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Christmas is going to come soon. Have you prepared some presents for your special person in your life, such as your couple, family, and friends? Sometimes, choosing the best presents for your special person can be a hard duty to do, especially choosing the best present for a pregnant woman.

If your wife or girlfriend is expecting a newborn baby when she is going to celebrating Christmas soon, you need to think what kind of Christmas presents you are able to give her. She is in her special condition now and waiting for her special thing for her life, so you should purchase her a special present.

A pregnant woman needs anything that can make her relaxed to face the moment when the baby is born. You are able to help her by giving her aromatherapy candles that can relax her mind and body. Aromatherapy candles comes in various designs today. You can choose some symbolic shapes of aromatherapy candles, like the shapes of a funny baby or beautiful rose.

You may also purchase her a cassette or CD/DVD of classical music. As you know, some researches show that classical music has good effect for babies, so pregnant women should listen to this kind of music regularly. It would be great present for her.

Or if you would buy her something luxurious, you are able to get her a voucher to have a day out at a spa center. It is going to help her to be more relaxed by giving her some treatments. Choose special treatments for pregnant women. You have to spend much more money for giving this kind of present, but you will see that your beloved pregnant woman would be served comfortably.

You may give other kind of presents for her. Basically, a pregnant woman needs to be relaxed. She will appreciate any Christmas presents that can make her relax and remember the time when she is waiting for her newborn baby.

I had practiced my speech for two weeks straight, reciting it day in and day out, committing it to memory. A young, confident senior at the University of Southern California at the time, I knew my education had prepared me for this moment… or so I thought.

But then, as I stood on stage in a room full of 60 people, I struggled to remember the first line. It was like trying to swim in a pool of quicksand — the more I tried to remember the words the deeper I sunk. Eventually, I walked off stage without delivering my speech because I just couldn’t find the words. It was one of my most humiliating experiences as a presenter/speaker.

In that moment, I had forgotten one of the cardinal rules of communication and presentation: when you forget your speech, keep going!

The reality is that often no one realizes your mistake but you.

Where we get into trouble is when we bring attention to our mistake by saying things like, “Sorry, I forgot my place,” or stopping our presentation all together. Those actions not only make us self-conscious but they also give the audience anxiety.

This is why it’s dangerous to commit a speech to memory. We get so married to the words that we forget the most important part of our presentation is the overall message and the connection we’ve made with our audience. Like a missing piece of a train track, we can’t proceed unless the railroad is complete. However, if we treat our presentations like a guiding star then it won’t matter if we take a few side roads along the way, as long as we’re going in the right direction.

Here are some ways to survive (and prevent) goof-ups when giving a speech:

1. Don’t commit your presentation to memory – Some people advocate this, but I think it’s dangerous. For one, speakers who memorize feel very mechanic when they present because the written word is different from the spoken word. Second, following a written speech leaves no room for spontaneous connection and communication with your audience that can only happen when you’re present in the moment.
2. Have a backup plan – If for some (rare) reason you must read your speech verbatim, remember to have the words close by. (I prefer a hardcopy as opposed to electronic. With hard copy you don’t run the risk of a computer or iPad failing on you.)
3. Pause, ponder, and then proceed – Train yourself to pause whenever you lose your thought. Our natural reaction is to flounder and fill space with meaningless words. Remember that you haven’t failed if you forgot your place and often no knows it but you.
4. Think about the end goal – If you get stuck, don’t harp on the minutia. Think about the totality of your presentation rather than the words you forgot. Where do you want your audience to be at the end of your talk? What do you want them to feel? Use this as your guide to getting back on track.

So what are the best ways to approach a negotiation? Well there are essentially four steps to most negotiations; preparing, setting up, negotiating and closing.

So if you’re negotiating with your client, here are a few tips for each stage of the process:

1. Preparing

• Take time to familiarise yourself with all the details of the deal to help build your confidence during the negotiation
• Decide three things before going into the deal: a) what your ideal outcome is b) what you’d be happy with and c) the point at which you’ll abandon the deal
• Work out what the ‘worst case scenario’ impact (financial or otherwise) would be to you/your business
• If possible, try to get an idea of what’s important to the other side and even try to test their position before you go into the negotiation itself (knowledge represents the upper hand)
• Always aim realistically high and hold this position as long as you can. You can always come down but you won’t be able to push it back up
• Be prepared to justify your starting position and also be prepared to say no
• Prepare what you have to ‘trade’ with – and prioritize these things in order of value to you.
• Remember that what you decide during this negotiation will set a precedent for what happens in the future i.e. once you make ‘allowances’ for no reason, expect your client to ask for similar concessions in the future – you’re making a rod for your own back if you do!

2. Setting up

• Try not to be intimidated by the other side’s demeanour, data, facts, stats etc. but try to anticipate what they will begin with and what you’ll respond with
• Lay out the agenda for the negotiation but try not to be the one who reveals a starting position first
• Be inquisitive and use intelligent questions to garner more information. Don’t try to convince the other side to come round to your way of thinking and don’t be over-emotional
• Sound ‘sure’ when you state your position and have the confidence to request clearly what you’re looking for.
• Anticipate that the other side will be challenging your position/pricing
• Decide that you will stay strong if the other side decides to play power games such as ‘good cop bad cop’ or aggression to force their position

3. Negotiating

• Never give something without asking for something in return. Take your time and don’t be too quick to change your position when the other side pushes.
• If you lower your price then the scope of what you are providing for that fee should change in accordance e.g. “if you’d like to reduce the overall cost, we can replace the X element with X (i.e. a cheaper component)’ or “how about we only allow for one round of amendments rather than two, which will reduce the overall cost by X” etc.
• If a question or point comes up that you haven’t anticipated, don’t feel pressured to decide on your response then and there, take time to think before you answer.
• Don’t be inflexible, aim to be as co-operative as possible throughout the negotiation
• Ask questions “What is important to you about… ?” “What if we gave you X and you gave us Y in return”? “What is most valuable for you/your company?”
• Don’t undervalue your position by agreeing to split the difference
• Focus on the value you bring, not the price (find out what the other side values)

4. Closing

• The end of the negotiation is where most concessions are made, stay logical and don’t be fooled by ‘last minute’ tactics to throw the negotiation off course
• Aim for a win/win position but at least ensure the other side feels they have gained something valuable from the negotiation
• Don’t be forced into a bad deal. It’s better to walk away than accept something that hasn’t been thought through properly

Have you founds these points useful? What other negotiation tips would you offer to someone who you’ve found helpful?