This module is probably the best and the most useful we chose for this exchange program. For this semester, I aimed to enhance my English communication skills. We all know that nowadays English has an increasing importance in the professional relationships and partnerships. And I didn't only improve my English skills, but my communication skills as well.
The benefits of oral presentations and speaking, in general
By doing several oral presentations I enhanced my abilities to speak fluently and clearly in English. Few months ago, I was not able to be that confident. Oral presentations allowed me to develop my PowerPoint skills as well. From now on, I would rather prefer the Steve Jobs style - elegant, sober and refined - to a more academic way to present. I learned that the less you look at your slides, the more convincing you are. And to achieve this goal, the slides need to be purified to their utmost. Also, oral presentations allowed me to remain comfortable face to an audience, without reading any notes.
Besides oral presentations, I admit that speaking twice a week face to an "audience" is really helpful. If you want to make the most of this course, you have to be hyperactive and to practice. Now I am perfectly able to talk with professionals who call me for an internship, what I couldn't have done several months ago. Last time, I have been called by L'Oréal and the HR did notice that I was taking Professional Communication courses. He told me that it was vital for the mission they propose because I would be charged to train people for them to change they usual practices. Now, I federate both the skills on an engineer and those of a kind of "commercial". This module can bring more value to your resume.
What I would have liked to do
I think that negotiation is a big part of Professional Communication. Unfortunately, I feel that we didn't really emphasize on this aspect. That is the only thing I have missed. I would have liked to deal with a special topic on which each team would have discussed, trying to convince another, and finally reach an agreement. I guess that the proposal presentation was sort of negotiation but it was rather unilateral.
Objective outlook
Overall, I especially developed my oral skills during this module, although the blogposts were very helpful for the writing skills. I think that we are all generally better at writing than speaking (I mean, for a foreign language). When you write, you can take your time to think about the impact of your words. When you speak, you need to be trained and to practice to make it natural and effective.
Finally I would like to thank all of you folks. The experience was amazing. Also, thanks to you, Brad, because you are a fantastic teacher and overall, a very cheerful person.
All the best for the final exams.
Cheers
Guillaume
My dear friend Guillaume,
ReplyDeleteI like your post because it fits totally with my opinion.
English is really important in our life especially for our future career. Moreover, I think that we had the same approach for building our slides and I learned the same thing than you: we have to refine them the most that we can in order to make them really effective.
Furthermore, you are right, the practice is the best thing to improve our communication skills and the job interviews that we have currently are a good test to see if we have made progresses.
Finally, it is a good point that you share your opinion about the lack of negotiation. Now, I realized that I would have liked to make more exercises and these topics because it would have been really useful and interesting.
Congratulations for your improvements during this semester, all the best for L'Oreal and I hope that we will manage our final exams to come back in France without worries!
See you around!
Maxime,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the compliments. You actually share the same vision than me about this module.
Today, I did not receive a single e-mail from the potential recruiters, but I keep on trusting them haha.
And don't worry, there won't be any problem with our exams. I'm sure about that.
See you.
Hi Guillaume,
ReplyDeleteYou wrote very systematically which is great. I like the way you give a real life example on how beneficial this module and the communication skills are. It is interesting that you bring up about the negotiation part. That is a really useful feedback for the course to provide more enriching experience for the students.
Enjoy your weekend and reading week! :)
Thanks for your comment Teresa ;)
DeleteWe agree about the negotiation aspect.
Best of luck for your exams.
Cheers
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Guillaume, for your detailed response and the warm compliments. You were very active in class this term; I appreciate your significant contributions in all facets of our classroom discussions, from the various debriefing sessions to talks about French culture.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really appreciate how you focused this final reflection on what you consider the main take aways from your study in ES2007S, our focus on oral presenting and the sideline of writing. You also mention some of the secondary take aways such as the Jobs approach to slideware. Teresa mentions how you have systematically addressed the issues, which is partially true. You clearly identify what you felt you learned and how negotiations might have been further emphasized (yes, if we only had had more time).
At the same time, I feel you might have been more explicit in your discussion of how the oral presentation practice informed your learning in the areas of verbals and non-verbals before writing about the value of studying the different approaches to slides. That's a minor organizational issue (and you know me, always critiquing).
What I like most in this post is the way you explain how your effort the last 3 months has helped you in your recent job interviews. What you've written strikes me as an appetizer though, with the entree still in the kitchen. If you have a chance, you can always serve another post more on this blog in that regard. :)
Once again, thank you for the great effort throughout the term. Please keep me informed of your upcoming job arrangements.
Best of luck!
Thank you, Brad, for your comment. I liked it.
ReplyDeleteI guess it would have been part of your plan to include some negotiation topics in this course, if only we had had more time. To me, everything we did in this course was crucial. I have never felt that one single topic we studied was diverting. So I guess it is impossible to replace one topic in this course by negotiation, given the time constraint.
About oral presentations, I admit I did not really develop all the non-verbals and verbals they implied. Of course I improved both of those aspects in my communication process. Of course I learnt how to speak using the 7Cs. From now on, I am able to perform a REAL oral presentation in English because I feel confident.
Overall, I thank you for your support and your way to make us learn.
I will let you know of my job interviews.
A la prochaine, mon cher Brad.
Hi Guilaume,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, you have been one of the most active person in class this term and it's great to have injecting humour and comments during different things. I feel that through the two oral presentations that I have seen you done, you definitely have improved like I said previously. Furthermore, this blogpost of yours has really answered the requirements of the assignment, and it's very well formatted.
Thank you again!
Cheers,
Maple