ES2007S is a professional communication module which begs to differ from the majority of NUS module that is deemed too theoretical. ES2007S demands active learning in class and demands active group participation outside class. Also, ES2007S contains wide range of assignments in order to leverage the student's communication skills. The assignments range from writing assignment, individual presentation, group peer teaching until persuasive presentation and research proposal formulation.
Personally, I feel that ES2007S is a module with huge amount of workload considering the amount of projects and assignments, but it was worth it! From the blogging assignment, I learned on how to apply 7Cs into my writing. From the peer teaching, I learned on how to convey difficult message across while keeping an approachable gesture. Not only that, as a final year who is searching for job, I feel that the interview session and Cover Letter is also very relevant and really prepared me for the real job interview that I would be facing at that time.
Moreover, as an aspiring entrepreneur, the persuasive proposal writing and persuasive presentation is a very useful skill set. Entrepreneurs often need to deliver persuasive pitching for prospective investors in order to secure funds.
Last but not least, this is a module where I am able to meet with a lot of friends and heavily interact with them. This semester is my hectic semester. I am doing FYP, teaching labs in a module, doing a start-up company and searching for jobs. This module has been a good place to have fun while learning very useful skills needed in the future life.
Kudos for the module and especially to the awesome instructor, Ms. Lim Lay Hoon!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Persuasive Presentation
Last Thursday, Team ZAS was presenting in order to persuade NUSEU in implementing compulsory Industry Immersion Program (IIP) inside NUS curriculum for Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Science. The presentation was awesome, it was a truly novel experience for me to deliver a persuasive speech. I learned that the tones, the pace must be perfect. The introduction ought to grab the attention of the audiences and the conclusion should leave a trace in the audiences' memory.
Despite of knowing all of the theories, the reality comprises a lot of uncontrollable external factors, such as technical problem, anxiousness and unintended actions.
Before we began our presentation, the projector was projecting smaller picture than the usual which might reduce the clarity of the slides from audience point of view. So, my team mate Sam went to fix that and luckily it does not hinder our presentation until the end. Also, we were given 20 minutes time limit which is strictly timed, so we have the urge to speak faster. But luckily, we have timed ourselves well during the rehearsal, thus we have the confidence that by speaking with the same pace as what we were during the practice, we should be fine.
Anxiousness always come at the wrongest time. I was the first speaker and the first presenter, literally from the whole class. Moreover, I should be creating an attention grabber as the first speaker. I projected my voice in confidence, using the appropriate gesture and pauses which luckily did not show how nervous I were.
I became calmer after Zhing brought her parts confidently. Her parts were persuasive! So, I rode on the pace and brought up my second part nicely. After Sam's awesome part, I concluded the presentation. However, I pressed the 'next' button too many times that it shows the word 'Action' that I want to emphasize and did not want to show until the very last moment. Getting a slight disturbance, I still ended my presentation with the quote as what I have planned, but I forgot to add a very crucial pause in the end and proceed immediately into the Q&A slide which reduce the impact of the conclusive quote.
Proceeding to Q&A, I was a bit anxious. So, although I know what is the exact answer for the questions, I found a little hard to transform it into words. But, I saw myself very conscious of time and throw the ball for one more questions when I realized that there are only slightly more than a minute left.
In conclusion, it was a very good experience and I have learned my mistakes. Thus, my next persuasive presentation will be better. The quality is very important for my future endeavor as an entrepreneur. I would like to thank you Ms. Lim and this module to allow me to deliver such type of speech!
Despite of knowing all of the theories, the reality comprises a lot of uncontrollable external factors, such as technical problem, anxiousness and unintended actions.
Before we began our presentation, the projector was projecting smaller picture than the usual which might reduce the clarity of the slides from audience point of view. So, my team mate Sam went to fix that and luckily it does not hinder our presentation until the end. Also, we were given 20 minutes time limit which is strictly timed, so we have the urge to speak faster. But luckily, we have timed ourselves well during the rehearsal, thus we have the confidence that by speaking with the same pace as what we were during the practice, we should be fine.
Anxiousness always come at the wrongest time. I was the first speaker and the first presenter, literally from the whole class. Moreover, I should be creating an attention grabber as the first speaker. I projected my voice in confidence, using the appropriate gesture and pauses which luckily did not show how nervous I were.
