Advantages of Meetings

A face-to-face discussion of organizational topics and issues can be conducted in various methods. In this modern day and age, individuals conveniently communicate through emailing and conference calls which limit the ability of people to express ideas only through the power of words. However, traditional meetings allow individuals to facilitate discussion and interaction in a face-to-face manner, allowing the participants to express their opinions freely with the help of nonverbal communication. Body language and physical gestures, which are not possible through emailing and phone calls, play vital roles in meetings.… Read More

Meeting Participants Roles and Responsibilities

You may have noticed that every company and organization conducts meetings regularly. You must have attended meetings yourself frequently especially if you work in an office or even a business establishment. These sessions are deemed important because it is through these gatherings that essential organizational issues and many predetermined topics are brought to the table and discussed by every participant involved. What are the different roles and responsibilities of the attendees in a meeting? Depending on the type of meeting conducted, selected individuals are called to join the session. For… Read More

Meetings Follow-up

Meetings can have different frequency options depending on the need and purpose. Meeting organizers may decide whether another session should be conducted or a one-time meeting will suffice. Regardless of the number of repetitions a meeting may have, the meeting facilitator must make sure that a meeting follow-up is performed. It does not necessarily have to be another meeting but simply a spot check of any work progress. Making a follow-up is simply monitoring the progress of any task assigned to the participants during the meeting. But in some cases,… Read More

Time Management during Meetings

In a meeting facilitator’s role, one of the most challenging is time management. Time is limited and constrained in a meeting, so there are times when time runs out before the meeting is even adjourned, leaving some issues untouched and some tasks unassigned. The facilitator must make sure that all issues are thoroughly discussed and the process is completed upon the given time expectation. Keeping track of time can be achieved through the help of the participants. Factors of Time Management in Meetings Knowing the purpose and the need to… Read More

Meeting Preparation

Any event or activity that is poorly planned and lacks rehearsal often generates a negative and weak result. Things get messed up when the participants or the individuals involved are at a loss as to what to do and what roles to perform. An effective and successful meeting can be greatly attributed to adequate preparation by the meeting facilitator or organizers. Whether it is a formal or informal meeting, its outcome relies not just on the participants but on how well the preparation was made throughout the whole process. The… Read More

Meeting Management and Optimization

In a typical organization, managers and senior executives spend a majority of their work time in meetings. They meet with employees and discuss important work matters and issues. Email and memos are good tools of communication, but a meeting is a lot more effective when issues require in-depth discussion. However, surveys report that almost close to half of those meetings are not totally productive and are even a waste of time for employees. Nevertheless, meetings are deemed essential for quick discussion of goals and tasks. So managers and even meeting… Read More

Meeting Agenda

How can meetings run smoothly and end successfully? Aside from having an effective facilitator and active participants, effective meeting agenda is also a key factor. A meeting agenda is a structured outline that highlights the flow of the entire meeting process. It is a meeting framework that keeps the participants in control and focused on the subject matter or topic at hand instead of getting off the track. In other words, it provides a meaningful purpose and direction to any type of meeting. A meeting agenda has to be creative… Read More

Meeting Planning

Meetings play an important role in management and communication. An effective meeting increases work productivity, saves time, elicits motivation from employees, and becomes a tool for problem resolution. To the meeting participants, meetings generate new ideas and proposals. Also, it helps disperse conflict in a way that email communication and company memos cannot. How can we make effective and successful meetings? A good and strategic planning contributes to an effective and productive meeting output since desirable results start with good planning anyway. For a business organization, since meetings are needed… Read More

Meeting Types and Objectives

Members of a company discuss organizational issues and other agenda through a personal gathering or through a conference call. A meeting is a routine activity in a company. It is even part of the weekly itinerary of many working individuals and business people. Meetings can be formal or informal, but for the most part, organizational meetings usually take a formal setting where preparation must be done to properly plan and execute the meeting. There are various types of meetings that may depend on its nature and the objectives or purpose… Read More

Why Meetings are Important

Why are meetings common in a corporate setting and a business environment? Why do people have to converge and talk about work and business matters? Meetings are organized and conducted in almost every corporate office and business establishment for a specific purpose. Usually, this gathering of individuals is done to deliver new knowledge and information, and discuss crucial issues and team projects. Some organizations hold regular scheduled meetings as part of the routine at work. For them, it is one of the ways to keep each other updated with work… Read More

Cluster Supercomputer

The addition of nodes to build a cluster to support file sharing, functions, applications and websites all point to one thing – building a supercomputer. The collection of nodes that would eventually form a cluster would be part of something bigger which could easily support almost any type of workload without showing any signs of downtime. The idea of preventing single point of failure, adding monitoring and measurement tools and even considering the external factors that might jeopardize infrastructure are also small parts towards the ultimate goal of building a… Read More

Linux Thin Client Networks Design and Deployment

Linux Thin Client Networks Design and Deployment Considering the Network Much information already exists concerning methods for deploying networks and hardware. We shall try to clarify differences between using a network with personal computers and thin clients with the help of anecdotes. Certain designs have also proven to be very stable and provide the best possible solution. Primary Network Your first thought might be that your current network will work fine with thin clients and that is entirely possible. But your network might be something that has grown through the… Read More

