Our ninth session was about giving a presentation which we spent a long time preparing.
I was a little bit nervous before the presentation. It turned out I wasn't the only one who was nervous. All my friends said they were too before the presentation. In my case, I didn't feel confident because I was not fully prepared for it because I've been too busy with work these days. To my surprise, I did much better than I expected.
I gave a presentation about the Toyota Corporation and its future business. I had searched many websites including Toyota’s to try make my presentation good. I collected a lot of useful information about Toyota but my weak point was I did not make power point presentation well. Before the presentation, I read through the key points to follow to make use of them during my session.
After the presentation, we each looked back to how we did and self-assessed the good points and improvements that we needed to make. The good points with me were eye contacts, rhythm and smile. My weaknesses were I acted rather uneasy and the Power Point slides were short. My afterthought is I could have overcome those weaknesses had I prepared for it more thoroughly. I always feel that I really need more practice in presentation, which itself is a lesson to learn.
After the self-assessment, we had other two agendas for the day: UCLA Extension Course evaluation and our future goals. My thoughts are that learning about business English communication helped me a lot with improving my business English. I got a chance to study English as well as reviewing many things like financial information. Furthermore, I would like to work on my English so that I can enjoy my stay more when I visit an English speaking country in the future. I've promised myself I would study a lot harder in my spare time.
Regarding future goals, we asked each other questions and talked about our career goals and about the skills we need to make our dreams come true.
Thanks!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Preparation for Presentation and Communication
Our agendas for our eighth class were presentation skills, presentation practices, essential skills and communication styles.
First we reviewed our previous class which was about making rules for a meeting.
I already mentioned the set of rules to follow when having a meeting in my previous blog. Do you remember the important rules?
When we call a meeting first we have to have the purpose and the agenda of the meeting set. We need to establish who are the participants, timing, minute taker, chairperson in the meeting. After that we can have a meeting properly.
All these things are necessary to have a meeting. The most important thing for a project manager to do before the session begins is to provide the participants with information regarding the meeting.
After reviewing the rules we learned about presentation skills. We have to know the following key points to give a good presentation.
1. Consider the needs of audience
2. Organize the ideas logically
3. Use transitions
4. Smile
5. Eye contact
6. Speak with variation
7. Posture and gesture
If we do not know about these key points we cannot give a good presentation. If we cannot give a good presentation, we will not do well at meetings. So we learned these things briefly in our eighth session.
What is the difference between a good presentation and a bad presentation?
Giving a good presentation is not a simple task. We must be prepared physically and mentally before the presentation because we have to speak in front of people, usually in a foreign environment. We practiced giving presentations one by one and when we made any mistake, we received comments from our teacher.
In my case I never felt at ease standing in front of people and give a presentation. All in all, I think I did pretty well today because my classmates and my teacher were not new to me, but I still need more practice speaking in front of many people.
After practicing the presentation we learned communication styles.
It is not such a new topic but normally we do not really think about our communication styles. People communicate in different ways; systematic and organic, direct and diplomatic, formal and informal, inductive and deductive, head and heart, high context and low context, among colleagues and friends.
These communication styles are used in different kinds of presentation. Finding out about different styles of communication helps us to vary our ways in which give presentations to different kinds of people.
How would you describe your own communication style?
I think it depends on your nationality, culture and society you belong to.
Thanks!
First we reviewed our previous class which was about making rules for a meeting.
I already mentioned the set of rules to follow when having a meeting in my previous blog. Do you remember the important rules?
When we call a meeting first we have to have the purpose and the agenda of the meeting set. We need to establish who are the participants, timing, minute taker, chairperson in the meeting. After that we can have a meeting properly.
All these things are necessary to have a meeting. The most important thing for a project manager to do before the session begins is to provide the participants with information regarding the meeting.
After reviewing the rules we learned about presentation skills. We have to know the following key points to give a good presentation.
1. Consider the needs of audience
2. Organize the ideas logically
3. Use transitions
4. Smile
5. Eye contact
6. Speak with variation
7. Posture and gesture
If we do not know about these key points we cannot give a good presentation. If we cannot give a good presentation, we will not do well at meetings. So we learned these things briefly in our eighth session.