I became calmer after Zhing brought her parts confidently. Her parts were persuasive! So, I rode on the pace and brought up my second part nicely. After Sam's awesome part, I concluded the presentation. However, I pressed the 'next' button too many times that it shows the word 'Action' that I want to emphasize and did not want to show until the very last moment. Getting a slight disturbance, I still ended my presentation with the quote as what I have planned, but I forgot to add a very crucial pause in the end and proceed immediately into the Q&A slide which reduce the impact of the conclusive quote.
Proceeding to Q&A, I was a bit anxious. So, although I know what is the exact answer for the questions, I found a little hard to transform it into words. But, I saw myself very conscious of time and throw the ball for one more questions when I realized that there are only slightly more than a minute left.
In conclusion, it was a very good experience and I have learned my mistakes. Thus, my next persuasive presentation will be better. The quality is very important for my future endeavor as an entrepreneur. I would like to thank you Ms. Lim and this module to allow me to deliver such type of speech!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Effective Intercultural Communication
As an international student, I have experienced a number of intercultural interactions and communications throughout the last three years in Singapore. One experience that I will never forget is when I first went to help on getting my hall’s float done for RAG day presentation which is commonly called as RAG rush.
RAG rush is held in a dining hall where many people are sitting side-by-side. It would feel awkward if you heard of people sitting side-by-side for hours without actually interacting and communicating with each other. But that was what exactly happened to me, I felt a culture shock and felt really hard to communicate with the other students.
The things that hinder me in initiating communications are languages, jargons, accents and level of endurances. In addition to my non-proficiency in speaking English language along with the difference in accents and pronunciations and local jargons lead me to the difficulty of receiving and conveying messages with other students. The people in RAG team has only been sleeping for less than 4 hours every day but they are still very active and energized. Moreover, I was used to normal sleeping hours that staying up above 11pm was very rare to me and working full-day would be too much for me. But most people would come around that time to start helping on finishing the float.
From Wikipedia, culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms of behaviour. In the example, the culture differences can be seen in the language, sleeping hours and hard-working traits. Culture differences are inevitable and can hinder on communications, but there are workarounds for allowing intercultural effective communications. I summarized these workarounds as share, respect and adapt. Sharing is important as both parties involved in communications might not aware of the differences. After sharing is done, respect, good-will and patient must be possessed by both parties as it is sometimes difficult in overcoming the cultural differences. For example, by asking on the local jargons meaning would help in communicating effectively in the future. Lastly, adaptation must be made by both parties.
RAG rush is held in a dining hall where many people are sitting side-by-side. It would feel awkward if you heard of people sitting side-by-side for hours without actually interacting and communicating with each other. But that was what exactly happened to me, I felt a culture shock and felt really hard to communicate with the other students.
The things that hinder me in initiating communications are languages, jargons, accents and level of endurances. In addition to my non-proficiency in speaking English language along with the difference in accents and pronunciations and local jargons lead me to the difficulty of receiving and conveying messages with other students. The people in RAG team has only been sleeping for less than 4 hours every day but they are still very active and energized. Moreover, I was used to normal sleeping hours that staying up above 11pm was very rare to me and working full-day would be too much for me. But most people would come around that time to start helping on finishing the float.
From Wikipedia, culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms of behaviour. In the example, the culture differences can be seen in the language, sleeping hours and hard-working traits. Culture differences are inevitable and can hinder on communications, but there are workarounds for allowing intercultural effective communications. I summarized these workarounds as share, respect and adapt. Sharing is important as both parties involved in communications might not aware of the differences. After sharing is done, respect, good-will and patient must be possessed by both parties as it is sometimes difficult in overcoming the cultural differences. For example, by asking on the local jargons meaning would help in communicating effectively in the future. Lastly, adaptation must be made by both parties.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Cover Letter Review
The job ads can be found here: Accenture Job Advertisement
Apology for the long letter. Hope the readers can bear with the length and the refined version of this cover letter will be my actual cover letter for applying jobs as it is already the time for me to look for jobs :)
Aditya Kristanto Goenawan
10 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Kent Ridge Hall
Singapore, 119617
August 28, 2010
HR Manager
Accenture
250 North Bridge Road
Singapore, 179101
Dear HR Manager,
It is with a great interest that I apply for the position of Graduate Consultant in Accenture. I am final year undergraduate in National University of Singapore, pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering Honors (expected First Class – Major in Electrical Engineering).
