Oral Presentation Reflection

I am very disappointed in myself for giving such a lacklustre performance. I expected much better of myself, because of the heaps of practice and amount of time we had to prepare for this OP.

During my oral presentation, I felt that I didn't look around the audience as much as I hoped I would. I had also wanted to click on my slides without looking, but I failed to do so. I was very nervous, and that affects my presentations to quite a large extent, as I've gathered from my previous experiences. I thought I engaged the audience, but I paused at awkward moments when the audiences whispered to each other, though I should've ignored that. In my recap, one of the recommendations slipped out of my mind for a moment. Unfortunately, it was pretty obvious, and I'm still kicking myself for that right now. Things got better in Q&A, and I thought I fared slightly better. I felt very much "frozen" throughout my OP.

Now for the whining part: I met my group (another module) for discussion and it ended in the wee hours. When I finally got back home, I couldn't sleep and I ended up staying up the whole night. Fatigue may have attributed to my lousy performance, but I felt it was the gradual build-up of tension from insomnia that slaughtered me.

On a slightly more cheerful note, I'm thankful it's over!

On an even more cheerful note, no more assignments!

Cheers!

Comm you and I cation!

In communicating with others, nobody is perfect. People make mistakes, emotions mar judgement, and even though we may have learnt in class the proper thing to do or the politically correct thing to say, real-time communication doesn't always allow us to give the ideal reaction. Reflection, however, can bring us closer to what we expect of ourselves. In learning, it is essential that we reflect and correct ourselves, so we don't commit the same mistake again.

That was just my take on communication and reflection.

On the value of effective communication skills, my understanding of it hasn't changed: never underestimate it. They say behind every successful man is a woman; I say they missed out the part on how they all have powerful communication skills too. I simply believe.

To me, for this module, the past 12 weeks have been a journey. We wrote minutes, business letters, pieced a report together - complete with a survey, worked on our cover letters and CVs, now we even have our own E-portfolio. What I appreciated most about this course, was the writing practice we were given. And it was good that it came in chunks, not 1500 or 3000 word essays. Oh, we have subconsciously been reading quite a lot too. Haha. It kind of felt like growth, and I know that this journey will not end with this course.

In response to my first post(s), I feel better prepared to "take on the world". Haha. Yes, I am better prepared for my job interview (to come in summer 2010) and I will continue preparing myself for it. I find going through my own CV and cover letter a real bonus in this course. I have also learnt more about other cultures - I believe I have learnt more about them the past 3 months than I have in all the years before! Thank you Brad, for being our teacher. I have no regrets reading this module.

I'd also like to thank all of you, my friends, for being part of this experience. I have learnt much from you.

Edited 15 April 2009 - Grammer