Wednesday 3 April 2013

Post 4: My FOP experience


Hi everyone, the semester is coming to close, so just hang in there!

Today’s post will be my reflection on the FOP.

Preparation:

As mentioned in my earlier post, I worked very hard for this FOP on several issues namely, my voice, my body language and the slides.

The voice and body language were explained in my earlier post so I will not elaborate. In short, I just wanted to be as natural as possible and deliver my presentation in a powerful and persuasive manner especially the conclusion part. I wanted to end the presentation with a BANG!!!

As for my slides, I referred mainly to the Garr Reynolds site (It is a very useful and insightful website, so I recommend everyone to take a look at it -http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/index.html). In addition, I watched some videos on Tedtalk for ideas and inspiration too. Following Garr Reynolds’ advice, I kept my slides to the minimal and showed only the very important stuff. I wanted the focus to be on ME, the presenter.  The thought of presenting without slides did occur to me but I felt some visual aid would be better.

In a way, I had to be the star of the show (presentation). And if for some reasons, the slides could not work on that day, it would not have mattered one bit. Throughout my preparation, I kept telling myself that if this were a real show, people would pay to watch me and not the slides. Although I know that this is a very good approach for presentations, I struggled with the concept. This being my first attempt, I was constantly worried whether I could pull it off or not. Eventually, I reasoned out with myself that since this approach is used by some of the most successful speakers around, I am on the right path and regardless of the result of the FOP; I am going to use this approach for future presentations.

Just a little more background as to why I had doubts over the above approach is because, prior to this module, I always thought that the slides were as important as the speaker. But now I truly understand that “people don’t buy your ideas, people buy you”. This is a quote from Eric Feng, one of the best presenters I have ever seen.

Presentation:

After analyzing the situation (FOP issue D), I personally feel that NUS has been sitting on this issue for too long a time, hence, I believe the best way to convince them to take action is be truthful, objective and passionate.

Truthful in the sense that I needed NUS to understand the seriousness of the problem and there should be no sugarcoating of it. Objective wise, I wanted to show NUS how my recommendations will benefit NUS and lastly, impress NUS with my passion. I want NUS to feel and know that I am equally driven and motivated, as they are to tackle this issue.

Well, feedback from the class was mixed, the guys and Brad liked it and they said they could feel my passion. On the other hand, the girls thought I was too fierce and stern, they commented that it was like I was intimidating them to choose my recommendations over the other three presenters.

Personally, I thought I did quite well for the FOP. I felt more natural and confident this time. In fact, unlike the GT, I was actually eager to get in front of the class to present. I attribute this eagerness to two reasons:

1)   Confidence in my own work.
Firstly, you really need to know your stuff - I could recite my whole report word for word. (Ok, I am exaggerating here, but you get my point). The next step after “internalizing” my work was to convince myself that my ideas are the best! This is because if I don’t believe in my work, it will show in my presentation and the audience will sense it. I truly believe whatever I recommended will work and should be implemented even though feedback from the class suggests otherwise.

2)   Preparation
I filmed myself presenting multiple times. Each time I reviewed those videos, I constantly asked myself whether the things I said were relevant and what kind of impact it will have on the audience. It was through endless amendments before I finalized on the content and the best way to bring the message across to the audience.

Nonetheless, after reviewing the video, I noticed some stumbles but the more problematic issues such as my voice and going into a “presentation-mode” did not appear. Overall, I am pleased with the way I presented. However, this is not the end; I will continue to improve on my presentation skills for I am sure these skills will one day come in handy when I am out there in the cut-throat corporate world. It could be the difference that results in me clinching the deal over someone else.

Friday 29 March 2013

Post 3: My GT Experience


Hi everyone!

I hope everything has been well. Below are my thoughts on the GT.

Preparation:

First of all, I have to say that I had an AWESOME group for the GT. We were very cooperative and met up several times to rehearse. Content-wise, we spent a lot of time ensuring the data we presented on the actual day was concise and relevant. We wanted to make the presentation interesting and engaging for the class.

However, there was a problem with Dropbox the night before our actual presentation. The finalized slides went missing and as a result, I spent half the night touching up the slides again. In a way, I felt this disruption affected me greatly on the actual day.

Presentation:

Usually, I would say that I am an above average presenter and I can articulate my views reasonably well. However, on the actual day, I was an absolute wreck inside and despite my best attempts to hide it, it showed up in some parts of my presentation.

Right after the presentation, I knew that there were some parts where my voice was shaky and unclear. My assessment of my own presentation was confirmed after watching the video. In addition, the video revealed that I turned and referred to the slides too many times. According to Garr Reynolds, it is not wise to have your back faced towards your audience, which I did, unfortunately.