The notion of experiencing the global, dynamic and fast-paced culture of Information Technology company like Accenture really excites me. I am confident that by working in Accenture, I would be able to develop my potentials to the fullest; especially through meeting and collaborating with the brightest professionals while contributing in challenging projects.
I have had numerous experiences in the software development field. I have led a team in my hall residence to create deliverables in the form of website and intranet which serve more than 500 residents in specific and public in general using PHP and .NET Technology. This experience allows me not only to learn on how to lead, motivate and work within a team in meeting tight deadlines but also in transforming and negotiating non-technical requirements from clients into a deliverable solution.
Also, recently, I have been selected as 1 out of 1000 students worldwide to participate in Google Summer of Code program to develop a module for Drupal Content Management System. I love to learn on new things and am willing to go the extra miles. These qualities are shown by the fact that in the end of the Google Summer of Code program I did roughly twice amount of works from the initially agreed target. The qualities that I hold lead my work to be mentioned by prominent individual such as Earl Miles (former Sony Music Director of Web Technology) in Drupal Official Podcast and to be demoed in an international-scaled Drupal Conference in Copenhagen.
In addition, I have excellent time management which is shown by the fact that I can juggle my numerous CCA activities while still maintaining a high Cumulative Average Point (CAP) of 4.81/5. Not only that, I have also joined national, regional and international programming contests, namely:
In short, I am confident that I have the competencies Accenture is looking for; my educational background, coupled with my leadership and work experiences has been excellent preparation for a career with Accenture. I would appreciate the opportunity to come to your office for interview. You can contact me at +65 97512345 (mobile) or email aditya.kristanto@gmail.com. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Aditya Kristanto Goenawan
Apology for the long letter. Hope the readers can bear with the length and the refined version of this cover letter will be my actual cover letter for applying jobs as it is already the time for me to look for jobs :)
Aditya Kristanto Goenawan
10 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Kent Ridge Hall
Singapore, 119617
August 28, 2010
HR Manager
Accenture
250 North Bridge Road
Singapore, 179101
Dear HR Manager,
It is with a great interest that I apply for the position of Graduate Consultant in Accenture. I am final year undergraduate in National University of Singapore, pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering Honors (expected First Class – Major in Electrical Engineering).
The notion of experiencing the global, dynamic and fast-paced culture of Information Technology company like Accenture really excites me. I am confident that by working in Accenture, I would be able to develop my potentials to the fullest; especially through meeting and collaborating with the brightest professionals while contributing in challenging projects.
I have had numerous experiences in the software development field. I have led a team in my hall residence to create deliverables in the form of website and intranet which serve more than 500 residents in specific and public in general using PHP and .NET Technology. This experience allows me not only to learn on how to lead, motivate and work within a team in meeting tight deadlines but also in transforming and negotiating non-technical requirements from clients into a deliverable solution.
Also, recently, I have been selected as 1 out of 1000 students worldwide to participate in Google Summer of Code program to develop a module for Drupal Content Management System. I love to learn on new things and am willing to go the extra miles. These qualities are shown by the fact that in the end of the Google Summer of Code program I did roughly twice amount of works from the initially agreed target. The qualities that I hold lead my work to be mentioned by prominent individual such as Earl Miles (former Sony Music Director of Web Technology) in Drupal Official Podcast and to be demoed in an international-scaled Drupal Conference in Copenhagen.
In addition, I have excellent time management which is shown by the fact that I can juggle my numerous CCA activities while still maintaining a high Cumulative Average Point (CAP) of 4.81/5. Not only that, I have also joined national, regional and international programming contests, namely:
- NUS Representative for Regional Programming Contests (ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest) in Singapore (2007) and Malaysia (2008),
- Indonesia’s Representative (out of four students) for International Olympiad in Informatics 2006 in Mexico,
- Gold Medalist in National Science Olympiad 2005, Indonesia and
- Withstanding Champion in Bina Nusantara Programming Contest, national scaled competition, for 2 years in a row (2005-2006).