What is the difference between a good presentation and a bad presentation?
Giving a good presentation is not a simple task. We must be prepared physically and mentally before the presentation because we have to speak in front of people, usually in a foreign environment. We practiced giving presentations one by one and when we made any mistake, we received comments from our teacher.
In my case I never felt at ease standing in front of people and give a presentation. All in all, I think I did pretty well today because my classmates and my teacher were not new to me, but I still need more practice speaking in front of many people.
After practicing the presentation we learned communication styles.
It is not such a new topic but normally we do not really think about our communication styles. People communicate in different ways; systematic and organic, direct and diplomatic, formal and informal, inductive and deductive, head and heart, high context and low context, among colleagues and friends.
These communication styles are used in different kinds of presentation. Finding out about different styles of communication helps us to vary our ways in which give presentations to different kinds of people.
How would you describe your own communication style?
I think it depends on your nationality, culture and society you belong to.
Thanks!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Solving a problem and troubleshooting
Last week, I was busy preparing my final presentation, which was about Toyota Motor Corporation. I searched many websites to find out about the company. I found a lot of useful information related to the topic and I was busy with the preparation even on Saturday morning before I left for the class.
After sending the first draft to my teacher, I went to UCLA for my eighth class. The main agenda of that class was Problem Solving.
We face many problems in our daily lives, including that of business, family and friends. Whenever we face those problems we have to tackle them. Today in the lesson we took a look at solving business problems.
Before the problem solving we role-played interviewer and interviewee for a job interview. Its main purpose was to go over the stuff we did in the sixth session. Our goal was to select the right person for a full-time English teaching position at a trading company.
We had three candidates to choose from. All the groups tried to select the best candidate for the position It was not so easy a task. All the groups selected the same person and provided reasons for selecting that candidate. Unfortunately, that was the wrong one for the position according to the teacher.
After that, we practiced a dialog which was about solving a problem. We were in twos and each practiced the dialog.
How do you solve problems when you face them at work?
We face many problems at work and there's bound to be a best possible solution for every one of them. We took turns playing roles of a customer and a supplier in different situations.
Of course, I have faced and dealt with problems before but it's rather different when you are representing a company as you need to have a holistic view so this session was very meaningful.
After that, we looked at sample actions a project manager took to solve a problem he faced during a company meeting. It went like this – A project manager wanted to discuss about an agenda so he called for a meeting which he scheduled for 11 o'clock but no one turned up because everyone thought that was a waste of time. What kind of actions would I have taken if I were the manager?
We then discussed what kind of troubleshooting techniques would be applicable in our own groups and told the class the solutions we came up with.
I don't think I've ever faced such problems while working in Japan. I think Japanese companies are more institutionalized and well-mannered.
That's all for now.
Thanks!
After sending the first draft to my teacher, I went to UCLA for my eighth class. The main agenda of that class was Problem Solving.
We face many problems in our daily lives, including that of business, family and friends. Whenever we face those problems we have to tackle them. Today in the lesson we took a look at solving business problems.
Before the problem solving we role-played interviewer and interviewee for a job interview. Its main purpose was to go over the stuff we did in the sixth session. Our goal was to select the right person for a full-time English teaching position at a trading company.
We had three candidates to choose from. All the groups tried to select the best candidate for the position It was not so easy a task. All the groups selected the same person and provided reasons for selecting that candidate. Unfortunately, that was the wrong one for the position according to the teacher.
After that, we practiced a dialog which was about solving a problem. We were in twos and each practiced the dialog.
How do you solve problems when you face them at work?
We face many problems at work and there's bound to be a best possible solution for every one of them. We took turns playing roles of a customer and a supplier in different situations.
Of course, I have faced and dealt with problems before but it's rather different when you are representing a company as you need to have a holistic view so this session was very meaningful.
After that, we looked at sample actions a project manager took to solve a problem he faced during a company meeting. It went like this – A project manager wanted to discuss about an agenda so he called for a meeting which he scheduled for 11 o'clock but no one turned up because everyone thought that was a waste of time. What kind of actions would I have taken if I were the manager?
