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Monday, September 1, 2014

Non-verbal communication (week 3)

Satveer Bhantoo

Non-Verbal communication

Non-verbal communication is basically the use of body languages to help with transmitting information. Usually this is done instinctively, but one can also train on this aspect to give a better emphasis on the message. These include the posture, facial expression, gestures, eye-contact and occasionally touching.

In one-on-one situation form of communication can be a huge strength.

Posture : This involves the way one stands. It tells a lot about the level of confidence that one has. For instance someone slumping and slouching is definitely not showing a decent level of confidence. On the other hand, someone standing upright with a good posture shows definite level of confidence!

Facial expression : Small face gestures such as biting lips or un-needed face expressions shows a lack of confidence. On the other hand, one who is smilling shows a brighter perspective and hence a better level of confidence!

Gestures : Just like facial expression, unneeded body movements such as constant moving or tapping of foot or nail biting shows a negative image of yourself. On the other hand, give a form handshake indicates to the other party that you are confident!

Eye-contact : Maintaining a constant eye contact is one of the hardest and crucial part of, non-verbally, showing confidence to your listeners. This indicates that you are fully focused and sure on what you are talking about!

Touching: This is occasionally used to show support and encouragement. However one should take into consideration the norms and cultural background before involving in any such actions as sometimes, depending on various factors, one might misunderstand this as being sexual harassment.

Week 2- Communication skills (part 1)

Satveer Bhantoo

Communication Skills


Having good communication skills is crucial in our daily life. They are required for various tasks such as speaking with other people, getting a job, having a good career among many more!

One of the forms of communication involves oral communication. It's basically communicating with others using one's voice (talking). In the workplace, for example, we communicate a lot with other individuals by talking! 

Speaking comes in use greatly presentations. Along with visual aids and other props, talking to others can be more effective than writing (of course depending on the situation). Hence having good presentation skills is considered to be very important at the workplace.

The other half of oral communication involves listening. Having good listening skill is as important as having a good talking skill. It is one which needs to be practiced. The whole process can be divided in 6 steps.
  1.  Receiving: Here the one listening listens and receives the information being transmit using his ears (physical hearing).
  2.  Interpreting: In a way, it is the decryption of information that has been heard in the first step.
  3.  Remembering: Basically retaining what has been said and interpreted.
  4.  Evaluating: This involves to getting a conclusion of what has been said.
  5. Responding: Reacting to what has been understood. This can be physical response like nodding or smiling.
  6. Acting: The ultimate step which involves taking action on what has been listened and understood. For example writing a report on, write an article and so on.

To listen effectively, the listener must avoid being pre-judgemental; for instance based on the speakers physical appearance. He should also not interfere the conversation and try to be the enter of attention while the speaker is conveying the message. He should also have his full attention towards the listener and listen to everything being said rather than listening to what he wants. 

There are various techniques that can improve your way of listening. Along with what has been said above, a good listener should also give feedback to improve the speaker and also concentrate on the content rather on how the content is being delivered!

Along with oral communication, there is also the written one. The main purpose of writing is to inquire, inform, instruct or influence from. In the business world, there are 2 main ways of written communication: letters and memo. The latter is usually used within the company itself, while letters are more likely to be used both inside and outside the organisation. The format and content of them are different.

There are also use of reports. Those are generally to present information in a well structured and organised format. It is a mean of communication from low level to the higher levels within the company. Reports are generated in fixed time intervals and usually for part of the routine to keep information on track and can be used for investigation purposes!

Staying in the business field, verbal communication, again, is crucial. These can include telephone conversations, speeches and presentation. All of them are used in an attempt to share information effectively. With the use of presentation, one can also use graphical aids to support an argument and be more convincing!

Another communication trend nowadays is Email. It has gained a high level of popularity in the past years with advent of this technology. However those using Email for communication should pay much attention on the level of formality of the mails, as it has been proven that Email users tend to not respect the structures of a formal mean of communication when making use of this technology!

Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication is basically the use of body languages to help with transmitting information. Usually this is done instinctively, but one can also train on this aspect to give a better emphasis on the message. These include the posture, facial expression, gestures, eye-contact and occasionally touching.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Criticism on week 3 Role playing improvisation.

