Reflections!

ES2007S - Professional Communication. This will be the module which i would remember throughout my life as one of the best NUS modules that I have taken.

Effective communication has always intrigued me since I was young. Therefore, being able to learn the dynamics of effective communication; active listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, is a very valuable life lesson for me. I am therefore eternally grateful for this opportunity.

If I had to name a particular aspect of the module that I cherish the most, it would have to be the lesson on presentation skills. I was really captured by the various presentation styles that was employed by various individuals shown during the lesson. I remember being really excited after the lesson, eager to try out the skills that I had just learned.

At that point of time, I was supposed to prepare for an important Biomedical Engineering Design presentation. When I met my group-mates later on in the afternoon, I told them that I wanted to employ the methods I learnt during my ES2007S lesson. I wanted to tell a story at the beginning of the presentation about a make-belief figure called Dr Lee, who was having troubles with his rotator cuff repair surgery for which we were supposed to aid him in improving the procedure of the surgery. I was sure that this would add an emotional appeal to the presentation and that it would work. However, I could see that my groupmates were doubtful of the effectiveness of this method as it was unconventional and unfamiliar.  

I managed to convince them. Below was the story we came up with to start off the presentation.

'Dr. Lee was an orthopedic surgeon. He had just graduated from medical school. Like most of us, he was not the top of his class, but nor was he the worst. Through his experience in med school, Dr. Lee always had an innate fear of complex and drawn out procedures. One day, He was required to perform a rotator cuff surgery. It was his first arthroscopic surgery. But, He hated tying knots. He knew the dangers of knot stacking and he feared this complication. This caused him to fear many of the steps of the procedure. He feared the complexity of the whole procedure. The long drawn out hours, the usage of multiple devices. suture passers, knot pushers was it all really necessary? As he walked towards the operating theater, he thought to himself, if only there were no knot pushers. If only there were no suture passers. If only there were no knots. If only everything was simpler. '

 

The emotional appeal worked like a charm! Our presentation left a lasting impact on both the professors and students and stood out among other presentations. Even after our presentation was over, our Professor still made references to our Dr Lee. It was really heartwarming! And to top it all off, we won one of the best presentation for the entire bioengineering cohort! I was really glad that we decided to employ the presentation skills taught in ES2007. Thank God!

Reflections on Oral Presentation

Amazing. That was the feeling that we got when we pulled it off. Nasir, Sudarsan and I could not have hoped for a better presentation. We not only managed to pull off the presentation in a clear and succinct manner but we also could answer the questions posted to us during the question and answer session. Weeks of preparation for our report paid off.

I thought that it was very important that we had been given enough time by Mdm Fazilah to work on our report. Out of our tutor's initiative, she decided to postpone the dateline for our proposal. It was genius. The additional time to work on our report helped a lot! Once we had concretized our report, the preparation for oral presentation drifted in easily. All of us clearly knew our purpose statement and worked hand-in-hand towards the purpose of our proposal. At the same time, it was a big blessing that Gwendolyne, Clara, Xin Yi and Hong Wei agreed to change their presentation timeslot with ours. So we managed to get a later timeslot. I still remember the look of horror on Nasir and Sudarsan's faces when i picked the earliest timeslot for the oral presentation. Frankly speaking, we were at the peak of our assignments and submissions at that time and probably couldn't have done it as well if it wasn't for the exchange of timeslots! 

Back to the topic of our presentation, I feel that it is very important to mention again that we were given enough time for our proposal. Nasir, Sudarsan and I made sure that we did adequate research, surveys and interview. As such, all we needed to do for our presentation was to input information from our proposal. It was that easy! Oh yes, not to mention, there was also the excellent lesson on presentation skills that Mdm Fazilah conducted. I think we managed to employ a large part of the persuasive presentation tips; the emotional appeal method, the overview of our proposal method, and the usage of clear reasoning to explain our proposal. I have to say, i was afraid that we had gone overboard. To my pleasant surprise, Mdm Fazilah mentioned that it wasn't overboard and that we pulled the presentation off nicely! 

One of the strengths of our presentation is that we were able to take questions in a cool and calm manner and answer them using logical reasoning. For our weakness, i realized that I could have given more opportunity for Nasir and Sudarsan to answer questions so that it could be seen that there was greater team cohesiveness in our ‘question and answer’ session. I also realize that I have a tendency to be slightly dominant. Therefore, to Nasir and Sudarsan, I apologize! I hope I wasn’t overbearing! 

All in all, the final presentation was an amazing experience and it would be one that I would cherish for a very, very long time!