Critical Reflection

The effective communication module started off with every student in the class setting a goal to be achieved by the end of the course. I was hoping that I could grow and develop to be more active, as well as expanding my vocabulary range. It has been an arduous yet gratifying journey of 13 weeks, and I do believe that I have attained said objectives to a rather large extent, especially with the help of our lecturer Prof Brad together with my fellow class and group mates. Working together in different pairs every week has allowed me to get accustomed to working with others and understand how we can help each other with our strengths and weaknesses. The various tasks assigned to us, such as the draft reports and mock presentations, has further supplemented our learning as we received construction critiques and comments as a group. I would want to work together with other classmates that I might not have had the chance to work with during this course. I believe that I still have more to learn from my fellow classmates as everyone has their own area of expertise in terms of presentation. 

Our team's final presentation has been a rather significant moment that I have learnt a lot from. We had to break down and restructure the flow on our presentation, keeping the presentation slides simple yet informative, and ensuring it generates enough interest so that the viewers do not lose their attention. This was how our team had to unlearn the style of presentation we were used to doing during polytechnic and we had to watch and review the various videos and resources available in the instructional units to better facilitate a fluid presentation. As both Hairi and I studied in polytechnic, we were accustomed to presentations, so we were able to assist Darryl during preparation such as learning to stay calm. Darryl on the other hand was able to provide guidance as to how we can better carry out the presentation with better terminologies used. This has showed me how building off each other's strengths and weaknesses and be an extremely effective way of learning.  

The presentation showcase has been nothing short of amazing. I felt that I have been able to maintain calm during the presentation and this has allowed for a more concise and fluid delivery. I also do believe that the usage of hand gestures (which I have not seen much being used by the other teams) has helped to draw in more attention and portrays a more active image of my presentation. The simple yet concise graphics has definitely aided by keeping the audience interested and alert. After observing presentations from the other teams, I noticed that some teams have more energy and enthusiasm packed in their presentation which our team may have been lacking. Having varying levels of tone in voice as well as having more confidence to walk around projects a more dynamic presentation. 

Reflections on the Mapletree Forum on 20th March 2019

The Mapletree Challenge Forum has given me a very insightful viewpoint from an entrepreneur's perspective. The main topic of the forum generally revolves around the subject of sustainability, but there were some key takeaways from Ms Nancy Ling which I felt were rather essential and important: understanding your customers and having the commitment to strive for success.

Ms Nancy Ling is the co-founder of the company eco-u, and has aims to transform human generated waste into biodegradable forms so that it is more beneficial to the environment and sustainable as well. She has noticed that almost all hawker vendors in Singapore have been using plastic bags and wraps for packaging of styrofoam boxes, which are typically used for takeaways . These plastic bags are usually disposed of after use. This sparked the idea of creating biodegradable bags for the storage of styrofoam boxes but however, she soon realized that Singaporeans have been accustomed to the usage of plastic and are reluctant to change. She understood that this business can only be customer-driven and therefore she tried to share her thoughts to hawkers on how sustainability is a growing need for the environment and everyone will eventually be taking this path. The only question she had for the hawkers was "In this path to sustainability, would you like to be a leader, or a follower?" This shows how having a great understanding of your consumers allows for a better plan execution. 

Ms Ling has also mentioned that entrepreneurship might not be cut out everyone, especially if you do not have that "fire in your belly". I do believe that having a strong passion in the work we are researching on allows for more depths of understanding and would therefore allow us to be more resourceful and confident in our work. Having a strong passion can provide a huge motivational push for us when we may be in times of need, such as when the ideas start to grow stagnant. 

In general, it has been an extremely riveting session listening to the speakers talk about how they faced their challenges and how they managed to overcome it, and has also given me a new look on how entrepreneurship works in all.