Top 10 Tips on Getting that Scholarship

Many of you will rely on some financial support to pay for your international education. For some, a scholarship could mean the difference between studying… and not studying. For others, it just helps with the cost of living, and also provides a bit extra to enjoy student life.

There are many scholarships available, and not all of them require you to prove you’re the most academically gifted person on earth. But they are incredibly competitive. So how do you make sure you get the scholarship or bursary you deserve?

1. You usually can’t apply for a scholarship until you have been accepted into the course

This may seem like it’s the wrong way around, but you do need to know you can pay your tuition fees and travel expenses without a scholarship. That way, if you do win a grant, you can pay back your local bank loan or have a bit of extra spending money.

2. It’s not going to cover everything

Repeat after me… you can’t study for free. If you’re lucky enough to get a rare full scholarship, you’ll still have to find money for your travel, food, books, health insurance, phone calls and fun.

3. Look beyond your university

You can find a complete list of scholarships on many websites, including those awarded by private foundations (such as a Fulbright Scholarship), or government bodies in the host country (such as the British Council) or your own country (such as the Department of Education). Check carefully to see if you’re eligible – many have nationality, course or age restrictions.

4. Every little bit helps

Even if it’s just a small grant towards the cost of your books, it’s worth taking the time to apply. It’s one less thing to worry about when you get there!

5. Apply for as many as you can

Yes, it takes time. But it’s free money! So make a list of all the scholarships you are eligible for. Double-check you have all the right documents to prove your case, and get someone read over your supporting essay or letter. It’s always good to get another point of view.

6. Be confident

If the application requires a letter or essay explaining why you deserve the scholarship, don’t be shy. List all your relevant achievements – not just academic results but also community work, career experience and awards.

7. Avoid scholarship scams

There is no such thing as a ‘guaranteed scholarship’. You should never have to pay an application fee for a scholarship. Unfortunately, some dodgy scholarship companies will just take your money and disappear.

8. Allow plenty of time

You need to think about your finances at least 18 months before you hope to start your course. But once you have been accepted onto the course, you may only have a short window of time where you can apply for a course-specific scholarship. So don’t miss your deadline; keep in touch with your StudyLink counsellor and with the University’s international office.

9. Keep a record of all the documents

You need proof of funds to get your visa sorted, and that includes the scholarship offer or agreement.

10. Have a back up plan

Don’t despair if all those applications come to nothing. There are other ways to finance your education. Student loans, help from your friends and family, and company sponsorships are worth looking into as well.

If you need further help or advice, visit us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

10 Top Sites For Online Education

Whether you want to top up your knowledge on a subject or learn a completely new skill, there is no shortage of online courses to help you on your way. In fact, there are so many choices, it can be difficult to figure out which platform suits you best!

If you want to help upgrade the skills of one of your freelancers or employees, it can be even more difficult to choose the best match for their learning style.

To help you navigate the rapidly expanding world of online education, here are 10 of the most popular options for upgrading your skills. Ready, set…learn!

Coursera

Coursera has partnered with leading universities in the U.S. and around the world to provide online courses covering dozens of different subjects. Recently, they’ve introduced “specializations”—10 different course pathways that will lead to an official certification from an associated university.

Coursera has a wide diversity of subjects available to choose from; everything from data science to musical theory. As Coursera prides itself on being accessible to everyone, many of the courses are either free or very cheap to to take, with only the official certification at the end having a higher cost involved.

Lynda.com

A veteran in the online education space, Lynda.com offers a subscription-based video tutorial library. Think of it as an education-based Netflix. A great option for people who are visual learners, and at a reasonable cost of $25 per month, a Lynda.com membership provides unlimited access to more than 80,000 videos on a broad range of different subjects.

Udemy

With an average of 800 new courses added to their repertoire every month, Udemy is a bit more expensive than its competitors. Costs vary broadly, ranging from $10 to $500 for different courses; the most popular Udemy courses in business and technology tend to be upwards of $100. However, you can read the reviews of former students before signing up to any of the courses, so you can make a more informed decision.

Udacity

Udacity is a platform with a strong focus on technology, with a small but well-crafted selection of courses. If you’re looking to break into data science (called the “sexiest job of the 21st century“), Udacity’s data science program has an impressive roster of teachers from companies like Salesforce and Facebook.

Udacity’s pricing structure allows you to pay monthly for your courses; if you decide to drop a program before completing it, you pay for the course up to that point, rather than the whole thing.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a non-profit online platform providing a completely free library of educational “micro-lectures.” Focusing on more traditional academic subjects, Khan Academy provides a mix of video and text-based materials in math, science, economics, humanities, and a bit of computer programming. Since Khan Academy is free for anyone to use, it’s a great to way to get a taste for a subject before moving onto a more advanced course elsewhere.