Satveer Bhantoo

Links to videos:
http://youtu.be/HwVEkwmfFDs
http://youtu.be/9r4WW_K9FSM

This was an improvisation. We were given a story line to develop on.

Teamwise, we were definitely not at ease with improvising. There was a huge lack of synchronization among us. There were instances where I was giving hints to others on what should be done, which shows the lack of confidence on each other actually.

We were also speaking way too softly. This showed that we were not confident on this type of exercise. We also lacked a lot of creativity to make the story line interesting and hence, we lost the attention of the public. 

On overall, it was a poor performance and we ought to improve on coming weeks 

Criticism on Week 3 presentation (formal)

Satveer Bhantoo


Unfortunately, we do not have a video recording for this session :-(. However we do remember what were the criticism done by our lecturer and have some personal comments on our progress so far.

Our presentation consisted of selling a music recording (home studio) software designed for all types of users. It also included a live demonstration of the software with the use of a guitar and some features of the software to produce a music "on-the-spot".

On the team:
This presentation has been undoubtedly the best from us so far. Our idea was clear, we showed a better level of confidence compared to the previous week. We had the attention of the public throughout the presentation. We answered the question of the public without much difficulties and even elaborated on additional aspects while answering to the questions, which in my opinion, was effective in convincing the audience. We managed to convince the lecturer to buy our software (which we see as a great achievement :-) ) as well as one from the audience. 

The negative aspect, which is maybe the most important, is the lack of team spirit that we had. There was not this team aspect in the team and the whole presentation seemed to be centered on me, the team leader. This was pointed out by our lecturer and we are definitely going to be careful for the coming days. We need to have a better distribution of work in the team.

On personal level:
This presentation is a nice boost in my level of confidence. I felt have really improved since the previous times. I was more at ease at improvising and speaking without having to learn anything by heart. In fact, I really did not learn anything by heart except for the order of the presentation. 
Despite that I felt a bit less fluent at the end (discussing price), maybe because of the use of a lot of numbers and comparisons.
Overall, this was maybe the best presentation I have done so far in my life, but that's only the beginning of much more. 



To conclude, we are starting to build our confidence level in a better way and we are going to keep on improving :)

Week 2 Presentation ( Abhishek Bholah )

On team :

Our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings translate to noticeable expressions that actually spotlight just how unsure we are feeling.  And unfortunately, low self-confidence is an unattractive and off-putting quality to almost everyone, no matter how smart we are or how ingenious our ideas may be…  Which means it may be the very reason success in various walks of life has been so elusive.

Overall it was an average performance, but it could be much better since it was a great idea, especially the music part was a creative one.The background music we used was perfect according to me as it has created a great impact on the atmosphere and the message we were trying to transmit.However we were low in spirits and we lacked of synchronization and co-ordination. 

On personal level:

Comparing my previous video where i used to speak with a low voice and  sound really nervous ,now  i can see some improvement especially on my voice. I've been able to gain the attention of the audience by speaking louder yet have a lot to improve on my fluency.

My loss of confidence was a difficult wound to heal but i will try my best to work on it.I was having difficulty figuring which words to use at some point as my enthusiasm waned and my mind wandered away.

Well, i have to feed more on my confidence and fluency and starve my fear.Smiling and affirmations are great ways to give myself a confidence boost. :)





Monday, August 25, 2014

Critics on Week 2 Presentation

Link to Video:
http://youtu.be/vPDk38UtVtQ

On team:
It was in overall a pretty poor performance that we showed. 
1. We lacked synchronization
2. Some of us spoke too softly
3. There was a serious lack of co-ordination among us
4. The message we wanted to transmit was not clear enough!

The positive points for the presentation are:
1. The idea was a great idea. Even Mrs.Gobin admitted it. 
2. The use of the music was a very good addition to the presentation. It created the sad atmosphere during the presentation and added some tension to the room. 
3. Some of us had improved on personal level (Pointed out by Mrs.Gobin) which is a positive factor and nice encouragement
4. We are still not using any piece of paper as a help

On personal level:
I was pretty not confident on the topic. I stumbled a few instances because I forgot some of my text during the presentation. Another thing that had an effect on the presentation is the hardware failures at the start, which put us all in a nervous state of mind. Like previously, I had this difficulty in pronouncing properly sometimes. Also, as 1 of the senior students pointed out, I have this tendency of playing with my nose when I'm nervous, which gives bad impression to the audience.

