What should I throw at Hui Juen?

Let me introduce you to my friend, Hui Juen. She is a smart, nice and athletic handsome korean boy girl who talked me into taking ES2007S classes every Monday and Thursday at 8 AM. Thus, I would wake up early on those days and while preparing to go to school, tell myself I should throw things at her for talking me into taking an early class. But once I'm in school and get to see my classmates, I would change my mind and decide to greet Hui Juen with a huge smile and a bright "good morning!".

Why did I change my mind, you may ask. My class is awesome, that's why! I would like to thank my tutor, Ms. Lim, and my wonderful classmates for making ES2007S lessons enjoyable. Monday and Thursday mornings began in a fun-filled manner because of all of you (: 

I learnt a lot about communicating effectively and doing presentations from this module. When I first started off, my presentations skills were not that good. My body language wouldn’t be appropriate and I did not speak well-enough to be understood by the audience. But I can see this has changed a lot (for the better, of course!) after ES2007S lessons. As seen from my infrastructure project presentation, I speak more clearly and am conscious of the way I stand and present myself.

I also picked up job-related skills such as writing application letters and resumes. And I got to brush up on my interview skills. I have never attended an interview before so the mock-interview session we had in class was a real eye-opening experience. Now I know how I can improve!

ES2007S also gave me a chance to work with people I have not worked with before. Thank you Charmian, Franson, Yi Fei, Jing Yuan and Hui Juen for the pleasant working experience! I have learnt a lot about teamwork from all of you. 

Thank you, everyone, for making this an awesome semester (:

After typing this entry, I think I should throw Hui Juen a huge hug and thank her for introducing this module to me (:

Finally!

If you're an ES2007S student from NUS, you would know what I'm referring to. If you're not, then let me give you a brief introduction. I have just finished a presentation for my ES2007S Professional Communication module and am glad it went well. And relieved.

Although I am glad it's over, I will miss working with my group members - Yi Fei, Jing Yuan and Hui Juen. All the Sunday morning meetings and the Wednesday night meeting, though tiring, were enjoyable and productive. Everyone always came prepared for meetings and was focused on matters we had to discuss. And there were the jokes and laughs. Thank you for the good times (:

I was quite nervous before the presentation started. Unlike the peer-teaching presentation, this one was more formal. Also, the content of this presentation was largely based on primary research and self-conceived solutions. So I was worried about the question and answer (Q&A) section. Although my team members and I had prepared for it, I was afraid I would answer in a silly manner. Thinking back, I could have done better in the Q&A session. I was still quite nervous when I was answering questions. So I ended up stumbling over my words and sometimes repeated myself although it was not necessary to do so. I think I should practice answering questions more before presentations next time. Perhaps I could get my group members to ask me questions and then I could practice answering them.

There were times when I thought I was speaking too loudly. Sometimes, I was not sure whether Ms. Lim and my classmates sitting nearer the back of the classroom could hear me. So I tried speaking a little louder. But when I did so, I wondered whether I came across as someone speaking too loudly (and forcefully) in order to sound convincing. Again, I should practice more for this. I don't think I spent enough time for this during my preparation stage. Well, now I know!

Overall, I think my team put up a pretty good presentation. We were focused on our content, mindful of our body language and how we spoke, and were basically on our best presentation behaviour. Our slides and transition between presenters were pretty  fluid. And we were dressed smartly (: We also arrived early to setup our presentation slides and finalise our standing positions. I must thank Vanessa, Rina and Shiyun for helping us to check whether the words on our slides could be read easily. It was nice of you (:

In conclusion, I have learnt a lot more about presenting from this experience. I was also able to identify areas for improvement, which will definitely come in handy for future presentations.

There! I have said what I think. Your turn. (: