Final Reflection on Learning

My biggest take away from this module comes from the very first lesson we had. As we have learnt, a communication process consists of: sender --> encoding --> message --> channel--> decoding --> receiver. The essence is that communication is only effective to the extent to which your receiver understands your message. It is thus important to remember that while one may utilize beautiful phrases and big words to express themselves, at the end of the day, all these becomes pointless if the receiver is unable understand it.

I found it very useful that this module provided us with much needed opportunities to practice this concept in various different settings.

The mock interview was a really beneficial and practical experience. Being in a professional setting made me more aware of how I conducted myself in front of others, and what kind of messages (both verbal and non-verbal) I was sending to my interviewers.

Other activities we did such as the peer teaching as well as project presentation again highlighted the importance of effective communication. A good presentation allows the audience to fully grasp what the presenter already knows so well. Therefore, we are reminded time and time and again to always craft a presentation with the audience in mind. It was great that these experiences were interactive, allowing us to gather feedback from our audience (in the form of feedback survey and Q&A session) regarding our performance and how well our idea was conveyed to the audience.

I believe the skills acquired through this module will go a long way in helping in my future endeavours. Thank you Ms. Fazilah for being such a patient and helpful mentor, for sharing with us your personal experiences to aid in our learning, for giving us very useful feedback and guidance, as well as for making this module such a wonderful experience for all of us. (:

Reflection on Oral Presentation

Weaknesses

Personally, I felt that I could have been better prepared for the presentation. Thanks to our many rehearsals, I didn’t make any major errors or miss out any important points during our presentation. However, I was still slightly disappointed with my presentation as I made several small blunders. Firstly, I subconsciously referred to my audience as “you guys”, which is a no-no in a formal presentation. In addition, the delivery of my presentation wasn’t as smooth as I hoped it would be. There were instances of stutters and using of verbal fillers. Knowing that I get nervous during presentations, all these could have been avoided by rehearsing my script over and over again, ensuring that smooth delivery of my presentation.

Regarding our presentation content, as suggested by Ms Fazilah, perhaps we should have played more on the emotional (Pathos) aspect. For example, drawing links to our personal experiences when describing the shuttle bus situation may have been more persuasive to our target audience. However, in my personal opinion, while drawing emotional links may be effective at a moderate level, an overdose may have a counter-effective effect as it may appear unnatural or irritating to our audience.

Strengths

I felt that our presentation was delivered in a clear and concise fashion. Our presentation was broken down into very clear sections – problem, solution, and benefits – which flowed logically and hence was easy to comprehend. Our slides were not too overcrowded, consisting of only main points and appropriate diagrams, graphs, and pictures, which provided accurate illustration of our points. Also, our individual parts were coherent with one another.

Q&A was one of the biggest challenges for me because it involved quick thinking on my feet – something I was afraid I would not be able to do. However, I felt that our team handled the Q&A section reasonably well. We were all calm and composed, and answered each question concisely. I believe this was achievable because we constantly questioned the rationality of our proposal during group meetings, as well as ensured that we ironed out knitty-gritty details with we felt were “loopholes” of our presentation. Also, we always made sure that everyone had common consensus on our project.

This presentation has been a very enriching one for me. Again, I am reminded of the importance of crafting a presentation with the audience in mind. I believe that we effectively conveyed our ideas to our audience and that our presentation was generally professionally delivered.

To my dear team mates nel, will and leo (haha :P), thank you guys for being ever so patient, accommodating, helpful, and funny! And also, for making this module so enjoyable for me! (: