Communication is the best tool to express our own persona, thoughts, Ideas and showcase our abilities to our peers, colleagues and to society at large. But this soft skill of communication is greatly neglected by many which underscore them in their career path. Soft skill of communication is often misattributed as a gifted innate boon for some special souls. But in my course of journey I found it rather contradictory that it is a skill to get mastery through dedication, hard work and a painful course of practice.
In my first-ever technical presentation at IIT, I made a fiasco debit on the topic of discussion. I could not even pronounce a single sentence properly in front of my other fellow students and professor. That is partly because of I was not very good at English since I never pay much attention to improve my finesse over that language. But I still remember when I was in my secondary school, I made an impromtu speech on "Polluation and its disaster effects" at school level competition but that was in my local language- Telugu. To my surprise, I earned 2 or 3rd prize for my speech in that competition. School kids are really best in their creative and expression skills but they were often suppressed by Teachers.
Come to the point - I gave my last presentation - i.e. my final thesis presentation on my research thesis but it is quite different before 3.5 years ago. Unlike my first presentation where I was stumbling at each juncture of my talk, I really made an impact with my latest talk which I got quite a good feedback from the audience. What is the difference ? I made some serious study to improve my language at first and of course it was refined with my interactions with people of diverse background which I had to speak to them in English. And more importantly I had practiced it countless number of times. That is the secret.
After started my career, little did I get an opportunity to improve my journey of learning on soft-skills until I came to ALTERA. Unlike my previous company here there is a lot of stress on giving technical talks at various meetings. But it should not make us divulge in PPT presenters. The skill of standing and speaking still needs a lot of improvement on my end. Fortunately I got in touch with club " ToastMasters " at ALTERA where all the like minded people come together and learn to improve their soft skills. There are many exercises for you to chose your stream of interest. I chose "Competent Communicator" where one need to go through 10 exercises of prepared speech with different themes.
I have started this Journey and to this date I could finish five out of Ten exercises of my CC course.
I gave my talks on following topics.
In my first-ever technical presentation at IIT, I made a fiasco debit on the topic of discussion. I could not even pronounce a single sentence properly in front of my other fellow students and professor. That is partly because of I was not very good at English since I never pay much attention to improve my finesse over that language. But I still remember when I was in my secondary school, I made an impromtu speech on "Polluation and its disaster effects" at school level competition but that was in my local language- Telugu. To my surprise, I earned 2 or 3rd prize for my speech in that competition. School kids are really best in their creative and expression skills but they were often suppressed by Teachers.
Come to the point - I gave my last presentation - i.e. my final thesis presentation on my research thesis but it is quite different before 3.5 years ago. Unlike my first presentation where I was stumbling at each juncture of my talk, I really made an impact with my latest talk which I got quite a good feedback from the audience. What is the difference ? I made some serious study to improve my language at first and of course it was refined with my interactions with people of diverse background which I had to speak to them in English. And more importantly I had practiced it countless number of times. That is the secret.
After started my career, little did I get an opportunity to improve my journey of learning on soft-skills until I came to ALTERA. Unlike my previous company here there is a lot of stress on giving technical talks at various meetings. But it should not make us divulge in PPT presenters. The skill of standing and speaking still needs a lot of improvement on my end. Fortunately I got in touch with club " ToastMasters " at ALTERA where all the like minded people come together and learn to improve their soft skills. There are many exercises for you to chose your stream of interest. I chose "Competent Communicator" where one need to go through 10 exercises of prepared speech with different themes.
I have started this Journey and to this date I could finish five out of Ten exercises of my CC course.
I gave my talks on following topics.
- Why I am a Vegan
- Failures as stepping stones for success
- Happiness with little
- My Inspiration
- Wisdom from my daughter.
I am in midway of my target but truly I see a difference in myself though it is little after completing these sessions. Now I can learn to speak slowly and with composure. How to organize a talk, brand and storify it?
Hope I will finish the rest in coming 5 months and earn my title as "Competent Communicator"\\\
