curtains close.

Looking back on my very first post, I believe my understanding of the value of communicating effectively has not changed. I still feel that communication skills are important to get things done, bare your soul and spread the truth. Most importantly, I still concur with my notion that the only way my loved ones can get the best out of me in this short and unpredictable life is through effective communication.

With that being said, I definitely have new ideas about effective communication since embarking on this module; one of which is the fact that communication not only entails speaking, but many other aspects as well. I used to think that the words used to form speech are of the utmost importance in communication, but now, I know otherwise. Words without conviction are merely sounds coming out of one's mouth, which reminds me of a song: "It's only words, and words are all I have ...". The BeeGees are wrong, words are not all they have to express love (I think they know this since they have combined melody with words to invoke emotions in listeners, but indulge me). It is no wonder the girl they are singing to does not “...believe a single word...” they are saying.

This module has opened my eyes to the world of communication, be it in the professional environment or personal environment. The discussions conducted during class sessions the few of the most interesting I've had in all my years of education. They are provocative, challenging, brain-juice churning, and most importantly, issues that are relevant to me.

I thank Brad with the utmost gratitude for letting me experience a mentor-student relationship that is not adhering to the strict and rigid manner that I have experienced the majority of my education life in Singapore. I thank each member of the class for being who they are for the experience would not be the same if anyone were any different. It is through all you people that I’ve gained so much, learning about others and mostly about myself.

May God bless all of you!!

All Ears On Me

I am a member of “The Dark Angels”.

Our mission is to complete a survey report on the implementation of Presence-Activated Lighting Systems and present our important points orally to a specific audience.

*Alright, trying-to-act-like-a-hero narration aside...*

I was surprisingly the only person who was not for this topic initially, but for my own crusade to save the cruelly tortured animals of this world. My reason for this, besides the fact that I like to win, was that I was concerned about the fact that this would be a very dry and ‘common’ topic that every other group would be researching about. I was proven wrong again (darn...) because of the fact that this IS a communication module and bringing across ideas effectively IS exactly what should be done here, no matter how boring the topic may be. In fact, a boring topic may prove to be an adequate test of the skills attained during this course of learning.

I believe our group was sufficiently prepared for the oral presentation, and since I was the one collating the slides, I felt that I had an advantage because I knew exactly what was ‘popping’ up next. The other members were undoubtedly familiar was well, but not as familiar as the ‘creator’ would be.

I don’t know if it was obvious on that day but I WAS VERY NERVOUS. I actually thought that it would be a piece of cake for me since I was accustomed to public speaking at a young age. I believe it was the process of getting dressed so formally and the knowledge of having an absolutely astute audience that daunted me.

In my opinion, the favourable points that I brought to the presentation was that I was loud enough, I enunciated the words that were coming out of my mouth to the best of my ability and I tried really hard to maintain eye contact with everyone. I believe I did fulfil the criteria of sounding professional but enthusiastic at the same time, with tone variation and all-the-works. One thing that I felt was quite difficult was the fact that I had to be convincing. My idea of convincing basically tips like a drunken man on a one-for-one day; to the left I coerce and to the right I don’t bother at all. Nevertheless, I felt like I managed to tone down on the aggressiveness and appeal more with concrete facts that our group found.

There were, unfortunately, ‘damaging’ hits that I dealt to myself. I could feel my heart race, and as it did that, my words raced too. They were in a competition and at a point, I felt like I was having a ‘word vomit’ when all the words came out slurred. I managed to realise that and hopefully *fingers-crossed* salvaged the situation! Another hit came crashing down on me even more so after seeing that second group’s presentation for the day: the fact that our presentation was ‘professional’ and thus, relatively flat and do I dare say, BORING. I consoled myself with the fact that our presentation styles were non-comparable in the first place as ours took on a more professional feel.

The question and answer section has always been my biggest hurdle because of the fact that I cannot practice the answer over and over again. I would actually have to think in front of an audience, which is harder than it seems. The seconds that one takes to ponder over a question seems more like hours and I admit, I was too quick to answer one of the questions. My group somehow seemed to be able to add on to the answers that another member gives, which I felt was good. There were no contradictory answers and all the answers made sense in informing and convincing the audience about PALS.

Overall, I believe that we did a satisfactory job in presenting our thoughts to the specified audience and I definitely hope everyone else feels that same way!