If you have found this article on Google and started reading, you have taken the first step towards keeping your skin healthy. Although there are many anti-aging skin care products, how do we know which ones deliver? Here are the secrets.

They are the most common and yet vital ingredients that are used in most successful ones and what you can expect should you decide to invest in them.

1. Do Product Research Online

If you can do research by finding this article, you can certainly do the same to any products you might like to find out more about.

Say if you want to reduce fine lines and eliminate wrinkles, just type those terms into Google or other major search engines like Bing and Yahoo together with the word products. Automatically those results will show up.

Beyond those results, click the links to find out if those anti-aging skin products are backed up by reviews and testimonies of real customers who actually bought and benefited from them.

Finally, see if they can stimulate collagen production over a period of time. If so, they can bring about dramatic changes in your skin outlook. Other than that, they should contain moisturizers which are critical to help your skin relax from stress and tension.

2. Do Not Be Too Concerned With Every Ingredient

With so many companies competing on the market with their anti-aging products, there is bound to be some differences in the ingredients they used to make them. So do not be too concerned with everyone of them.

Instead, what you should be concerned is what each product can do to your skin care routine.

It is impossible to expect all those products to be your miracle skin care cure. However by combining and using 2 to 3 products to neutralize the problem from different perspectives, it is simple to realize how your skin can be improved from the compound effect of those ingredients if used the right way.

From my experience, some of those which really prove to work are nutrients like antioxidants, Omega-3 acids, Silica, Vitamin C and Zinc.

3. Stay Away From Products Which Caused Irritation

While it can be beneficial to have a choice of essential nutrients, there are some products you ought to stay away from. Such as those which caused irritation and make your skin worse than before.

Different people have different skin types. So certain products that worked for some people might not work for others.

So if you have sensitive skin or allergy to certain products as bad experiences, you might need to seek professional advice from your doctor or qualified consultant in skin care. This is better than buying blindly from salespeople whose claims may not be totally true.

With their advice, you will be in better position to decide for yourself on how you should really improve your skin.

4. Knowing Which Products Are Compatible For Your Skin

Knowing or not knowing which products are compatible for your skin can make a huge difference in how your skin will look in future.

Based on surveys conducted on past customers, we have classified skin into 4 most common categories as in dry, normal, oily and sensitive.

Whatever your experience may be, your skin will fall into either one of them. But if you still cannot tell, go and see your doctor or a qualified dermatologist which should be able to tell you which category best fits your skin.

Having said that, you should have a better understanding of which product works best for you instead of buying blindly and making your skin worse.

If you are a sporty person, you might consider using the product on all areas of your skin since you are constantly under the sun. Not just your face but your neck, shoulders, chest, hands, legs and feet.

5. Do Not Expect Instant Results

Like everything else, it takes time and process of getting the right things done in the right order to improve your skin. So do not expect instant results.

Instead continue to do what you have been doing once you have found a product that best fits your skin condition. Not just once or twice but every single day for the next 1 to 2 weeks until you finished using.

Also do not buy any other products during that period as that not only disrupt your routine but makes your skin worse. Instead persevere and you should be seeing some improvements to your skin in no time.

A good anti-aging skin care product should deliver exactly what it says. As in making your skin healthier, refreshed, smoother and more radiant.

Few of us have been fortunate; most of us have been victims of “death by PowerPoint”. Long, technically heavy, dry & business serious presentations has taken off ever since 1997 when it really took off with significant changes in Microsoft PowerPoint 97 and became widely available. Lots of people have presumed that business related presentation has to be content heavy and dry to display knowledge and seriousness. This often leaves the audience in a semi-catatonic state of mind, not listening or following, often resulting in the audience eager to make a run for the exit! This post is going to discuss some key ideas to keep in mind when you are presenting a new product, business proposal, research finding or sales pitch. It’s going to engage your audience, communicate your message and make you look good! We’re also going to have a look at some examples to see what mistakes not to make!

We’re going to break this down into key points:

Your presentation objectives.
Information; research, collecting & organising.
Aesthetics; theme, font & color.
Layout; slides, content & multimedia.
Supplementary materials; hand outs, pamphlets & notes.

Objectives

What are the objectives & parameters of your presentation?

