Oral Presentation Reflection

No matter how prepared I might be, I am usually quite nervous before, during, and after giving a presentation. Thursday was not much of an exception. I was still fairly nervous about it, and that affected my presentation. I had wanted to click on my slides without looking, but I failed to do so. However, I think that being with my group members helped me feel less worried about speaking in front of others. Being in the classroom that I have been spending my whole semester with also helped ease some tension. Plus, we interact with each other in class so much that we feel comfortable talking with each other and sharing our ideas. I think all this helped the presentations go very smoothly and it helped me focus on the material being presented instead of me being too nervous to pay proper attention.

In time of nervousness, effective body language is always the factor that boosts my confidence. I was able to use my hands and facial expressions to spark enthusiasm in the audience. I think body language can play a large role in making an oral presentation good.

For the familiarity of the content, I did have a better understanding of the content after constant rehearsals. I would still tend to refer to the slides while presenting. While some of the references were used to enhance my explanation, others were actually not necessary. This cause of behavior may be due to my nervousness in trying to ensure the accuracy of my content.

With the right posture, constant smiling and good eye contact, I believe that the image I showed is a confident one. I had also included some interesting ideas in my slides to constantly arouse the audience’s attention.

With regards to the team, the cohesiveness is good. The team was well dressed for the occasion. We included an interesting video to further enhance our presentation. The transition between teammates was smooth. Lastly, during the Q&A session, the way we address the audience is very polite, and the answers are quite complete.

Overall it was a very good experience, as nerve-wracking as it might have been.

Intercultural behaviour

The incident occurred mid-morning in early summer, when I had a chance to visit my aunt in the State, in a large market at the checkout counter. The intercultural miscommunication involved an Asian supermarket checker named Linda, and a lady from my aunt’s neighborhood called Dionne Carter. Linda was a middle-aged woman with a heavy accent and Mrs. Carter, an American school teacher. Linda's accent was very strong and she tended to run her words together in one quick stream, while speaking very loud.

Dionne had a dozen items or so in her cart and as she moved up in line and started placing them on the counter Linda greeted her--without smiling--in a flat, harsh-sounding voice, saying "How are you today?" Mrs. Carter smiled at her and softly said "Just fine." Half of the way through scanning the items Linda came to a carton of Diet Coke. She slapped her hand down on it and said "You need two of these." Clearly Dionne did not hear her well enough. She looked up as though she was startled and confused. Linda repeated, a bit louder, "You need two of these" and Dionne replied "No, one's fine for now."

Linda persisted and said, "Two, much better. I put two for you," while gesturing toward the cash register. This left Mrs. Carter with nothing to say except to repeat herself. But Linda said again, which made Mrs. Carter so annoyed that she snatched the other carton of Diet Coke away in Linda’s awe.

As a result, this incident carved in Linda’s mind an impression of an arrogant ‘native’ American while Mrs. Carter held a contempt everytime she encountered immigrants.

The problem of intercultural communication that arose in the situation was, however, only partly due to Linda's abilities with word selection and accent in English. Linda was an immigrant speaking primarily her mother tongue. She uses the linguistic isolates of his [or her] mother tongue--which gives him [or her] an accent.  So while her message to Mrs. Carton was “You may want to get two cartons today”, “two-for-one”; she did not use the words “may”, “two-for-one”

On the other hand, Mrs. Carton who was born and grew up in America was too used to her native language (English) and did not understand Linda’s expression. All in all, lack of understanding of each other culture could lead to miscommunication, and possibly conflict.

Application Letter

September 5th, 2010

Thuy Linh
## Clementi Ave 1,
Singapore 123456

Ms Anna Gaspar,
65 Chulia Street, OCBC Centre,
#40-05, Singapore 049513

Dear Ms Gaspar,

I am a graduate from National University of Singapore, majoring in Quantitative Finance. With four years of training in Option and Derivatives and an enthusiasm for capital markets, I am confident that I would be an asset for OCBC Trading Desks.

