Remote Meeting

We had a really positive experience with our remote meeting. We weren't able to get together one particular day but we had information that we needed to discuss. Having the opportunity to meet over the internet really saved us. We used Google Hangouts and had a very productive 30 minute meeting. One group member's phone died and we lost her but other than that, no other problems occurred. Meeting over an online chat can be extremely productive if you are in a pinch. It may not be the best way to meet, as most people are able to get more accomplished meeting in person, but it is a good alternative. I know that in my future ventures in business, this is something that will be a useful tool.

Working in Groups

There are many different challenges involved in working with teams. It involves clear and effective communication as well as productive behavior from every team member. Learning to balance these aspects of working with a group of people is difficult. People have different opinions and ways of doing things. Sometimes we have to be willing to back down and be willing to go with another team members idea for the sake of being most effective. This is something that I continuously am striving to perfect. A lot of times the way that we communicate things with others can cause conflict. We have to be careful in our wording and we need to be understanding when things don't go, or are not communicated exactly right. Working with my group, in this class, has taught me important lessons regarding communicating more effectively and being the as productive as possible. If we work closely with our team members, we can cut down significantly the amount of time the project would have taken simply working on it alone.

Peer Reviews

Through all of the years of English classes and writing papers there is something that I have not caught onto until now. I did not realize the effectiveness of peer review when writing a paper. For years it was something that I did just because I was told I needed to have it reviewed by someone else. The truth of the matter is that a peer review is essential to the success of any document that is being written. This is something that hit me as we reviewed each other's briefing articles this last week. I received a huge amount of input regarding how my paper can be effectively designed and altered to fit the requirements of this paper. I am definitely going to implement some of the suggestions that were given. I realized the amount of success I could have had in the past if I would have taken peer reviews more seriously. 

My goal is to perfect how I go about peer reviews in the future. I am majoring in public relations and writing effective documents is going to be a critical part of this degree and of a job in this particular field. Perfecting my process for obtaining a peer review is going to be of major benefit to my success throughout the rest of my degree and in my future career. I truly appreciate the input that I have received from all of my classmates and I appreciate the lesson that I have learned from the effective reviews they have provided.

Research...

I have never been a huge fan of research. I have always felt that it is time consuming and that I am never able to find what I am looking for. My opinion has not significantly changed, but I do feel a little bit more confident going into it after class this last week. We spent a good chunk of time covering how to use resources available through the school to effectively research topics online. I was amazed at the resources that are available out there to be able to find relevant information. I also learned about different ways to go about searching for topics so as to pull the most relevant information possible. I was able to find specific results in relation to the business briefing article that I am currently working on. The library's page is going to help me significantly throughout the rest of my education as I am sure this will not be the last research paper that I write in college.

Online Interview

The online interview was a new experience for me. I learned a lot in regards to what to differently, how I can improve, and how to strengthen the way I represent myself. I believe that I did really well keeping confident and being quick to respond. I felt that I sounded like I knew what I was talking about. I think that is an important part of interviewing. One big thing I learned about doing these online interviews is that you really have to be aware of your surroundings. It is probably a good idea to do a test run with a friend or family member beforehand. This is to ensure that you are comfortable with the program you are using and know how to get into the call. It can also help to evaluate your background, lighting, and sound to ensure everything is appropriate. I would also ensure that everyone that may interrupt is aware of what you are doing so as to prevent distractions or problems. All in all it was a very rewarding experience and I am glad I had the opportunity to participate in it. Darren Robertson was a 5 on professional tone and helpfulness.

Make Yourself Stand Out

Throughout our lifetime, we will apply for multiple jobs and go through several job interviews. How do we make ourselves stand out against the other candidates through these job interviews and through our applications? The first step of course is making yourself stand out on paper. Creating the best possible resume is an important first step to getting a job. The skills and experience need to be written in a way that exemplify your qualifications for the position. Another paper document that is important is your cover letter. The cover letter not only provides information regarding your skills and abilities, but it gives the employer the opportunity to see a sample of your writing as well as a sample of your personality.

The second step is of course the interview. It is important to maintain confidence and to be prepared for possible questions that may ask in your interview. Prepare by doing mock interviews with peers and get comfortable answering questions with other people. Make sure you understand all of the job requirements and that you are prepared to answer questions and demonstrate your knowledge and ability to perform these functions. If we can portray our strengths and make ourselves stand out, we will be able to land the job.

It Is Not What You Know, But Who You Know

For so many people things just fall into place. Opportunities present themselves that lead us down certain paths in our lives. Part of how these opportunities are created, is through the people that we know. We tend to shape our lives and create certain aspects of our personality based upon the people that we spend our time with. We mold ourselves to fit in with our surroundings, and in turn, we become who we are. 

If we want to become something or someone, we have to change our surroundings to fit the circumstance. That is what networking is all about. It is about putting yourself out there to meet people that can help shape us into who or what we want to be. Many opportunities can be presented or created if we network with the right people. The question is, what are we doing to network with the right people. It is important to get involved and to reach out to people in powerful places. We need to make ourselves known and make ourselves fit in perfectly where we want to be. As we continue with this path of progression, we will change a individuals and eventually become exactly what we want to be. 

Writing With Power

I am continuously striving to develop my ability to write effectively. There are always new tricks and skills that can be implemented into your writing to make it more effective. If you are trying to be as effective as possible in whatever document you are creating, you are going to want to make sure that you are writing with power. How do we write with power? There are a couple of different aspects that we can focus on in our writing that will creating a powerful message.