Codecademy

Previously backed by the White House, Codecademy is dedicated to teaching people how to code—and it’s available for free. While other online coding courses are a “learn at your own pace” environment, Codecademy motivates learners to keep a fast pace using supportive groups and a gamified points system.

The school offers courses on a number of languages—including PHP, Phython and Ruby—and students are often already building and deploying projects by the time they finish their course.

Bloc

Focused on web development, Bloc is a more intensive option for those who want to learn quickly. Instead of short courses or lectures, this highly structured program runs for 25 hours per week over several months. With tuition starting at $4,250, bloc.io doesn’t come cheap—but it does offer a great option for those who are ready to commit to a career change.

iversity

Hailed as the “Coursera of Europe,” Berlin-based iversity has partnered with European and international universities to offer academic courses for free. Unlike Coursera, however, it doesn’t look like iversity is currently providing any official certification.

Skillshare

Skillshare is a community marketplace for new skills. With a broad range of different subjects to choose from, Skillshare offers an online catalog of video-based courses, as well as in-person workshops in cities like San Francisco and New York.

Many classes are available to take without a membership at a cost of around $20-$30 each, but top classes—taught by industry leaders—are only available with a Skillshare membership. Membership costs $9.95 per month and, while it doesn’t get you any free content, it does provide 20 percent off of all classes. Like other platforms, Skillshare provides student reviews for your reference.

General Assembly

Focusing on education in design, business and technology, New York City-basedGeneral Assembly has campuses in nearly a dozen different cities around the world. Although the majority of General Assembly classes are in-person, they also offer a compact selection of online-only or mixed courses.

General Assembly even livestreams popular lectures, providing real-time interaction with the lecturer and other students. Their online courses range in price, from one-off lectures to multi-part workshops.

“Verification or Validation? What do you think?”

Would you kindly help me clear something up?

A colleague and I were having a lively argument about the difference between Validation and Verification and it got me thinking. What’s the difference anyway? What do we mean by these terms and do you and I mean the same thing?

Winning the argument seemed pretty important to me at the time, so I did some deep and extensive research (oh, alright, I Googled it) and found the Wikipedia definitions, as follows . . .

• “Verification is a quality control process that is used to evaluate whether a product, service, or system complies with regulations, specifications, or conditions imposed at the start of a development phase.”
• “Validation is a quality assurance process of establishing evidence that provides a high degree of assurance that a product, service, or system accomplishes its intended requirements.”

These definitions appear to say the same thing but if you dig into the semantics there IS a difference. A friend at ARM put it very nicely in a presentation to a DVClub Conference in the UK late last year. He said the difference was highlighted in the two questions . . .

 I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this before and it does appear many places on the web so my ARM friend may not be totally original here, but the questions are good questions, none-the-less (if you know where they originate, then please let me know).

What we infer from the questions are the following. . .

Verification is a matching of results to specification. It is a methodical process of proving something does what you asked for, and nothing else. The specification is taken as golden. The aim; a proof that the design meets the specification.

Validation, on the other hand, is the exercising of the design to check that it is fit for purpose. It is a subjective process of using the design, perhaps in situ, definitely with the embedded software, to see if it does what you need. The specification is NOT golden and in effect is under test along with the design. The aim: a proof that the design AND the specification meet purpose.

So where does FPGA-based Prototyping come in? Well, here’s what you told us. In answer to a question in the FPMM download survey, nearly 2000 users kindly shared the following data about their reasons to use FPGA-based Prototyping. . .

Wait a minute; this says that people use FPGA-based Prototyping to “Verify” the RTL, or to “verify” the hardware and software co-design. So, is FPGA-based Prototyping a verification technology? Clearly, looking at the most popular answer, prototypes do expose RTL bugs that sneak through the normal verification process. How is that possible?

A Safety Net for Verification?

Verification is impacted by the classic speed-accuracy trade-off. We can have high accuracy in an RTL simulator and even go to the gate level, but speed is so far below real-time that some tests simply take too long, even on an accelerator or an emulator. On the other hand, high-level modelling in SystemC and other virtual prototypes gives us much better performance but we no longer have cycle-accurate results. Only FPGA-based Prototyping offers the unique combination of high-speed AND cycle-accuracy, allowing longer and more complex tests to be run on the prototype than in a Simulator, catching otherwise unseen RTL bugs.

