Oral Presentation

Oral presentations are an integral part of any professional's life. I am glad to have been given an option of being a part of one in this module.

Reflecting upon my oral presentation, I really enjoyed working with my team. Midst all the joking, laughing, fooling around, I have learnt a lot through this oral project. Ranging from planning, making Gantt charts, surveying, interviewing, making email correspondence to working with ethnically different team mates, brainstorming, accepting and rejecting ideas with due respect and making decisions.

On self-analysing my oral presentation, in my opinion my preparation was fair. I knew my subject well and in coherent depth. The slides were crisp, precise and to the point with sufficient information on them - enough to explain the point. There was good flow from one team member to another in my opinion. The delivery of the presentation was clear and concise with good explanation for most of the parts. The pictorial depiction of the proposed idea was a good concept as pictures assert more than words. The talk did not entirely depend on the presentation but the presentation complimented the talk. Also the summarizing was convincing and the concluded the presentation rightly. Eye contact was effective throughout, though in some places it could have been better. Use of words was apt and language was easy to grasp. The question and answer round was challenging, but I tried my best to answer as much as possible extrapolating from the survey results and interview questions.

The things I could improve upon includes better use of words, not repeating same sentences in different forms, better presence of mind especially in the question and answer session. Also, in my opinion I should practice a little more to bring more fluency in my speech while giving the presentation.

Intercultural Communication

National University of Singapore is one of the most global universities in Asia; and being a part of this institute makes you meet an eclectic lot of people from all around the world. One such person was a friend of mine from Amsterdam. Charlotte (which in English is pronounced as shaar-let, but in Dutch it became shar-laut-tay), was in NUS for a semester and then came to India to stay with me over the summer. Any interaction with her was an experience in itself. It made me realize the evident culture different between us.

During one of such interactions with her, we were talking about living alone in a city. For me, Singapore was the first experience of living alone, away from parents, more due to necessity rather than choice, not that I was complaining. She had an absolutely different view about that. Coming from Netherlands, she was brought up in an environment where children were encouraged to fight for their living right from adulthood. It is an unsaid norm for them. We both just looked at each other trying to absorb our difference and understand each other.

Another time when she was making her plans to roam about the whole of North India, she refused to book a railway ticket or a hotel room before leaving for the place. It surprised me and my family to no end. We, in India, due to our excessive population always pre-plan our transport tickets and accommodation unlike the Dutch, who have this spirit of adventure which gives them the zest to just leave their house without any prior knowledge about where they are going to good - which can prove to be good and bad, but most importantly very different from my travelling style.

One of the most hilarious situations were when my brother, as a token of Indian hospitality, gifted Charlotte a pair of ear-rings. She was shocked because she thought my brother had developed feelings for her. When she told me about it, I just burst out laughing. In Netherlands, gifting ear-rings is domain of the boyfriend or the lover unlike in India where jewelry is just another piece of gift. That was another ideal example of intercultural differences.

The little time, Charlotte and me spent together would be one of the most enriching experiences of my life in terms of intercultural communication. The amount I learnt about her cultural, and she about India were an eye-opener to not just each others culture, but it also made each other understand our way of thinking, dealing with life situations and emotions.