I am confident in my ability to effectively communicate after taking this class. My written and oral skills have improved, however I still need to work on my digital media content.
This was the first time that I have had to write a memo, and I know it won’t be my last. Learning to effectively communicate through a short document is going to be helpful going forward in my career. The structure and content of the memo is a perfect way to send a professional message. Even though I am not close to perfect at writing memos I am confident in my ability to draft one now having some experience in them.
Many classes want reports and proposals to be 15-20 pages upon completion. I’m sure this is required to so every piece of content is covered, however this has negatively impacted my writing skills. I have been accustomed to writing fluff that is unnecessary. This proposal has positively impacted my ability to refine my writing skills and only write content that is needed and professional. Especially when it comes to the little things. For example, words such as: ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ are not needed, and the phrase: ‘I feel’ or ‘I believe’ are definitely not needed. These are unprofessional ways of writing that were natural for me to put on paper. Now I have learned to not write in the passive voice by writing in a more concise and professional manner.
Public speaking is always something that I have enjoyed. I enjoy it because it is my opportunity to have the floor and present what I know to the audience. All eyes are on me. That is a scary thought and it can make me nervous at times, but I have learned to channel the nervous energy into excitement. I get excited about the opportunity to present and it has made me more confident when talking in front of the audience. The feedback I received from Ron was that I have a natural way of speaking but I need to be careful to not be too relaxed. This makes sense because I make a conscious effort to not speak fast when I’m talking and to just relax. I can see how that turns into an disengaged presentation, and I will make even more efforts to let my excitement to present flow into the the actual presentation.
Blogging and digital media was a new concept to me because I have chosen to never blog before this class. I like the aspect of blogging now because it is like writing in a journal for me. I have been forced to let my thoughts flow out into a blog post, and that is good writing practice. I am still working on what is good blog content and etiquette. I’m not sure how long a blog post should be, what the layout should look like, and what’s appropriate content. These differ from the theme of the blog, but I would like to get insight into these questions for future digital media. With the social media presence it is imperative to know what is good content to put into the world and what isn’t. As I have more of a digital media presence, I will keep in mind the layout and content of my writing so it presents itself in a professional manner.