We then discussed what kind of troubleshooting techniques would be applicable in our own groups and told the class the solutions we came up with.
I don't think I've ever faced such problems while working in Japan. I think Japanese companies are more institutionalized and well-mannered.
That's all for now.
Thanks!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Job Interviews and Resumes
Last Saturday we reviewed Financial Information and started looking at another cultural comparison. We did simulation of Financial Analysis at the beginning of the class and then moved onto analyzing income statement of Yahoo! Inc.
It was the first time for me to view financial information of the company and I found it very interesting.
Everyone knows Yahoo! Inc. to be a large internet portal where we can get a lot of information like employment and business opportunities, and investors relations through its search engine.
A lot of people use the portal site everyday for news, blog or emails but not many knows who founded Yahoo! Inc., its size and financial situation. Such information can be easily found if you searched for it on the internet but usually people don't care less about these things.
After that we did a new cultural comparison. It was about Individualism and Collectivism.
People in individualistic cultures focus more on their own personal interests while people in collectivist cultures are more concerned with the interests of the group.
In business, if we launch a product in collectivist cultures, people belonging to the same culture tend to buy the same product family so one can sell many products in that group but if we launched a product in individualistic cultures, such principle will not apply and cannot achieve large sales because people in individualist cultures focus on “I” and people in collectivist cultures focus on “We”.
United States, Switzerland and Australia are individualistic countries and China, Peru, Guatemala and Indonesia are collectivist countries.
Nepal is also in collectivist because there are many ethnic groups and languages and they emphasize belonging to groups, extended family relations, social loyalty, and community harmony. They stress a “we” identity and look after the in-group in exchange for loyalty.
What is the culture of your nation? Is it individualistic or collectivistic?
We also learnt that no culture or society is 100 percent collectivist or individualist.
After looking at culture, we learnt comparison skills. We practiced job interviews in English. There were two characters in an interview and we played both roles in turns.
Then, we had a small talk about the differences between the ways of writing Japanese resumes and English resumes. A lot of details are included in English resumes, such as work experience and other activities, whereas in Japanese, there are no details so you write all that on a different sheet of paper.
English resumes are to be in reverse chronological order (from new to old) but Japanese are usually in chronological order.
To sum up my day, I learnt many new things in Business English which are very important for any business person to be successful.
It was the first time for me to view financial information of the company and I found it very interesting.
Everyone knows Yahoo! Inc. to be a large internet portal where we can get a lot of information like employment and business opportunities, and investors relations through its search engine.
A lot of people use the portal site everyday for news, blog or emails but not many knows who founded Yahoo! Inc., its size and financial situation. Such information can be easily found if you searched for it on the internet but usually people don't care less about these things.
After that we did a new cultural comparison. It was about Individualism and Collectivism.
People in individualistic cultures focus more on their own personal interests while people in collectivist cultures are more concerned with the interests of the group.
In business, if we launch a product in collectivist cultures, people belonging to the same culture tend to buy the same product family so one can sell many products in that group but if we launched a product in individualistic cultures, such principle will not apply and cannot achieve large sales because people in individualist cultures focus on “I” and people in collectivist cultures focus on “We”.
United States, Switzerland and Australia are individualistic countries and China, Peru, Guatemala and Indonesia are collectivist countries.
Nepal is also in collectivist because there are many ethnic groups and languages and they emphasize belonging to groups, extended family relations, social loyalty, and community harmony. They stress a “we” identity and look after the in-group in exchange for loyalty.
What is the culture of your nation? Is it individualistic or collectivistic?
We also learnt that no culture or society is 100 percent collectivist or individualist.
After looking at culture, we learnt comparison skills. We practiced job interviews in English. There were two characters in an interview and we played both roles in turns.
Then, we had a small talk about the differences between the ways of writing Japanese resumes and English resumes. A lot of details are included in English resumes, such as work experience and other activities, whereas in Japanese, there are no details so you write all that on a different sheet of paper.
