means of communication should therefore be clear enough to stimulate action.
Poor
Soft Skills & Communication Barriers
S1 - Soft Skill & Presentation Skills 2 Prof. Ahmed JADIR
SKILLS CLASSIFICATION
The Skills can be divided into five categories. They include the technical or hard skills
we discussed earlier, and then four categories of ‘soft skills’. According to the Experts,
soft skills encompass the following:
Essential Skills
Each and every student must possess the essential skills in order to strive and to
survive in the competitive world. It is needless to mention that reading and writing
are the most essential and fundamental soft skills through which all the students
acquire competence. The students should develop their potential for thinking,
analyzing and developing problem-solving skills. Exercises and practice situations
that address these essential soft skills in addition to regular curriculum will be
instrumental in developing the personality of the students.
Management Skills
Managerial skills include the ability to manage people, capital, and budgets as well as
the ability to undertake organizational activities such as planning, marketing, and
evaluation. Managerial skills are essential for teachers and academic administrators.
For an administrator or a school principal whose responsibility lies in managing the
rest of the staff, the managerial skill is immensely important.
Leadership Skills
The ability to motivate and assist others to achieve their full potential, to take risks
and to formulate a vision comes under the purview of leadership skills. These skills
are essential for teachers, managers, Boss and students...
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Expression is the basic tenet of human communication. It is generally achieved either
through signs or speech or by the method of writing. In order to express what we
need, our signs, speech or writing should be meaningful. In other words, our
communication should be effective; otherwise we fail to receive what we want. All
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communication will only result in poor response.
Communication is employed extensively in the process of all types of interactions—
social, educational, and official. According to a Linguist, ‘Communication is a two-
way sharing process, not a movement along a one-way track. To communicate is to
make an idea common to two or more persons.’ The analysis of the statement from
the point of view of teaching will mean that (1) the communicator himself should be
thoroughly acquainted with what he is going to teach, (2) the receivers—audience—
should pay attention and interest to what is going to be taught to them, and (3) the
process of stimulation should be heavily relied upon by the communicator.
PRESENTATION SKILLS
Presentations are a way of communicating information and ideas to a group of
people. It is a potentially effective means of bringing people together to plan, raise
issues, present problems, monitor, and review the progress of any project on hand. A
presentation has a logical beginning, middle and end that are well sequenced and
structured so that there is absolute clarity in communication to the audience. In an
oral presentation the audience is completely at the mercy of the presenter. We can say
that one of the major components of any presentation is the speaker himself who is
the source of the message. Therefore, the speaker’s motivation, credibility as a
speaker and style of delivery matter a great deal to make a good presentation.
If the audience too is motivated and inspired, it is much easier to influence, prevail
over and convince them. It also encourages them to ask questions and initiate a
discussion. In such a situation the audience could also help to provide valuable input
to your decision-making at the end of the presentation.
HOW TO GIVE A SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION
1- The text below contains several recommendations for giving effective
presentations. Scan the text to match the seven points below to the paragraphs, a-f
1- Choose visuals to support the presentation.
2- Have a simple, clear structure.
3- Show enthusiasm.
4- Use Power Point.
5- Consider the audience.
6- Dealing with nerves.
What advice from Gatsby do you think is the most important?

a- The key to a successful oral presentation is to keep things simple. I try to stick to
three points. I give an overview of the points, present them to the audience, and
summarize them at the end.

b- My purpose or desired outcome, the type of audience, and the message dictate the
formality of the presentation, the kind of visuals, the number of anecdotes and
examples that I use. Most of my presentations are designed to sell, to explain, or to
motivate. When I plan the presentation, I think about the audience. Are they
professionals or non-professionals? Purchasers or sellers? Providers or users?
Internal or external? My purpose and the audience mix determine the tone and focus
of the presentation.

c- When I make a presentation, I use the visuals as the outline. I will not use notes, I
like to select the kind of visual that not only best supports the message but also best
fits the audience: PowerPoint and slides

d- PowerPoint and slide presentations work well when I am selling a product or an

idea to large groups. In this format, I like to use examples and graphs and tables to
support my message in a general way.

e- I get very, very nervous when I speak in public. I handle my nervousness by just
trying to look as if, instead of talking to so many people, fin walking in and talking to
a single person. I don't like to speak behind lecterns. Instead, I like to get out and just
be open and portray that openness: "I'm here to tell you a story."

f- I try very hard for people to enjoy my presentations by showing enthusiasm on the
subject and by being sincere. I try not to use a hard sell - I just try to report or to
explain - and I think that comes across. In addition, it helps that I am speaking about
something that I very strongly believe in and something that I really, really enjoy
doing.