Thursday 31st March 2010

Finally, the big day, the day of our presentations!

We were divided into 2 groups due to the excessive amount of trainees. This was rather sad as we could not enjoy everybody's presentation. Many presentations that were done today caught my attention. To name a few:

• Imran on Biotechnology - truly an in-depth look into the field.
• Adrian on 'MuscleMan' - a fictional energy product.
• Lun on Family Guy - an American cartoon that touches on ethical, political, and key issues in the world; the comical way of course.
• Dinie on high-heels - An introduction and the benefits of wearing killer heels.
• Tun on Viola - Her passion and also to clarify the difference between the violin and the viola.

Halfway throughout the presentation sessions, the instructor gave us a breather by asking us to perform to a Beatles' song. Each group had to either dance/act/sing. Truly entertaining and embarrassing I have to admit.

That concludes our communication module!

Tuesday 30th March 2010

As the end of the communication module draws near, we were given 1 final task; which is to prepare a presentation on a topic we were passionate about. The whole day was used to conduct research and to prepare materials for the presentation.

Mr Najmi gave us some important pointers such as an eye-catching introduction and a breath-taking conclusion.

The topic I chose was rather special; Lolita Fashion!

If you would like to know more about it, kindly leave a comment and your email and I will email you my presentation slides :)

Monday 29th March 2010

A new week yet again!

We were given a lecture on more effective presentations and some rather important points, which are the 4P's:

1. Prepare
2. Practice
3. Pause
4. Pamper

Later on in the day, we were given instructions to for a presentation and our group chose a topic on air pollution.

Friday 26th March 2010

Today we were taught on main communication concepts and skills by Mr Najmi. In the beginning of the lecture, he gave each group the opportunity to come up and tell the rest of the class what they had learned from yesterday's talk; NLP. The main idea was not the content of what we were about to present, but for Mr Najmi to gather our confidence level and whether we have put what we had taught into practice.

Other than that, we were given various activities which further required participation and presentation. He even showed us clips of people communicating effectively through feelings and body language.

Thursday 25th March 2010

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)!

Does that ring a bell or does that sound really foreign?

Well, I had no idea what that was until the speaker gave us a thorough insight into the topic. Basically, it's the power of the mind and like how they say, "mind over matter." The mind is a very dangerous tool!

The lecture was really interesting as most of the time we had to explore our sub-conscious mind and giving it instructions to perform our daily activities. This included thinking positive and the power of belief. We even had to go through some kind of trance-like-hypnotizing state which many of us had the privilege to experience the extraordinaire. An example is where he asked us to imagine someone tying our hands really tight while keeping our eyes closed. At the end he asked us to open our eyes and try to release our clasped hands. Amazing! many of them could not do it. Unbelievable? Better believe it!

He also taught us how to observe people through their actions and words. This included the introduction of 3 different types of people; those that rely heavily on visuals, hearing, and feelings. This would apply greatly to us that might venture into sales!

At the end of the day, we performed an amazing feat which involved the power of belief. We had to drop a bulb onto a flat panel of glass and break the glass instead of the bulb.

So NLP, the power of the mind/emotion... the ability to be a "superman" it's all in the head!

Tuesday 23rd - Wednesday 24th March 2010

For these 2 days, we had a very special speaker who is an experienced writer. She taught us ways to write professional articles for publication purposes. Not only that, she also stressed on the difference of scientific writing and other writing methods.

In all my university life, I have only been trained on how to write scientifically. She however, revived my writing skills that have long been in slumber. It was a great experience as she also gave us activities which included analyzing articles in magazines and later presenting the key points. We were also asked to prepare an article that involves our field of study. My group touched on "Respiration - so simple yet so complicated."

Her stories and heartwarming experiences touched our hearts and with all due respect, I wish her all the best in her future endeavors!

Cheers.

Monday 22nd March 2010

The art of negotiation, so simple yet so complicated.

Today we were given a talk on how to perfect our negotiation skills by our speaker, Mr Hisyam. We were taught on the various forms of negotiation such as those that benefit both parties or those that victimises the other. Negotiating is something that we have all practised since we were young. We negotiated with our parents to get the toys we want, and later on to get our allowances.

