A lot of the time, buying presents for people year in and year out can be really stressful. It’s hard to come up with unique gifts sometimes – especially if you’ve been buying them gifts for years and years. However, there are a few solutions to this. One of the most popular things to do these days is buy personalised presents. They are a unique way to show that you care and they are easy to find on the web.

Most of the time, personalised presents include things like mugs, T-shirts, teddy bears and keyrings. However, these days there are a huge range of options available such as posters, cards and even bedding and clothing. No matter what their tastes, you should easily be able to find something that they’ll like – just be sure to consider all your options before you buy anything.

Finding a personalised presents shop on the web isn’t hard either. There are literally thousands of companies who offer things that you will be interested in. Most of the larger retailers offer free shipping as well and usually you can get next day delivery – so even if you’re in a rush it’s still an option.

Personalised presents really are a fantastic way to show that you care without having to worry about being repetitive. There are some people in this world that seem to have everything and that can make gift buying very hard – just remember that personalised presents are completely unique and therefore are a fantastic option.

Finding what you need on the web is easy but if you’re on a budget it may be a little trickier. You will need to remember that you want to save some money so make sure that you don’t buy the first thing that you see. Take your time to browse the web and find a range of options to compare.

When it comes to birthdays and special occasions, sometimes nothing says “I care” more than buying your friend or family member personalised presents. It can also be a great way to have a bit of fun with a gimicky present for your loved ones – just take your time and spend your money wisely.

In the Health Care Summit negotiations that recently concluded in the U.S., the winner was… nobody, or was it? In a negotiation, positioning plays a key role in the manner by which negotiators negotiate. Positioning partly entails establishing the image, style of negotiations, and attitudes you’ll display and project throughout the negotiations.

In observing some of the negotiations that occurred at the Health Care Summit, it appeared that the whole event was a melodrama, cloaked as a staged optical illusion, disguised as ‘getting something done’ for the American people.

This article highlights negotiation strategies that you can employ, based on the manner in which the participants engaged one another at the Summit.

Seating:

· The Democrats and Republicans could have arranged the seating so that its members were interspersed with one another. Had they done so, both parties would have agreed to the arrangement before hand, and the stage would have been set for less hostility. Subliminally, it could have promoted more camaraderie.

When you negotiate, consider the seating arrangement. Adjust it to suit your purpose for the negotiation.

Talking Points:

· Neither party strayed far from their talking points. The Democrats said things like, “the bill had a lot of agreements that the Republicans put forth, we’re not that far apart, we’re close, the bill is not that radical, let’s find common ground”. The Republicans said things like, “start over, start with a clean sheet of paper, scrap this bill, go step by step, the bill was ‘painted’ as having been created in the back room without the Republicans participation”.

When you infuse a negotiation with such rhetoric, you preset mindsets not to seek common ground. In addition, such resounding rhetoric creates a hypnotic mental state for one to maintain his perspective, making him less open to alternatives.

Optics:

· Politicians have to be very mindful of the image they project. The cliché, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is probably truer in politics than any other profession. That being the case, the politicians in attendance at the Summit were very concerned with their ‘appearance’ and how it would ‘play’ back home.

During a negotiation, consider how you might be advantaged or disadvantaged from ‘the way things look’. In some situations, you may acquire value, or be devalued, based on who’s in attendance. Case in point from a political perspective, one of the attendees from the Republican Party is facing a tough primary fight in his home state. If he was in a picture with the president, appearing to be very ‘chummy’, an opponent could use the picture against that politician. His opponent could use the picuture to depict ‘how close’ the politician’s views are to the president. Mind you, his views could be the opposite of the president, but the picture could ‘pose’, or create, a different perception.

Body Language:

· From a body language standpoint, depending upon which party was speaking, the participants from the other party conveyed signs of stiffness, constant evaluation, skepticism, and total disagreement in some cases.

If you maintain a rigid body position, your mental state of mind will convey your thoughts. You’ll also be less likely to possess an open mind, when it comes to the possibility of alternate solutions. If you want to maintain a free lane for alternate thoughts to flow in your negotiations, loosen up.

Name Calling:

· At the Summit, the president referred to most attendees by their first name. In so doing, psychologically he marginalized them. In return, they had to call him Mr. President, out of respect for the office he holds.

As you negotiate, observe situations in which you can enhance your esteem. By doing so, you’ll increase your persona and have more sway over the other negotiator. You’ll also reduce the possible insolence he might display.

Use these strategies in your next negotiation. In so doing, you’ll be rewarded by achieving more of what you seek from a negotiation… and everything will be right with the world.

The Negotiation Tips Are…

· Consider the ‘optics’ of how your offer and your point of view will be perceived.

· In the positioning planning process, consider how you might ‘reframe’ (present differently) your position, to make it more appealing.

· Before negotiating, consider incentives you might use to entice the other negotiator to move in a specific direction.

For additional insight, click on the link below and watch my comments on the Neil Cavuto show.

Are poor presentations costing you business?

The ability to deliver a presentation to potential investors or clients is an essential skill for any budding entrepreneur, sales professional or consultant.

Whether it’s a ’15-second elevator pitch’ or a more extensive presentation, winning over and persuading audiences is vital in today’s competitive capital raising and sales environment.

Learning the art of making powerful and persuasive presentations in any business situation and you will win more work.

My premise is every start-up entrepreneur, seasoned business operator or consultant can win more business by being a better presenter.

Here are the Seven Deadly Sins of Business Presentations and How to Avoid Them.

1. Not Having a Clear Goal.

It is essential to know what the objective or end outcome of your presentation is. Is it to raise funds, educate and inform, build relationships, to sell or build credibility?

2. No Structure.

This is an absolute must for any presenter – at the very least have a beginning, middle and end. You may be the best presenter in the world with outstanding delivery skills but poor structure will lead to a poor presentation.

3. Not Connecting with Your Audience.

Building empathy and rapport with your audience is critical. Connect with them on three levels – head, heart and hip-pocket.

4. A Poor Beginning.

First impressions always matter. If you have to raise $8 million in 8 minutes, make every word count. I learnt this tip from attending Patricia Fripp’s speaking school recently and I think its brilliant. For business presentations she says avoid using ‘Thanks, its great to be here’ as your opener. She rightly points out you’ve just wasted 10 seconds. At a million dollars a minute that equates to nearly $167,000!

5. Too Much Content.

The cardinal sin of all business and technical presenters. In my media career, I estimate I have attended more than 300 conferences, events and seminars. That’s 1500 hours worth of presentations I’ve had to sit through and the most common mistake I’ve seen is presenters rush and overload the audience with too much content. Remember, presentations rely on the spoken word and the visual – use the written word and a handout to provide more detail.

6. The Presenter’s ‘I’s’ Are Too Close Together.

We all like to talk about ourselves. As a radio manager, I spent hours listening to and providing feedback to broadcasters. Those that really connected with their audience talked with them rather than at them. I observed they used the word ‘you’ a lot more than the word ‘I’. This led to the saying that with some presenters their ‘I’s’ were too close together! Here’s another great tip I learnt from Fripp. Record your presentation and have it transcribed. Every time you see the word ‘I’, cross it out and replace it with ‘you’. She calls this working on your ‘I-You Ratio’.

7. Poor Closer.
Again it is beginning and the end that is the most important part of any presentation. With your closer – what is the key message or action you want the audience to take away with them as they walk out the door? In business presentations the closer is often the ‘call to action’. When I heard Bill Clinton speak at a Fundraising event for sick children, his closer was ‘I want you to help’. Simple, direct and effective.

Here’s another tip I learnt from Fripp. If you want to take questions, take them before your closer, because ending on question time is a poor and weak way to end a presentation. Worse still, you are unlikely to be able to control the last question. Take questions for a set period before the end, wrap that section up and then end with a strong closer. I’ve already tried this on several audiences and it works a treat!