Note: We are going to work out the best on the negative points of the presentation and give our best for the coming one! 

Summary Non-verbal/Oral communication- Abhishek Bholah

Non-oral communication
Principals of oral communication:
1.     Clear pronunciation: Clear pronunciation of message sender in the main factor or oral communication. If it is not clear, the goal of the message may not be achieved.
2.     Preparation: Before communicating orally the speaker should take preparation both physically are mentally.
3.     Unity and integration: The unity an integration of the speech of the message sender is a must for successful oral communication.
4.     Precision: Precision is needed to make oral communication effective. The meaning of the words must be specific.
5.     Natural voice: The speaker’s must not be fluctuated at the time of oral communication. On the other hand artificial voice must be avoided.
6.     Planning: Organized plan is a must for effective oral communication. The speaker should take proper plan for delivering speech.
7.     Simplicity: The speaker should use simple an understandable words in oral communication. It should be easy and simple.
8.     Legality: The speaker’s speech should be legal and logical at the time of oral communication.
9.     Avoiding emotions: At the time of oral discussion, excessive emotions can divert a speaker from main subject. So, the speaker should be careful about emotion. The speech must be emotionless.
10.  Acting: Many people lose concentration after listening for a few minutes. So speech must be emotionless.
11.  Efficiency: Speakers efficiency and skill is necessary for effective oral communication.
12.  Vocabulary: Words bear different meanings to different people in different situations. In oral communication, a speaker should use the most familiar words to the receiver of the message to avoid any confusion in the meaning of the words.

Non verbal communication:
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Advantages or functions or importance of non-verbal communication:
There is a proverb “Actions speak louder than words.”  Non-verbal communication is especially significant in intercultural situations. Researches in communication suggest that many more feelings and intentions are sent and received non-verbally than verbally.
1.     Complementary: Non-verbal cues complement a verbal message by adding to its meaning. You can pat someone you offended at the back as you say sorry to him or her.
2.     Easy presentation: Information can be easily presented in non-verbal communication through using visual, audio-visual and silent means of non-verbal communication.
3.     Substituting: Non-verbal message may substitute for the verbal message especially if it is blocked by noise, interruption, long distance etc. for example: gestures-finger to lips to indicate need for quite, facial expressions- a nod instead of a yes.
4.     Accenting: Often used to accent a verbal message. Verbal tone indicates the actual meaning of the specific words.
5.     Repeat: Used to repeat the verbal message (e.g. point in a direction while stating directions.)
6.     Help to illiterate people: This type of communication use gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, proximity, touching etc. and without using any spoken or written word. So, it is very much helpful for illiterate people.
7.     Help to handicapped people: Non-verbal cues of communication greatly help in handicapped people especially to deaf people. Deaf people are exchange message through the movements of hands, fingers, eye ball etc.
8.     Attractive presentation: Non-verbal communication is based on visual, picture, graph, sign etc. that can be seen very much attractive.
9.     Reducing wastage of time: The message of non-verbal communication reached the receiver very fast. For this reason it reduces the wastage of valuable time of the communicator.
10.  Quick expression of message: Non-verbal cues of communication like sign and symbol can also communicate some messages very quickly than written or oral messages.

Basic Signs and Gestures
positive
Negative
Direct Eye Contact

Avoiding Eye Contact

Firm Handshake/Palm to Palm

Limp Handshake/Finger to Finger

Good Posture/Upright Chest

Arms Folded Across Chest

Touching
Body Turned Away

Smiles and More

Playing with Things

How to improve non-verbal communication skills
Be honest, especially when communicating emotions
Use a firm, friendly handshake when meeting people
Maintain eye contact with your entire audience
Reinforce your words with tones and gestures
Be aware of your posture
Use appropriate gestures to support your point
Imitate the posture and appearance of people you want
    to impress
Show respect for speakers and listeners
Touch people only when appropriate and acceptable

Smile genuinely, as a fake one will be obvious