

Exercise for Reducing Tension in lower back

A good way to relieve stress in the lower back is to stand with your feet shoulder width apart and reach for the sky. Point your fingers straight up as you stretch your arms above your head and keep stretching them as you feel the pressure on your back ease. Keeping you feet firmly on the ground, push your pelvis forward gently and hold yourself in this position for just a few seconds before gently relaxing back to your start position. Then you can move your hands and your hips sideways a few times. This exercise helps to ease the muscles in the neck, back and hamstrings.

Breathing exercise

The technique of alternate nostril breathing aims to balance our entire autonomic nervous system by breathing alternately through the right nostril.

First clear your nostrils by breathing in and out quickly several times in a row. Next, use the thumb to close your right nostril and your ring finger to close your left nostril alternately. Begin by inhaling through both nostrils. Then breathe out through one nostril, while blocking the other, and then switch and breathe in through the other nostril. After three complete breaths, exhale without switching sides, and do three more breaths.

After this you will surely be in a better frame of mind to go and give your best. Enjoy your presentation.

When giving your presentation, be sure to let the audience know where you’ll be taking them. A simple sentence like, “Today we’re going to explore the three reasons why our system will work for you.” will immediately put everyone at ease and help them put their “listening ears” on. Include signs and signals along the way. Audiences love signs ; words like; first, second, last or most important, equally important, to a lesser extent. You may feel like you’re broadcasting the obvious, but they will love you for it. The next time you’re speaking and you get to a really important point, try saying, “If you remember nothing else, remember what I’m about to say next.” Then pause, say the really important thing, and repeat it. Watch the room go quiet and the audience hang on your every word.

Whatever you do; don’t promise your audience one destination and then deposit them at another. I use the analogy of a site-seeing cruise. If you get on the boat and the cruise director tells you you’re going to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the South Street Seaport, they’d better not take you to Chinatown, Wall Street and Ground Zero! Those may be great sites, but that’s not what you paid to see. Audiences have the same kind of expectations for presentations; don’t confuse or disappoint them.

On of my favorite clients was guilty of “signaling left and going right”. His goal when we began working together was to be more charismatic, more engaging. Let me tell you, this guy is about as engaging as they come; super hand gestures, great at audience involvement, terrific facial expressions. Unfortunately, he told the audience he was taking them one place, and then ended up in another! The look he was seeing on their faces was one of confusion, not boredom. These poor people were trying to figure out where they were and how they got there. Not a lot of fun, and certainly not something that’s going to yield nodding heads and smiling faces.

In order to create signs and signals for your audience, you must know where you’re headed. “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” Yogi Beara famously said. Make sure you have a one or two sentence statement of the PURPOSE of your presentation. Refer to that purpose as you structure your content. This is your destination. If you find yourself including things in your content that take you off course; take them out! Remember; audiences are trusting you to take them where you promised to take them. Don’t let their faith go astray by leading them to an unknown, unplanned, unpromised place.

You know and I know, the goal is nodding heads and smiling faces, (and the subsequent commitment to your product, service, suggested next step, etc.). You can help that outcome along by doing all you can to help the audience arrive at the destination you’ve promised. Oh, and signs and signals along the way won’t hurt either. They’ll insure that you’ll be heard.

Recently, a young woman who, in preparation for giving a 90 minute seminar at a regional conference on a rather dry and technical topic, asked a group of us to preview her seminar. She told us that we were to give her honest critiques along with any tips on ways she could improve her presentation.

The group of people gave her many suggestions and comments– some laudatory, but more on how to change her program and delivery. A few weeks later, she presented her updated presentation at another meeting I attended. I was delighted to observe that she had incorporated the suggestions, erased her distracting habits, enlivened her topic and achieved a powerful, useful and interesting presentation.

As so few tend to do, she had listened to us, taken our feedback and used it to her advantage. In this article I investigate the various ways to receive feedback and then take advantage of the parts you can use.

The first step is to ask the right person and/or people for feedback.

• When we choose the person and/or people we want to give us feedback, we should look for those whom we trust and respect, those who have enough experience to give us useful suggestions and then tell them what we expect and want from them.
• I feel that asking for honest feedback is one of the hardest tasks we can perform. There is always the fear of harsh criticism — which none of us welcome — and finding out that we are not as good as we think we are or want to be.
• I give the young woman I described in the first paragraph a lot of credit, not only for asking for our critiques, but also for being willing to follow our suggestions.
• She made us all comfortable about being honest and constructive in our feedback.
• Most of the group knows her well, has heard her present before and wants her to succeed.
• She told us she wanted us to be “tough” and she meant it.,
• We all shared and learned from the feedback ourselves and were proud when we witnessed her follow-up presentation.

When we receive feedback, whether asked for or not, we must decide what is valid and useful. I am happy to give feedback when asked by someone like the young woman in this article, who is serious about improving and knows me well enough to trust me — she visits my presentation site often, so knows my opinions.

So, remember, ask for feedback only when you want it and plan to use it. Pick your evaluators wisely and thank them by improving. Then, they will know that they haven’t wasted their time and expertise, and they will be proud as we were of our colleague. She put the feedback to advantage and reached a whole new plateau in her presentation skills.

Among so many presentations that you have heard, you may be found only few memorable presentations. It is not easy for making an unforgettable presentation. However, by using an analogy or comparing throughout your talk, you will find the key to make any presentation or speech memorable. At this time, this article is going to give you some tips to design an unforgettable presentation by using analogies. So, just take a look at the following tips and you will get great impression from your audience.

As the first step, you need to analyze your audience. Try to find out what your audience’s likes and dislikes are. When using an analogy, you should choose the one that your audience will be comfortable with. Do not choose it because you like it. Besides, you also need to consider about the ages of the audience, how many women or men in the group, and also their backgrounds. It is also important for you to consider using universal analogy which almost any audience can relate to.

The second step is to align the analogy to your topic. After you have considered about you audience needs, the next thing that you have to do is to think about your topic and what analogy that will easily map back to your topic. If you are going to speak about business idea, you can use sports as a universal analogy that can work well. For instance, you can use football team as the analogy for a sales team who faced with the challenges and competitions. Or, business management can be seen as a coach who is getting a team through a difficult challenge. Meanwhile, in some complex topics like engineering and science, using simple structures can make a great comparison. In this case, you should choose an analogy which is crystal clear for the topic you want to present.

The third step that you have to do is to break the analogy into parts. You should break the analogy into three or four parts. It is because audiences tend to not remember more than four parts.

Lastly, by deciding appropriate analogy for your presentation, you will not only help the audience to remember your ideas, but this can also be beneficial in helping you as the speaker. An analogy can act as the great guide for you to structure your whole presentation and also keep you focused in every step of the way.