Simplicity within your document is one of the most effective ways to create a powerful message. We want the reader, whoever it may be, to completely understand the topic that we are writing about. We want the most important information within the document to be at the beginning. Readers remember the beginning more than they remember the end. The beginning of the document is key to drawing the reader in as well. We should be using wording and information that touches the heart of the reader. We want to connect to the readers emotions by using emotional language. One last aspect we can implement is to use language that creates imagery. We want to create a mental picture in the readers mind that they can associate with the topic that we are discussing.

If we want to be as effective as possible in our writing we are going to want to use these tools for writing with power. The more powerfully we write, the more effect our document is going to have on the readers.

Group Presentation

We had our group presentation last week that turned out really well. They say practice makes perfect and in our case, our time spent practicing definitely paid off. I personally was able to keep a smile on my face and keep my focus on the audience throughout the entire presentation. I was confident and I knew the material that I was presenting and it made the entire thing easier. I felt that I was successful at grabbing the audiences attention as I spoke. One thing  I do feel that I could have improved on was my eye contact. I felt as though I was simply staring at the audience as a whole instead of attempting to visually connect with people. Our group did well with our flow and with our delivery. We were very connected and absolutely unified. One thing we could have done better on was our speed. We rushed through the information and the slides because we were worried about our time crunch. It is important to remain within your time frame allotted but it is also important to slow down and allow the information to sink in. This is something we can definitely improve on as a group. All in all though, we definitely did a great job on our presentation.

It Is All About Presentation

So many times we listen to people speak and think to ourselves, what is this person even talking about? I know that I am not the only one who has these experiences whether it be in church, at work, or in school. Presentation skills make or break the entire experience for an audience. Regardless of the topic you are presenting, how it is presented makes or breaks the experience. One thing that I have caught on to in my own presentations is my use of crutch words. I have noticed I am a more effective presenter when I am able to watch those words such as um, like, you know, etc. If you are able to perfect your presentations to avoid these words, it makes you sound more credible and confident and helps to hold peoples attention.

I am excited to work on presenting confidently. I have a problem with fidgeting. I am constantly doing something with my hands especially in large groups. My ultimate goal is to focus specifically on being confident in what I am presenting and conveying this confidence through the strength of my voice and by my body language. Many opportunities will open up in life as I learn to become a more effective presenter.

Stepping Stones

Curve balls are so unpredictable. They come at us fast and change direction at the last second. On occasion it can go completely wrong and cause injury. Life is full of curve balls and I have discovered that this last week. We set goals and make plans but life leads us in a completely different direction. Our entire life plan can change in the blink of an eye. I feel as if we are never quite prepared for these events to occur and after they occur, we never quite know how to best react to them. I have had to eventually take a step back and just take everything one step at a time.

I am the kind of person that has always had a plan for my life. I have always known what I wanted to do and if things changed, I already had a new plan in place. I am currently at a point in my life that I don't have a plan. I don't know what they next steps are or where I want to be. This is okay. The conclusion has been reached that it is time to just take a step back and take it one step at a time. Life is full of stepping stones. Sometimes we can't see the stones far ahead, but if we take it one at a time, eventually the end goal comes into sight. 

Making the Choice

Many people in life believe that the way we feel is forced upon us based on other people's choices or the events that occur in our lives. I have thought a lot about this over the last week and have come to the conclusion that regardless of what may happen in our lives, we have the ability to MAKE the choice to be happy. Everyday we are surrounded by people who are unhappy for one reason or another. We need to push past this epidemic of sorrow and truly decide to be happy with what we have and who we are. It is sometimes hard to control the urge to let ourselves get down, but if we change our outlook, it makes all the difference in the world.

I have this particular problem with presenting in front of people. I am afraid of how I will sound, look, or act when speaking to a large group of people. As I thought about this very principle in class this week I came to the realization that this fear and the nervous behavior I exhibit can be easily overcome. I can make the choice to be confident in myself. If I am confident in myself whatever mistakes I make will be irrelevant. Those mistakes can be corrected and eventually overcome altogether. If I am confident in my ability and knowledgeable about the subject I am presenting than everything else will fall into place. It is a matter of choosing to be confident rather than allowing my emotions to get the better of me.

The principle of making the choice applies to every aspect of our lives. I currently work in a position that I get yelled at on occasion. Do I choose to let it get me down and get upset, or do I choose to brush it off and be happy? The latter is always the most rewarding option. We are able to accomplish so much more in life with a good, confident, and enthusiastic attitude than we would ever be able to accomplish by letting emotion take us over. I am making the choice to be happy and it is rewarding.

An Interesting Perspective

I am completely amazed, at times, at how excited we can get about minor things in our lives. Something so simple can completely change our perspective on an entire subject. I was amazed this week by what I learned concerning sentence structure and the power that it has on our words and in our writing. By changing simple terms in the emails that I write and they way that I speak I can alter the entire attitude behind the same message I would be delivering regardless. I can make my message more direct and  precise by taking out unnecessary and weak wording. I can deliver the same message but make it more powerful through changing a few simple words and using correct punctuation.

I have begun looking to implement these strategies into my job. I work for a large international company and I deal directly with very large customers. I have noticed in the emails that I send for my job that if I alter the sentence structure and wording in my emails, the messages become more precise and clear and it simplifies the entire process. I plan to continue to focus on this newly learned, yet simple, skill and to implement it into my work process to simplify my job.

Through simple observations I learned another very valuable lesson this week. A lot of times we have a plan for exactly how something is going to go, or at least how it should go. We get ideas in our heads of what someone wants and how it needs to be done. In all reality, sometimes we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. We need to ask ourselves the question, why am I doing this? I have noticed through group projects in school and in class that sometimes it is important to "go with the flow." It is important to be flexible and willing to change. The situation needs to be looked and we need to decide, what is going to be of most benefit to everyone involved? I think a lot of times people try to over-contemplate a situation when there are ways to make it so much simpler. It is all about perspective and an interesting perspective it is.