Clustering through Server Farms

Businesses that have online global operations have to make sure that their data is available for their users 24/7. A single downtime could mean millions of losses as this could reflect not only the company’s inability to provide timely service but would ruin the company’s reputation. Through sheer competition, any business could lose all the clients even for just a single downtime. Most businesses spend thousands or even millions of dollars just to make sure there is no single point of failure and the probable reasons for a downtime could… Read More

Two-Node Clusters

Small businesses could be easily affected by any small changes in their business setting. Because of their small operation, they have to make sure that their cash flow is consistent to ensure they would be able to continue operating in the near future. A single downtime in their operation could mean substantial losses that they might be forced to close down. They need to have stability to ensure survival in the rugged business setting. This is the challenge that online small businesses face. They have to make sure their website… Read More

Compute Clusters and Grid Computing

Grid computing and compute clusters are two forms of computer clustering that could be differentiated based on the relationship of their nodes. The nodes in grid computing often have little to no relationship with each other as each node provide specific function for the completion of a specific problem or computation. Compute clusters on the other hand requires an active relationship of each nodes so that the right computation could be achieved. Although they could be used for business purposes, these types of computer clusters are usually used for scientific… Read More

High Availability Clustering

The trend for most businesses is to provide their services or sell their products online. By tapping the internet, they would be able to expand their customer base not only in their physical location but globally as well. Other businesses that can’t provide their services or sell their products online still use the power of the internet to provide additional information to their prospective customers. The data, products and services they provide have to be available to their customers 24/7. A downtime for businesses means loss of precious customers and… Read More

Infrastructure Consideration in Clustering

The performance of clustering is based on how the nodes are configured. Although the maintenance, control and monitoring of nodes in the cluster is based on the software that runs through different clusters, it is the hardware capability that determines how far the application could be pushed further. No matter how efficient the application is, the computing capability of the application will still be influenced by the hardware. For that reason, the major consideration in establishing clusters is on the hardware. The right servers, routers, switches etc., is very important… Read More

Load Balancing Clustering

Every business wants to ensure their online operations such as their e-store or online application for customer service works well anytime of the day. They need to have powerful servers, applications and the right clustering to ensure a fail safe operation for their users. Clustering pushes the functions of an application to be faster or ensures data availability’s faster transfer. With the right clustering form, online or network (for local use) needs could be easily serviced. An ideal clustering form to ensure stability is load balancing. Clustering by load balancing… Read More

Clustering on P2P

P2P or Person-to-Person is a type of network wherein the connection is based on different users. Instead of a regular server-client relationship for files, use of applications and other network related activities, the members of the P2P becomes the client and the server. While a member of the network is trying to access an application or download a file, the same member is a server wherein another member of network is trying to access the file. This trend will continue in the entire network. The success of P2P is practically… Read More

Clustering Security

Clustering security is one of the most important factors that needs to be considered during clustering. Connectivity, especially when they are implemented through the internet, is susceptible to any type of attack.  The attacks to clustering of nodes could come in different forms – it could be as simple as a virus wherein its sole purpose is to destroy files or could be a very powerful spyware that can easily hijack the controls of nodes for malicious purposes. Those who want to implement clustering have to make sure the nodes, the connections and the… Read More

GPU Clusters

Improving cluster performance is all about using the right hardware. Administrators could implement improvements in their clusters with the right equipments that are geared towards improvement of computing. However, the changes required to improve cluster performance could be costly for the business. Additional powerful nodes, better infrastructure and connections and updated application to control the nodes are only some of the requirements in improving the computing performance of the clusters. Some businesses are just forced to contend with what they have and wait for additional revenues before they can implement certain changes.… Read More

Virtual Machine Clustering

Virtualization is a very popular concept today. The development of technology has pushed forward the realization that everything could be done online. Instead of a local installation on a gadget, an application could be used online which emulates the functions and even more when compared to local gadget. As long as there is a reliable connection, virtualization is possible. Virtualization could even be implemented in clustering. Instead of physical computers or nodes, virtual nodes are created wherein each node has the same capability except that they are never physical. With… Read More

Clusters – Monitoring and Measurement

Clustering is a very sensitive part of business operation especially when the business is focused on their online operation. Although highly technical, its stability suggests the success of the company’s operation. Proper clustering ensures that the online or even local network connections will remain stable and optimized. Clustering will also require resources and the right manpower as these requires consistent check and monitoring. But monitoring is not only done by manually checking each node that composes a cluster. There should be monitoring and measurement tools implemented in different nodes so… Read More

Clustering Applications

With the right configuration, clustering can prevent a single point of failure either by distributing workload to different aspects such as workload balancing or by having a back-up node such as HA (High Availability) clustering which implements efficient failover.  The hardware components in clustering are very important. They can push the applications and files faster because of their increased capability. All of these will not be possible if the hardware is not properly installed. Even the external factors that might single-handedly place the clusters in danger should be considered in… Read More

Introduction to Clustering

The usability of computers increase every year as technology constantly evolves to something better. The computer that was presented almost a decade ago cannot even do a fraction of what a computer does today. From simple document creation and editing to complicated movie editing, a computer could virtually do it all today. No one really knows what a computer could do after five years but it will surely make everyone’s lives a little better as technology provides better assistance to a consumer’s way of life. But our needs cannot be… Read More

