Final Reflection

The learning journey through ES2007S has been so enjoyable that I didn’t even feel time passing by. As a freshie, I really learned something which can benefit me in the following university life.
Something new
The most important skill I learned in this course is presentation skill. What I used to do is to present all the methodology, primary and secondary research. However, I learned from this course that we need to “sell” our ideas to the audience instead of talking too much on the work we do.

Also, I used to present things like I am reading a report. What I learned from this course is that presenting is more about the presenter than the slides. I should use more vivid examples or stories to engage the audience instead of delivering a lecture.

Suffering but happy
Blogging is a new and interesting topic for me. Actually, I felt a bit disappointed when I heard that we had to write our posts in a very formal way. To be honest, I do not like writing but I know that blogging will benefit me so I try my best to do it.

Afterwards I realized that the most suffering part is not writing the post but the commenting part. I had to comment meeting a certain standard. Sometimes, I really had to get all my brain cells to work but I really learned a lot during the process. I learned how to point out one’s weakness and strength. I felt very happy when I finished them.

I really hope that this course can last for longer time so that I can learn more and meet my friends more. I want to say a big thank you to Brad and everyone in this class. Your encouragement and our friendship have made this course an unforgettable experience for me!!

Oral Presentation Reflection

Firstly, I want to thank my group members: Nan, Hau and Edmund for their contribution to this project. They really helped me a lot and I also have learnt a lot from them. In fact, I used to work on the slides a lot. I often try to put a lot of information on the slides and I haven’t realized that the presentation is about the presenters until I take this course. Also, for the same slide, different ways of delivering can cause different impact. For example, I talked about one slide about the estimated cost of the second solution. In my preparation, I just said that “the cost is… and we only need to recruit 5 more students per year…”. However, Edmund told me it would be better if we say “the cost is… ” and then ask the audience “is it a large sum of money? Nope, actually we can make up from…” I was very impressed by that point.

Anyway, I have to talk about my oral presentation today. In our discussion, we agree to make our slides as few as possible and use more pictures to emphasize our points. So I use many pictures without many words, like the old schedule, the changed schedule and busy YIH canteen. However, I feel that the transition of my slides is not well done. I also think the link between my slides and my speech is not highly connected. (Maybe it is because of my mistake during the presentation).

For the delivery part, I think the mistake during my presentation really affected me a lot. I was supposed to answer Hau’s question and walked to the stage slowly and confidently. However, it turned out to be that I walked to the stage frightenedly. I prepared a lot but it still happened, out of my expectation of course. In fact, I didn’t know what my gestures were because I was very nervous. However, I tried to keep eye contact with the audience after I remembered everything. I didn’t know whether it was effective or not because maybe I looked really stressed and my eye contact were no longer there.

I hope my mistake didn’t affect my group’s presentation too much. I wanted to say that I should have remembered the main points instead of the script and I will try my best to do it next time.

A miscommunication caused by a lighter

I heard an interesting story of a Korean pop star in an entertainment show a few weeks ago. He was sent to support Korean football team during the World Cup this year. After a victory of their national team, he went to a night club to celebrate. An old lady asked him whether he had a lighter or not because she wanted to smoke. However, he didn’t have one but he felt that it may be impolite to say no, so he asked a hot guy next to him to lend him a lighter. Luckily, the guy had one so he borrowed it, lent it to the lady and then returned it to the man.

For me, it is a very normal scene and it is also very natural for the Korean star to feel embarrassed to say no to that lady. Asian people are often reserved and try to behave politely.

However, actions can be interpreted very differently in different cultures. In America, if you ask to borrow a lighter, this means you are interested in him/her. So he accidentally conveyed a wrong message to the American guy and he said that the American guy was looking at him in a very flirting way when he handed the lighter to him. I think the people around him may be very confused about the Korean star’s sexual interest, for he was interested in people of different genders and at different ages!

Application Letter II

Position Description:
I am thinking to write to apply for a job but I don't think I have enough convincing experience to write since I am a freshie. Therefore, I choose to write an application letter to NUSSU Welfare PR Feedback, although I don't have to in practice. There isn't any advertisement in written form because they actually sent me information through e-mails, which I consider not very appropriate to show in this blog.


Subject Title: Application for complier of NUSSU Welfare PR Feedback

Septermber, 5, 2010

Ms. Katie TEY Soo Kiat,
PR Feedback Project Director
NUSSU Welfare Committee AY2010/2011
National University of Singapore

Dear Ms.Tey,
My name is Yu Xian and I am very glad to know that I have passed the first-round interview and been invited to join NUSSU Welfare Public Relation Feedback. I am very interested in the complier position you offer this year because I have quite a few experience related with designing and publications.

As you have indicated in your e-mail, you need someone who has the passion and skills to build an effective communication between NUSSU Welfare and our students. Fortunately, I have been in charge of publication and advertisement board for my class in high school. During the two years, I have learned to decorate my class display board deftly, managed to listen for my classmates’ ideas and provide effective feedbacks in time. Besides, I used to be a member of publication in Dessert Club in my high school. This position allowed me to design posters and gain more chances to communicate with students.