So, Is FPGA-based Prototyping a verification technology? No;  It lacks the necessary observability, controllability and determinism required for the objective testing of RTL, however, we could quite rightly consider it as a “safety net” for verification.

Objective vs. Subjective

Because Verification is an objective comparison of results against the specification, there is massive scope for automation, for example as in the UVM and VMM methodologies. Validation, however, is more subjective and so less easy to automate, relying more on the expertise of the prototypers themselves. Prototypers need to see the system running, in the real environment actually performing the task for which the specification was created. We may also choose to exercise the design outside of the specification’s envelope in order to explore further optimisation, or to improve upon the specification. There is an emphasis on debug skills and in-lab investigation.

FPGA-based Prototyping is a Validation Technology

Looking back at your survey responses, we see that “System Validation”, “System Integration” and “Software Development” are also popular uses for FPGA-based Prototyping. These use modes are definitely in the validation camp. Here we are using the FPGA-based Prototype as a substitute for the first-silicon and in effect, we are running early acceptance tests on the design and its software. Once again, we are taking advantage of its unique combination of high-speed and accuracy.

In many cases the FPGA-based Prototype is used as a real-world platform upon which to exercise the software, especially software at lower (physical) levels of the stack. Of course, we may find some RTL bugs when we run the real software at speed (kudos indeed to the verification team if we don’t!) and this is an excellent by-product, however, that was not the prototype’s original purpose. Simulation and Emulation are better for verification while FPGA-based Prototyping is better for validation. Virtual prototyping also falls into the validation camp, with emphasis on the higher levels of the software stack and pre-RTL stages of the design.

If finding RTL bugs is your purpose, then simulation and a good verification Methodology will be your best bet. If exercising software and validating the system is our purpose, then prototyping is a far better choice than any verification technology.

In the end, most SoC teams will use both and value the contribution of each equally.

The 7 keys to teamworking

It is often said that if you want to arrive fast, you should walk alone and if the objective is to arrive far, you should do it in a team. Beyond any philosophical issue, the truth is that few people are self-sufficient, especially when the target is one of high impact and big objectives. We should work in teams! No way! Even, if the team is just of two people. There are certain clues to be taken into account.

1. Know the strengths and assign roles according to them.

Everyone has its own preferences about the role that takes in the team and there are certain key profiles in order to commit the goal. Belbin points out that there are 9 of these alternatives: The Implementer, the creative and also the one to be inclined to improve the work atmosphere. There are functions in which we feel more comfortable and thus, our performance is more efficient individually and in the team. In order to identify the strengths, the preferences and skills makes it easier to achieve the goals. All this involves a good self-evaluation/assessment skill.

2. Discuss more than argue

Discuss is more interesting since it shows the quality of the arguments and the weakness of your interlocutors. The part that proves an advantageous position will win. Nevertheless, a   better dialog is the one that emphasizes the positive points of the other part, agrees and builds a good synthesis accepting tensions as part of the process.

3. Listen more than hear

Hand in hand with the previous point, one can achieve a positive dialog stemming from an active and acute listening. It is useless to defend an unshakeable position if there is an ultimate goal.

4. Accept chaos and incorporate creativity.

Go beyond flexibility: A team that lets its creative energy flow may achieve great innovations that others may not.

5. Accept the mistake and learn from it

Learning is more effective when it comes from experience. This takes place when the experience is positive, but, there are instances in which this is not the case. Incorporate learning in a proactive way is key, not only for the work of the team but for everyone individually as well.

6. Apprehend the mission.

If all the members of a team commit with the objective, actions will come smoothly.  Without this basic idea, there is no project that can accomplish in its whole capacity. Besides, the objective must be a challenging one and strives everyone out of their comfort zone, which is the only way to learn.

6. Establish a dynamic in common

With guidelines, coherent ways of working, respecting others, being responsible and committed and being flexible enough so that the energy is kept (see point 4).  To accomplish this, it requires a strong dozes of knowledge of the team; therefore, it will assure everyone to be comfortable to rely on each other.

These are some of the clues that facilitate the building of great teams. However, as we mentioned, experience provides the best techniques and practices. What about yours?

Why Web Design Agencies Choose Teamwork Projects

Welcome to the first post in a three-part series dedicated to the wonderful Web Design Agencies using Teamwork Projects to help them build better businesses. We’ve gone out and spoken to some amazing companies to help give us the scoop on why Teamwork Projects works so well for them.

Today, we’re going to concentrate on why Web Design Agencies choose Teamwork Projects as their main productivity tool.

We could tell you why we think Web Design Agencies should chose Teamwork Projects, but you don’t have to take our word for it! We’re going to shut up and let you see what our customers think instead.

Q: Why did you choose Teamwork Projects to help run your business?

Mat Bennett, Managing Director of OKO Digital 

A: We tried nearly 50 different productivity tools before settling on Teamwork Projects. It got to a point where I got really frustrated and just chose to use Basecamp because it was popular and I was tired of testing other productivity tools. About two or three months later, I was thinking, “we really need to get rid of Basecamp”. I just hated it. I was kind of prepared to just get through it, but the way they ran things and dealt with their customers really rubbed me up the wrong way, plus they kept removing features that we were relying on.

We didn’t really look at Teamwork Projects in massive depths on our first round of things. I suppose it wasn’t hugely well known at the time. We made a trial account for Teamwork Projects and another few project management software too. But Teamwork Projects really won us over. We haven’t looked around since. And after the amount of time we spent looking for better productivity tools, it almost became a way of life, so something must have worked.

I think this is why it slipped through on the first round since it was the attractive but useless features that attracted us to options initially. Teamwork Projects isn’t flashy, it just works well and has a clean look. You seem to spend a lot of time and attention making sure all of the elements are working correctly, nicely, and cohesively, as well. Teamwork Projects is quietly good at things and, sometimes, it isn’t always that obvious to appreciate a company like that when you’re doing demos. But when you get a bit more into the free trial you suddenly realize, “Well, hold on. Nothing’s annoyed me yet.” One of my favorite things was noticing that it’s always quick. It’s not quick sometimes then slow at other times. It’s always quick and that’s hard to put on a comparison spreadsheet when you’re comparing things.

The fact that the right options are always there when you need them and those little bits enhancing the user experience that make you realize that this is a quite pleasant tool to use. A tool like Teamwork Projects will be used a lot within a company, so if there are those persistent annoyances, even if they only seem minor at first, will drive you insane. Which is why we kept on trying new tools before.

Teamwork Projects isn’t flashy, it’s all about doing the job well. There’s a humble and integral attitude about Teamwork.com which we really admire. Teamwork Projects is fundamental to how we run our business. We’re all really delighted to be using it. It’s definitely improved the way we work, collaborate, and organize everything!

Debbie Levitt, Founder & CEO of Ptype UX Consultancy

A: I always strive to optimize my productivity and I knew there were so many tools on the internet who claim to help you and your team do just that. I tested out a trial of Basecamp and Teamwork Projects a few years ago Teamwork Projects came up trumps. Basecamp, was lacking in clarity and transparency features. I wanted to make sure my team knew who they are writing to (and not writing to) because we don’t want our clients seeing things that they should not yet be able to see. With Teamwork Projects it’s easy to keep your tasks as public or as private as you want them to be.

The way that Teamwork Projects is set up, helps me get to the meat of the action. It’s clear to see that it’s focus is on tasks; organizing and completing them and nothing else. There’s no nonsense just practical solutions.

I am an analytical person. I want to be organized, and that’s what Ptype chose and value Teamwork Projects as the productivity tool to run our business.

Inge Haverkamp, Optimization & Quality Assurance Manager of MixCom Media Group 

A: We chose Teamwork Projects because it is not very expensive and it gives us most of what we were looking for. Switching to a new project management system can be hard, but with Teamwork Projects we were able to start on a small scale. This gave us a chance to truly test it for a longer time.

We love how proactive Teamwork Projects is. We started testing it with a trial in September 2014 and since then so many features have been added! It’s great to see a company with people who are  as passionate to improve their product as Teamwork Projects.

Mark Kemp, Managing Director of EQ Design 

A: We were using another tool before which we really liked, however they updated their software and suddenly it didn’t match our needs. Pivotal things like; time sheets, weren’t available. At any one time, we could be doing 150 projects on the go, some of these are small projects others are large-scale ones. When working on so many projects during the course of a day, it can be quite vague as to what you’re spending your time on, so time sheets are very important to us. We knew that our old productivity tool provider was no longer developing for time sheets and so we had to look for a new tool.

It seemed like Teamwork Projects were catering for our exact market. We could see that time sheets were a feature of Teamwork Projects and that you were going to continue developing it.

From our trial version of Teamwork Projects, it seemed like the perfect transition for us. Teamwork Projects seemed to offer pretty much the same things our old tool did. There was some extra stuff that you did too, which kind of pushed us to work with you. For instance, we were paying for extra services like Gantt Charts, and we saw that Teamwork Projects offers Gantt Charts and other Gantt Chart integrations too.

We really like your support team, you are quick to get back to us about any questions or suggestions any of us have. Another thing we love about Teamwork Projects is that you have a roadmap of future developments, and we can see clearly when and where new features and improvements are coming.

They’re the main reasons why we made the switch over to Teamwork Projects, and we’ll never look back!

Summing up

So in the words of our customers, Teamwork Projects is; inexpensive, offers a wide range of features, it’s easy to use and has a passionate and supportive team behind it- Just some of the top reasons why the above Web Design Agencies joined Teamwork Projects. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

Well there you have it, some of the main reasons why Web Design Agencies started using Teamwork Projects. Stay tuned because in our next post, we’ll find out why they’re still using us.

We have a page on our website solely devoted to Agencies and Teamwork Projects. To learn more about Teamwork Projects, and how it can benefit your agency simply click here and find out.

P.S. Big shout out to Inge, Debbie, Mark and Mat for making this post possible and for helping us to learn all about Web Design Agencies!

This is Part 1 of a series of 3 Posts. Part 2 is all about Web Design Agencies favorite features of Teamwork Projects. Check it out righthere!

Important & Urgent – How to Focus on Things That Matter

Time is our most valuable and finite resource, yet it is often squandered on low priority tasks or time wasting activities without properly keeping our time management in check. One of our favorite approaches to reclaiming power over your time is with the Time Management Matrix. We even implement it internally, using the Tags feature within Teamwork Projects and featured it here on our blog last month. Also, known as the Eisenhower Box, for its creator the late U.S. Army General, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Time Management Matrix is a method of categorizing tasks and managing time for optimum effectiveness and efficiency. Stephen R. Covey helped to spread the tool’s reputation through his own books and work.

The four quadrants themselves are astonishingly simple. The matrix has four elements of a task (Important, Not Important, Urgent, Not Urgent) and where two elements intersect is the designated priority.

Tasks that must be done the same day or immediately are Important & Urgent, needing to be done without delay. This would be if a customer is having a major issues that needs resolving or if there is a deadline that cannot be altered. The task is important and a quick resolution is needed. These are likely the tasks that bring value, though they are not always fun so just jump in and get them done. As tempting as it can be, do not start with the small or easy tasks first, go with one of the more challenging or complex ones so, once complete, you have a sense of accomplishment and momentum.

Tasks that are Important & Not Urgent would be planned for on a time scheduled to complete the work. This would be if printed materials need to be proofread and printed for a trade show in six months. The task is important, but there is ample time to complete it. Resist the urge to procrastinate these tasks just because the deadline isn’t imminent. Setting up a decoy due date in the foreseeable future gives you something to work towards. If the task requires collaboration or asking someone for something, send these requests early and follow-up often to make sure this item doesn’t become urgent due to neglect. Over time, some of these tasks will shift to become both urgent and important, but with proper scheduling and focus, you will devote the bulk your energy to scheduled and organized tasks in this section of the matrix.

Tasks that are Urgent & Not Important are best delegated to a trusted member of your team. This would be if another department needs help that day or the next day to have another person in the company polo handing out brochures at a trade show. The task has limited time to be addressed, but is not important enough to your own goals to shift your schedule and your own urgent work around. Very often, tasks in this quadrant are ones involving requests from other people. With all delegation, the key is to inform the person receiving the task of the particulars and hand over the task completely, making this person responsible for the outcome without any micromanaging. As a rule, don’t delegate a job you would not be willing to do yourself.

Tasks that are Not Important & Not Urgent should not even be dealt with. This would be if a friend sent you a cat video to watch. The task itself is not helpful and does not get you any close to reaching your goals or your dreams. Omitting such tasks from your schedule not only frees up time, but also is a good practice in prioritization. Though the item is dumped from your plans, that doesn’t mean it should be erased from your e-mail or files, retention of such files chronicles your life and not addressing those items shows who you are at that stage.

Integrating the Time Management Matrix into your daily habits is vital to its success, so take time to organize your tasks accurately. Teamwork Projects’s Tags feature makes implementing this straightforward. In four simple steps, you can tackle your work and still be home for dinner.

1. Tag your tasks with the appropriate label: Important & Urgent, Important & Not Urgent, Urgent & Not Important, or Not Important & Not Urgent.
2. Go to your All Tasks view and filter by Tag to work on those that are Important & Urgent.
   
3. Return to the filter and view your Important & Not Urgent, paying attention to any assigned due dates. Work on these tasks.
   
4. Re-assess tasks every two weeks and accurately label newly created and assigned tasks. Once a new Not Important & Not Urgent task is received, evaluate it and delegate to the appropriate person.

Power Tip: If a task changes from Not Urgent to Urgent, it is easy to replace the Tag by holding the Shift key down while clicking on the Tag itself.

There will always be more work to do than time to do it, but there’s no need to stress. Strategically managing tasks based on these four basic elements returns the power to you. Throughout the process, monitor your time through time tracking so you can see how you are spending your most valuable resource. Each month, review your productivity through where you invested your time and gain greater awareness going forward in which tasks were worthwhile and which were not. Whenever possible, do away with technology that does not help you.

7 Essentials for Effective Team Meetings

Ever heard the expression two heads are better than one? Well, it’s true! Effective team meetings happen because you bring people together to discuss an idea or problem and the different perspectives and experiences of everyone in the room can help tackle the problem from multiple angles. Though no matter the intention or goal, sometimes meetings are ineffective. The following will act as a guide for all of those people who suffer from awful meeting aliment.

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all sat in those meetings counting down the seconds, hoping something, anything, would happen to liven up the hour you’ve spent listening to some humdrum topic going around and around in circles. I once sat at the back of hall listening to four men trying to run a meeting. There was no order, there was no clear agenda, there was nothing. It was chaos. The meeting went on for three hours and there was still no plan of action for the future when they closed the meeting. It was the biggest waste of time I’ve ever spent! I long for those three hours of my life back. For this reason, I am determined to help you not lose hours too.

People often forget what meetings are all about. My idea of a good business meeting consists of a few essential key people discussing an idea with a view of creating a plan of action for the future. The bringing together of multiple ideas and perspectives can result in a more well-rounded and sophisticated strategy.

1. Plan Plan Plan.

First things first, if you want to hold a meeting you’ve got to sit down and write out what it is you want to discuss and what you want to resolve (i.e. what’s the purpose of the meeting). Planning and preparation goes a long way for effective meetings. Make out a checklist for the meeting, including all of the topics you want to discuss and how much time you need to spend on each.

2. Communicate the agenda to your colleagues.

E-mail or message your colleagues telling them about the meeting. Issue the obvious details such as dates, times, and location, then attach the proposed agenda and let them know what it is you want them to prepare for the meeting. I recommend distributing this information at least two days in advance of the meeting to ensure everyone can be ready.

3. Early meetings, Early in the week.

Don’t be one of those people who have a Monday morning 9am or Friday evening 5pm meeting! Do you want everyone to hate you? No? Ok, good! Monday morning at 9am people’s minds are still in sleep mode. Friday evening will get you zero concentration and zero creativity. However, 10am meetings are best, giving people time to get their coffee and to read over their notes for the meeting. The 10am meeting start time pretty much ensures that nobody will be late for your meeting either! I suggest meetings should only be on early in the week: Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. This means that the content of the meeting will be on peoples minds all week and they’ll be able to hit the ground running straight away. Friday evening meetings agendas are often forgotten about come Monday morning! Thursday doesn’t really give people enough time to get the job done. Early meetings, early in the week – That’s the key for premium productivity!

4. Short meetings are the way to go!

Ideally, all meetings should be under 30 minutes. Have a timeframe for how long the meeting should go on for, determine and stick to a specific start and end time, and account for the time you suspect it will take the group to discuss each topic and implement it. Meetings are glorified brainstorming sessions with built-in decision-making moments. Although they are very important, don’t waste unnecessary time on them!

5. Start as you mean to go on.

The tone that is set at the beginning of the meeting will be carried out throughout. Always be positive! Focus on solutions not problems. Don’t get bogged down or paniced. This will lead to negative, rushed, and ineffective meetings. Always begin and end on a positive note!

6. Carefully chosen space.

Make sure your the meeting is held in a suitable environment appropriate for the size and needs of the group. Having a mix of visual aids keeps things interesting. I would always encourage having a T.V screen available to communicate any videos/ pictures etc required for the meeting. Anything that inspires kinetic energy is great! Having things like white boards, where people can communicate their ideas, gives an air of accomplishment because ideas and plans are being written down and the project is effectively started.

Get rid of the tables! What purpose do they really have? For short meetings (5-10 minutes), what about standing meetings. No chairs either (except for those needing to be off their feet)! Whatever it is, standing people feel more productive. There is less dilly dallying when people are standing! Obviously, it would be uncomfortable to be standing for 30 minutes, so for longer meetings have comfy chairs – We use bean bag chairs here at Teamwork.com.

7. If you’re in charge, for goodness sake chair!

Lead the meeting. Allow people to express their opinions but know when to stop the rambling and arguing. Make sure everyone voices an idea – don’t accept one or two loud voices shadowing others. Someone has to take charge to make sure all of the important topics are discussed, all relevant ideas are heard, and time is not being wasted. Have a checklist made of what you want achieved in what time frame for the meeting and check things off over the course of the meeting. Time management and people management. This is your job as chair!

The purpose of meetings is to share ideas and collaborate, ask questions, and find solutions. Your job as chair is to communicate effectively to the team members what their purpose is going forward. Tasks and purposes can often be lost in translation over email and a lot of the time the best plans come from a team discussion as it pulls together the best of everyone’s ideas.

Time management is one of the main reasons why so many meetings are so abominably awful and boring, so if you take anything from this blog be prepared and plan your meetings!

20 Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills

1. Practice. Naturally, you'll want to rehearse your presentation multiple times. While it can be difficult for those with packed schedules to spare time to practice, it's essential if you want to deliver a rousing presentation. I’m famous around the office for staying up late the night before a big presentation, practicing over and over. If you really want to sound great, write out your speech rather than taking chances winging it – if you get nervous about speaking, a script is your best friend.

Try to practice where you'll be delivering your talk. Some acting strategists suggest rehearsing lines in various positions – standing up, sitting down, with arms open wide, on one leg, while sitting on the toilet, etc. (OK, that last one may be optional.) The more you mix up your position and setting, the more comfortable you'll feel with your speech. Do a practice run for a friend or colleague, or try recording your presentation and playing it back to evaluate which areas need work. Listening to recordings of your past talks can clue you in to bad habits you may be unaware of, as well as inspiring the age-old question: "Is that what I really sound like?"

2. Transform Nervous Energy Into Enthusiasm. It may sound strange, but I'll often down an energy drink and blast hip-hop music in my earphones before presenting. Why? It pumps me up and helps me turn jitters into focused enthusiasm. Studies have shown that an enthusiastic speech can win out over an eloquent one, and since I'm not exactly the Winston Churchill of presenters, I make sure that I'm as enthusiastic and energetic as possible before going on stage. Of course, individuals respond differently to caffeine overload, so know your own body before guzzling those monster energy drinks.

3. Attend Other Presentations. If you're giving a talk as part of a conference, try to attend some of the earlier talks by other presenters. This shows respect for your fellow presenters while also giving you a chance to feel out the audience. What's the mood of the crowd? Are folks in the mood to laugh or are they a bit more stiff? Are the presentations more strategic or tactical in nature? Another speaker may also say something that you can play off of later in your own presentation.

4. Arrive Early. It's always best to allow yourself plenty of time to settle in before your talk. Extra time ensures you won't be late (even if Google Maps shuts down) and gives you plenty of time to get adapted to your presentation space.

5. Adjust to Your Surroundings. The more adjusted to your environment you are, the more comfortable you'll feel. Make sure to spend some in the room where you will be delivering your presentation. If possible, practice with the microphone and lighting, make sure you understand the seating, and be aware of any distractions potentially posed by the venue (e.g., a noisy road outside).

5 minutes before my Inbound presentation … gulp

6. Meet and Greet. Do your best to chat with people before your presentation. Talking with audiences makes you seem more likeable and approachable. Ask event attendees questions and take in their responses. They may even give you some inspiration to weave into your talk.

7. Use Positive Visualization. Whether or not you’re a Zen master, know that plenty of studies have proven the effectiveness of positive visualization. When we imagine a positive outcome to a scenario in our mind, it's more likely to play out the way we envision.

Instead of thinking "I'm going to be terrible out there" and visualizing yourself throwing up mid-presentation, imagine yourself getting tons of laughs while presenting with the enthusiasm of Jimmy Fallon and the poise of Audrey Hepburn (the charm of George Clooney wouldn't hurt either). Positive thoughts can be incredibly effective – give them a shot.

8. Remember That Most Audiences are Sympathetic. One of the hardest fears to shake when speaking in public is that the audience is secretly waiting to laugh at your missteps or mistakes. Fortunately, this isn’t the case in the vast majority of presentations.

The audience wants to see you succeed. In fact, many people have a fear of public speaking, so even if the audience seems indifferent, the chances are pretty good that most people listening to your presentation can relate to how nerve-racking it can be. If you start to feel nervous, remind yourself that the audience gets it, and actually wants to see you nail it.

9. Take Deep Breaths. The go-to advice for jitters has truth to it. When we're nervous, our muscles tighten--you may even catch yourself holding your breath. Instead, go ahead and take those deep breaths to get oxygen to your brain and relax your body.

10. Smile. Smiling increases endorphins, replacing anxiety with calm and making you feel good about your presentation. Smiling also exhibits confidence and enthusiasm to the crowd. And this tip works even if you're doing a webinar and people can't see you.

