A Happy Ending Indeed !

 ES2007s-Professional Communication  is a core module in my course of study .So during the CORS bidding , I had to go all out to somehow get this module and I ended spending nearly 2000 points. As a result of this,my mind was filled with regret for a long time. However ,I walked into the my first class and we were immediately asked to fill in answers to some questions that involved interacting with the other students of our class. I was the first to finish and Brad gave me a 3$ Koufu food coupon.At that very moment for some reason I felt that I was going to love this module. The validity of that coupon was till the 30th of September 2012.However, I still have it safely in my room as a token of remembrance or a memento. That is testimony to how true that thought was.

As I am writing this blog, I feel so enriched  as I have gained an insight to so may aspects about interpersonal communication in such short time. During this course, I  definitely improved  writing skills, my verbals and non-verbals through the various sections of this module such as  publishing blog posts,writing an effective cover letter and resume ,having peer teaching lessons ,the elevator pitch and the mock job interviews.

I especially enjoyed the work I put in during the business proposal along with the oral presentation as we had to use all the skills we had learnt up till then and use it efficiently as well .For the written proposal, I learnt how important it was to write in an effective manner  and follow the 7 'C's such that no part of  our proposal was lose or unclear in terms of the structure and organisation as well as the  desired impact we wanted to give to the reader .For the oral presentation, though I had prior experience with presenting to the class through the peer teaching lesson,  this time I really understood the importance "being" the presentation. Thus I realized the need to have a formal outlook of myself which involved absolute control over my verbals and my non-verbals.

Nevertheless ,I must say that I  also learnt a lot from this module during the class activities which made me realize the importance of listening  carefully and responding appropriately.This was the time where in we were all present in a forum of sorts which always had room for ample discussion about the various aspects of effective communication such as inter-cultural communication networking,team-building and leadership skills .Since the classroom was also a forum for debriefing sessions, I was always able to grasp a lot of relevant points or aspects  that I could utilize in the future.

As they say, 'All good things must come to an end' and that is true for this module as well.More than anything I will miss the company I had during the entire course of this module as I was part of two amazing teams ,the peer teaching team of Chandra,Laura,Huiyun and the business proposal team (SHSS INC) of Sumea,Han and Shiying .Apart from them I can also never forget my other classmates Minthu,Rohit,Eric,Ronald,Yea Wen,YongSheng,Thao,Bernard,Ding Ding and last but not the least my professor Brad (without whom this module would be only half as much fun)  as each of them have played a vital role in shaping myself to not only be a better communicator but a better person as a whole.

Reflection on my oral presentation

Last Tuesday, my team SHSS INC were put under the spotlight as we were the first  in line for the oral presentation. I personally felt that we had put ourselves in the most difficult situation as  we did not know what was the expected standard of the oral presentation. Moreover, this was not the first ever presentation in this module  and so we did not have the excuse of first timers at our disposal.

Personally the problems I had to tackle were the mistakes I had committed in my peer teaching and since the presentation for our proposal is very different from the topic given to us for our peer teaching, I had to make a lot of changes in my speaking style . In addition to this ,since I also speak comparatively fast compared to my other team- mates,I had to make major adjustments to my pace of delivery in order to maintain a constant tone throughout our presentation.

Practicing what we had to say was another important aspect that we could not afford to ignore as we were not retelling our written proposal .Instead ,we had to convince our stakeholders that our solution to the problem we had identified is the most viable option and that it should be undertaken with immediate effect.For this ,we had to draft out what we were going to say and how we were going say it.

However, there were  a few aspects  that gave us immense confidence about the success of our presentation. One  was that  we as a team worked on practically every part of the proposal together and thus we had ample knowledge about the subject matter at hand .The other advantage I felt we had was the decision to use Prezi instead of the usual PowerPoint slides. Though,we had our fare share of difficulties in  using this software (I personally still find it very hard to use this software to make a single slide),the sheer thrill of imagining how unique the entire presentation would look like geared us on till completion.

