Final reflection of ES2007S

It is another end of a semester.But this time it is different because of the change brought by the ES2007S course on me. There is so much I have learnt in this class from every discussion, writing practice and project meeting. I always comment on my classmates' posts that how this module is beneficial and I will share with you my opinions and gains from this course in this semester.

One idea I came up with today is the whole module in my perception is around the idea of being considerate or "you" attitude.
Being considerate in conflict solving is to know the conflict from the other side in the first place not yours. It enables to understand the concern and the need of the target you are dealing with. That is why we use direct or indirectly approach to find out the other side's perception on certain conflict from right beginning.
Being considerate in culture is to understand and respect the difference of other cultures without posing your prejudice on your perception of the cultures. That is what we talk about no prejudice about culture and be culturally sensitive.
Being considerate in CV and application letter writing is to know the need of the company and portray yourself with your own information to meet the company's need.
Being considerate in the mock interview for your job is to know the expectation of the interviewer about the question as well as performance of employee and the rationale for the questions.
Being considerate in the project is to understand the need of the students in NUS and the impact of the problem on relevant parties. Then you come up with the solution that can be accepted and bring real benefits to all groups involved in this problem.
Therefore the critical idea in professional communication is to be considerate about the communication target. This is what I summarized from this course. The reason I put it in the first place is that it is the mindset which changed me in this course. When talking about mindset, the other skills and techniques would be subordinated as they are just tools and means originating from this mindset.

Talking about the skills and techniques, I think I have the list in our last class from different categories. I do see a significant improvement on myself. For the most memorable improvement from this class, I would pick the mock interview and project management.

The mock interview is a fresh experience for me even though I have gone through dozens of interviews for the three years in NUS. It is my first time to be interviewed for a job and become a interviewer myself. I have to admit that role playing is very powerful. When you are in that position of interviewer, your whole mindset and thinking is like a real company HR officer. It offers you the chance to understand the expectation from the interviewers when they ask every question. You can even feel what they probably feel about certain responses of the interviewee. You suddenly become sensitive about every move and wording from the interviewee. It is tremendously beneficial for the preparation of the interview. Like a Chinese proverb, you should target on their preference.

The project is undoubtedly a mega event for me in this module. It account it as my first time to lead a team for project. It is also the first time I have clear timeline and schedule for a project with agenda and minutes for every meeting. I learnt to how to trust your teammates even though there sometimes are discrepancies from your expectation as I am a highly demanding person. This project turned to be a perfect practice for me and the outcome is amazingly good. I would like to thank here again for my teammates' efforts, creativity and diligence. They are really responsible for their role in this project. From setting down the topic in McDonald's to surveying 60+ students in techno Edge during the peak hours without lunch, we all devote our precious time and effort in this project. In other way, I have identified my personality and drawbacks from the interaction with my teammates and conduction of this project. For instance, improvement is possible for my presentation style and overcoming my ill-patience and prejudice are conductive for me and any project.

This course has taught for every minute through discussion, practice, peer feedback and project. They all aim to make me a better person in communication with the rest of the world. I sincerely thank Mr. Blackstone for his acceptance of me in this class since I decided to join this course at a very late timing.I am also grateful of my classmates. Without them, this course would never be such lively, interesting and rewarding.I love this module and hope more NUS students from Science and Engineering would have the chance in their four years in NUS to sit in the tutorial room listening to Brad's legendary life experience.

Neil
19 November, 2010

Reflection of Project presentation

I have not done any presentation for quite a while already since most engineering modules do not require the presentation in the module scope. Thus the project presentation of ES2007S becomes a precious opportunity for practicing all the skills and key points we have picked up from this course.

To recall the presentation on this Tuesday, I could point out something I could pay attention to in the future practice.

Firstly, I experienced some blank out moments in my brain when the words came out from my mouth did not match with what I have prepared. Just this little deviation would put me in a state of panic since all the tone, feeling and pace were disturbed. I could identify these moments when I came to a pause or talked about some ill-grammar sentences. In addition, I tended to turn to the screen even though it did not help when I was stuck.

Secondly, I feel my pace is a little fast. I could justify it as my style of articulating but the problem lying in this would be the words were mumbled in my mouth which affected the clearness of my speech. However, when I tried to slow down, I tended to forget what I was going to say. It seems the pace of speeching pulls down the processing speed of my brain as well. As a result, I would try to pour all the stuffs in my brain out before they are totally gone.

Thirdly, I found that I lacked a tempo in my presentation in terms of pause, emphasis and tone. This is a advanced requirement of presentation which is associated with the personality and speech style of individual. A good tempo could bring audience enjoyment and easier capture of the presentation content. I hope to improve on this which is also a way to build personal charms.

Last, I am not a good story teller. My story or example used in presentation seemed more like a fact statement. If a story could not be told in the story-telling way which attracts the audience and offer them the surprise, the effect of telling a story would be downplayed. It is not easy to be a good story-teller. Maybe I should start from telling fairy tales.

That is what I think I can do better in future presentation. I would thank again my teammates, Pavi, Yong feng and Forest for their diligence and all the efforts put in this project and presentation. The whole project is really an enjoyable process and I appreciate their genius and mutual help to achieve such a good outcome. Thanks for other classmates being at our presentation and shooting us with all the brilliant and challenging questions.

It is an amazing presentation and so are the people.