Just don't overdo it – no one enjoys the maniacal clown look.

Don’t be like this guy.

11. Exercise. Exercise earlier in the day prior to your presentation to boost endorphins, which will help alleviate anxiety. Better pre-register for that Zumba class!

12. Work on Your Pauses. When you're nervous, it's easy to speed up your speech and end up talking too fast, which in turn causes you to run out of breath, get more nervous, and panic! Ahh!

Don't be afraid to slow down and use pauses in your speech. Pausing can be used to emphasize certain points and to help your talk feel more conversational. If you feel yourself losing control of your pacing, just take a nice pause and keep cool.

13. Don’t Try to Cover Too Much Material. Yes, your presentations should be full of useful, insightful, and actionable information, but that doesn’t mean you should try to condense a vast and complex topic into a 10-minute presentation.

90 slides in 30 minutes? Only from @larrykim #stateofsearch http://t.co/uttijruots

— Kate Gwozdz (@KateGwozdz) November 17, 2014

Knowing what to include, and what to leave out, is crucial to the success of a good presentation. I’m not suggesting you skimp when it comes to data or including useful slides (some of my webinars have featured 80+ slides), but I am advocating for a rigorous editing process. If it feels too off-topic, or is only marginally relevant to your main points, leave it out. You can always use the excess material in another presentation.

14. Actively Engage the Audience. People love to talk and make their opinions heard, but the nature of presentations can often seem like a one-sided proposition. It doesn’t have to be, though.

Asking the audience what they think, inviting questions, and other means of welcoming audience participation can boost engagement and make attendees feel like a part of a conversation. It also makes you, the presenter, seem much more relatable. Consider starting with a poll or survey. Don’t be put off by unexpected questions – instead, see them as an opportunity to give your audience what they want.

Hopefully this man has a question, and doesn’t just need to go to the bathroom.

15. Be Entertaining. Even if your presentation is packed with useful information, if your delivery bombs, so will your session.

I find that including some jokes and light-hearted slides is a great way to help the audience (and myself) feel more comfortable, especially when presenting them with a great deal of information. However, it’s important to maintain a balance – after all, you’re not performing a stand-up routine, and people didn’t come to your presentation with the sole intention of being entertained. That said, don’t be afraid to inject a little humor into your talk. If you’re not sure about whether a presentation is “too much,” run through it for a couple of friends and ask them to tell it to you straight.

16. Admit You Don’t Have All the Answers. Very few presenters are willing to publicly concede that they don’t actually know everything because they feel it undermines their authority. However, since we all know that nobody can ever know everything about a given topic, admitting so in a presentation can actually improve your credibility.

If someone asks a question that stumps you, it’s okay to admit it. This can also increase your credibility with the audience, as it demonstrates that, no matter how knowledgeable a person might be, we’re all learning, all the time. Nobody expects you to be an omniscient oracle of forbidden knowledge – they just want to learn from you.

17. Use a Power Stance. Practicing confident body language is another way to boost your pre-presentation jitters. When your body is physically demonstrating confidence, your mind will follow suit. While you don't want to be jutting out your chest in an alpha gorilla pose all afternoon (somebody enjoyed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes a bit too much), studies have shown that using power stances a few minutes before giving a talk (or heading to a big interview) creates a lasting sense of confidence and assurance. Whatever you do, don't sit--sitting is passive. Standing or walking a bit will help you harness those stomach bats (isn't that more appropriate than butterflies?). Before you go on stage, strike your best Power Ranger stance and hold your head high!

18. Drink Water. Dry mouth is a common result of anxiety. Prevent cottonmouth blues by staying hydrated and drinking plenty of water before your talk (just don't forget to hit the bathroom before starting). Keep a bottle of water at arm's reach while presenting in case you get dry mouth while chatting up a storm. It also provides a solid object to hurl at potential hecklers. (That'll show 'em.)

19. Join Toastmasters. Toastmaster clubs are groups across the country (and the world) dedicated to helping members improve their public speaking skills. Groups get together during lunch or after work to take turns delivering short talks on a chosen topic. The more you present, the better you'll be, so consider joining a Toastmaster club to become a top-notch orator. Just don't forget, it's BYOB (Bring Your Own Bread).

20. Don't Fight the Fear. Accept your fear rather than trying to fight it. Getting yourself worked up by wondering if people will notice your nervousness will only intensify your anxiety. Remember, those jitters aren't all bad – harness that nervous energy and transform it into positive enthusiasm and you'll be golden. We salute you, O Captain! My Captain!