Whether it be team meetings, annual meetings, sales, consulting or new product overview your presentation objectives need to be clearly defined. Presentations should be tailored to your target audience. For what purpose are they here and what information are they seeking? This is the very first step in building an enjoyable, engaging and most importantly informative presentation.

You must be aware of the parameters for the presentations such as how broad or specific the topic needs to be and other factors such as time, size of audience and characteristics of your audience i.e. mums and dads, shareholders, executives, team colleagues, department colleagues or customers.

Information

The type of information research, gathering and organising will largely depend on your presentation objectives and audience needs.

This is the stage where all the information required to make your presentation informative to the audience and in line with your objectives are collected and analysed. Organising the information is not vital yet, that will be required in the Layout stage of presentation building.

Research and collect any data that is relevant to your topic the visual layout of the data itself will be handled later. To emphasize it is extremely important to collect all relevant information, ensure their accuracy and be thorough.

Aesthetics

Here is where we begin looking at the aesthetics of the slides; themes, color, font type & font size. I highly recommend not using fancy font, repetitive bold, italics, underlining or strike through. This complicates and reduces the readability and impact of the content itself. Don’t change font types in each slide and keep font size consistent i.e. headings, key points and sub points. Font color should also remain consistent throughout the slides, color can be used but sparingly and for emphasis. Other visual cues including fade away and sound effects should never ever ever be used! The only visual cue that can work effectively is content pop-up. This is where the slide appears with the heading only and as you list key points in your talk you can use the remote to make those dot points appear on the slide, no sound effects, fade-in or “fly” in, just appear.

Aesthetics are an important factor to consider in presentations, however content and its understandability always take priority. In saying that, good aesthetics should not be noticed since it is supplementing the material at hand.

Layout

How are you going to present your data, findings, product, performance or sales pitch?

These dynamics will determine the way you layout the information. It’s important to keep in mind that even the slides are supplementary to your talk. Slides should not have significant meaning or useability without you. So what does this actually mean? It means that the content on the slides are kept to the essentials. Presenters in the past have a plethora amount of information and data causing information overload in each slide. This creates a difficulty for the audience in processing, reading, understanding and building questions for you in Q & A time. Presenters who overload slides with information need to trim the “fat”. “Fat” here is the less significant but relevant data for the topic at hand i.e. there is an internal meeting on stock A performance and volatility. Instead of showing daily prices over the past 12 months which 1) shows price trend 2) shows price volatility, why not compress the data points to weekly or monthly price points with candlesticks (more on that here)

Some sub topics in presentations are technical heavy. And whether you your audience is there for the technical content should have been decided in the objectives section. If it was no then cut out whatever “fat” possible from the slides. If it was a yes then spread the technical information over a number of slides by breaking the information into more consumable pieces or do some creative thinking in presentation method e.g. cluster histograms, line or distribution charts.

Layouts for chart organisations and processes should be kept as concise as possible. As a rule of thumb keep one process to one slide to maximum of two highly related or integrated processes. This will keep keep the readability and focus high for the audience and will simplify your discussion points for the slide. If it is a highly complex and long process or chart, again, break it down. Start with a simplified bird’s eye view and then zero in on certain sections in subsequent slides.

Keep word counts to a minimum, use short and direct sentences. You can use your verbal material to expand and clarify any points you need. Where possible and appropriate use imagery that is in line with your discussion point, i.e. main qualitative KPI (Key Performance Indicator) maybe be team work, then use a sporting team image or it may be strengthening business relations with customers/vendors then an image of a handshake could be utilised. The utilisation of images is to provide visual stimulation and evoke curiosity amongst your audience. Your verbal material will be supplemented by the visuals.

If you are still having issues with the layout try story boarding, it will effectively help you plan the “story”and how you’re going to tell it to the audience. I will post about story boarding specifics in a separate post at a later date, alternatively you can email me at terence.tam1 @ gmail. com and request it early!

Supplementary materials

Since the slides are kept to essentials and some slides may not even have content but images only, it is and should be pointless to provide slide handouts. Instead provide supplementary materials to your audience that are relevant to the slides. These materials can range from complete company financial statements, product brochures, advertisement concepts, departmental KPI criteria report, sales performance or single page mission statements.