In short, I am confident that I have the competencies Accenture is looking for; my educational background, coupled with my leadership and work experiences has been excellent preparation for a career with Accenture. I would appreciate the opportunity to come to your office for interview. You can contact me at +65 97512345 (mobile) or email aditya.kristanto@gmail.com. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Aditya Kristanto Goenawan
Saturday, August 28, 2010
It has always been an intriguing fact as to how conflicts can arise from simple things. In the video above, it illustrates a girlfriend and her boyfriend having a heated discussion which arises from a casual bed conversation.
The girlfriend started their discussion by asking how the boyfriend feels about his plan to go to the Comic Conference event the next day. The boyfriend replied with a sarcastic tone that he was excited because he would meet a lot of hot girls in the event. The girlfriend made a fuss over it which led into her eventually aggressively accusing the boyfriend of cheating. The boyfriend tried to defend himself but most of the words that he used were misunderstood and the girlfriend became more furious upon hearing those words. The story ended when the girlfriend having an emotional breakdown and admitting that she was the one having an affair.
The girlfriend had been acting ridiculous because she had a hard time telling her boyfriend that she had cheated on him. Here, the girlfriend has a low Emotional Quotient (EQ) shown by her lack of "Self Management" and the lack of "Social Awareness" (see table below). Her lack of "Self Management" prevents her from holding her emotions. While her lack of "Social Awareness" disables her to put herself in her boyfriend's shoes. Otherwise, she should be able to see that some buffer, not a fight, before telling that she had an affair is essential.
On the other hand, the boyfriend possesses high EQ. The high EQ was shown when he could manage his emotion even when his girlfriend was acting ridiculous (good "Self-Management"). And also, he could put himself in his girlfriend's shoes (good "Social Awareness") by asking "What is wrong? Do your friends tell you something?"
Please be aware that I am not sexist. I am currently in my 5th year in a relationship and I can ensure you that the girlfriend role in the video shown above can be played by either the man or the woman in a relationship. Unreasonable fights happen. The question is how we can handle it. What will you do if you are in the position of the girlfriend in the video?
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| Table: Fundamental Capabilities of Emotional Intelligence |
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Why Is Effective Communication Important to Me?
I, an aspiring entrepreneur, see effective communication as a very important quality that I need to have. As entrepreneurs, ones need to have the ability to convey their ideas across different types of people to attract the clients. Also, entrepreneurs have the requirement of being able to listen to the changing globalized market demands.
In the previous ES2007S classes, types of communication barriers are mentioned, such as background, emotion, sources, etc. Entrepreneurs will be facing those barriers head on due to the fact that they need to deliver the message across different audiences. By learning on how to communicate effectively, the entrepreneurs will be able to overcome the barriers. Thus, effective communication is an important quality for entrepreneur in order to efficaciously deliver the message to wide range of people.
The communication barriers mentioned in the previous paragraph does not only apply to the sender, but also to the receiver of the message. Entrepreneurs need to excel in receiving message from wide range of audiences in order for them to listen and react to the dynamic market demands. So, effective communication again is an important quality for entrepreneur in order to be an “active listener” to all of their clients.
In conclusion, effective communication will enable entrepreneurs to excellently pass the message into different types of people. And also, effective communication will grant ability for entrepreneurs to actively listening to the dynamic globalized market demands. Thus, seeing effective communication’s significance for entrepreneur, it is a very important quality that I must have as an aspiring entrepreneur.
In the previous ES2007S classes, types of communication barriers are mentioned, such as background, emotion, sources, etc. Entrepreneurs will be facing those barriers head on due to the fact that they need to deliver the message across different audiences. By learning on how to communicate effectively, the entrepreneurs will be able to overcome the barriers. Thus, effective communication is an important quality for entrepreneur in order to efficaciously deliver the message to wide range of people.
The communication barriers mentioned in the previous paragraph does not only apply to the sender, but also to the receiver of the message. Entrepreneurs need to excel in receiving message from wide range of audiences in order for them to listen and react to the dynamic market demands. So, effective communication again is an important quality for entrepreneur in order to be an “active listener” to all of their clients.
In conclusion, effective communication will enable entrepreneurs to excellently pass the message into different types of people. And also, effective communication will grant ability for entrepreneurs to actively listening to the dynamic globalized market demands. Thus, seeing effective communication’s significance for entrepreneur, it is a very important quality that I must have as an aspiring entrepreneur.
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