This applies to office and everyday life where we negotiate for almost everything, at everytime. To make the talk all the more fun, our speaker divided us into groups and gave us instructions to put up an act, given a scenario. My group and D8 were given the task where a hardworking employee had to negotiate with her boss for a 3month leave due to personal reasons. The other groups worked on 2 other scenarios:

• A son who wants to study in a prestigious university with his girlfriend. The son has to negotiate with his unwilling parents.
• A landlord who has increased the monthly rental fees of his apartment. The landlord has to negotiate with one of the tenants on the willingness of the tenant to continue staying there.

The short skits were hilarious and all of us had a great time.

Friday 19th March 2010

We resumed advanced report writing with Ms Liza and Ms Farahiya. This time, we were taught on how to create questionnaires for survey purposes. The survey was to serve its purpose to identify any issue within the BeST programs which included:

1. Trainers and modules
2. Food and beverages
3. Number of particapants
4. Location of the programme and its facilities

My group decided to touch on the areas of trainers and modules as that was the heartbeat of the programme. We distributed questionnaires to a random population of the participants and later compiled/analysed the results.

We then had to present our findings on the following week.

Thursday 18th March 2010

Greetings fellow reader, another special day yet again!

Today we had Ms Noraini, an ex-MAS air stewardess to teach us on grooming and dining etiquette. Yes it might sound boring but in contrast, we had lots of fun! I first wondered how this would fit into my future but Ms Noraini was very clear with her presentation. Grooming and proper dining etiquette is very important to make ourselves presentable to others and also to *shudder* our future employers, or bosses if you may.

We were taught on how to behave in a cocktail party, and also during big formal dinners. Most of us had a chance to role-play during the simulated dining session. There were many things I didn't know of such as how to drink soup properly and even how to spread butter on the bun!

Wong and Co.

Mr Farizal came much later and gave us men tips on how to dress-to-impress and also various ways of tying a tie, The girls had their own session with Ms Noraini but from what I overheard, I think they were taught make-up skills and walking postures.

The day ended with a photo session (again) and words of goodbye and encouragement by the speakers.

Group photo with Mr Farizal and Ms Noraini

I would like to take this opportunity to wish Mr Farizal all the best in everything and we will surely make you proud for all that you have taught us!

Wednesday 17th March 2010

Today was a day to remember. We had a very special guest speaker in the form of Cikgu Fatima who is a local celebrity! *applause*

Picture taken with Nurul and Cikgu Fati

She played a role in various movies and is also a teacher in the local reality show, "Akademi Fantasia." She came on to Unirazak to give us a talk on body language and how it plays an important role in communication.

The time spent with her was fun as we participated in various activities that required us to talk in front of an audience (the class). This included selling a product to potential buyers, promoting a product to investors, a press conference, and also interview sessions (one-on-one with Mr Najmi) in front of the class!

In this case, I participated in the interview and I have to admit that it was a nerve-wrecking experience. However, it was invaluable as I learned how to handle pressure and to hold my stand against strict interviewers.

At the end of the day, we had a photo session with Cikgu where most of us took turns to take solo shots with her. Truly a special way to end a special day.A picture of my group - Sweet E.coli

One for the album!

Tuesday 16th March 2010

This day was no different from the day before, mock interview sessions resumed for the remaining candidates. Those that initially were not involved had a shot at being interviewed by Mr Farizal and Mr Najmi provided time was on their side.

Monday 15th March 2010

Another week in the blink of an eye, today we continued with public speaking. Strategies and improved techniques were taught by Mr Farizal on how we can further capture and win the attention of our listeners. He also gave us some questions which touched on our career objectives and the ways we can achieve them.

After lunch, individual practice interview sessions were held. I personally was not involved with the sessions as I already did a public speaking presentation on the Friday before. The rest of us who played no part in the interviews were free to complete the questions which Mr Farizal gave earlier.

