With shopping season in full gear, I began to wonder what the best presents are for your partner. Should you get something you know they want? Maybe something that they have not mentioned that you think they would like? Or would a present that touches their heart be the best? I did not have the answer – so I asked our community …

“What is the best Christmas present you’ve ever received?”

Our most recent poll shows that most men (42%) prefer a gift “that was a complete surprise” while women (56%) would enjoy a present “that touched my heart”.

So to all you women out there – put your thinking caps on and surprise him with a great find you know he’d like but hasn’t come across yet. While it’s no huge shock that surprises are great presents, keep in mind the meaning behind the gesture when planning. Surprises are great because they show your partner that you care. Surprises require an in-depth knowledge of their likes and dislikes as well as time and planning. So make this holiday special with a surprise for your man.

Now on to men. As I’ve stated in multiple articles, women want to feel cherished; and the holidays are a great time to remind her of your love. Throw a present under the tree that will let her know what she means to you (something inspired by your relationship and your feelings). Not only are you showing your love through the time it takes to plan this little surprise, but it also reaffirms your love and gives her something to look back on and cherish. It’ll mean so much more than all those nice-to-have presents combined!

The holidays are a wonderful time to show your partner you care. You get to spend more time together and think of new and exciting ways to surprise each other! Whether you’re new to romance or have been romantic for years, the holidays provide the perfect opportunities to show you care.

Information and knowledge is power. In negotiations this information translates into bargaining power. The Internet is the ultimate source of information and is thus a great tool for employees to strengthen their bargaining power in salary negotiations. But there are disadvantages with the Internet as well.

A prime focus when preparing for a salary negotiation is of course to find out the market value of the job one is negotiating the salary for. There are loads of information about this on the Internet, categorized per country, state, kind of job etc. Just a few minutes of research could easily double the bargaining power of the employee.

Another prime focus when preparing for a salary negotiation is to find information about the employer. How is the employer doing financially? What is its history? What are its plans for the future? Information that is invaluable when the employee shall make himself as interesting as possible to the employer. Again – the Internet is a powerful source of information for the employee.

These and other pros of the Internet in a salary negotiation are obvious. There are, however, risks with the Internet that the employee needs to be aware of. This risk lies primarily in the quality of the information.

First of all, information that is not up-to-date will often do more harm than good for the employee.

Second, the information on the Internet is often scattered and brief. There are numerous websites providing information on how to negotiate a salary; information that, however, would fit on only one page in a Microsoft Word document. Although published with the best of intentions, the briefness of the information gives an appearance that a salary negotiation is a quite simple thing that one can succeed with armed with only a few tips.

This is very far from the truth. In fact, a salary negotiation can, from the perspective of the employee, be more complicated and tougher than a negotiation regarding a merger of two Fortune 500 companies. It is not something to be taken lightly and a few tips on a website will definitely not be enough if the employee has a serious ambition of getting a salary that is as high as possible.

Thus, there are powerful pros as well as powerful cons of the Internet for the employee about to negotiate his salary.

If you have been involved in Internet marketing for a while, or for that matter just a few days, you can fail to have noticed that Video can play a major part in increasing your online presence.

Many people have tried in the past to create an online video, but I’m sure those who have tried will agree, that it is not as simple as some will have you believe. It’s just like anything else, it takes time and practice to get it right, and while I don’t think in all cases you need to produce a Hollywood type production, those who can produce a video with good basic video production techniques will succeed, while others are left behind in their wake.

Screen capture or Live Presentations

SCREEN CAPTURE – What do I mean by screen capture?… Basically it’s a method of recording the visual content of what ever you are doing live on the computer, and once the screen capture software is set up, it’s just a matter of clicking on record and you will start recording a video of what ever you want. Don’t forget you can also add a sound track and voiceover while your recording or later should you wish. This is probably the easiest way to get started with producing a video for viewing both on an internet web site, blog, or even to record for a CD or DVD

LIVE PRESENTATION – This has got to be the hardest of the 2 methods to get right, not only have you got to get the sound just right, you have to make sure you or who ever you are getting to do the live presentation, can actually pull it off.
I’m sure you have, or will see many Internet Marketers trying to do live video presentations themselves. Even those who are comfortable with live audiences such as at a seminar or workshop, just cannot quite cut the mustard when they stand or sit in front of a video camera. There is something that makes a video presenting or live video that is totally alien to most people, and that’s the fact that it’s the most unnatural thing you will ever have to do.

What I mean by that? – you may find yourself in a room alone with just a script to read from or teleprompter, a camcorder or webcam, and you have to speak to camera, just as if you are talking to someone else. It take time and practice, and I’m afraid it’s just a fact that most people simply will never be able to do it successfully, or to a degree that makes the viewer feel comfortable watching.

Recording the sound Live

It’s not always appropriate or necessary to record the sound track at the same time you produce the screen capture. Although many people seam to do this as standard practice, probably to save themselves time. It really is not good for the viewer to have to listen to anyone, no matter how interesting the topic or the person presenting, it’s really annoying to have to listen to all the umms and arrs. So if you can, I would always recommend you record the sound track separate to video.

Another trap that a lot of people fall into, is the belief that you should add the sound after you have recording the video track. This is in fact the hardest way to do it, it may take a little more planning, but the end result will be a much polished and better produced, more professional looking video by first recording the sound track, made up of the presenters voice, sounds effects and any background music.

By doing it in this order you will find the inclusion of still or moving video can easily be added to the audio content at just the right moment in time. At this stage any titles can also be added to enhance the presentation further.