thorns

the thorny side of life......

life de-thorned.....

a life without thorns

speaking for success - how to not look like an idiot while presenting

i hate having to do presentations. especially if i'm not familiar with the subject. n i know that while i'm not the world's worst presenter....i'm not exactly good either. which was why i signed up for a presentation skills workshop last week.

its a great workshop. you got to see yrself on tape a total of 3 times...n there was free-flow of criticism thrown your way. but hey...if you wanna learn...brutal honesty will get you there..

a few take-homes from the workshop.....

dont put your hands at the back of yr butt while speaking. shows a defensive posture. plus it just accentuates yr already pearlike figure

tie/bun up yr hair to avoid the flying hand phenomenon - that strange event where the hand flies up to touch/stroke/caress unsuspecting hair

put on a jacket when making presentations if you wanna look good - somehow yr posture just gets better..u stand up a lil bit straighter..yr stomach's tucked in...didnt really believe it at first but its true

standing is just so much better than sitting. i know this since ages ago...but never actually put it to practice. but since i had to do things the right way at the workshop..i realised that standing does help. it literally keeps you on yr toes...you dont have the luxury of looking at the laptop screen...but you get to look more at the audience. which is a good thing.

eye contact. very important if you wanna be effective. plus it helps in making you less nervous. the more eye contact you have with the audience, the more you'll feel like you're having a conversation WITH them instead of presenting TO them

dont include rhetorical questions in your presentation. for eg: "How will this help you? Well it'll definitely help in the following ways....." Apparently this is bad, tho for the life of me i dont see why. i'm guilty of doing that in my presentations...but hey if its bad then i'll stop doing it

be very focused in your presentation. what is it that you want to achieve? be very focused with that. if you were just told that you have a presentation to make, dont immediately start with yr powerpoint slides. always spend a little time thinking of your 'objective statement', which goes like this..."at the end of my presentation, my audience will __________ because i would have told/shown them ______, ______, ______"

presenting IS NOT public speaking. when you're doing a presentation, you're a professional doing a job. its not a performance!

smile, smile, n smile again. dont need to look so serious, even if its a serious subject. helps in building rapport with the audience. of course, be careful not to end up looking like a fool

bleeding ties

i cant stand it when i see guys at coffeeshops/hawker centres wearing ties. its fine if its lunchtime, but late at nite?? why cant they take the bloody ties off???? i mean..they actually went to the trouble of loosening the tie..or even flinging the end of the tie over the shoulder...so why cant they just take the tie off?? whats so difficult abt it??

do they think they look cool sweating like pigs (just a phrase i've been hearing...but do pigs sweat?? never seen one...) with the tie choking them up?? what do they hope to achieve with the tie around their neck? is the tie supposed to show that they have "arrived", that they hold successful jobs?? oh pleasseee

ties are not even a big deal nowadays. its not part of the standard working attire, unless you're a businessman/salesman trying to make an impression and sell something. guys i know wear it only on formal events...or when they turn up for interviews.

so when i see a guy wearing a tie taking a seat at the coffeeshop late at nite...i'd think "poor guy...must have only just got off from work".

but when i see that he's steadfastly wearing his tie even while tucking into a roti prata, i'd be thinking "just take the bloody tie off"!!

aRtY fArTy

so somebody said the arts scene in singapore is 'fragile'. big deal.
what i'm wondering is...if its so fragile..how come price of tickets are still so ex???
i've yet to sit at the foyer or foyer stalls of the esplanade theater. always had to look longingly at the foyer entrance before grudgingly going up the escalator to the uppermost level.
yess...can only afford circle 3 seats wat....wat to do...

then again...no wonder the arts scene is 'fragile'....who can afford paying big money just to see some arty show?? def not the aunties n uncles out there whos prolly more interested catching ch8 dramas on tv anyway. n not students who dont even know the meaning of words like 'irony' and 'pun'...

but then ah...whats art anyway? cant be just dramas or plays at theaters only rite? 'i not stupid' oso art rite? n isnt music considered art too? last i heard...the local music scene is thriving..just look at the crowds outside esplanade everytime there r gigs...performed by our very own local bands. great music..great sound...n the best thing is..great price (free!).. i like!!

so i say...no need to be worried abt the arts scene lah. stop being arty farty. just rilek la brother

Happy Teachers' Day!

teaching is no mean feat. i mean it. i see a lot of my frens who are teachers, and they're always complaining abt sthg or other...

the principal sucks
can u believe how stupid these kids are??
i've got tons of marking to do i sleep at 3+ every day
no point doing so much for the kids lah....it'll all be wasted on
them
5-day week system is stupid. i'd rather be spending my time in sch marking
on a saturday than lug the books home to mark.
there's just too many things to do!!

n the list goes on. yes i complain abt my work too...n i'm no teacher. but thing is..i only complain to my spider. i dont diss my job in front of strangers. at the end of the day, i like what i'm doing. i might have lost the passion for it somewhat, but i'm still proud of it....cos i believe i make a difference somehow.

dont teachers know that they have the opportunity to make a difference? ohhh pls dont believe those ads on tv..they say. teaching's not all that noble and rewarding as it's hyped out to be...they say. true...the ads tend to gloss things over. but it's spot on in saying that teachers can make a difference.

that is...if they put their mind to it.

can we honestly say that those who are teachers are passionate about what they do? do they go in thinking that they wanna make a difference? or is teaching just something to do, recession-proof and rather easy to get into?

i'm convinced there are many teachers out there who're truly passionate about what they are doing. i've had the fortunate luck to have many teachers who..thru their passion n dedication..has made me who i am today (not much, but still ok :P).

to them...happy teachers' day!!!

n there r teachers (ok.. maybe just 1) who, thru their positive attitude to life and stuffs, has made a great positive impact to my life.

to them...happy teachers' day...n kropkrop!!

but i know of a few who are just in it for the money (which is not enuff if you ask them) ....who just go thru the motion cos its sthg to do.

n thats just sad.

Passion

interesting to see people who are passionate about their job. take my IT trainer for instance. def passionate. he could go on and on and on talking about things that..seriously...i'm not that interested in. and why does he insist on thinking that we have zero knowledge to begin with? i thot a better way to deal with a class size with undetermined skills set wd be to ask each one of them to share what skills they have? then again i'm not the one doing the training...so...ah well..

n he just shared that his working hours is 24/7!!! can u imagine...day in day out spouting the same/similar IT nonsense to people..some of whom might not even be interested in what you're saying? amazing man! n i dont think it's cos he's just going thru the grind..i mean..he could always do the bare minimum during classes...but nooo..he's got all these little nuggets of info which he shared with us. i'm pretty convinced that he likes what he's doing. he could be boring...but he sure is passionate.

goes to show how powerful this thing called passion is when it comes to work. ideally, you'd wanna be passionate of your job..since you're prolly gonna be spending more than half the waking hours of your life to it anyway.

but its really not that simple to achieve. how many times have i complained abt my job??? my poor spider has been listening to my complaints almost every day. and yet here i am still toiling away doing the same job i've been doing the last 4 years. and to think i've had 2 REAL jobs and 3 temp jobs in the space of 2 years!

what..have i gone soft already??? or is it just that i've finally "grown up" and realised that i've got to act all mature n responsible n stuff? or perhaps i lack the guts to try sthg new?

by the way....my website is up already. yeyy?? kuakuakua