Prior to my journey through the effective communication module, I had set out two goals for myself: to deliver speeches with more confidence and to refine my report writing skills. I genuinely feel satisfied to have achieved them both. However, there is always room for improvement. It has been a long time since I had to address a crowd the size of a classroom, sometimes nerve wrecking, but enjoyable. I find it more comfortable during presentations, when I digest the information and understand the message that I am trying to convey to the audience beforehand. Instead of just memorizing a prepared speech, I find myself speaking more confidently when I know the material inside out, and that I can improvise the words as I go along. For report writing, the useful tips and website links provided were of big help. From learning the different techniques of writing such as reader’s response, transmittal letter, report writing to annotated summary, it was a much-needed refresher course to kick-start life in university. I have to admit though, APA citation is still a pain in the neck.
There were many takeaways in the project learning aspect. I realized how precise and focused simple things like problem statements and purpose statements should be like. Without an in-depth focus on a subject, it can be vague for readers to understand the key message of my work. Including more visuals in power point slides definitely helped to paint a better picture for the audience to comprehend. With much regret, I wished to have communicate and lead better with my team prior to the presentation date. As there were last minute alterations made to the slides, there was uncertainty whether the materials presented were overlapping between my group members, which caused a dip in confidence in my part during group presentation. There is definitely no I in team, and the group work experience garnered have raised my awareness on how to pace and allocate work in team based activities. Overall, it is still a pleasure to work in a team, knowing there are more brainstorming capabilities that an individual does not benefit from.
It is a pity that my team did not present at the presentation showcase, but there are still many lessons learnt from observing peers that took the step forward. Majority of groups took their time in delivering their speeches and answered with confidence when posed with questions. Some groups even included videos and animations to their slides, which definitely caught my attention. What I found most interesting was that the presenting groups had the privilege of having a monitor at the back of the classroom, which promoted a more smooth transition and flow in their presentations. Without the need to look back every time to check if the slide is changed, it helped the presenter to interact and give more eye contact to captivate the audience without any breaks in between. The presentation would have been made better if groups had a more energetic sales pitch. To be fair, I believe that the tense and humourless atmosphere made some of the groups appear to be more passive. In certain instances, it felt like I attended a seminar rather than a proposal-like presentation.
To conclude, I would like to thank Professor Blackstone for being such a nice bloke. Under his tutelage, I have learned so much on communication that I hope to apply in the workforce. His interactive style of teaching and occasional jokes helped to lighten the atmosphere. He allegedly spent Sunday mornings grading our assignments, which I appreciate. Although, the noble attempts to use Singlish could be made better. I would also like to thank my group mates Tiara and Yuan Kai for the effort and dedication to the project. This is Joel signing out.
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