My professional communication skills have greatly improved this term. In Leadership and Communications, I learned how to properly write a proposal and a memo and how to give an effective presentation. I also got a chance to practice these skills and see where I need improvement
In my team’s first attempt at writing a proposal, we made a huge number of mistakes. There was no skim value. There were page-long paragraphs and run-on sentences. The language was passive and full of grammatical errors. We got a chance to rewrite our proposal, though, and we changed these. We cut out all of the extra words and phrases that did not add value. We organized our thoughts and broke up long paragraphs into clear ideas. We used lists and bullet points where it was practical to do so. Our proposal was much more effective the second time around.
I faced the challenge of editing all of the individual pieces of our proposal together. I took on this role because I am minoring in English and my team wanted to take advantage of my experience. Everyone in my team had vastly different writing styles, though, and it was extremely difficult to make it one, fluent document. Ultimately, it was a valuable learning experience.
I also learned how to write a memo. I learned how to properly organize and format a business memo and to give it skim value. I developed my skills in presenting broad pathways in response to a problem rather than specific solutions. Presenting pathways is more effective because it keeps the audience’s focus on the problem rather than the solutions. In my first memo, I learned that if I propose a rigid solution that is ineffective, it can cause the reader to discredit the problem as well. The main skill I need to work on in memo writing is convincing the audience that the need is important. If the reader does not think the need is important, then the memo is worthless. I have included a link to a sample of my memo-writing here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nFCDCgfp0AdNXs18s1RxQJKduuF5mvJY7DKbN0UvaOA/edit to demonstrate my formatting and skim value.
Before this class, I thought that Power Point was useless as a presentation aide. After watching countless boring slide shows in other classes, it surprised me to learn that, when used properly, Power Point can be extremely effective. Relevant pictures, especially those with real people, are especially good at keeping people’s attention. They can be powerful supplements to a speech. When using text on Power Point, less is more. A word or number standing alone can have a more profound effect on the audience than an entire paragraph. Our team took these things into consideration when creating our slide show.
My professional communication skills have come a long way since the beginning of this class, and they will continue to grow throughout my college and professional career. The skills I learned in both written communication and presentations will help me effectively share my ideas in the business world.
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