Eventually , when it came to the time where we had to showcase our work in the form of the presentation I felt that I was in my elements for some reason and so I never really felt nervous or uncomfortable at all .Instead I was focusing on how to present myself in the best manner possible.After we had done our presentation , I felt quite relieved and satisfied as during my part I was totally aware of what I was speaking and took that extra effort to control my pace of delivery so that the the crux of the matter I was conveying did not go over everyone's head .Though there were few instances where I was not able to control myself from speaking fast , on an overall basis I had managed to stay composed and thus I felt that I had done a pretty good job at "being the presentation" .

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

The scenario I shall be describing here is that of when I had gone to my home town for the first time and this was 10 years ago.This was an enlightening experience for me as I had come to learn a lot about the traditions that my relatives follow as a part of our culture .

My family and I had gone there for a religious function that happened once every year.However this was the first time  I had attended it  ,as my hometown is quite far away from the city I used to live in.Our first meal had given me my first surprise of the day .Instead of plates , we were served food on banana leaves and we were supposed to eat food with our bare hands .As my parents had taught me to eat food  using a fork and spoon when I was small,it seemed near impossible to eat the same food using my hands at that time.Nevertheless, I had managed to finish the meal with great difficulty and when  I was folding  the leaf , my mother firmly told my to fold it from the outside and not inside out.I was totally confused as for me it did not make that much of a difference whichever side I had folded it.

Later for the function (prayer ceremony), my parents made me change clothes to just a long cloth (called dhoti) that covered the lower part of my body leaving me bare chested .I felt very shy for a long time as it was the first time I was not wearing anything to cover my upper body in public.

Right through the day, I remained in a confused state of mind as I honestly did not understand as to why I had to follow so many practices which looked very meaningless in my point of view .

However,later in the night ,my father had explained the reason as to why each of the strange practices I had witnessed today were followed.In the case of folding the banana leaf, by folding the leaf from the outside showed that I was satisfied with the food  and if I folded it inside out , it symbolized the fact that I was unhappy with the food served and it would not be very polite to convey such negative gestures.Furthermore,the reason why I had to go bare chested was the traditional attire for the function demanded all the men to shed their materialistic desires and adorn clothing that was only necessary.

Though , my memories of that function are not entirely happy ones , atleast it was an opportunity to get to know about my culture , tradtion and the practices followed by the people who belonged to my culture and thus overall it was an experience that made me better informed when it comes to culture and tradtion.

Application Letter

#B1-21, 35, Prince George’s Park,

Singapore – 118429

10  September 2012

Mr Bryan,

Brandcore Pte Ltd Pandan Loop, Pantech Business Hub,

Singapore

Dear Mr Bryan,

I am a second year student of the NUS pursuing a Degree in Computer Engineering. After reading your internship advertisement on InternSg.com and the fact that I have a keen interest towards social media branding, I am interested in your Content Development Intern position.  My strong work ethic and solid teamwork skills make me a good match for the Brandcore staff team.

Last summer ,I worked with my High school to organize its Inter –school cultural competition titled ‘AGNEE’ and I was in charge in designing the logo for the competition which appealed the audience to a great extent .I also was in charge of ‘Events promotion’ as well as ‘publicity management’ for  the competition and so I had to deal with various companies  in order to get sponsorships .In the end we managed to get sponsorships worth 10000 SGD.I trust that ,the experience I gained from this work will enable me to be all the more productive  in the ‘Brand Activation and Engagement’ aspects which the  Brandcore organization will have to deal with.

As a Marketing Executive of the NUS Indian Instrumental Ensemble, I had to work with a team of 10 members for the concert held by 'IIE' during the 'NUS Arts Festival' wherein I was in charge of 'Brand Communications and sponsorship' and in the end we were instrumental in  generating a revenue of 30000 SGD through marketing and logistics.Thus,I believe that I will be best suited in creating new brand strategies and making improvements on the content development for brands.

 I believe my responsible approach to work in this field makes me a good match for the Brandcore staff and a strong candidate for the Content Development Intern in the Brandcore organization. I am extremely passionate and motivated about my work, and I enjoy learning and working in an environment which involves high levels of creative thinking and passion. I bring unbound enthusiasm that is sure to liven up the workplace.

