8 Secrets in This Module

Yesterday, by chance, I came across a fantastic 3 minute TED talk entitled “8 Secrets of Success” by Richard St. John. In that short video, Richard St. John was able to present great insights on 8 secrets of success through his effective use of  visuals and humor. The 8 secrets are: 

1.                    Passion

2.                    Work

3.                    Focus

4.                    Persist

5.                    Good

6.                    Serve

7.                    Ideas

8.                    Push

Personally, I think they are all applicable in this learning journey-ES2007S: Professional Communication: Principle and Practises. The choice of spending our precious ‘bidding points’ on this module reflects our passion in effective communication skill. This passion has been further nurtured through the many assignments along the way(work) and there has been an underlying focus on practical skills that we may apply even after this module is over. While passion for professional communication is an initiator, my persistence to improve has been the fuel which sees me through this course.

During the presentation, Richard St. John shared that in order to be ‘damn good’ at something, “there is no magic but practise, practise and practise.” In this course, I have learnt the principles and skills of professional communication through lots of practice through online blogging, writing job application letter, proposal, oral presentation, mock interviews as well as enriching oral discussions in class. In addition, we have served each other by contributing insightful feedback and ideas before and after each practice for to reinforce the learning process. The 'liquid network' set in this class had indeed facilitated so many good ideas!*   

Last but not least, this is how the word ‘push’ applies. I remember Brad describing himself as more than just a teacher/tutor, but a facilitator as well (please correct me if I am wrong). It may seem challenging to motivate (‘push’) students to be interested in communicating effectively and to be passionate in learning process but I feel that Brad has done so effectively. He has been an inspiring, encouraging and dedicated facilitator with a wide variety of teaching styles and an appropriate balance of using the soft and hard approach. 

I thank you Brad and my fellow classmates for all the support you have given, ideas shared and the friendship we have made in this class. Because of this, I consider this module a successful learning experience (regardless of the grade that Brad is going to give me)

* “Where good ideas come from” by Steven Johnson.
This TEDtalk video was showed by Brad in our class few weeks ago.

Here are the links for the videos:

1. 8 Secrets of Success

2. Where good ideas come from

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Reflection on Oral Presentation

Team BES is the best! Haha, I am not trying to be pompous, but team BES is always the best to ME just because who we are. Despite the extended period of time and countless brain cell sacrificed while working on our proposal, oral discussion and oral presentation, this project has indeed fostered the friendship among three of us which no other can replace…

Eh hmn, I should start focus on the topic of this blog - my self reflection on the oral presentation. I will do it according to the guide list posted on IVLE.

Verbal

First of all, the content covered by three of us was clearly related to each other. The transition and overall flow of the whole presentation was also smooth. Besides, three of us have done a satisfactory job in “answering questions completely,  knowledgably and politely.” It might be because three of us knew our goal and reasons behind our suggested solution well.

However, we did not used much creative approach to grab the attention of the audience. The audio quality of the video shown was not satisfactory due to the excessive background noise in the canteen. Yet, I personally think that Sheila is a good actress and she did delivered the message using appropriate non-verbal cues… agree?

On a personal level, I think I was not confident and calm enough during the presentation. In fact, I did missed some of the points prepared. I should have practiced more to make sure I have all the key points at my fingertips beforehand.

Nonverbal

In my opinion, we did paid attention in many nonverbal aspects such as enthusiasm in delivering the message, effective eye contact, appropriate gestures, facial expression, listening skills and respect to each other during the presentation and while answering the question.

How about you, my dear classmates? Do you agree with me? Please feel free to voice up your comments and all feedback is highly appreciated! Thanks!

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