Conflict Counseling

Conflicts in organizations do not necessarily equate to a negative and unproductive environment. In fact, disagreements and arguments that lead to conflict are essential for individuals to grow and mature in their work performance. With the existence of conflicts, people realize their mistakes, understand differences in one another, and they strive to make a better organization. However, in cases when conflicts are mismanaged, the results are adverse. In order to resolve a conflict, sometimes a third party is needed and this is especially true for group conflicts. With the help… Read More

How to Maintain Harmony at Workplace

The workplace is one of the most common places for conflicts. Considering the workplace situation, employees establish a kind of relationship among each other that keeps a diplomatic approach but usually does not go beyond personal level, though there are other relationships that develop into a deeper stage. Employees have to socialize with their coworkers because people in the workplace work collaboratively. Each individual and department does not have their own rules and goals. Everyone works and takes an effort to achieve a common goal for the benefit of the… Read More

Conflict Resolution Tips for Employees

Workplace conflict is an unavoidable situation that can occur to every employee in the organization. Misunderstanding can happen between employees or even the employer and employees. If the goals of the employees are not in line with that of the management, this usually becomes the common root of conflict. Dealing with this kind of conflict is easy because between the two parties, the management takes the lead in getting to a resolution. However, in cases wherein employees disagree with each other, managing the conflict may be quite challenging. In some… Read More

Conflict Resolution Tips for Managers

In most organizations, the higher management is expected of bigger and more challenging responsibilities. Even in the rise of employee conflicts, managers act as mediators. They can step up as the authority figure for members who are involved in a conflict. Just imagine an office without efficient managers to intervene and act as “referees” during times of arguments or quarrels. Being a manager, you should be able to identify arising conflicts and take pre-emptive measures using your abilities. Those in the higher management should understand the nature and causes that… Read More

Common Conflicts During Project Management

According to a theoretical supposition in behavioral research, when we work together with others, we do so unselfishly in order to achieve a common objective. This assumption can be best applied to project management and in organizations. Unfortunately, this is not how the people and organizations do it in reality. Instead, certain conditions and workplace issues are encountered. Due to some work discrepancies, political conflict among managers is prevalent and abuse of power occurs. There is lack of open communication, low level of trust and respect, and lack of mutual… Read More

Managing Team Conflicts

A misunderstanding or any form of dispute may be coming from two individuals or from group differences. This situation is especially true in a team. More commonly though, team or group conflicts occur in a workplace situation. If the group or team members work together in resolving conflicts rationally and effectively, conflict management is a lot easier for similar situations in the future. However, with individual differences and diversity among the individuals, some team conflicts require extra efforts to reach a negotiation for a common resolution. Being able to resolve… Read More

Conflict Mediation

Conflicts normally just involve two parties who are in a disagreement over their perceptions or having differences in attitudes and values. Trivial conflicts can be settled over a quick discussion but larger conflicts may require a mediator or an intervener. Mediation is a process wherein a third party gets in the way of the conflicting parties. Mediators act like facilitators in a session who guide the members in the process until an agreement is achieved. Organizational conflicts are usually large and may require the help of conflict mediation as an… Read More

Practical Conflict Resolution Skills

It takes skill to learn how to deal with workplace conflicts even for those trivial misunderstandings among employees. These skills are simple but they are not learned and used well by most of us as we grow up. Especially for managers, being in their position, they must understand the two essential areas in learning conflict management skills: conceptual aspect and skill competence aspect. Conceptual skills pertain to an individual’s knowledge of the causes, styles, strategies, and ways in managing conflict. Knowing how and why conflicts develop, when it normally happens,… Read More

Standard Steps to Resolve Conflict

Conflict in the workplace is but a natural and normal part of every working individual’s life. People get into conflict due to pursuance of personal goals and satisfaction of needs. Conflicts are truly unavoidable but it is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, effectively resolved conflicts can promote personal and professional development. Not a lot of us may know that conflict resolution takes skills. The positive or negative results are defined by proper conflict resolution skills. With an effectively resolved conflict, not just one issue is solved but differences… Read More

How to Avoid Conflicts

Though conflicts are inevitable in our lives, getting in such a situation causes stress and the amount of stress a person gets depends on the intensity of the conflict. Nevertheless, conflict is a source of stress, and when it becomes severe, stress can be destructive on an individual. While there is a way to avoid conflict especially if it is unnecessary and unproductive, do so and be practical. There are many ways to do so depending on the situations. In the workplace conflict, for example, the approach to resolving it… Read More

Destructive Conflict

Conflict is inevitable, yet it can be controlled and minimized. How an individual or a group responds to conflict and the behavior towards the situation determines the negative or positive outcome of the disagreement. If conflict is mishandled or not properly managed by the parties involved, then an unproductive and unlikely result will be generated. Have you ever been in a fight or argument with an office colleague because of clash of interest or attitude and you cannot seem to meet in the middle? We call this destructive conflict. This… Read More

Constructive Conflict

Many of us are not really comfortable getting involved in a disagreement with another individual. Some would rather please and accommodate instead of engaging themselves in a heated discussion. When we sense that conflict is starting to build up, there are people who just walk away from it. Seeing smiles and hearing friendly voices are what we really want to witness, not criticisms and confrontations. But even with the existence of conflict, we can turn the situation into a positive one and learn from it. Conflict may be unproductive at… Read More

Conflict Indicators

Conflict is a natural disagreement and a clash of interests, ideas, goals, and values of individuals and groups. Once any form of dispute or difference arises, conflict is bound to occur. This has always been a natural part of life in every individual, just as successes and achievements are. We all deal with conflict at home, in our society, and in the workplace. The quick resolution of an existing conflict depends on how a person or a group handles the situation. But a very important process is to be able… Read More

Why Do Conflicts Arise?

In an organizational process, the management has many aspects to consider for a workplace to be harmonious and successful. One of these things that should not be left unattended is any presence of conflict. Conflict happens when individuals or groups do not meet their needs and when they do not find satisfaction to their own wants or self-interest. Conflict can be internal when the conflict is only within the individual; it is external if it is between two or more individuals or between groups. Some people are not aware of… Read More

When to Seek Medical Help

Dealing with the pressures of life is part if living and survival. We all want to live a life that is free from any form of harm and worries. Though this ideology may seem ideal, there is a greater chance that we can still minimize getting into the tragedies and harsh realities of life while living a peaceful and abundant way of living. This, of course, mainly depends on each individual. If there is determination to live a fruitful life, it can be achieved. However, if there is lack of… Read More

Yoga for Stress Relief

Have you been stressing out lately at work? Do you feel you find it hard to manage because you barely even have time for that? If stress is getting down on you gradually, you might as well allocate a time during weekends to join yoga sessions. One of the most effective stress relief techniques is yoga. This form of meditation exercise is proven to enhance stress management and relaxation skills. There are many yoga classes offered everywhere since this is becoming a popular form of relaxation exercise. However, if you… Read More

Relaxation Techniques

Having a good-paying or even just a well-compensating job is not only part of developing personal career but it is also one of the ultimate means of survival. You may be enjoying the kind of work you have now but there will really be a point in your life at work wherein you will simply feel lazy but worse is when you get tired and fed up with the daily task assignments. Some people become victims of work stress. This condition makes them feel like they have to drag themselves… Read More

Stress Busters for Professionals

If the stress you are feeling now is coming mostly from your work, you have to do something about. It is not like you can easily take a vacation leave and be free from the problems at work. You sure must have considered looking for another job, but you should know that these days, especially with the global economic recession going on lately, landing a nice-paying job is not as easy as picking dirt on the street. You must have tried combating work stress with various methods. Unfortunately, they did… Read More

Humor at Work

It is a glaring fact that work is one of the top causes of stress in a person. We encounter many problems at work and we need to face them every single day. We may get more tasks in a day then usual, handle difficult co-workers or even bosses, and extend work hours to meet deadlines. Sometimes, too much stress level at work is the reason for absenteeism, employee burn out, and even health problems. There is no running away from these problems unless you decide to stop working. But… Read More

How to Prevent Stress

Stress is a feeling so inevitable sometimes it comes to us unexpectedly. Once in a while, stress can be helpful and perfectly normal. But too much of it is unhealthy. Stress is a natural response to the pressures that are persistently occurring in our life. We cannot get away with these pressures but we can get rid of stress if we decide to. It is pressure that is happening to us; stress is how we react and respond to these pressures. Learn How to Handle Pressure What is pressure? These… Read More

How to Handle Physical Stress

While stress may be affecting us mentally and emotionally, it also manifests through physical indications. No one likes to experience such physical symptoms; it is just an uncomfortable feeling. But when we are experiencing stress, sometimes it cannot be helped that the heavy feeling is displayed through some physical conditions of the body. Our body responds to the condition of the mind. If the mind is weak, it follows that the bodily functions are also weak and do not function properly. We get many kinds of symptoms and effects on… Read More

How to Handle Emotional Stress

There are two kinds of emotions: the good emotions or positive feelings, and the bad emotions or the negative feelings. Our emotions are designed to allow us to express what we feel. Without feelings, you can only imagine the people appearing like robots that just do things without feeling happy or getting hurt. We prefer the positive emotions because it is euphoric. When we feel elated and ecstatic, life is just so wonderful. However, when negative emotions are built up inside, the heart feels so heavy. Bad feelings are triggered… Read More

How to Handle Mental Stress

Our mind is powerful that it affects the rest of the body functions. If you compare it to the parts of a computer, the brain is the CPU of our body. We function well if the brain functions properly because our mind and body work together. For it to work properly, the mind should be in a relaxed and normal condition. If our mind is troubled and disrupted, we cannot think and act accordingly. We get so much of this kind of condition in the workplace. Our work is one… Read More

Stress Caused by Self

Many possible reasons and factors may trigger stress in a person. But these causes or stressors may be classified into external and internal factors. External stressors, as the term implies, are factors that are coming from the environment the individual is in. The common external causes include family, work, relationship difficulties, financial problems, and major life changes. On the contrary, causes of stress may also be self-generated and so we call them internal stressors. The common internal causes of stress may include pessimism or negative thinking, irrational self-talk, inability to… Read More