I am looking forward to meeting you about the Content Development Intern position. I am sure that my strong work ethics and creative skills can help Brandcore maintain a high level of service. If you have any questions, please call me at +6598914652. For your reference, I have included my resume. Thank you for taking the time to review my documents.

Yours sincerely,

Sai Charan Mahadevan 
   

Enclosure- Resume for Sai Charan Mahadevan

Interpersonal conflicts-The toughest of all conflicts

During the first year of my college life,Singapore and its lifestyle were very new to me.I had always felt uncomfortable dealing with anyone other than my friends from high school who had come along with me to Singapore. Moreover, all my school friend's parents had escorted them in order to help them settle here but that had not been the case for me and so I was quite homesick as well. Despite all this, I managed to make a lot of friends here and one of them was  a girl called Teresa. She had also come from a similar family background as mine and  had come to Singapore on her own  as well but she never felt homesick at all .Even today , I feel that I  am indebted to her for  helping me settle down in NUS and deal with all the problems I had faced in the first few weeks here .Moreover,she had always been there to support me whenever I was under pressure to do some work or simply if  I was emotionally down.Furthermore, since we were doing the same course and our timetables were quite similar, I had ended up spending most of my time with her.As a result of this, I had invariably become close with her .On the other hand , I had distanced myself from the rest of my friends as they never like the fact that I was perpetually hanging out with a girl whom they felt was very egoistic , always did what was most suitable for her  and never cared to help others  .Despite all the negative thoughts everyone had of her , I still sided with her as she was the complete opposite to what they had described her to be.

However, when I returned back to Singapore in the second semester,  the scene here was completely different. She was not that amused to meet me after the holidays and to add to this, her attitude had completely changed .She had become the person my school friends had described earlier. Furthermore, she had become an anti-social element and hardly mingled with anyone unless it was a necessity.

At first ,I thought she had simply become busy with her work , but she was pretty good with academics and that she would get high grades even if she did not put in that much effort ,so I doubt that would have been an excuse for her change in behavior towards me.I had also thought that she probably had a family problem of sorts but I really could not be sure as  she never really gave me the opportunity to ask her why she had changed so much.

My other friends had told me to accept her as she was and that I should stop worrying about her as she had not taken any effort to change, but for me it was not easy to accept that fact because she had been a very close friend .Moreover,it had become very difficult to fill the void she had created . 

As of today , the  situation is that we hardly talk to each other and now I know for a fact that things will never be the same again .Nevertheless, I would like to know in your opinion as to how I can improve my relationship  with her .

Communication as I see it

To define communication in simple language, it is the process of getting your message across to others clearly and  thus effective communication means doing this process efficiently without much ambiguity.In today's fast world, effective communication definitely has high importance in every aspect of our lives,be it at out work place or among st friends or when dealing with the outside world in general.



 Personally,I feel that I need to improve on a lot of areas inorder to become a better communicator.For example , I have the tendency to take control of a conversation be it with a group of people or with a particular person .Thus, I want to improve on my active listening skills so that I can hold my audiences for longer periods of time. I also find myself in situations where I cannot that accurate when it comes to conveying a particular message and so I tend to drag the conversation much longer than needed. Moreover,I have always had an  initiation problem when it comes to talking with people I have never spoken to before.As I recall the experiences of my first class in es2007s , at first I was given a sheet to fill stuff by interacting with my classmates and for sometime I din't know who to approach because I honestly did not know how to start a conversation with any of my classmates.

On the other hand ,I feel that when I talk, I have the ability to get  the attention of my audience without much effort through  various verbal and non-verbal modes of communication such as my hand gestures or  the tone of my voice or my body language . I also have always been a confident speaker and I rarely have  experienced situations where I am at a loss for words or unsure of what I am saying.Also, I always manage to convey my emotions about the topic effectively.

Nevertheless, I feel that I have little experience when it comes to formal communication such as interviews or peer teachings .I really want to know what it feels like to be on both sides of the table.In a nut shell , I am keen to know how it feels to be the interviewer and the interviewee .

I would like to reiterate the fact that effective communication is indeed one of the key skills that everyone  wants .Naturally ,I  also want to improve and so I do hope that by the end of this module I manage to become a better communicator.