As a graduate in Quantitative Finance, I have acquired skills in regression modeling and asset value valuation and have participated in mock simulations. My interest in derivatives is proven by my distinction in Financial Math modules

During my internship in Natixis, Forex Trading department, I accomplished a modeling project for trading strategy. In my project, a study on Volatility and Correlation of different currency pairs was used to strategize Forex trading. Arbitrage opportunity was indentified and created profitable trading opportunities. My experiences on the trading desks motivated me to become a trader. I feel certain that my skills and interests would be a good match for your trader-training program.

I have attached my resume for your review and would be interested in discussing my qualifications in more detail. I will contact you next week to see if there is a convenient time to meet in person. Please contact me at 773- 555-1212 or at thuylinh@nus.edu.sg should you have any questions about my background. I look forward to speaking with you. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Ngo Thuy Linh

Dodging or Confronting Interpersonal Conflict?

This is my very own experience at a corporate where conflict is almost inevitable. Whenever people are engaged, committed and fired up, conflict and disagreement is bound to happen. This doesn’t mean you have to revel in conflict or create trouble just for the sake of it, but it does mean that when conflict happens it’s not the end of the world. Quite the contrary, it can even be the beginning of an interesting learning process. The very best and most efficient workplaces are not the ones without conflicts but those which handle conflicts constructively.

Imagine: you are a CEO of the following Organization . .

Though Jane enjoyed working as the sales manager of Company A, working with Scott, the financial manager, was a constant struggle for her. At every meeting, Scott would take great care to explain why all her ideas were unworkable. Also, Scott was constantly asking for sales projections and financial data from her and always wanted it in excruciating detail. Supplying these figures was taking up a large amount of her department’s already packed schedule. Frankly she thought, he was nothing but a dry, negative perfectionist.

Scott, on the other hand, thought that Jane was a maverick. She always had to interrupt meetings with her harebrained schemes and whenever he asked her for the data he needed to keep the company finances in order, she would always stall and make him have to ask her again several times. Jane, he felt, was nothing but a happy-go-lucky, unrealistic show-off.

It got to the point where neither of them could stand to be in the same room together. The company clearly suffered under this conflict between two of its key employees and something clearly needed to be done. Realistically, nothing was done to resolve the matter.

Given the role of a CEO, do you have any solution to help resolve the conflict?

Here is my food for thought:

You can’t win a conflict at work. Winning a conflict ie. getting the outcome you want regardless of what the other person wants can be gratifying, sure, but the problem is that the underlying issue has not been solved. It will simply reappear later over some other topic. Much better than winning a conflict at work is resolving it. As such, I am looking forward to your contribution of ideas how to solve the above conflict.

The importance of effective communication

Almost everything that happens in our lives involves communication in one form or another. Effective communication not only involves conveying ideas and opinions, but also includes the ability to absorb and listen to what another person is saying. Whether you are involved in a business meeting or a relationship discussion, communication is the most essential component of any interpersonal relationship. 

Like any other University students, I strive for success in career. In business, being able to communicate effectively can mean the whole difference between success and failure. Unfortunately, effective communication does not often come easily. Here is an example of one: 

Which of the following phrases would you prefer to hear?

• A condescending tone: "You forgot to answer my e-mail again! I need an answer in two days! Geeze, what good are you?"
• A normal tone: "I know you're busy, but could you please remember to answer my e-mail about Project A by Friday? Thanks."
• a scared tone: "I really hate to impose, but I was wondering if you could possibly look at my email and send me a reply when you get a chance?"

All three deliver the same basic message but each one is begging for a different reply. Certainly, no one wants to contend with an avalanche of bad manners, nor do we want a wishy-washy conversation. To me, I want to be able to speak and write with a tone of friendly confidence which in my belief, will greatly help me leave a good impression and get things done effectively in a work place.

Communicating effectively with my loved ones, family members and friends is just equally important. In daily life, communication with loved ones, family and closed friends are often neglected or not well taken care of. This may further damage a relationship. 

Effective communication with the loved ones, on the other hand allows me to understand people better and be understood by them. 

So what? Mutual understanding leads to better connection with people

So what? Better connection with people satisfy the need for belonging

So what? Fulfilling this important need certainly leads to a more satisfying life.