In the end...

4 reasons why you SHOULD take up ES2007S:

1. It is a seriously FUN module (minus the hectic deadlines)

I have enjoyed myself this past 13 weeks, even though it has been a whirlwind of lessons and application of various skills. It is definitely not your typical module. The activities in class are interactive and interesting. I especially liked the part of being peer taught. I felt that we could relate better to the lessons, having our peers go through the lessons with us. Furthermore, it made the lessons more alive with the various activities that each peer teaching group had prepared.

2. It’ll hone your professional skills

It is the first time that I have actually done a presentation in NUS. Prior to this, my presentation experiences encompassed of only one other formal presentation in JC. Furthermore, it was also the first time where we had to limit the number of words on the visual aids. This put on more pressure on me to know my content better as I would not have any back up on screen.
Adding to that, there were resume and cover letter writing practices, which I found very useful. Also, the interview process topped off the entire ‘stuff to do to get hired’ process. I am one to fret whenever there I have to attend an interview. In fact, I abhor interviews. But this interview process was fun and gave me an insight to what interviewers might be looking out for during an interview and this would help prepare me for interviews in the future.

3. You’ll make loads of friends (:

Initially, I was rather skeptical about being placed randomly in groups to carry out our proposal. This brought me out of my comfort zone, and I had to adapt to working with ‘strangers’. But I must say, it has been one of the best experiences during the course. Not only did I make more friends, but it brought the entire class together. Now, I can confidently say that I would be more open to working with people whom I am unfamiliar with in the future.

4. And of course! You’ll learn communication skills!

How hard could communication skills be? That was what I assured myself while bidding for this module. Boy! Could I ever be more wrong? It has been a hectic 13 weeks of learning and applying the various skills. This module encompasses so many communication skills and there was so little time to teach every single one in depth. We breezed through the various topics week after week. And then work started pouring in; we had to prepare for the peer teaching, proposal writing and finally oral presentation. All these projects incorporated many communication skills in them. Ranging from oral to listening skills, there was a constant exposure to these skills that it was more or less ingrained in us.

Reflections

I woke up this morning with butterflies in my stomach knowing that it was the big day of the presentation. My lines were flashing past my head. Even whilst walking to school, I was reciting my lines, just to ingrain them in my memory.

10:00 am: Brad said that we had another 5 minutes to go up to present. I shall not panic. I shall not panic.

10:03 am: Oh my gosh! What have I gotten myself into?

10:05 am: Let’s just get this show on the road.

10:30 am: It is finally over!! * Breathes a huge sigh of relief*

Haha. The oral presentation has been like hanging like a ominous cloud over my head ever since the proposal was due two weeks ago. Not only that, it has been a hectic two weeks of intensive preparation for the presentation, slides to finish up, recommendations to come up with, writing our lines and the NEVER-ENDING need to edit our slides. Now that it’s over, I can finally look back and say it was worth it all :P

Throughout the presentation, I made an effort to vary my tone whist presenting so that it would not become too monotonous. By doing so, I wanted to make my argument more compelling as well and emphasize on the problem and how the recommendations could help. Furthermore, I tried to stand in front of the audience and draw their attention to me too. This was out of my comfort zone I must admit, to thrust myself into the center of attention. This was aided further by trying to maintain eye contact with the audience. Although I admit, I was a bit unnerved at first. But I wanted to bring my points across to the audience and make them feel like they were part of this discussion and not just an onlooker. Also, since I wanted the audience to be focusing their attention to me. I tried as little as possible to refer to the slides. Lastly, I tried to pace and slow my speech as well as articulate it to allow the audience to digest the information given to them.

One major part which I can improve on would be to do away with cue cards. Unlike Deenise and Shih Han, I felt that I had to hold some cue cards as a form of security, just in case I forgot any point while presenting and start panicking midway. Furthermore, when I took over the presentation from Kellyn, I was so nervous that I had to refer to my cue cards at the beginning when my mind went blank. But further into the presentation, I got into the flow of giving the presentation and didn’t need to refer to the cue cards anymore. But there were sometimes where I had to pause to gather my thoughts. But, I must say that I still need more practice in this area. Also, previously it was brought up that my voice tends to waver towards the end. I hope that my voice didn’t waver at the end though. Although I still need to practice on voice projection.

Legally Blonde: Thanks girls for all your hard work! For all the suggestions made on how to improve our presentation and for taking time out of your busy schedules and being there for all the meetings (: