#6 Reflection on Learning

The past 13 weeks have been one of the most memorable moments in university life so far.

I have had the opportunity to meet new people, practice on essential communication skills, and learn how to be a professional communicator.

I started this journey a little apprehensively, a little worried that I would not be an effective communicator. It began at peer teaching, when I realized that many things that I was doing that was not professional. I was rocking a little back and forth, and did not use much gestures. At first, I thought it was fine, but I learnt in class that I could improve. I did not know that the little gestures that I made could be distracting to some. I also did not realize the power of non-verbal communication. From the lessons and from watching others, I certainly have learnt how to use gestures purposefully and appropriately now.

One of the areas that I felt that I have improved the most was in the preparation of my resume and cover letter. Honestly, I did not think much of the cover letter or resume. I thought that it was just something that people with good grades could use. I really did not feel that I could use the cover letter to my advantage. Later in the course, I realize that the cover letter would be the first thing that the interviewer would read and that it should be written well. I need to be able to stand out among the sea of applicants. I spent some time and effort, trying to write my cover letter as concisely and as clearly as I can, but I believe that there is still much to improve. I am glad that I can apply this knowledge even as I prepare to search for internships and for a job in the future.

I did not regret this decision that I made to take Professional Communication, despite being hesitant at first. I have certainly profited, and this may be the most important soft skill that I will learn in school.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Section 4, and Dr. Radhika for your feedback and understanding. I wish you all the best in the future, especially those that are graduating. May you truly be a professional communicator in your future workplace.

#5 Reflection on Presentation

Practice, practice, practice.

All I need to do is practice, I thought as I prepared for the presentation.

Honestly, I was a little worried about this presentation as I had much more content to present. I had prepared certain words and phrases that I wanted to use during the presentation, but was unable to do so as I was too anxious. I wanted to use notes, but I know I should not. When I have notes, I tend to read off the notes and be less expressive. I tried to cram everything into my head.

It wasn't easy. In fact, it was pretty difficult to translate my thoughts to words simply by looking at the slides. I wasn't about to give up. I practiced quite a number of times. And practice really helps.

The use of slides really helped to trigger what I wanted to say, especially since my portion was content heavy. Initially, I wanted to each bullet point to appear as I clicked, but I decided against it when I practiced and found out that I had nothing to trigger my thoughts.

To build up confidence for each presentation, I had to ensure that I really knew the content well. This would give me confidence not only for the presentation, but for Q&A as well. I believe that knowing the content well would generally translate to a better presentation.

Nonetheless, I feel that I can do better, especially in organizing my thoughts. My thoughts tend to be quite messy, and it can be quite bad when I verbalize them. To some, it could sound like stuttering.

With better organization, I definitely believe that I would be a better presenter in the future.

All I need is just to practice, practice, practice.

#4 Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

I'm not exactly well-travelled. I haven't been out of South-East Asia, apart for two trips to Taiwan, and that was for army purposes. However, in Taiwan, I've seen some pretty interesting cultural differences. Yes, we are all Asian, and yes, we may be of the same race. Well, perhaps its not culture in the sense of the established set of beliefs and practices, but in the terms of subculture.

The Taiwan Metro is a pretty awesome place, looks a little like Singapore's MRT stations. The people there are really organized. They would stand on the left side of the escalators, and the right side is only for people who are rushing.

Apart from escalators, people there are willing to climb the stairs. Even the old were climbing up stairs. They would also line up outside the train doors in the middle section of the train. It was really a sight to behold, to see so many people in such an organized manner. It made me think that what we have here is close to chaos, with people rushing for escalators and into trains even before others leave.

One thing that I found queer was that people walked alongside expressways, across flyovers to get to their destination. Initially, I thought people were just a little eccentric that way. I did come to realize there weren't any roads built for the people to get across to the other side, and that's why they had to use expressways.

Perhaps the most important thing to do is just to observe, and see what others are doing. We would be able to get a better insight to what their culture is like or how they lived. It seems easy. But it really isn't. Most of the time, we judge first. We ask, why are they doing what they are doing? We judge their culture by the standards of ours, and that is one big mistake we often commit.

I have to admit, I am guilty of doing such things, and it is an area that I need to improve on. Before we do anything, we must remember not to judge other people by our standards. Effective intercultural communication cannot even begin if we do so. Let us begin this wave of change.

I will leave you with a humorous clip about culture:

#3 Application Letter Critique

For this application letter, I am writing to Saatchi & Saatchi, a global advertising agency.

February 17, 2013

100 Orange Street
#12-20 S100200
+65 9123 4567
fakemail@mail.com

HR Manager
Human Resource Department
Saatchi & Saatchi Asia-Pacific
3D River Valley Road
# 03-01 Clarke Quay
Singapore 179023

Dear Hiring Manager

Application for an Internship Position

My name is Raphael, and I am a third-year Communications and New Media major at the National University of Singapore (NUS). I am writing to express my interest as an intern at Saatchi & Saatchi as I would love to be a part of the team that produces creative and award-winning advertisements.

In the course of my study at NUS, I have sharpened both my writing and research skills from the modules that I have taken. I am currently on the communications management track, which focuses on public relations and advertising.

At my final year in the polytechnic, I led a team to run a successful event for SingPost, a client for a business planning module. We also produced collaterals, a stop-motion commercial, and a short instructional video, resulting in a distinction grade. I have also designed posters during my National Service term, where I was awarded 1st and 2nd place in a Safety Poster Design Competition.

Outside of academia, I had the experience of working as a freelance photographer, where I have acquired skills that will beneficial in this industry. My experience in this industry has given me the ability to fine-tune both my photography and image editing skills. You may view my work at www.raphaelgoh.com.

I have enclosed my resume and look forward to an interview to review my match for this position. I would love the chance to speak to you about my opportunities with your company. You may contact me at +65 9123 4567 or fakemail@mail.com.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours faithfully


Raphael Goh (Mr.)

Click to enlarge

#2 Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

One of the things that kept me going during my polytechnic days was my CCA. I was in the piano ensemble, and I loved both the music and the people there. Being a member was easy, but being a leader requires so much more. I had two roles - program director and concert president.

We had two groups of people, performers and non-performers. We would train the performers to play for concerts, while we would teach the non-performers how to play the piano. The club progressed by leaps and bounds, and non-performers were soon able to perform. And with progress, come challenges.

One side of the committee focused on issues, while the other side focused on the people. There were six committee members, three on the 'issues' side and three on the 'people' side. I was on the 'people' side. We had problems. Good problems. We had an overwhelming amount of non-performing members and not enough resources to teach them all. Other problems include performers not having sufficient 'airtime' during concerts, and little issues that I did not really see as a problem. However, on the issues side, stood the ensemble's president and vice-president. They thought they had the power to overwrite us, and they oftentimes made decisions without meeting or consulting us.

An issue that I vaguely remember was that they wanted to remove members who were not progressing as fast as the rest. I did not think that it was right to remove them for that reason, but their argument was that they would slow the club's progress and we did not have enough resources. The club's progress stood above anything else. I felt that the all members should have the opportunity to learn, and not to be removed because of this. I did suggest that we could have a second intake within the year to recruit more performers and teachers, which would effectively solve the manpower problem.

Committee meetings were a pain. We would have to face the aggression of the president shouting at almost every meeting. I knew he was very passionate about the club, but I did not see the need for all of that. We would sit down and state our point with examples, trying to keep as calm as possible. He shouted, interrupted, and refused to listen to us. The only we did not do is to change our stand or try to placate him.

He wanted progress, while we considered the members and their feelings. (This seems to be just like the case in Singapore right now.) I explained that we understood his point of view, but somehow he just could not see ours. It is hard to imagine that a simple disagreement can result in so much pain. Finally, we came to an agreement to remove members that were not as active as others. To me the solution was not ideal, but we could move on to other issues. We did not speak to each other after our final concert, and he reminded me of the pain we had to go through. Looking back, it is pretty sad that things had to turn out this way just because of disagreements.

Do you think that there was a way to handle the conflict without impacting our relationship?

Happier times in the club

#1 Effective Communication

The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them. - Stephen King

I have never liked attention. I have never like that people were staring at me, observing my every word and action. Nonetheless, I've always gained that attention some way or another. 

When I was a child, I would spend many hours in front of the television, watching cartoons all day long. Many hours of television later, I developed an accent. People often asked me if I was American or British. I did not feel that I was any different from them, but people made fun of me because of that accent, and I did not have many friends then. Things changed when I went to secondary school, and my form teacher was involved in the annual Speech Day. I was chosen to be a student emcee (mainly because of the accent).

The task was simple: read the script. I was afraid. I have never spoken in front of an audience before. Through numerous practice sessions, I started to develop some confidence. I was still afraid and was trembling on the actual day itself. I spent the next three years as a student emcee and I learned to love it. I loved to be able to speak clearly, and the pressure of speaking well. Since then, I have had many opportunities not only speak to an audience, but to interact and engage with people as well. I decided to plunge into the field of Communications and New Media as I loved technology too.

As a Communications and New Media student, there is a need to learn how to communicate effectively, not only one-to-one, but one-to-many as well. There is a need to know how to communicate an idea to the masses, and also to be able to deliver messages clearly and effectively to peers and lecturers. Communicating effectively with group mates will definitely help to get things moving. Group discussion sessions would be more productive when more time is spent discussing an idea, rather than trying to explain what an idea is about. I have seen some group mates had some great ideas rejected because they were unable to vocalize their thoughts well.

That being said, I still have much work to do in becoming an effective communicator. Effective communication to me is not about language proficiency, nor is it about knowing the technical aspects of communications. It is the ability to effectively relay an idea or message to another person, despite the circumstances. Granted, the technical aspects help us to understand how it works, but actually doing it is another thing. I hope to be an effective communicator in the future, and not to be misunderstood as such:

You might be wondering what happened to that accent. Well, it faded away after I started to pick up 'Singlish' or colloquial English in secondary school. In fact, because of this, people recently have asked if I was Indonesian or Filipino.

The world is made up of many people, and each person is different. To be an effective communicator is learning how to adapt to each person, given the situation and circumstances. 

To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others. - Tony Robbins