Identifying Types of Stress

What we think and what we feel is always a match. This is because the mind and the heart are closely correlated with each other. It is said that our way of thinking affects our feelings. So, if you are thinking of a happy moment in your life, it follows that the brain feeds that happy thought to the heart which causes us to smile and feel blissful. If the mind is preoccupied with a negative thought, the brain dictates the heart what it is thinking and then we feel… Read More

Stress Myths

There is no denying the fact that we all experience stress in our everyday life. But most of us take a misconception about stress and what it can do to our lives. It is important to grasp a basic understanding of stress so we would know why we are feeling this and how we can appropriately respond to it. Part of understanding stress is to know what it is and what it is not. Many myths about stress have led some people to believe that it is a completely undesirable… Read More

Identifying Stress Triggers

The first thing in learning how to manage stress is to identify what causes stress in your life. There are many different sources and factors causing stress on an individual. However, the factors of stress mainly depend on how you perceive it and how you take those causes to be affecting you. Sometimes, what you think is stressful to you may not be the same case for another person. For example, you seem to be getting a heavy work assignment for the day and it seems that you cannot take… Read More

The Signs of Stress

A very important step in the process of stress management is identifying the different signs and symptoms of stress. We should be able to recognize the presence of stress in our body because we all experience stress in a different way depending on the factor that is causing it. Knowing how to heed the warnings of stress is a big step to stopping it from getting worse. Responding to Stress There are three different ways an individual responds to stress according to psychologist Connie Lillas and driving analogy was used… Read More

Stress Management

What is Stress Management? You may have experienced feeling like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders during times when you are dumped with problems at work, at home, or in other aspects of your life. Once this kind of feeling starts to build up, the normal response of a person is to feel like giving up, worry or get upset. Consequently, you will literally give up in facing the situation you are in, or you will allow yourself to get too affected by the heavy… Read More

Storytelling in Public Speeches

Storytelling is one the best tools a public speaker could use to relate to the audience. Through storytelling, the audience will be able to identify themselves as they also have the same experience or at least witnessed the said event in real life. When a story is well told, the audience will be easily captivated and the point of the speaker would be easily understood. Storytelling can be used by a public speaker in almost any occasion. A talk in front of the kids could be possible with the right… Read More

Public Speech Gestures

Gestures in public speeches are as important as the speech itself. Through gestures, the speaker will be able to emphasize on some points and to convey the right message to the audience. For example: saying, “We must prevail” without any movements conveys a diplomatic tone to the audience while the statement, “We must prevail” with hands pounding on a pulpit conveys an aggressive stand towards victory. Even though the statement is the same in text, they can convey a different message – all because of hand movement during the speech.… Read More

Speech Memorization

Memorization in public speeches is not a highly recommended practice. Even though memorizing your speech word-for-word will help you deliver a well-written speech, the speaker will oftentimes end up giving a disastrous speech. A packaged speech will often yield the following situation: The speaker will never sound natural – instead of making eye contacts and emphasizing on some points with gestures and body movements, the speaker will just focus on the delivering the speech. The speaker will just concentrate on remembering what was written. This means the speaker will lose… Read More

Public Speaking Earning Opportunities

The financial reward for professional pubic speakers is very attractive. A professional public speaker could charge from a few hundred dollars per speaking engagement to thousands of dollars for every presentation. A well established public speaker could be invited to speak in other cities, states or even outside the country with travel fees paid for by the organization. Since public speaking is not necessarily daily work, professional speakers could spend more time with their family. A successful public speaking career is practically a dream job for anyone as it could… Read More

International Audience

Public speaking is considered a skill that could not be easily gained. While there are successful public speakers who were able to master their craft fast, most have to go through rigorous training before they can establish themselves as accomplished speakers. But even training could not ensure anyone becoming an accomplished speaker. Experience is necessary as the tricks of the trade can’t be easily mastered without learning them in an actual public speech. Aside from the research and training you need, you literally have go through awkward situations in various… Read More

Working with Visual Aids in Public Speeches

Visuals aids play a big part in public speeches and business presentations. Through visual aids, the presenter will enjoy easy access of information needed during the speech. This will give the presenter more time to concentrate on how the data is presented and interact with the audience. Tools in public speeches can cause success as much as they can cause failure. While your visual aids could help you give information packed speech, you might end up giving a boring speech. What you might do is merely concentrate on what was… Read More

Using Humor in Public Speech

Delivering laughter in your next public speech is not as easy as preparing the topic of your speech. Although you can see a lot of stand-up comedians that can easily tell a funny story or continuously tell jokes, trying to solicit laughter from your audience seemed like an impossible task. Because of the difficulty in properly delivering jokes in public speaking, many opted to forget about the humor part and continue with their speech. A speech without humor is possible. Some of the best speakers are not necessarily the funny… Read More

Impromptu Speech

An impromptu speech is easily the most difficult form of public speaking assignment. It’s a type of speech that will not give you enough time to prepare. You will be asked to speak in front of everyone out of the blue in order to talk about the specific subject. But even with little to no preparation, you are still expected to deliver a great speech. A badly delivered speech is inexcusable even though you didn’t have any time to prepare. You’ll still be viewed as a bad speaker if you… Read More

How to Deliver Proposals and Presentations

Proposals and presentations are forms of public speeches done with few spectators. These are often done with business purposes wherein the speaker is offering a service, a product or presenting actions that need to be done for business advancement. The spectators could be colleagues, persons from the upper management or someone working for the speaker. Proposals and presentations are often done with visual aids for additional information from the speaker. Proposals and presentations are particularly challenging forms of speeches since they require more than just to entertain and to inform… Read More

Public Speech Writing

Speech writing is one of the key aspects in preparation for public speaking. The speaker maybe familiar where the speech will take place and have the right visual aids but none of these will matter if the speaker didn’t take time to write a speech. The speaker has to literally write down everything that he or she has to say in order to fully prepare for an important event. Through speech writing, everything will be considered which means the speaker will be reminded of the topics that need to be… Read More

How to Conquer Public Speech Anxiety

Mastering public speaking is a relatively easy task for some individuals. These individuals just need careful coaching before they finally master the art of public speaking. Through practice and careful research of the topic, public speech can be easily handled. After all, public speech is practically an activity wherein a person stands in front of the crowd to explain a point, state some facts or tell a story. However, there are individuals who have a hard time dealing with the fact that they will be standing in front of a… Read More

Body Language

Your body language is one of the factors that will determine the success or failure of your speech. Aside from the actual speech, the audience will notice how your body moves as this is used to emphasize an idea. Your facial expressions, your hand movements and even the movements of your feet could be used on your speech so that you can effectively communicate to your audience. Without any movement, your speech will be dull as you don’t offer any additional information to your audience. Standing in front of the… Read More

Public Speaking Biggest Mistakes

The ability to deliver a great speech in public is a highly regarded skill. It’s a skill that does not simply require knowledge of the topic but the ability to inform and keep the audience interested during the speech. A great public speaker could even invoke emotions and could trigger reactions from the audience. That is why public speaking is more than just getting in front of everyone and talking about what you know. There are many things a speaker should consider before delivering a speech. The speaker should have… Read More

How to Improve Speaking Voice

Your voice is your best tool in public speaking. Without your voice, you would not be able to deliver a single speech because you will never be heard. Your voice allows you to communicate to your audience, convey ideas and even solicit emotions and reactions because of your compelling speech. Professional public speakers always take care of their voice much like singers, radio personalities and even phone operators. Their success in their respective industry is based on their ability to speak. But public speaking is not just opening your mouth… Read More

Tips for Effective Public Speaking

Public speaking is an art of presenting an idea, a product or a service to the crowd or to the public. It’s a challenging art to master since it will require the speaker to persuade the crowd or at least carefully educate the listeners about the topic discussed. Public speaking is more than just talking in front of many people – a person has to educate, persuade and even entertain at the same time. This is difficult since the public has varying and even conflicting mindsets. But a difficult undertaking… Read More

Software Testing Best Practices

The Foundational practices are the rock in the soil that protects your efforts against harshness of nature, be it a redesign of your architecture or enhancements to sustain unforeseen growth. Every time we conclude a study or task force on the subject of software development process I have found one recommendation that comes out loud and clear. Please read here Software Testing Best Practices [catlist id=176]. Read More

Anxiety Lowering Healthy Habits

Life cannot get any exciting without hardships and difficulties. It is natural to feel down sometimes, because it is through these challenging experiences that you learn to gather yourself up and come out a stronger individual. But many people fail to get up after they trip off; they just allow themselves to get wounded and remain weak.Some people allow fear to eat them up alive. They just do not try to battle it. We all experience the bliss of life; we get frustrated and upset, too. How can we experience… Read More

Stay Focused on Your Goals

Do you sometimes take time alone and picture yourself in a place you have always wanted to visit? Or maybe picture yourself as someone whom you really admire? Or maybe imagine that you are filthy rich and you can buy all the luxuries you want? We call this form of imagination a process called visualization. When you visualize, you perceive things in your mind that they almost seem to be real. You allow the imagination to explore and wander. It is a powerful state of mental creativity. They say that… Read More

Meditation and Breathing Exercises

Normally, the body responds to a stressful condition through a “fight of flight” reaction. Especially during panic attacks, the mind goes beyond rational and logical thinking and dramatic physical and physiological body changes occur.The mind and body should have a relaxation response after the sudden surge of anxiety or panic attack. If the person is not able to relax, the body continues to suffer from the symptoms of anxiety and finds it hard to bring back the systems to its normal functions, causing health problems in both physiological and emotional… Read More

Relaxation Exercises

There are various ways and methods to fight anxiety and negative stress from our system. Some people spend money just to go to therapists and medical professionals. Others would opt for treatments and medication. These may be applicable approaches when anxiety becomes intense or extreme, such that symptoms of anxiety disorder are present. On typical conditions of anxiety, one can just settle for practical ways to beat the stress. A good self-help technique to battle anxiety is relaxation. This skill is essential in dealing with day-to-day stress and anxiety, even… Read More

Managing Time to Reduce Anxiety

Productivity and efficiency at work are achieved with proper time management. This skill can easily be enhanced and developed if the person just religiously practices it daily until it is mastered. Especially in a busy work setting, time seems to be getting shorter and shorter each time.An eight-hour work day does not seem to be enough to accomplish the work needed to be done within the day. This results in extension of deadline and can cause work stress. But knowing how to budget and manage your time at work will… Read More