An audience take-away document can be made and handed-out after the presentation for those who want to review or pass on the keynotes. These types of material can be thorough since the audience do not have a time constraint to review the material.

If possible it is always useful in making auditory recordings of your presentation prior or during the actual presentation itself. This will allow the take-away supplementary material to compliment to the recordings and vice versa. I recommend making auditory pre-recordings of your presentation because it is more technically manageable with a time buffer to make edits and are readily available to distribute to the audience at the end via email or CD.

Remember, the slides are there to supplement your talk. So keep the slides to the essentials and use imagery where possible & appropriate to keep the audience visually engaged. Announce that supplementary materials will be provided and extensive materials handed out at the end. This will stop the audience from frantically taking notes down and falling behind with your presentation.

I will soon conclude a 3-year term as president of a 125-year-old private membership organization whose mission is social. I’ve been a member for 15 years and a Board member for 10 years. I’ve found the experience to be tremendously rewarding. I’ve made friends. I’ve further developed and refined my leadership skills.

I’ve been fortunate to preside over a Board that is comprised of top-drawer members who are committed to the organization and who’ve work diligently to develop strategies and plans that will sustain the group over the short- and long-term. I’m proud to say that throughout my presidency, I encouraged Board and Committee members to do their best work and then I got out of the way and let them do it.

To become an organization leader is to become its public face and unifying symbol to the members. Public speaking is part of the job. It is often necessary to offer words of inspiration and encouragement and verbally demonstrate that you as the leader embody the vision, mission and values of the organization. There will be impromptu speaking “opportunities” that arise and surprise! Someone asks you to say a few words.

Likewise, in the professional sector, one will be asked to speak ex tempore about business products and services. These speaking obligations may be unscheduled, but they are not completely unexpected, since one attends certain events with the desire to meet and greet peers and prospects and talk business. Still, how does one successfully make an unrehearsed speech and manage to sound reasonably informed and eloquent?

Finally, there are scheduled speaking opportunities, when one steps up to the podium and formally addresses an audience.Three types of speaking opportunities: how can you stand and deliver?

I. Let’s start with the easiest, the business meet and greet. This is where your elevator speech is delivered. You must decide which version to roll out. Are you being introduced to someone and asked what you do? Then your elevator speech will be conversational and limited to what the business provides, your role or title and the name of the organization. Give a general description of the outcomes or benefits of the service you provide or products you sell. Formulate a sentence that describes the business function and your role, with a focus on benefits and outcomes. Provide more information only if the person seeks more information. Make the encounter a dialogue by asking questions of your own, to determine whether this individual has a need for your products and services, or if you can refer this person to another of your colleagues and create a new relationship as you do.

2. I’ve unexpectedly been invited to address my organization members and I’ve done a good job. How did I do it? Primarily, I was fortunate to have a very good set-up introduction and beforehand, I was smart enough to listen and make note of key phrases on which I could launch a quick little speech. I’ve recognized good tag lines and themes that I could spin into a three-minute talk. The moral of the story is, a leader must anticipate public speaking obligations. Keep your antennae tuned for anecdotes or observations made by members or others that can be used as the basis of a quick talk.

3. Regarding scheduled presentations, I pass along to you my interpretation of a Power Point presentation template developed by Bahar Martonosi of Princeton University. You may find this template useful when auditioning for a prospective client or delivering a report of findings during a consulting assignment:

• Your name and the business name (1 slide)
• Project outline: work that the prospect would like performed (1 slide)
• Rationale: why is the project or problem important to the organization ( 1 – 2 slides)
• History: what has been done before (1- 2 slides)
• Method: your firm’s approach to the project or problem (1 – 3 slides)
• Results: the body of the talk. Present the key results and findings. Do not present all results or findings. (2 – 6 slides)
• Summary: (1 – 2 slides)
• Back-up: prepare slides that answer expected questions (1 – 3 slides)

Keep things simple and focus on a few important points. Repeat the key insights. Know your audience and adjust the presentation as needed. The post-presentation informal Q & A is very important.

Make eye contact, be approachable and it’s OK to smile (but this is business, not social, so know your role). Make your audience want to learn more.

Thanks for reading,

Kim