Response to public speaking

I agree that public speaking can be a daunting task in any project, but I tend to agree with Joey and Sergiy on this topic. The more you expose yourself to public speaking, the easier it is to do. The trick is doing it more frequently. Whether it is giving actual presentations or speaking up in class, they all contribute to your public speaking ability. Like Sergiy I have to speak to coworkers everyday, but the more I do it, the more it becomes second nature. I don't even realize sometimes that I am giving a presentation anymore. Audience does play into this, if you are familiar with the group you are talking to, it makes it much easier. But even stranger anxiety can be overcome with enough practice. I have found that practicing ahead of time helps immensely, even if I am just presenting to a mirror with myself and stopwatch. Just following the steps of presenting information in a specific order with a time frame in mind will do wonders, and always allow a few extra minutes for questions and interruptions.

Chapter 17 & 18

Off the bat, chapter 17 was very helpful. I've never been that adept in the use of PowerPoint, or creating visual presentations. In the past I have always seemed to dodge the need for making the visual side of a presentation. So the hints and tips for the layout of the of the presentation were very insightful. I will definitely be using this chapter to help put together my presentation for the class. On the oral side of things I have never had much of a problem speaking in front of an audience. I have given presentation before as well as teaching swing dance to large audiences. I am able to cope with interruptions and answer questions fairly well. My main flaw is that I do tend to run on a bit when I speak. This is why I've found it important in the past to rehearse with a stopwatch before the presentation, and make sure I do not exceed given time limits.

Chapter 18 covered web design and layout. It went over making your site readable as well as easy on the eyes. The layout of the website along with where and how graphics are used are important to make the reader's experience navigating the site a pleasant one. Also the site should be easy to move around in, links should be clearly labeled and clear as to their purpose. Also there should be included a site map that a reader can refer to if they become lost or are looking for a specific section of the website and are unsure how to get there from their current page. I do not have much experience in creating a web page layout and I have no experience in writing HTML code for websites. But this chapter provides a valuable guide in starting a web page.

Response to Persuaders

The documentary "The Persuaders" was quite the eye opener. It is amazing the money and time spent on finding new ways to get the consumer's attention. I for one don't watch a lot of television, but the advertisement industry does not limit itself to just one medium. In the week since watching the documentary I have been amazed how much advertisements are out in the world. You see it on billboards, magazines, bumper stickers, the list goes on and on. I even saw two trucks driving with billboards, they spent over an hour circling a busy shopping center's parking lots, just to try to catch someone's attention. At my work we don't allow outside source to solicit on our property, but then I realized that is mainly because it gives competition to all the ads that the company itself has running inside its doors. I can't walk anywhere in the store without getting hit by a plethora of words all trying to make people want to buy. It's overwhelming at times, but it's such a way of life that most people don't even realized that their senses are being bombarded by it every day! It's enough to make you want to move away from it all and become a hermit off on some mountain.

Chapters 2, 9 & 10

Chapter 2 covered a very important part of the transition from school to work. It is a summary of your accomplishments, experiences and qualifications. A resume is one of the tools used to essentially sell yourself to potential employers.The chapter gives guidelines for drafting and completing your resume such as writing concisely, being specific and watching your verb tense. There are also examples of the different resumes types such as experiential and skills resumes. This chapter does an in depth job of covering every aspect of resume writing, how it appears, how it reads and what information to include.

Chapter 9 is about putting your best foot forward. In any experience it is best to have the first impression a person has of you to be a favorable one. This carries over into your writing, what is at the beginning of your communication will be your reader's first impression. Keeping this portion of your writing succinct and clear will start your reader out on the right foot. In the introduction of your communication you will want to give your reader an idea of what they can expect from the rest of the communication. Conversely chapter 10 covers the importance of ending your writing well. You do this by repeating your mains points and summarizing all other points and topics covered in the communication as well as proposing paths of action based on what you've written. You will also want to make it clear if anything is needed from the reader, a response to a specific issue or a feedback on an idea.

Response to Peter O'Connor's chapter post

Like you, I had never previously thought that the order in which I gave feedback to a peer review really mattered. In the past when I've been required to provide feedback to peer review, I've always known that you want to give some good points along with the bad. I think though, I always had it in my mind, that the point of a review is to fix the problems. But it is definitely more then that, you also want to reinforce the positive so that the writer knows what they do well, as well as what they could improve on.

Chapter 14 & 15

Revising and editing your writing is very important in ensuring that your finished product is as free from errors as possible. The three parts of revising are listed in chapter 14.
1. Identify possible improvements you could make in your draft.
2. Deciding which of the possible improvements to make.
3. Making the selected changes.
When checking your work, you want to always check from as many different views as possible. What would your target audience feel in reading this, how about your employer, does it properly reflect the company standards and values. The chapter then shifts to reviewing work from both the writer's point of view as well as the reviewer's. The book gives two very useful tables that rank the importance level of types of communications as well as what revisions are more important to revise.

Chapter 15 was a very interesting chapter, especially since it applies very directly to the group project we have in this class. When writing something such as an instruction manual, you want to be sure that what you are writing is clear to the audience involved, in order to do this a testing session can be used. In a test session, a draft of you work is given to a audience, who then has to complete the task by following what you have written. The results from these tests can be used for tweaking and fine tuning your writing to make it more understandable and usable to your audience. Results are gathered not only from observing the test subjects during the process but also in interviews with the subjects after the test.