English resumes are to be in reverse chronological order (from new to old) but Japanese are usually in chronological order.
To sum up my day, I learnt many new things in Business English which are very important for any business person to be successful.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Graphs and Financial Statements
It was drizzling, mixed with snow outside and it was very cold. I was still playing chess when I realized that it was almost time to go and I hadn't even had my lunch. I quickly had lunch and left the house for UCLA extension Tokyo Center. I could not believe there were so many people wandering around in Shinjyuku in the cold winter rain on a Saturday.
It was our fifth session that day and during the BEC course, I learnt a lot about the customs of Business English. Walking into the class I noticed there were today's agendas on the white board. The first one was to analyze graphs and explain in details what each one meant. We studied bar graphs, line graphs and pie charts first and then continued to look at real-life figures of a company and briefly explained its stock chart.
I'm getting pretty good at this business of analyzing data trends!
In every class we do a little bit of Cultural Studies and that day, we looked at culture in terms of gender and predominancy. It is said we can find out whether your culture of a country or your company is predominantly masculine or feminine by looking at the roles given to men and women in the commune.
In my opinion, most of Asian corporations are predominantly masculine because generally males have authoritative roles and they have power over others there.
Is the culture of your nation or your company predominantly masculine or feminine? I think if you have read my past blog articles, you'll understand that where I come from is the former.
Our next agenda was Financial Information. We were handed out dialogues regarding financial information to read and practice and then we briefly learnt about income statements and balance sheets.
I had the knowledge of financial statements from a management course I enrolled in at the University of Nepal but it's already been 10 years since then and I had forgotten almost everything about them!
After the class my classmates and I decided to go for tea but some of us had prior engagements after the class. Only four of us stayed behind and we began looking for cafés. We went into more than two cafés but none had seats for four. Most of the seats were already taken because it was cold and raining outside and people were trying to stay warm drinking hot tea and coffee.
We decided to go to Renoir Café but the place was also full and we had to wait for a few minutes to be seated. After getting our seats, we discussed about financial statements over hot coffee. Everything seemed clear to me after talking with my classmates.
For me, last Saturday was an amazing day. I got a chance to refresh my memory of my schooling days in Nepal and I feel I got closer to my new friends!
I hope you got to taste a bit of my life in Tokyo after reading this blog.
Thanks!
It was our fifth session that day and during the BEC course, I learnt a lot about the customs of Business English. Walking into the class I noticed there were today's agendas on the white board. The first one was to analyze graphs and explain in details what each one meant. We studied bar graphs, line graphs and pie charts first and then continued to look at real-life figures of a company and briefly explained its stock chart.
I'm getting pretty good at this business of analyzing data trends!
In every class we do a little bit of Cultural Studies and that day, we looked at culture in terms of gender and predominancy. It is said we can find out whether your culture of a country or your company is predominantly masculine or feminine by looking at the roles given to men and women in the commune.
In my opinion, most of Asian corporations are predominantly masculine because generally males have authoritative roles and they have power over others there.
Is the culture of your nation or your company predominantly masculine or feminine? I think if you have read my past blog articles, you'll understand that where I come from is the former.
Our next agenda was Financial Information. We were handed out dialogues regarding financial information to read and practice and then we briefly learnt about income statements and balance sheets.
I had the knowledge of financial statements from a management course I enrolled in at the University of Nepal but it's already been 10 years since then and I had forgotten almost everything about them!
After the class my classmates and I decided to go for tea but some of us had prior engagements after the class. Only four of us stayed behind and we began looking for cafés. We went into more than two cafés but none had seats for four. Most of the seats were already taken because it was cold and raining outside and people were trying to stay warm drinking hot tea and coffee.
We decided to go to Renoir Café but the place was also full and we had to wait for a few minutes to be seated. After getting our seats, we discussed about financial statements over hot coffee. Everything seemed clear to me after talking with my classmates.
For me, last Saturday was an amazing day. I got a chance to refresh my memory of my schooling days in Nepal and I feel I got closer to my new friends!
I hope you got to taste a bit of my life in Tokyo after reading this blog.
Thanks!
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