I have always been trying to challenge myself and acquiring new skills. After I came to Singapore, I have tried my best to expose myself to design. For example, I had a two-month drama Project and I was in charge of designing settings. In this project, I practiced more of my designing skills and team communication skills, which I believe can improve my contribution to a big family like NUSSU Welfare. Moreover, I have learned how to use Adobe Photoshop so I am able to design attractive banners and publication posters for NUSSU Welfare.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I have attached a copy of my resume, which could provide my additional information. Please feel free to contact me and I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.


Yours Sincerely,
Yu Xian
10th Kent Ridge Drive
119242
(+65) xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx@nus.edu.sg

Application letter

I am thinking to write to apply for a job but I don't think I have enough convincing experience to write since I am a freshie. Therefore, I choose to write an application letter to NUSSU Welfare PR Feedback, although I don't have to in practice. There isn't any advertisement in written form because they actually sent me information through e-mails, which I consider not very appropriate to show in this blog.

Application Letter

Subject Title: Application for complier of NUSSU Welfare PR Feedback

Septermber 5, 2010

Ms. Katie TEY Soo Kiat,
PR Feedback Project Director
NUSSU Welfare Committee AY2010/2011
National University of Singapore

Dear Ms.Tey,
I am very glad to know that I have passed the first-round interview and been invited to join NUSSU Welfare Public Relation Feedback. I am very interested in the complier position you offer this year because I have quite a few experience related with designing and publications.

As you have indicated in your e-mail, you need someone who has the passion and skills to build an effective communication between NUSSU Welfare and our students. Fortunately, I have involved in such kind of activities before because I have been in charge of publication and advertisement board for my class in high school. During the two years, I have learned to design beautiful patterns and images on the display board. I have also managed to listen for my classmates’ ideas and provide effective feedbacks to them. I think these two skills are the ones that you are looking for so that NUSSU Welfare could let our students benefit more.

Besides my old experience, I have always been trying to challenge myself and acquiring new skills. I worked on Penguin Project a year ago. In this project, we wrote our own script and designed all the props and settings. I was the person who chose the music, selected the background pictures and used hardboard to make a gravestone and a vase! Moreover, I have joined a Photoshop workshop organized by CDTL in NUS recently and I hope that I can do my designs in a more advanced way.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I have attached a copy of my resume, which could provide my additional information. Please feel free to contact me and I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.


Yours Sincerely,
Yu Xian
10th Kent Ridge Drive
119242
(+65) 9xxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx@nus.edu.sg

A story of my father and I

I received an e-mail from my father today because today is my 18th birthday. He recalled my past 18 years and especially talked about some misunderstanding between us when I was a teenager.

No wonder to say, my father is the best father in the whole world yet I didn’t think so when I was a little girl. My father is a math professor and thus I have such an impressive name. He believes that children should be taught well in their early age other wise they may develop bad habits that can be very difficult to be changed when they grow up. As a result, he has been very strict with me since I was a kid. I have spent almost every school holiday doing math exercise and preparing lessons which would be taught next semester since primary school. Most of my classmates thought I was extremely lucky to have such a father but this was not what I was thinking then.

At my early age, I was shy and could not concentrate very well. Sometimes I could not work out the problems so I tried my best to keep thinking about them for many times. However, I didn’t ask my father like:”Dad, I cannot work it out and can you help me?” or “This is my idea, do you think it can solve the problem?” I kept in silence and my father was standing by my side watching me. I felt very nervous and he felt very furious. He thought I had already worked out the answer but refused to tell him. He was nearly freaking out when the time passed by because he actually had a lot of stuff in the university to deal with. At the same time, I was freaking out as well because I was not sure whether my answer was the correct one and I was too shy to ask for help. Finally, my father lost his patience and scolded me loudly. I could not help my tears falling down. As a result, the more times he scolded me, the more scared I was and he got angry more frequently. It eventually went into a vicious circle. We both failed to tell our true feelings to each other but we both had good motivations: My father wanted to help me on my studies and I didn’t want to disappoint him.

What would you do if you were at my age and in my situation? What would you have done to build an effective communication with your father?

Effective communication skills and success

Successful business people always like to tell their inspiring ‘How do I start from scratch?’ stories and their tough lives when they deliver speeches. The audience is often amazed by the ways where a small amount of money can be transferred into a large sum of money skillfully. Few people may wonder what the inherent reason for their success while the majority may be still immersing in the enormous figure of their salary. The press often says that these people are successful because they are people with business sense or ‘they are born to know how to run a business’. For me, however, this is obviously not convincing enough. I think the real reason for their success is that they know how to communicate with people around effectively and thus enlarge their social network easily.

Communication skills are very crucial nowadays. We are not living alone but on relationships. One cannot successfully survive in the society if he or she cannot convey ideas to the other people expectedly. I have heard one story of a brilliant CEO who won a BMW for his excellent performances when he was a department manager. In fact, this happened 30 years ago, when many people never dreamed of having a car, let alone a BMW! Yet, he sold his prize immediately and bought everyone a small car instead. He clearly expressed his ideas without saying that ‘Thank you for the hard work and hope we can work together in the future’. His story impressed me so much that I realize that communication skills are not all about talking but displaying your thought in a beautiful way.