http://www.businessballs.com/freeteambuildingactivities.

htm
Debates, Presentation, Group Discussion, HR and Technical Mock Interviews are part of the Personality Development Programmes. Pronounciation Newspaper reading Management games Presentations Situational questions to find out positive thinking Mock interviews GD

3 golden rules for effective communication

Have you been wondering how to put together an impressively-phrased Powerpoint presentation? Have you been wondering how to compose an e-mail that captures your strategies and goals effectively? It is time you did something about it. As a young professional in today's global business world, it is imperative that you are competent in both oral as well as written communication. Important forms of oral communication at the workplace include: y y Building interpersonal relationships. Giving presentations and debating viewpoints effectively.

You need to master oral skills for both in-person and over-the-phone interactions. Similarly, important written communication includes: y y y Writing professional e-mails (sans SMS slang). Putting together concise reports. Creating visually powerful Powerpoint presentations.

And the key to acing oral and written communication is to spruce up your communication skills. And it is a lot easier than you think. Here are some easy tips to do it on your own: 1. Improve pronunciation and diction

There are a few tricks to making a vernacular accent more globally understandable. ~ Try making sure that 'air' comes out of your mouth when saying the letters, 'T, P, K' and the sound 'Ch'. ~ Focus on elongating your vowel sounds. This will also automatically slow down your rate of speech. ~ Sing English songs out loud! ~ Watch news shows on channels like CNN and BBC. ~ The web site www.m-w.com is great for pronunciation help. ~ I would also suggest buying books on pronunciation and language that come with audio cassettes. A good book that I found really useful was Better English Pronunciation by J D O'Connor. It is part of the Cambridge series, and some of those books come with cassettes. 2. Spruce up your writing skills ~ Believe it or not, you have to Read More! ~ Well-written magazines, like The Economist and India [ Images ] Today, are great to read not only to improve language skills but also to learn more about the world. ~ In terms of books, read what interests you. The basic goal is to read as much as you can. There are a plethora of good authors who are popular today. Some good writers whose language is easy to follow include Vikram Seth, Jhumpa Lahiri [ Images ], Paulo Coelho, J D Salinger, Albert Camus and Roald Dahl. ~ People tend to forget basic grammar when writing e-mails. An e-mail is nothing more than a letter which is sent electronically. Make sure salutations and content are professional. Use special phrases when attaching documents. For example, "Please find attached with this e-mail a report on..." This helps you sound professional. 3. Five exercises to practise every day! i. Pretend you are a newscaster and read out the newspaper to your mirror. ii. Do not read local newspapers. Focus on national newspapers. iii. While reading a book, underline all the words you do not know. Look them up in the dictionary. iv. Make a list of these words, and make sure you use at least five of them in a conversation during the day. v. Most important, make an effort to speak in English to your friends and family.

How to Develop Good Communication Skills

Steps
1. Know what communication really is. Communication is the process of transferring signals/messages between a sender and a receiver through various methods (written words, nonverbal cues, spoken words). It is also the mechanism we use to establish and modify relationships. 2. Manifest constructive attitudes and beliefs. The attitudes you bring to communication will have a huge impact on the way you compose yourself and interact with others. Choose to be honest, patient, optimistic, sincere, respectful, and accepting of others. Be sensitive to other people's feelings, and believe in others' competence. 3. Make eye contact. Whether you are speaking or listening, looking into the eyes of the person with whom you are conversing can make the interaction more successful. Eye contact conveys interest, and encourages your partner to be interested in you in return. In less intimate settings, when giving a speech or when in front of several people, holding the eyes of different members of your audience can personalize what you are saying and maintain attention. 4. Be aware of what your body is saying. Body language can say so much more than a mouthful of words. An open stance with arms relaxed at your sides tells anyone around you that you are approachable and open to hearing what they have to say. Arms crossed and shoulders hunched, on the other hand, suggest disinterest in conversation or unwillingness to communicate. Often, communication can be stopped before it starts by body language that tells people you don't want to talk. Appropriate posture and an approachable stance can make even difficult conversations flow more smoothly. 5. Have courage to say what you think! Be confident in knowing that you can make worthwhile contributions to conversation. Take time each day to be aware of your opinions and feelings so you can adequately convey them to others. Individuals who are hesitant to speak because they do not feel their input would be worthwhile need not fear; what is important or worthwhile to one person may not be to another and may be more so to someone else. In a world so very big, someone is bound to agree with you, or to open your eyes to an even deeper perspective. The courage to say what you think can afford you the opportunity to learn more than you knew before. 6.

Speak clearly enough to be heard. When you are saying what you think, have the confidence to say it so as to be heard. An appropriate tone and volume can inform listeners that you mean what you say, you have thought about what you are saying, and what you are saying is worth hearing. Using proper inflection helps ensure that your listeners hear exactly what you are saying, and reduces possibilities for misunderstanding. 7. Practice. Developing advanced communication skills begins with simple interactions. Communication skills can be practiced every day in settings that range from the more social to the more professional. New skills take time to refine, but each time you use your communication skills you open yourself to opportunities and future partnerships. 8. Develop effective listening skills. Not only should one be able to speak effectively, one must listen to the other person's words and engage in communication on what the other person is speaking about. Avoid the impulse to listen only for the end of their sentence so that you can blurt out the ideas or memories that come to your mind while the other person is speaking.