Feedback from my classmates was my volume was too soft and I mumbled, which made it difficult for them to catch what I was saying. Thankfully, this problem/issue was minimal and I had it somewhat under control - Throughout the whole time on the sidelines (I was the last presenter), I told myself to keep calm and slow down. The feedback I received from Brad was similar to my own assessment. He noticed that I was nervous but on a whole, I masked it well. I believe experience was vital here in maintaining my composure. Coming from the polytechnic, I have done numerous presentations and I am certain the experience helped.

Another issue that has been a perennial problem is the tone of my voice. I don’t know why but my voice becomes more serious and flat whenever I present. This is not good because I come across as monotone and boring. This is an issue that I take seriously because I received similar feedbacks from my peers and tutors.

Personally, the main takeaway from the GT for me is to try to present as naturally as possible. By this, I mean presenting the same way as I would normally speak. Almost everyone says I don’t have a monotone when I speak in class. In fact, Brad told me the same thing during the feedback session. I totally agree with them. The monotone issue only appears during presentations - it is like I switch into a “presentation-mode” whenever I present and this gives the impression that I am stern and unapproachable.

When I reflect back on my past presentations, I realized that the times when I was “myself” were during the Q&A session - people find me to be very convincing and persuasive here. I guess it could be the fact that I was addressing an individual’s query rather then the whole class. Well, I suppose the next big challenge for me is to bring this “naturalness” into the main presentation. I have been working very hard on this issue and hopefully it shows during the FOP.

Nonetheless, I am very happy with the overall GT experience. It has been a huge learning curve for me.

Sunday 17 February 2013

Post 2: Report: Main Question/Thesis/Outline


Hi everyone, I hope your weekend went well. This will be my third post and it is about how I am going to approach the Report Writing Assignment for ES2002 – Report Writing Issue D.

As always, I will be more than happy to receive feedback. So please feel free to comment (suggestions, improvements…etc). I really appreciate it! =)


I will start off with the PPQ as it is the foundation of the report.

Problem: NUS Graduates do not write well when they start work.

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to determine which aspects of written communication (WC) that need to be addressed to improve the written communication skills of current NUS students.


Questions (key):   Which aspects of WC are NUS graduates weak at?
                              Which aspects of WC are NUS students weak at?

From the data provided, WC can be broken down into two categories 1) Email & Letter writing skills, 2) Report & Proposal writing skills.

The two categories of WC can be further broken down into the different types (response to complaint, sales, recommendation report, Proposal and etc).

In addition, data is provided on the various aspects that contribute to the effectiveness of a letter/email/report/proposal.

Next, I will touch on the format of my report:

   1)   Title Page (might not be necessary)

   2)   Executive Summary
·      This section will be done last as it is a a one-page statement of the problem, the purpose of the communication, and a summary of the results, conclusions, and recommendations.” (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/726/07/)

  
   3)   Table of Contents
  
   4)   Introduction
·      Background + PPQ + Scope + Limitations

   5)   Findings
·      Interpret the given data. If I find the given data to be inadequate, I might do additional research for a more accurate interpretation.

   6)   Conclusions (Body)
·      Evaluate and Present my findings

   7)   Recommendations
·      Have yet to come up with any at the time of posting

   8)   Conclusion (final)
·      Reintroduce the PPQ & this section must end in a highly persuasive & urgent note

   9)   Appendix
·      Attach the given and additional, if any. This is for the readers’ reference.

Saturday 26 January 2013

Post 1: Resolving Interpersonal/Intercultural Conflict



I would like to share about an email I received from my boss back when I was an intern at an international bank in 2010.

Initially, there were only three of us in the department before S joined. S was scheduled to start work on the 20th, a Wednesday. The day before, on the 19th, I received an email from my boss (who was then overseas), he wanted me to help S settle in and in his own words, asked me to “help get her a subway card”.

(*At this point, I would like to ask the reader to take note of the first thing that comes to his/her mind with regards to the word “Subway”.)

For a brief moment, I was stunned because the first thing that came to my mind was the sandwich chain “Subway” and I knew they did not have any promotional card or any card in fact. However, I quickly realized that my boss was actually referring to the MRT.

Although the word “subway” means the train service, I feel that my boss should have used the term “MRT” instead. To be fair to him, he is an American. However, he has lived and worked in Singapore for the past 15 years and on that basis, I believe that he should have known that Singaporeans do not refer to the train service as subway.

This might be a very small issue but it certainly led to some confusion.

Therefore, my question is, as future managers (since the majority of us are Business students), do you think it would have been better if my boss used the term “MRT” instead?

Please let me know what you think. I will post my thoughts on this matter either on Sunday night or Monday morning.

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!
Joey

Sunday 20 January 2013

Introduction!

Hi Everyone

I am Joey from G12. I will be using this blog solely for ES2002 purposes.

Looking forward to the different posts and comments throughout the semester!

Cheers
Joey =)