Friday 12th March 2010

Today was a special day. We had a guest speaker all the way from Babson College in Massachusetts, US. She gave us an interesting talk on entrepreneurship and the challenges faced by most people before starting a business. Her charismatic and fun personality made the talk all the more interesting as she showed us some videos from her laptop.

Amongst the topics she touched on was:

• The characteristics of a young entrepreneur
• The ideal working environment
• The do's and don'ts as an entrepreneur

Before we realised it, it was the end of the talk and we managed to sneak in a photograph for memory's sake :)

Group picture taken with the professor

After lunch, lectures resumed and this time we did advanced report writing. We were taught various types of reports and the common mistakes made. For the group activity, every group was given a report with missing key words. We were told to fill them up with the proper titles/words before reading it out to the entire group.

Lastly, TGIF! Weekend's just round the corner and I'm really looking forward to it!

p/s: I had to come on Sunday (14th March 2010) to start this blog -> Refer to 1st post

Thursday 11th March 2010

We did something a little different today. We were put into groups the day before to demonstrate various public speaking scenarios. I was put into a forum group where we had to discuss on how biotechnology spurs the economy. Other groups included a debate with the topic "genetically modified food brings more harm than benefits", a negotiation group on cloning, and a marketing presentation regarding bio-fries.

Yes, you might have guessed it. Our module for the day was public speaking. The speakers gave us some interesting lectures on how the left and right side of the brain works, and also various strategies to become a good public speaker.

After lunch, each group came to the front to do their mini-presentation/public speaking. At the end of each group's turn, the speakers gave comments and suggestions to help further improve our speaking skills.

Wednesday 10th March 2010

On this day, we were taught how to write business letters professionally. The speakers introduced us to various types of business letters including cover letters, follow-up letters, and thank you letters.

We were given tasks after lunch to write an enquiry letter to each group seeking sponsorship. The group that received the enquiry letters were then required to reply with a letter stating whether the sponsorship was approved or vice versa.

Based on the activity, we were able to identify the types of letters, grammatical errors, and common mistakes found in most letters. Other than that, we gained the knowledge on how to write persuasive letters with the help of the 2 speakers.

Tuesday 9th March 2010

On the 2nd day, we were taught how to write a resume by looking at various examples given by the 2 speakers.

Being that I graduated from the United Kingdom, I never knew that writing a resume for job application in Malaysia is different from what I was taught to do in the UK. An example was that in the UK, no photo was required in the resume due to identity theft purposes. In Malaysia however, a photo is a must-have for the employer to see.

After lunch, we were given fictional profiles by the speakers and told to create a resume for them. Upon completion of the resumes, they were pasted on the walls for all to see and also for the speakers to correct them. We were told of our mistakes and ways to further improve our resumes.

Monday 8th March 2010

We started our communications module with talk on effective meetings. We were taught on how meetings were conducted by looking at various examples given by the 2 speakers. We were also introduced to the various roles in a meeting in which included the chairperson, secretary, and treasurer.

As a group activity, we were given a situation or more like a case study where we had to role-play and conduct a meeting. Writing minutes and agendas were also part of the task that we had to perform. For the final activity, we did a group performance based on the lyrics of a song provided by the speakers. We were told to act out the emotions of the lyrics while crafting our very own rhythm. It was pretty embarassing but nevertheless, we all had fun.

My first impression of Unirazak

Picture source: http://www.unirazak.edu.my

My 1st impression of Unirazak:

It all started on a fine Monday morning when I got up from bed for my very first day in the BeST program. Getting there was suprisingly convinient as the Dang Wangi Putra LRT station is only four stations away from where I live. I arrived somewhat early and felt really anxious as to what am I going to do today and who are my new friends.

Upon entering the building (Unirazak), I was bewildered with the interior design. Honestly, I felt that I have just entered a hospital rather than a University. It was really quiet and there were not many people. The halls and corridors are really clean, which was something I really liked.

The instructors then ushered us into the lecture hall where we had our briefing and introduction. Food was then served during our break and I must admit, the food was really delicious.

Why sunday?

I am blogging on a random sunday morning, where I assume, that most of you are still in bed :D