The Fight or Flight Response

Anxiety may be an unpleasant feeling but it is not at all completely undesirable. In fact, it is an element of the body’s defense mechanism, just like animals do. It is natural to feel anxious especially in threat-invoking circumstances or when you feel excessively stressed out.Using a certain defense mechanism shields us from possible danger. The mind responds to the feeling of anxiety and tells the body what to do— either to “fight” and face the situation, or run away and avoid the situation which is called “flight”. The Physiology… Read More

Impact of Anxiety on Health

Anxiety should not just be left unattended. Once a person starts to feel anxious, something must be done to manage the feeling because this feeling does not only occur once in a person’s life. During a stressful situation, any person can feel anxious and it is but normal for all of us to feel this way.The effects of anxiety affect our physical and emotional health. Some are used to the feeling already that they do not anymore notice the adverse effects that anxiety has brought them. The reason for this… Read More

How to Avoid Anxiety at Work Place

Having a decent and good-paying job is a top priority in a person’s life because our job or career is an important element for survival. The workplace is an avenue for a working individual to develop maturity and professionalism. Challenge is a factor in the workplace.An employee will encounter issues and problems in the office. These challenges may be from the boss, personal challenge, or it could be from office colleagues. There are office issues that can be easily be dealt with, but there are also matters that can be… Read More

How to Deal with Difficult Co-Workers

In the work environment, you either get along with co-workers who are easy to work with, or you stumble upon rude and nasty officemates. The latter is challenging because you cannot get away with them; you see them everyday. And if you do not deal with them, your work relationship is at stake, not to mention the loss of interest in your work in the long run. Types of Difficult Co-workers Difficult people may come in varying personalities. They can be nice and amiable but still be difficult. Or, they… Read More

How to Handle Workplace Anxiety

Our workplace or the work environment is one of the most common causes of anxiety. At work, you encounter obstacles, problems, and petty issues with co-workers. However, the feeling of anxiety can be helpful sometimes at work. For example, when you are pressed with a deadline on a certain project assigned by your boss, and you are nearing the cut-off date, you start to cram and the mind doubles the effort to think fast.It manifests a call to action to complete the task. But more often than not, people fail… Read More

Personal Life Anxiety Management

Feeling worried or tense when pressured or when faced with a stressful situation is a normal thing. Stress triggers anxiety, so when you feel stressed about a situation and you think it will lead to something, you develop an anxious feeling. You get anxious when your mind and body responds to what you think is a possible danger or threat. It is like an automatic alarm and a natural response that is conditioned in our body. Anxiety can be caused by various factors. It could be the stress you are… Read More

Stress and Anxiety

The concept of anxiety and stress is nonetheless very much the same. However, anxiety is a result of stress. One factor or reason that triggers an individual to be anxious is due to stress. It is normal to feel anxious but the problem starts when you fail to overcome the feeling and allow it to grow instead.The same notion is true for stress. In most cases, people associate stress with a negative feeling. The truth is the presence of this emotion is normal when we are under a certain situation… Read More

Anxiety Signs and Symptoms

Anxiety is not a pleasant feeling, but it can be controlled or managed. Sometimes, it can even be helpful in keeping us focused and vigilant to the things that are going on around us. It keeps us to be alert at all times and invokes us to call to action when unexpected circumstances arise. Anxiety even motivates us to think and find ways to solve problems. However, if the feeling is not properly managed, it may go out of hand. Normal anxiety develops into a more intense condition when you… Read More

Anxiety Triggers

When we face a situation that prompts us to feel disturbed and threatened, we call that the feeling of anxiety. We get anxious if we didn’t see things coming and when it’s there we are totally at a loss on what to do. The same feeling comes out when you are anticipating a situation to happen and your stimuli produces a negative response or you run away from it. We always tend to associate the feeling of anxiety with a negative or unwanted feeling. While that may be true, anxiety… Read More

What is Anxiety Management?

Anxiety management is the method of dealing with anxiety in order to minimize the negative consequences and effects of such feeling. The essential element of this process is to understand the presence of anxiety, identifying the symptoms, knowing the level of anxiety whether a mild feeling of worry or a serious anxiety attack, and applying a call to action before the situation gets worse. Anxiety is very closely associated with panic attacks. Both can cause an increase in the adrenalin level of a person, increase heartbeat rate, and shortness of… Read More

Anger Management Techniques

The best way in dealing with anger is to know its cause. Although there are many techniques for anger management, some of them might not work as expected since they do not deal with the cause of anger. When a person starts to realize the cause of his anger, the techniques or anger management options would be a lot easier to implement and anger could be easily controlled. For example, a person bottles his emotion just to avoid conflict. This often happens when he is asked to do something and… Read More

How to Control Rage

There are times when you witness a person get really angry about a certain situation that he or she shouts, curses or even physically attack someone who might or might not cause the incident. A basic example is road rage wherein a person gets out of the car and furiously charges at another vehicle owner who might have caused the accident. This might even lead to fatal situations because the uncontrollable anger is there. You might even be one of those persons that were directly affected by this form of… Read More

How to Handle Workplace Bullies

As a kid, you will always see bullies picking on small students at school. In fact, you might even be one of the bullies or been bullied for sometime before you grown a little bit. A child could have a hard time dealing with bullies since they are dealing with someone bigger.  Time flies fast for children and through the help of the school, this is often addressed. Bullies eventually became a memory of the past and more often than not, these bullies have little effect on their adult lives. … Read More

How to Control Anger

Anger is a very negative emotional response. It can be triggered by anything, anyone or anytime. This type of negative emotion is usually caused by a series of events or experiences as the person starts out disappointed and frustrated. Eventually, the feeling of anger to others and even to oneself increases as the person who feels frustrated would usually look at the reasons on why these things happen. When that person realizes it is his fault, self-loathing could happen which is also the same reaction when the frustrated person realizes… Read More

Manage Anger With Positive Thinking

When something bad happens to a person, feelings and reactions to the said event should be expected. These reactions could easily distinguish the pessimist – who thinks negatively about the situation and the optimist – who sees that something good could come out from the experience. The situation and outcome could be the same for everyone but the reaction and the perception of the said situation could spell big difference on how they use the said outcome. A good example on how difference in thinking could alter the outcome would… Read More

Passive Aggression

Passive aggression is a form of behavior wherein a person devices a “tricky” solution to avoid conflict and anger. This is also a type of behavior for those who does not want to deal with responsibilities but cannot say “no” when asked. Instead of dealing with the task assigned, those with passive aggression procrastinate while thinking of reasons why he should not do the task. The following is a classic example of passive aggression: person A is asked to do something by person B. Person A agrees to the task… Read More

Anger and Time Management

Anger could easily be attributed as a reaction to things unexpected. When a person encounters or receives something that is not according to expectations, anger could commence immediately. Although the usual reaction for many individuals could be frustration and disappointment, constant frustration because of not achieving the expectations could lead to anger. This type of emotion could also be expected when things do not unfold according to plan. When a person is unable to get things done on time, they can easily get frustrated and become angry. This is especially… Read More

Anger Management Guide For Managers

Tension in the workplace is common. Everyone wants to be as productive as possible to improve their respective careers. This often creates a conflict of interest since a person wants to be on top over some employees – a fact that will not be received well by other employees who also wanted to improve in their career. Aside from workplace competition, family problems, conflicting personalities and pressure from upper management could take its toll on employees. These factors could easily lead to frustration, stress and ultimately anger. Physical contact caused… Read More

Business Relationship Management

Your ability to manage relationships, both in your personal and business life, are critically important.  Relationship management is defined as those processes that organizations and individuals use in order to maintain the connections they have with each other. While organizations focus more on maintaining relationships with their customers, individuals spend more time managing relationships with other individuals. For large organizations, relationship management can be highly complex, as they must keep track of a large number of customers and clients. On a personal level, you can improve your relationship management skills… Read More

Importance of Emotional Intelligence

Your emotional competence will play a crucial role when it comes to your success as an employee. However, for many years, many people thought otherwise. For most people, including senior executives, it was thought that those with a higher IQ were the most important aspect of a company’s success. Decades of research has now confirmed what many people have suspected all along: it is EQ, not IQ, that determines how well someone will perform on the job. While this does not mean that technical skills and general intelligence should be… Read More

How to Manage Emotional Bias

Emotional bias can affect us all, but learning how to manage it is important.  Emotional bias is defined "as having a bias when it comes to the emotions of oneself, when compared to the emotions of another."  Emotional bias is a frequent problem that leads to conflict on a regular basis. When you have a bias with your emotions in regards to those of another person, this can cause some serious problems. Emotional bias can be a major killer of relationships, both personal and professional, and to overcome this challenge,… Read More

Building Team Emotional Intelligence

As more organizations become aware of the importance EQ plays in their institutions, they must decide on best ways to implement it with their members. Leaders cannot expect their followers to pick up EQ naturally; it is something that must be instilled in them from a higher authority. Having said that, the amount of EQ that any given team has, is a reflection of the leader of that team. Leaders who are lacking in EQ will by default pass these traits down to the members of their team. In an… Read More

Conflict Management Using Emotional Intelligence

Lack of emotional intelligence is one the leading cause of conflict.  Researchers in EI express the view that a lack of emotional intelligence is one of the leading causes of conflict in our society. It is is difficult to argue with this logic. At the root of all conflict is a lack of sensitivity on the part of one or both parties. Sensitivity is directly related to one’s emotional intelligence. Many employees today are familiar with work place stress and work place conflict. If you’re like many people, there have… Read More

How to Develop Emotional Intelligence

When it comes to psychological research, emotional intelligence is probably one of the most advanced areas of research available today. Historically, a large amount of attention has been paid to general intelligence. Though writers have touched on similar subjects since the time of Darwin, most researchers did not take the subject seriously until very recently. EI is defined as the ability of a person to manage their feelings, as well as handling the feelings of others. Being able to control your emotions in a positive manner is a very important… Read More

How to Manage Emotions

Learning how to manage your emotions can bring great success.  We are all human beings, and this means we all have emotions. No matter how rich or poor you are, and regardless of where you come from, you will be prone to a variety of different emotions on a daily basis. Sometimes you will be joyful, while at other times you will be sad, jealous, or even angry. While there is nothing wrong with emotions themselves, there is something wrong when you are not able to manage these emotions. Inability… Read More